• This role provides overall leadership to policy, sectoral coordination, advocacy, learning and innovation for Women’s Protection and Empowerment. It involves representing the IRC in key external engagements and global policy spaces, maintaining strategic partnerships with relevant stakeholders and movements, and relevant networks and campaigns globally.


• This role advances IRC’s work in support of prioritizing women and girls’ protection programing in emergencies, supporting necessary system adaptations and changes, amplifying emerging learning, spearheading sector-wide transformative shifts towards more inclusive, localized, evidence-based programing.


• The WPE Global Practice Lead will help to frame strong collective positioning across Women’s Protection and Empowerment priorities, building consensus and supporting learning and the generation of knowledge across the IRC and the wider Protection sector, in support of realizing the Centrality of Protection in humanitarian programming.


• A key aim of this role is to encourage coherence between IRC’s work at local, national, and international levels, seeking to consolidated gains, promote high-impact strategies and policy influencing work. In collaboration with the Airbel Research Lab and the Policy & Solutions/Advocacy & Influence teams, the WPE Global Practice Lead will advance ground-breaking research and advocacy work. Close coordination with the Deputy Director of VPRU will ensure local learning feeds into global positioning, advocacy, and mobilization.


• The WPE Global Practice lead will develop a strong collaborative relationship with the Global Leads for Child Protection, and Protection Rule of Law, as well as counterparts in the Health, Economic Recovery and Development, Education and Governance in support of enhanced, integrated protection programming, supporting the overall coherence of IRC’s strategic priorities.


• The WPE Global Practice Lead will lead and coordinate strategic resource mobilization and oversee management of innovation and strategic projects falling within the purview of the role.

Major Responsibilities

Strategy, Program Design and Business Development

• Act as the organizational leader for CRRD in Women’s Protection and Empowerment internally and externally


• Lead strategic direction for WPE in line with the organizational global strategy (both S100 and Safety Strategy)


• Responsible for identifying global areas of programmatic risk in WPE and elevating issues to Regional Leads and VPRU leadership.


• Collaborate with other Global Practice Leads to promote integrated program designs within WPE and across all IRC sectors that increase scale and deepen impact.


• Lead and ensure coordination of contributions by regional leads, technical advisors, and global specialists, to identify and action programmatic synergies across global practice areas.


• Lead Technical Unit led global business development for WPE and support strategic project proposals.


• Lead coordination with AMU to drive fundraising from Public and Institutional donors and with ER to drive fundraising from Private donors to meet VPRU’s strategic priorities related to WPE.


• Oversee Technical Unit-led strategic awards in WPE, working closely with regional Technical Advisors as applicable and the Grant Operations and Analytics Team


• Line manage global practice area and strategic project staff, and manage in partnership other roles as applicable.

Global Practice Implementation Support

• Responsible for drawing on evidence-based best practice to provide technical oversight of IRC’s global technical standards, methodologies, and tools for WPE.


• Accountable for the development of a limited number of high-value tools and methodologies to better integrate cross-cutting issues into WPE programs (e.g., diversity and inclusion, climate adaptation, etc.).


• Accountable for establishing information and knowledge management systems that support Regional Leads and Technical Advisors in staying up to date on global technical standards, methodologies, and tools.


• Establish competency framework for WPE and work closely with Regional Leads to identify competency gaps and drive capacity strengthening.


• Accountable for ensuring Technical Advisors and Technical Coordinators have the tools and resources that are needed to measure programs in Practice Area.


• Support Technical Advisors and Technical Coordinators with thorny technical problems, career planning support, and mentorship, as appropriate.


• Research, Data, Knowledge Management, and Organizational Learning


• Accountable for establishing and maintaining a Community of Practice and other channels for WPE to ensure pro-active and inclusive management with sustained learning, development, innovation, and best practice sharing.


• Coordinate with Regional Leads and Technical Advisors to lift up program learning for cross-sharing and incorporation into global best practice.


• Oversee Technical Unit-led strategic awards for WPE, working closely with regional Technical Advisors as applicable and the Grant Operations and Analytics Team


• Guide research and evidence use efforts for WPE programming, working closely with colleagues and leaders in Airbel, the VPR Technical Unit, other technical units, and regional colleagues.


• Provide technical inputs to WPE-specific MEAL tools and methodologies, and support data interpretation in learning routines.


• External Influence, Relationships and Representation


• Act as a key strategic advisor to Policy & Advocacy, Research & Innovation, and External Relations teams on advocacy campaigns and priority policy and practice shifts related to WPE programming.


• Responsible for identification, development, and maintenance of strategic relationships and global partnerships with relevant stakeholders (e.g. donors, UN agencies, NGOs, research and educational institutions, private sector actors) related to WPE.


• Represent IRC in external forums as relevant.

Key Working Relationships

• **Position Reports to:**Senior Director, VPRU, CRRD Technical Excellence


• Direct Reports: Global practice area and strategic project staff


• Management in partnership: Technical Advisors to be determined

Key Internal Relationships:

• VPRU Deputy Director


• VPR Regional Leads across 6 regions, and regional WPE Technical Advisors


• Global Practice Leads for Child Protection and Protection – Rule of Law


• Prevention and Inclusion Advisers


• VPRU Policy and Advocacy Lead and WPE Policy Officer


• VPRU Business Development and Partnership Lead


• Policy Solutions, Advocacy Influence, and Systems Change Global Teams


• CRRD Senior Management Team and Leadership Group; Regional Leadership Teams


• Global HQ and AMU focal points


• Key External Relationships: GBV AoR/Global Protection Cluster leads and stakeholders, INGOs, Red Cross/Crescent Movement counterparts, International Protection Coordination Platforms and Coalitions, Donor and policy makers, GBV counterparts in relevant UN agencies.

Desired Experience and Skills

• Established or growing recognition as an expert in the practice area, at regional or global level, with a minimum of 12+ years of progressive experience of designing, leading and implementing programs with 7+ years in the GBV/Women’s Protection and Empowerment


• Strong track record of driving uptake of evidence-based practice


• Demonstrated experience in sectoral strategy design and planning.


• Experience with sectoral policy and advocacy efforts and campaigns for change (as relevant)


• Excellent communication, influencing, and storytelling skills.


• Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management.


• Demonstrated ability to identify and convert business development opportunities for self and staff.


• Demonstrated ability to influence across a wide range of diverse stakeholders internally and externally.


• Demonstrated ability to shape the vision and agenda within the domain area they are working.


• Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills required.


• Superb inter-personal, written and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments.


• Track record of scaled innovations preferred, ideally including experience working on both digital and analog solutions.


• Fluency in English required; Arabic, French and/or Spanish also strongly preferred.


• Ability to travel globally up to 25% of the time, occasionally on short notice.

Education:

• Master’s/post-graduate degree in International Law, Human Rights Law, international development or relevant field or equivalent combination of education and work experience background is required. Sound training on the use of data and research evidence for programmatic decisions and rigorous analytic skills are an advantage.

Closing date

8 Jul 2024