Disaster Management Program Officer

Kenya Red Cross Society is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in Kenya. Its mission is to be the leading humanitarian organization in Kenya delivering excellent quality service of preventing and Alleviating Human Suffering.

Currently, KRCS aims to strengthen disaster preparedness capacity, by investing in stocks for small scale disasters which are hard to resource, strengthening systems and procedures, building experience and improving practice in cash transfer programming, developing human capacity and enhancing the use of learning to inform future responses.

The Society is looking for qualified persons to fill the following position:

Position Title:           Disaster Management Program Officer Reporting to:             Program Manager Job location:              Headquarters

The role of the Disaster Management Officer is to support the Programme Manager to ensure timely, efficient and effective preparedness and response to sudden and slow onset disasters and crises events.

Main duties and responsibilities

Disaster Preparedness and Response

·         Support in the development of contingency plans and Disaster Management (DM) policy guidelines

·         On a need basis, the officer will be deployed to the field for disaster response where the post holder will work closely with the county managers to align response operations to proposed DM strengthening guidelines

Response efficiency and accountability

·         Support in research undertaking desk reviews on specific topics including national disaster management related laws, protocols and policies

·         Contribute to the development and continuous strengthening of systems and procedures to guide the work of Disaster Operations team

·         Support the development and implementation of beneficiary communication and complaints mechanisms

·         Support the documentation of  lessons learned from Disaster Operations activities and ensure their dissemination within the team and beyond

·         Participate in the testing of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) through simulation/drill and document the results along with gap analysis

·         Support counties in developing and implementing community based early warning systems (EWS) utilizing the latest technology, strategies and traditional knowledge management systems 

·         Working with the Emergency Operations Centre and County Managers, support the establishment and development of County Disaster Response Teams (CDRT), National Disaster Response Teams (NDRT) and community based disaster management committees at the community at county level

·         Participate in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of a national training curriculum and capacity building programmes aimed at equipping and strengthening staff, volunteers and communities with capacity to prepare for disasters and large-scale emergencies

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

·         Work with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) department, monitor and evaluate the DM strengthening project to ensure that lessons learnt, success/failure stories are captured and information shared to support improvements in future work

·         Provide programme management support to the programme manager by, for example, providing periodic management reports of the project highlighting the expenditure rates, funding levels, programme achievements based on the M&E workplan etc

·         Work closely with the programme manager in ensuring that lessons learnt and good practice from the Disaster Management and Response component of the project are compiled and used to improve future planning, programming and implementation.

Communication, coordination, cooperation and partnerships

·         Organize and participate in working groups, meetings, conferences, consultations with other agencies and partners on humanitarian and emergency relief-related matters

·         Work closely with the Finance, Monitoring & Evaluation, & other departmental teams to ensure all aspects of the project are being managed effectively and efficiently.

Administration and Financial

·         In charge of all the documentation processes including minutes taking and reports generation for all the activities undertaken

·         Maintain stocks of learning materials, tools and guidelines on behalf of the project team

·         Create and manage project filing system both in soft and hard copy

·         Assist the department logistician in procuring items and follow up with Logistics on progress

·         Support the preparation of workshops, trainings and meetings

·         Undertake general photocopying, faxing, scanning, filing, records, data entries and preparation of printed materials

·         Work with DM and finance teams to ensure all payments are correctly coded

·         Work closely with the finance officer in ensuring timely payments and adherence to budget lines

Minimum Qualifications

·         Relevant degree level qualification or extensive professional experience in related field

·         Relevant training in disaster management

·         At least 3 years experience in disaster management work with both private and public sector

Key Competencies

·         Knowledge of a range of humanitarian assistance, emergency relief and related humanitarian issues, risk management in crisis, rehabilitation and/or development settings, including approaches and techniques to address difficult problems.

·         Knowledge of project management, including on monitoring and evaluation and particularly in participative processes

·         Excellent practical knowledge of computers (Windows, spreadsheets, word processing, e-mail, Internet

Applications should be sent to the following address to be received on or before Friday, 16^th January 2015.

Secretary General

Kenya Red Cross Society

P.O. Box 40712-00100,

Nairobi