Expressions of Interest – Social Protection Experts
Job Description
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive, recover and gain control of their future. The IRC is working to improve the safety, health, education, economic well-being, and decision-making power of people in crisis affected places.
The Economic Recovery and Development Technical Unit (ERD TU) is responsible for providing technical assistance on the design, implementation, and monitoring of programs supporting economic wellbeing outcomes globally. This includes (but is not limited to) cash and voucher assistance (CVA), agriculture, livelihoods, and financial inclusion programming. The ERD TU drives IRC’s innovation and thought leadership (both internal and external) within the economic wellbeing space, supporting evidence generation and dissemination of best practices.
Job Overview/Summary
Social protection systems and approaches have the potential to play an important role in crisis contexts but are currently underutilized or not designed as effectively as they could be. There is limited evidence, and frequently humanitarian actors require additional knowledge and capacity related to social protection. Where they do exist, social protection systems in crisis often exclude vulnerable populations, such as refugees, or do not adequately consider gender or other inequalities.
In collaboration with a range of other humanitarian and social protection actors, the IRC is participating in an FCDO-funded program to provide timely technical assistance for strengthened social protection approaches in crisis and to address other challenges, such as evidence gaps and capacity building needs. The program will encompass a variety of short to medium term assignments which partner organizations can bid on, often with short turn around (3-10 business days). Assignments may focus on global/thematic questions related to social protection or may be specific to a given country/crisis.
The IRC’s ERD TU is seeking expressions of interest for consultants to join a database of social protection experts. Consultants will be engaged by IRC to respond to assignment call-downs within the overarching program framework. Assignments are anticipated to be short to medium term (around 2-9 months) and depending on the specific deliverables may be entirely remote, require in-country work/travel, or a hybrid. In most instances, consultants will be working in close collaboration with IRC staff (headquarters, and/or country office staff) and potentially counterparts from other program partner organizations and/or FCDO.
Major Responsibilities
Specific responsibilities will depend on the assignment objectives, below is an indication of the types of responsibilities that might be involved (based on previous call-down assignments):
Development of policy or programming options, or other technical advice, for UN agencies, government ministries, FCDO, or others
Best practices research, synthesis, and/or dissemination (potentially including evidence or literature reviews)
Creating technical resources to guide FCDO and/or implementers, such as guidance notes or tools
Conceptualizing new programs or developing recommendations to improve existing programs
Stakeholder mapping
Mainstreaming of specific considerations to address inequality, such as gender or disability
Designing and/or delivering capacity building initiatives to strengthen donor or practitioner skills
Depending on experience, expert consultants may also take on team leader functions and/or provide quality assurance of other team members’ contributions to the assignment (including other consultants, IRC staff, or partners).
Qualifications
Job Requirements
Education
Bachelor’s degree in international development, social sciences, government/public policy, economics, or another relevant field.
Master’s degree or PhD highly regarded (although not required)
Experience
Minimum of 5 years’ professional experience focused on social protection (senior and principal experts will require a minimum of 10-15 years’ experience)
In addition to social protection experience generally, we are also seeking individuals who have specific experience in the intersection of social protection and one or more of the following thematic/technical areas:
oDisability
oGender
oClimate
oConflict-sensitive programming
oCash and voucher assistance
oSocial registries and targeting
Knowledge of, and/or previous experience advising FCDO or UN agencies (WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF) is highly regarded. As is experience with government ministries supporting social protection.
Skills And Competencies
Strong technical expertise in social protection program and/or policy design and implementation. Thorough understanding of the latest evidence and current trends in social protection.
Exceptional research and analytic skills
Adept at translating theory into practice, including:
oAbility to distill complex concepts into concise takeaways and/or recommendations
oAbility to develop technical resources that are both evidence-based and tailored to user needs
Strong capacity building / coaching skills and a reputation as a valued thought partner
Track record of working independently to deliver high-quality deliverables, in line with specifications and within agreed timelines
Excellent interpersonal skills and highly developed stakeholder management
Available to respond to requests on short notice
Expressions of Interest
To submit your expression of interest, please include a CV and a brief cover letter that addresses the following questions:
How many years of professional experience do you have, directly relevant to social protection?
Do you have specific thematic/technical experience within the social protection field? (e.g. gender, climate etc.)
Do you have specific contextual expertise? (i.e. social protection in a specific region or country)
Are you available for international travel or remote assignments only?
If available, please provide your daily rate or salary expectations.
Individuals whose experience and skills match the selection criteria will be added to the consultant database, either directly or after an interview. Individuals with particularly exceptional experience may be invited to enter into a master service agreement (a framework agreement to facilitate faster contracting).
If you have any questions about the social protection experts consultant database, you can contact ben.excell@rescue.org
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Standards For Professional Conduct And Commitment To Equality
The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Client Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.
IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.
We offer benefits that help promote an empowering work environment, including parental leave, medical insurance, counseling services, gender-sensitive security protocols, and more.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
Language preference and/or interpretation to interview for the role can be made available upon request for the IRC’s working languages (Spanish, French, Arabic, English).