DRR Specialist

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) is opening its field staff roster for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Specialists, willing to be deployed at short notice to various parts of the world. As a member of our roster you will continuously receive interesting international job opportunities and invitations to stimulating and valuable trainings and exercises. Employed by the MSB on an international mission you will receive a monthly salary as well as a comprehensive allowances and a benefits package, ranging from free home leave travel to access to psychosocial support.

The MSB highly values the well-being of our staff and whilst on mission you will have access to health and psychological support as well as safety support from the MSB 24 hours a day.

The MSB strives to apply gender equality in terms of recruitment to our Field Staff Roster.

Duties

The DRR Specialist position is a strategic and/or advisory position and could form the function as a Team Leader of a regional team, with other secondees in country offices. The work will require diplomacy, tact, negotiation skills and coordination with local authorities and key stakeholders. The position will cover one or several of the following areas: risk analysis, prevention, preparedness, response, early recovery, capacity building and training. Designing policies and strategies for disaster risk reduction is at the core and developing and delivering trainings on risk analysis, hazards (all/specific), sectors (all/specific) is likely. The work will be in high-medium risk areas.

The duties are a generic description of potential areas of responsibilities. The actual duties will be specified in a Terms of Reference (ToR) and will depend on the needs and situation in respective country or region.

Generic Duties:
•Provide policy advice to the development of institutional, legislative and policy frameworks for disaster risk reduction.
•Conduct and interpret risk analysis for preparedness planning, risk reduction, response and recovery, taking into account both a multi-hazard and multi-sectoral perspective.
•Analyze the socio-economic envionment, disaster-risk and institutional context to provide advisory services, identifying catalytic areas where disaster risk reduction can be integrated and add value to other, ongoing or planned programmes.
•Provide technical support for the development and implementation of regional risk reduction strategies.
•Identify specific needs and demands of country programs in the technical areas - risk identification, urban risk management, pre-disaster recovery planning and build partnerships at the national, regional or global levels to meet those needs.
•Plan and support for the integration of DRR into the humanitarian and development programmes.
•Promote integration of DRR within the cluster approach and participate in the Inter-Agency missions including early recovery and Post Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNA), if required.
•Facilitate advocacy efforts related to mainstreaming disaster risk reduction.
•Liaise with relevant stakeholders on DRR on a national or regional level, intergrating national disaster risk reduction activities.
•Ensure appropriate representation in the various regional DRR processes, including regional platforms, disaster risk reduction platforms and regional Inter-Agency (IASC/ISDR) processes.
•Coordinate and contribute to global initiatives to advance DRR.
•Provide leadership and technical input for the design, development and implementation of disaster risk reduction programs in support of the national governments priorities.
•Support the building of governments DRR programs through the identification of capacity development needs and facilitation of training workshops and simulation exercises as required.
•Support knowledge management intiatives focusing on challenges and lessons learned for promoting country specific legal, institutional and participatory arrangements for adressing DRR and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA).

Experience

A minimum of 8-10 years experience within the field of Disaster Management, Humanitarian Assistance, Project Management, or similar fields of work is required, as well as experience in management or team leading positions. The work will require diplomacy, tact, negotiation skills and previous experience at a coordination level with local authorities and key stakeholders is mandatory. Experience in designing methodology and guidelines for DRR are key. The ability to develop and deliver trainings on DRR is beneficial. In addition, the incumbent should have experience development programming and experience from humanitarian response settings is beneficial. The work will be in high-medium risk areas, so experience from working in an insecure environment or similar context is required.

Education

Advanced University degree in one of the following fields: Disaster Management, Emergency Response, Humanitarian Assistance, Social Sciences, Public Administration, International Law, International Relations or other related disciplines, preferably a combination of management, administration, and the relevant technical field. A relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of a formal university degree.

Languages

Fluent English is essential, both spoken and written. Knowledge of French or any other official UN language is an asset.

Other requirements

Candidates must be physically capable and medically fit to work and travel and will be required to undergo a pre-employment medical examination by a licensed physician before being contracted.

Profile

MSB is looking for men and women with a strong commitment towards humanitarian relief and development programming. It is of utmost priority that candidates understand, respect and act in the spirit of the mandate and core values of MSB. The candidate must possess a high level of professional and personal maturity together with an ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues, managers and external partners, such as the UN, NGOs, local governments and affected populations. Candidates must be able to interact with sensitivity and display respect for diversity and gender in multi-cultural environments. A capacity for working under pressure is essential, as the work tasks will be challenging and under demanding conditions. The candidate is expected to have excellent strategic and communicative skills, show initiative and take both a hands-on and an analytical approach to tasks and problems.

Contractual conditions

All MSB operational personnel are registered on a roster which contains a wide range of professions and competencies. Individuals recruited to the field staff roster should undertake the MSB introduction course and any specialist training courses, as required. It is from the roster that MSB select personnel when deploying its experts. Working with MSB on an overseas operation means that personnel from the roster are temporarily employed by MSB. MSB pays wages, insurances, travel costs and subsistence allowance during the entire deployment. In addition, participants on introduction courses and relevant specialist training courses receive remuneration from MSB.

HOW TO APPLY:

Please apply on MSB website
https://www.msb.se/en/Start1/Personalpool/DRR-Specialist/?FileNo=2015-3633