Humanitarian Operations Technical Advisor II Finance & Grant Management, Global

Job Summary:

The Humanitarian Response Department (HRD) provides leadership and support to CRS emergency programming. The HRD strengthens CRS’ impact through high quality, innovative programs; improved technical and management capacity at the field level; and active engagement in global efforts to promote excellence and learning in humanitarian response. The HRD has technical staff that support emergency program planning, rapid response operations, and capacity strengthening of staff and partners worldwide.

You will provide technical advice, guidance, and support to a wide range of program design and implementation issues with a focus on larger projects in Humanitarian Response in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practicesto regional and Country Program (CP) teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your technical knowledge, advice and guidance will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive, and innovative CRS’ Humanitarian Responseprogramming is across the globe.

The Humanitarian Operations Technical Advisor II’s primary role is to provide HRD with additional rapid deployment capabilities for breaking and ongoing humanitarian responses. He/she will be primarily responsible for setting up and supporting the following emergency operational focuses: finance management, grant management, administration, field base set up, and human resources. The Technical Advisor will support HRD direct projects with grant and finance management support and oversight. He or she will facilitate a high standard of field operations management in emergencies; advise on best practices and support capacity building for CRS country programs and partners.

The exact responsibilities during deployments will vary depending on the local context, ranging from providing direct management of relief operations, setting up and managing relief delivery systems, providing technical assistance, and mentoring of CRS Partners and Country Programs staff.

The Humanitarian Operations Technical Advisor II will be part of the HRD Operations Team and will be required to travel at least 50% of the time, often at very short notice (within 48 hours) and for an average of four to six weeks.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Specialize in the following operational focuses in emergencies: finance management, grant management, administration, field base set up, and human resources.

• Support HRD direct projects with timely and accurate grant and finance management support and oversight.

• Provide technical solutions to CP teams and partners, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply standards, best practices, partnership principles, and tools, helping to ensure high-quality implementation.

• Conductpartnerfinancial assessments,financialmonitoring, andInternalControlImprovementPlans.Monitorand providefeedbacktopartneron progressagainsttheir plans and additional ways to improve operational efficiency.

• Collect and analyze program data, capture, and share lessons learned and best practices for specific projects to facilitate improvements in decision-making and contribute to the Humanitarian Operations learning agenda.
• Contribute to the development of the technical design for proposals. Support the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of project concepts and full-fledged proposals. Advise project teams on integrating donor budget, where strategies, priorities, and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.

• Support CP and partner budgetmanagers in developing budgetsfornewprograms/projects andrevisionsof existing projects.Ensurethatreasonableestimatesof direct costandshared directcostareused in budgets,based on historicaldataandcurrentmarketconditions.In addition,ensure thataccurateindirectcostandsupportservices ratesareused in accordancewithpoliciesand guidelines.

• Supportpartnerswhere needed in thedevelopmentoffinancepolicies/procedures,includingOperating Cashon Hand procedures.

• Support CP teams and partners in conducting regular marketanalysisfor multiple purposes: identifying strategic sourcing options, setting up open competition-approved supplier lists for key goods and services; and establishing strategic relationships and possible framework agreements with key providers, such as Financial ServiceProviders (FSPs).

• Promoteefficient and innovativesolutions tocashmanagementbasedon current trendswithpartners. well-beingSuchsolutionsmightinclude electronic partner budget where neededbankingandmobile banking,whenfeasible andappropriate.Design and implementinternalcontrolsadapted to such innovativesolutions.

Additional Roles and Responsibilities:

• As needed provide support and input in other operations functions such as: logistics, supply chain management--including procurement, warehousing, transportation, cash voucher assistance, fleet, ICT/Telecoms, and security.

• Be ready to assume a direct operations management or leadership roles within the Country Program response team.

• Contribute to staff safety, care, and wellbeing for both partner and CRS team members.

• Work in collaboration with HRD Operation Team and HQ departments, to keep up to date on the latest policies and procedures and to define and disseminate best practices and standards for supply chain management and field operations in emergencies.

• Work with the HRD Operations team to support the adaptation of existing/development of new CRS operations policies, procedures and guidance to cover both general and sectoral emergency program needs.

• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in Humanitarian Operations that effectively engage partners, donors, and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.

• Work with the HRD Operations Team to manage the Emergency Field Operations Manual (EFOM) by updating with best practices, new tools, and policy procedures relevant to improving the speed and effectiveness of CRS’ humanitarian responses.

• Ensure a quality partnership between CRS and target partners in line with CRS and CI partnership principles.Work closely with the EMPOWER team members to ensure coordinated, consistent partner strengthening efforts and support timely resolution of partnership challenges via dialogue and support from others, as appropriate.

• Identify partner capacity strengthening needs in operations/finance and develop comprehensive partner-specific action plans, in conjunction with the partners and other EMPOWER team members.

• Work with HRD Operations Team to design, develop and adapt training modules in emergency operations for CRS and partner emergency program staff in collaboration with relevant HQ departments and HRD Technical Advisors. Training should ensure staff ability to establish quality emergency response programs that include cross-cutting themes and strengthen core competencies, meet donor requirements, and achieve excellent general program management standards. Supervise trainings or identify training needs and requirements for emergency program staff.

• Support capacity strengthening initiatives in Humanitarian Operations programming for staff and partner through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and coaching.

• Liaise with other organizations regarding learning and best practices in emergency operations.

• Represent the HRD and CRS in any relevant Humanitarian Operations forums.

• Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations, research, and other institutions, participate in forums in the area of Humanitarian Operations to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.

• Assist with all other tasks as needed to forward emergency operations and programming.