Hiring Organization: Mercy Corps
LINE MANAGEMENT:
ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS AND STAKEHOLDERS:
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is home based from a Mercy Corps location, with the Access and Safety Advisor being dedicated to supporting the regions 50% of their time. This support may be remote at times, but will also require frequent travel to the field site. If re-location is necessary, Mercy Corps will consider providing an expatriate staff package as long as the home of record location has ready access to an international airport. Significant travel is expected with this position at 50% of the time to remote and insecure environments with living conditions that may be quite basic and may include accommodations in guest houses or group living. S/he is expected to be visible and active over Teams, Zoom, Skype and other platforms.
Job Location: The Hague, South Holland
Location: Any office where Mercy Corps exists in Europe with 50% travel
Position Status: Full-time, Exempt, Regular
Salary Level: Based on Local Benchmarking and commensurate with experience
Languages: French fluency is a must and Spanish an advantage
The Position
The Access and Safety Advisor (ASA) is a high-quality security professional, contributing to overall reduction of the risk exposure of Mercy Corps’ staff and programs. This role supports that objective by training and empowering our field offices to better assess and respond to safety and security threats and planning around incident management. This includes both naturally occurring disasters and man-made hazards. In addition, this position will spearhead our work to improve our global expertise and capacity in access negotiation, through training as well as direct advisory support on access. Globally he/she advances best practices through security management training, technical advice and support for improved assessment, analysis and planning.
The Access and Safety Advisor will work in close coordination with the Regional Safety and Security Advisors, and provide cover, when required, for key positions as well as be deployed in support of the Regional Safety and Security Advisors. This position will be deployable 50% of the time. When not supporting specific country programs, the Access and Safety Advisor will be available to support Mercy Corps programs globally, as directed by the Senior Director, Global Security.
It is expected that the Access, Safety and Security Advisor is a partner to the Regional Directors of Asia, Africa, Middle East and Americas in improving our risk management through team building and training, careful planning of growth and expansion, program design, incident management, regional analysis and other activities. This position will travel extensively with field trips in the different region to develop a deep understanding of the contexts of Mercy Corps teams.
ESSESNTIAL JOB RESONSIBILITIES
The overall responsibility of the Access and Safety Advisor is to reduce the risk exposure of Mercy Corps’ staff and programs; this role supports that objective by training and empowering our field offices to better assess and respond to safety and security threats and planning around incident management. This includes both naturally occurring disasters and man-made hazards. In addition, this position plays a lead in supporting and advising on access. Globally he/she advances best practices through security management training, technical advice and support for improved assessment, analysis and planning.
Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Support to Humanitarian Access Negotiations: The Access and Safety Advisor will play a lead role across our global team on advising and training on access negotiation strategies and their operationalization. This role may be called on to support or even lead access negotiations at the regional or country level. Safety and Security Management: The responsibility for the implementation of all security management plans lies within each country and with the Country Director or designated Representative. When requested to support the relevant RSA, or as directed by the Senior Director Global Security, the Access and Safety Advisor will provide technical support and quality control of this process and is responsible for both operational and management-level support to identified country teams, in coordination with the Regional Safety and Security Advisor. S/he will also conduct security audits and other checks to ensure the diligence of implementation and appropriateness in planning. S/he will advise on staffing, budgeting and other strategies. S/he will support new program initiatives with the design phase and technical documentation. S/he will ground truth local risk assessments and contingency planning – ensuring these are ready to be operationalized. The Access and Safety Advisor may be required to support incident management of critical incidents and crisis situations. His/her support may be, from time to time, required to support the global portfolio, as relates to security management. Security Analysis: The Access and Safety Advisor is expected to follow the security and political situation in countries/regions relevant to Mercy Corps in support or regional and country security advisors. The RASSA will work with the relevant Regional Director to ensure the Executive Team and the necessary headquarters teams are alerted to incidents requiring their attention and s/he may provide ongoing support. This includes (as example) insurance claims, press releases, advocacy statement or other areas where his/her input is useful.Technical Support: The ASA should be readily available to the relevant Regional Director (and their Deputies as appropriate), Regional Security Advisors, Country Directors and field staff to advise on security developments. The RASSA will call upon additional expertise or consultants as needed, and with agreement of the Senior Director Global Security. S/he is expected to be available during times of critical incidents and may be a part of a Crisis Management team structure. S/he will engage other HLR and security team members as additional support to trainings or specific needs. The ASA will provide technical support to the SFPs in achieving the Global Minimum Standards in Safety & Security, as required by RSAs and/or the Senior Director for Global Security. This includes Safety and Security Orientations, Trainings, Incident Reporting & Management, Journey Management, Staff Tracking, Documentation & Filing and Communications. They will also be expected to support program design.The ASA will understand and provide the direct support to achieve a culture of security and duty-of-care within Mercy Corps team members and across teams. This may be hands-on support to incidents or trainings. This includes productive engagement with the People team in recruitment, training and onboarding new team members. The ASA is expected to provide trainings in country offices to individuals, groups and the Senior Management Team, as needed and as practical. S/he will work across teams to help develop capacity goals and plans for country teams. Representation and Networking: The ASA will support field and regional teams with HQ and field-level coordination in the NGO community; seek opportunities for formal and informal cooperation; develop a network of support with peers in the humanitarian community at global level. General: The ASA will rely heavily on the individual’s ability to develop strong positive working relationships with the Country Directors, Security Focal Points, field staff, the RD and the global security team for a collective understanding and approach towards effective security management. The ASA is expected to effectively represent, promote, and protect Mercy Corps’ commitment to humanitarian principles, including its and its mandate for independence, impartiality, and neutrality.
S/he is expected to help promote important global and regional priorities such as GDI, localization and all policies. S/he is expected to be aware and promote agency initiatives and practices in areas such as Remote Management, Emergency Response, Business Continuity and similar.
Other: Any other duties which are not listed but are essential to the safety and security for Mercy Corps staff, property/material, and reputation.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:
Location: Any office where Mercy Corps exists in Europe with 50% travel
Position Status: Full-time, Exempt, Regular
Salary Level: Based on Local Benchmarking and commensurate with experience
Languages: French fluency is a must and Spanish an advantage
The Position
The Access and Safety Advisor (ASA) is a high-quality security professional, contributing to overall reduction of the risk exposure of Mercy Corps’ staff and programs. This role supports that objective by training and empowering our field offices to better assess and respond to safety and security threats and planning around incident management. This includes both naturally occurring disasters and man-made hazards. In addition, this position will spearhead our work to improve our global expertise and capacity in access negotiation, through training as well as direct advisory support on access. Globally he/she advances best practices through security management training, technical advice and support for improved assessment, analysis and planning.
The Access and Safety Advisor will work in close coordination with the Regional Safety and Security Advisors, and provide cover, when required, for key positions as well as be deployed in support of the Regional Safety and Security Advisors. This position will be deployable 50% of the time. When not supporting specific country programs, the Access and Safety Advisor will be available to support Mercy Corps programs globally, as directed by the Senior Director, Global Security.
It is expected that the Access, Safety and Security Advisor is a partner to the Regional Directors of Asia, Africa, Middle East and Americas in improving our risk management through team building and training, careful planning of growth and expansion, program design, incident management, regional analysis and other activities. This position will travel extensively with field trips in the different region to develop a deep understanding of the contexts of Mercy Corps teams.
ESSESNTIAL JOB RESONSIBILITIES
The overall responsibility of the Access and Safety Advisor is to reduce the risk exposure of Mercy Corps’ staff and programs; this role supports that objective by training and empowering our field offices to better assess and respond to safety and security threats and planning around incident management. This includes both naturally occurring disasters and man-made hazards. In addition, this position plays a lead in supporting and advising on access. Globally he/she advances best practices through security management training, technical advice and support for improved assessment, analysis and planning.
Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Support to Humanitarian Access Negotiations: The Access and Safety Advisor will play a lead role across our global team on advising and training on access negotiation strategies and their operationalization. This role may be called on to support or even lead access negotiations at the regional or country level. Safety and Security Management: The responsibility for the implementation of all security management plans lies within each country and with the Country Director or designated Representative. When requested to support the relevant RSA, or as directed by the Senior Director Global Security, the Access and Safety Advisor will provide technical support and quality control of this process and is responsible for both operational and management-level support to identified country teams, in coordination with the Regional Safety and Security Advisor. S/he will also conduct security audits and other checks to ensure the diligence of implementation and appropriateness in planning. S/he will advise on staffing, budgeting and other strategies. S/he will support new program initiatives with the design phase and technical documentation. S/he will ground truth local risk assessments and contingency planning – ensuring these are ready to be operationalized. The Access and Safety Advisor may be required to support incident management of critical incidents and crisis situations. His/her support may be, from time to time, required to support the global portfolio, as relates to security management. Security Analysis: The Access and Safety Advisor is expected to follow the security and political situation in countries/regions relevant to Mercy Corps in support or regional and country security advisors. The RASSA will work with the relevant Regional Director to ensure the Executive Team and the necessary headquarters teams are alerted to incidents requiring their attention and s/he may provide ongoing support. This includes (as example) insurance claims, press releases, advocacy statement or other areas where his/her input is useful.Technical Support: The ASA should be readily available to the relevant Regional Director (and their Deputies as appropriate), Regional Security Advisors, Country Directors and field staff to advise on security developments. The RASSA will call upon additional expertise or consultants as needed, and with agreement of the Senior Director Global Security. S/he is expected to be available during times of critical incidents and may be a part of a Crisis Management team structure. S/he will engage other HLR and security team members as additional support to trainings or specific needs. The ASA will provide technical support to the SFPs in achieving the Global Minimum Standards in Safety & Security, as required by RSAs and/or the Senior Director for Global Security. This includes Safety and Security Orientations, Trainings, Incident Reporting & Management, Journey Management, Staff Tracking, Documentation & Filing and Communications. They will also be expected to support program design.The ASA will understand and provide the direct support to achieve a culture of security and duty-of-care within Mercy Corps team members and across teams. This may be hands-on support to incidents or trainings. This includes productive engagement with the People team in recruitment, training and onboarding new team members. The ASA is expected to provide trainings in country offices to individuals, groups and the Senior Management Team, as needed and as practical. S/he will work across teams to help develop capacity goals and plans for country teams. Representation and Networking: The ASA will support field and regional teams with HQ and field-level coordination in the NGO community; seek opportunities for formal and informal cooperation; develop a network of support with peers in the humanitarian community at global level. General: The ASA will rely heavily on the individual’s ability to develop strong positive working relationships with the Country Directors, Security Focal Points, field staff, the RD and the global security team for a collective understanding and approach towards effective security management. The ASA is expected to effectively represent, promote, and protect Mercy Corps’ commitment to humanitarian principles, including its and its mandate for independence, impartiality, and neutrality.
S/he is expected to help promote important global and regional priorities such as GDI, localization and all policies. S/he is expected to be aware and promote agency initiatives and practices in areas such as Remote Management, Emergency Response, Business Continuity and similar.
Other: Any other duties which are not listed but are essential to the safety and security for Mercy Corps staff, property/material, and reputation.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:
The ASA does not directly manage staff, but depending on assignments, may work closely with Security Focal Points, Security Officers, Managers or Security Directors, who would have accountability to him/her in terms of quality and standards. The ASA may also be managing the outcomes of consultants and in specific cases, may supervise part-time security staff.
LINE MANAGEMENT:
Reports Directly To: The Sr. Director Global Security. The primary working partners for the RASSA are the Regional Security Advisors, the Regional Directors and Deputy Regional Directors in addition to Country Director and SFPs in countries where the RASSA is deployed. Works Directly With: Regional Security Advisors for the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with the other team members of the security and HLR teams.
ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS AND STAKEHOLDERS:
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION & TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
Advanced level of understanding with the philosophy and mode of operation of NGOs.
A minimum, of 6 to 8 years experience in complex and insecure settings, preferably within a conflict environment. Preferably, in more than one country with large teams of staff.
Alternatively, extensive experience in the security or management field that reflects 3+ years in team management and working at the senior leadership level is required.
Experience working or managing a program that required humanitarian access negotiations and strategizing is highly desired.
Experienced in access negotiations.
Strong understanding of International Humanitarian Law, and how it impacts Humanitarian and Development operations in the field. Candidates should also have a good understanding of counter-terrorism legislation and how it can impact operations.
Proven written and analytical skills (sample may be requested).
Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and mentoring.
Willingness to work and travel frequently in often difficult and insecure environments.
Proven experience remotely managing staff in a matrix management environment.
Competency in Internet and Microsoft Office systems including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and other database/mapping systems.
Fluency in French and working knowledge of Spanish is required, with English as the main working language.
Formal training qualifications (HEAT, K&R, Personal Security, First Aid etc) is an asset.
Success Factors
The successful candidate will have the ability to envisage and contribute to the goal of a stronger security culture using all the existing tools of the agency. S/he will be practiced at developing productive working relationships in high pressure environments. A proactive operator, he/she will bring a proactive, solution-oriented approach with a culture and practice of offering positive pathways of support to reach goals.
A minimum, of 6 to 8 years experience in complex and insecure settings, preferably within a conflict environment. Preferably, in more than one country with large teams of staff.
Alternatively, extensive experience in the security or management field that reflects 3+ years in team management and working at the senior leadership level is required.
Experience working or managing a program that required humanitarian access negotiations and strategizing is highly desired.
Experienced in access negotiations.
Strong understanding of International Humanitarian Law, and how it impacts Humanitarian and Development operations in the field. Candidates should also have a good understanding of counter-terrorism legislation and how it can impact operations.
Proven written and analytical skills (sample may be requested).
Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and mentoring.
Willingness to work and travel frequently in often difficult and insecure environments.
Proven experience remotely managing staff in a matrix management environment.
Competency in Internet and Microsoft Office systems including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and other database/mapping systems.
Fluency in French and working knowledge of Spanish is required, with English as the main working language.
Formal training qualifications (HEAT, K&R, Personal Security, First Aid etc) is an asset.
Success Factors
The successful candidate will have the ability to envisage and contribute to the goal of a stronger security culture using all the existing tools of the agency. S/he will be practiced at developing productive working relationships in high pressure environments. A proactive operator, he/she will bring a proactive, solution-oriented approach with a culture and practice of offering positive pathways of support to reach goals.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is home based from a Mercy Corps location, with the Access and Safety Advisor being dedicated to supporting the regions 50% of their time. This support may be remote at times, but will also require frequent travel to the field site. If re-location is necessary, Mercy Corps will consider providing an expatriate staff package as long as the home of record location has ready access to an international airport. Significant travel is expected with this position at 50% of the time to remote and insecure environments with living conditions that may be quite basic and may include accommodations in guest houses or group living. S/he is expected to be visible and active over Teams, Zoom, Skype and other platforms.