Psychosocial Technical Advisor Flying Team, Handicap International
Employment at Handicap International as Psychosocial Technical Advisor Flying Team
Organization: Handicap International
Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 04 Jan 2017
Outraged by the injustice faced by people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, we aspire to a world of solidarity and inclusion, enriched by our differences, where everyone can live in dignity.
Handicap International is an independent and impartial aid and development organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. We work alongside disabled and vulnerable people to help meet their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.
For further information about the association: http://www.handicap-international.fr/
Present in more than 55 countries, Handicap International is composed of 2 operational directions:
- The Direction of Humanitarian Action
- The Direction of Development Action
JOB CONTEXT :
After a referendum following 50 years of conflict with the North, South Sudan became officially independent in July 2011. From then, the country has engaged in a long period of construction, expected to last for the next 50 years. This period has been violently stopped since December 2013 with an internal political and ethnic conflict creating massive displacement of populations inside and outside the country. The country is now facing, added to violent clashes and wars, a major economic crisis driving it to a close collapse.
Handicap International (HI) has operating in South Sudan since 2006, implementing emergency and development actions aimed at improving the protection, quality of life, and the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and other vulnerable individuals and communities. From 2006 to 2013, HI implemented a range of projects, shifting progressively from an emergency action/ repatriation to a resilience approach up to 2013.
Soon after the crisis in December 2013, HI – already implementing emergency response in Juba camps and Mingkaman IDP sites – started to receive multiple requests from humanitarian partners who were identifying gaps in the attention and responses for persons with disabilities and other persons in disabling situations affected by the emergency. Additionally due to the violent nature of the conflict, high numbers of persons had acquired temporary or permanent impairments as a result of conflict and displacement. HI teams initially offered response through remote technical advice on accessibility and inclusive emergency response then short 1-week missions from March 2014, providing targeted services for individuals and equipping humanitarian staff with basic rehabilitation skills by mobilizing technical resources from our long-term projects.
However, it soon became evident that the increasing complexity of requests required a more comprehensive mission to provide effective interventions in areas where no disability-related service had ever been available. While the first missions in March to June 2014 focused mainly on hospital-based interventions that allowed for shorter, concentrated support, utilizing existing technical staff HI teams soon started to receive requests that required community support and multi-sector interventions calling for longer missions and broader targets. At this point HI established a flying team that was able to stay for up to one month in a specific location, providing targeted, tailored field support for wound-affected and persons in disabling situations as well as extended mentoring for Humanitarian field staff. This showed positive impact through increased capacity of service providers who have improve the inclusiveness and accessibility of their ongoing responses for both persons with disability and other persons in disabling or vulnerable situations.
YOUR MISSION:
As Psychosocial technical Advisor in HI flying team, you work closely with humanitarian actors, assessing and addressing the needs of persons with disabilities, wounded persons and other vulnerable individuals with physical impairments. You are responsible for conduct training session and awareness raising actions targeting community members, volunteers and other humanitarian actor’s psychosocial support. You also work closely with flying team members and hosting humanitarian organisation field staffs in improving community inclusion of persons with disabilities and persons with mental health and psychosocial problems through close communication with community structures.
You remain directly accountable to Emergency Coordinator for all aspects of your job function and have strong functional links with the Technical Advisor at HQ level for quality implementation of the projects. You also work closely with other members of the flying team
Responsibilities:
- Provide basic psychosocial orientation, support and mitigation measure to vulnerable persons to promote positive coping-mechanisms, self- reliance and safety
- Conduct site assessment, and provide capacity building and technical advice on basic psychosocial support to humanitarian actors across sectors to overcome gaps in MHPSS prevention and response activities
- Ensure the support of protection partners in the field and other groups, the implementation of findings of community based analyses of protection risks and threats affecting vulnerable persons, incorporating awareness of mitigating measures with other member of the flying team
- Contribute to the capitalisation of tools and implementation of awareness raising and capacity building activities aimed at improving inclusion of persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups in Humanitarian responses across sectors within his/her area of expertise
- Contribute to coordination and reporting tasks and in communication and public relations
CANDIDATE’S PROFILE:
- You hold a Master’s Degree in Psychology from a recognized University/School
- You have Minimum of 2 years of experience in psychosocial support services in Emergency situations
- You know how to develop and maintain effective work relationships with government authorities, network of national disability organisations involved in rehabilitation
- You are self-motivated and able to work with minimum supervision
- You are strong in setting priorities, reaching targets and are flexible and show patience and perseverance
- You have excellent communication skills in English (verbal and written) including the ability to write reports, to document good practices and lessons learnt.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSITION :
South Sudan environment is characterized by:
- a capital, Juba, with major presence of INGOs and UNS, basic but acceptable leaving conditions (generator, water tanks, basic roads…) and high cost level.
- rural areas with very badly shaped roads, few infrastructure and NGO leaving in compounds. The different sites of intervention are accessible by plane through WFP-run services. The security conditions are instable with a level 3 and areas under massive conflict.
- The rainy season in South Sudan goes from May/June to September/October. During this period, movements are mostly limited since the roads are impracticable.
- Housing: The office and the Guesthouses are separated in Juba. Both premises are in the centre of Town. The accommodation in Juba is simple but comfortable. Each staff has his/her own self-contained room with Air Conditioner. City Power is hectic but a generator is running in the morning and at the evening time. There is a TV in the dining room with DSTV (cable) and the Guesthouses have internet/wireless facility.
- Juba offers some facilities as bars, restaurants, gym and swimming pools for International Staff but with a variable curfew up to 10 PM max.
Due to the context, the position is unaccompanied
CONDITIONS:
- Starting date : ASAP
- Length of the contract: end date: 30th March 2017
- Employee or volunteer status, according to experience :
- Employee: from 2031€ gross/month (regarding the experience of the candidate) + perdiem + hardship allowance + medical health coverage, retirement planning, repatriation insurance,
- Volunteer: volunteering allowances: 1000€ net/month + perdiem allowances + health coverage, planning, repatriation, retirement
Apply here: https://goo.gl/g8cChU