Resilience Field Officer

Job Title: Resilience Field Officer
Department: Programs
Reports to: Shelter Project Officer (PO)
Location: Gaza

Country Background

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS has been present in Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza (JWBG) since 1961 and currently supports programs in the sectors of humanitarian relief, livelihoods, civil society strengthening, and social justice promotion through its field offices in Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah and Bethlehem. For further information about CRS, please visit: www.crs.org.

CRS implements several large-scale projects designed to build resilience among vulnerable Gazan families. The holistic recovery projects are underpinned by psychosocial support (PSS), targeting a wide range of families in target communities in need of psychosocial support, including from the most recent conflict. The projects’ holistic approach, including a strong internal referral system and resilience planning and coaching component, will enable the project to leverage the positive impacts of these complementary supports to promote the resilience of acutely vulnerable, crisis-affected Gazan communities, particularly women and girls.

Shelter programming is a large component of these projects. CRS and partners use a self-help model where households receive restricted cash and technical support to execute their own repairs. A self-help approach promotes choice and dignity while accomplishing upgrades in a cost-effective way. For households unable or uncomfortable with leading their own repairs, CRS and partners engage contractors. In all activities, CRS provides project participants with construction site safety guidance. CRS promotes a participatory, integrated, gender-responsive approach to increase choice, dignity, sustainable solutions, and ownership of all household members. CRS and its partners collaborate closely with the Shelter Cluster and other humanitarian actors.

Job Summary

The Resilience Field Officer (FO) will assist project implementation by working directly with local partners and community members, coordinating various project activities and events in support of CRS’ work to serve the poor and vulnerable. The successful candidate will have a thorough and service-oriented approach to project implementation which ensures that communities feed into and benefit from shelter assistance that consistently applies best practices and constantly works towards improving the impact of the project for the people we serve.

Roles and Responsibilities   

• Support the coordination, implementation, and monitoring of project activities at the field level, ensuring implementation schedules are met as per the detailed implementation plan (DIP), and that adherence to CRS systems for quality project implementation are This includes but is not limited to contributing to participant selection, overseeing technical and social shelter assessments, coordinating the distribution of non-food items, and monitoring contractors and vendors.
• Coordinate communication and facilitate information sharing among the project team, local implementing partners, and project beneficiaries at the community level to assist local partners in strengthening the community interest, involvement and support
• Support the project team to identify technical opportunities and challenges related to shelter repair, including but not limited to low-cost or environmentally friendly solutions. Ensure compliance with quality control procedures during the repair and construction work implementation.
• Support the strengthening and implementation of resilience planning and coaching, including social worker training, service provider mapping, follow-up, monitoring and learning. Support the documentation of high-level learning from this approach.
• In coordination with the project team, support capacity-building activities for local implementing partners, in accordance with CRS Partnership Principles. Report on challenges and/or gaps identified to inform adjustments to the plan and implementation
• Liaise with various community stakeholders including NGOs/CSOs and mobilize them to ensure full involvement of community leaders, and community representatives in the overall implementation and improvement of project
• Compile data provided at the community level as per project requirements and contribute to the preparation of
• Ensure compliance with gender best practices, and promote safe and meaningful inclusion and participation at the household level.
• Support the dissemination of the CRS Safeguarding Policy & Code of Conduct and Ethics to local implementing partners, project beneficiaries, and relevant community members, including mechanisms to safely make report or provide feedback; ensure compliance with this policy, including review of and response to feedback and complaints, and immediately notify supervisor of any
• Support project administration, procurement (e.g. of contractors, project supplies, etc.), and backstop other functions, as assigned.

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Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in civil or architectural engineering
• Minimum two (2) years of NGO work experience
• Demonstrated experience in shelter assistance
• Experience working with partners and participating in humanitarian assistance
• Proficiency using MS Windows, MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Knowledge of safeguarding principles and practices

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with programming related to social services, psychosocial support, and/or social and psychological resilience
• Experience working with partner organizations (local NGOs/CBOs)
• Strong interpersonal skills and familiarity with protection mainstreaming
• Experience using IT solutions for project implementation/data collection and management a plus (e.g. Excel, CommCare, PowerBI)

Required Languages – English and Arabic fluency required

Travel – regular travel within Gaza required

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Observation, active listening, and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to interact effectively with diverse groups
• Good relationships management skills with ability to work collaboratively as part of a team
• Organized, proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Supervisory: N/A

Internal: Shelter Project team, other project teams operating from Gaza, especially the PSS team, MEAL team, as well as operations staff (e.g. Admin, ICT, Procurement, Finance).

External: Key external relationships include up to three local partners, community members, project participants, peers from other NGOs, etc.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

APPLICATION INSTUCTIONS: Interested candidates with relevant education and work experience are invited to complete an application which addresses the positions requirements. In order to be considered for the position, candidates must submit both a CV and a cover letter, in English. Applications that fail to meet these requirements will not be considered. Applications must be submitted online at http://jobs.crsjwbg.org and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. This posting will remain open until filled, however, submission by September 1, 2022 is strongly advised.