Area Coordinator – Myanmar (Sittiwe)

Background

The purpose of the Areas Coordinator is to work with the member organisations of the INGO forum in Myanmar to support information sharing, coordination, communication and advocacy. The position is also designed to support coordination between INGOs Sittwe and Yangon, namely to ensure that the Rakhine workstreams feed into Yangon workstreams and that a two-way feedback loop is established when needed at the inter-agency level between the two locations. This position supports the efforts of INGOs for effective and principled humanitarian action and helps support INGO representation with UN agencies, Government, and Local Civil Society actors by facilitating common positions among INGO Heads of Office, promoting the direct participation of INGO Heads of Office in relevant forums and discussions, and representing the group as appropriate.

Generic responsibilities

• Compliance with and adherence to NRC and INGO forum policies, guidance and procedures
• Track, monitor and analyze key issues emerging, relevant to the operational environment and operational challenges, humanitarian access, humanitarian needs, gaps and related inter-cluster workstreams, and higher-level policy issues discussed in the Rakhine Coordination Group, avoiding duplication with mandate coordination bodies but ensuring strong INGO engagement and a collective voice, as required
• Support the prioritization of key issues among Rakhine HoO, and ensure quality reports, summaries, and analysis of current trends and priorities is carried out, together with Rakhine HoOs, to inform engagement and advocacy with the UN, state government, and referral of issues to Yangon
• Coordinate and facilitate effective briefings and meetings, including the regular Heads of Office meeting, ensuring follow up on action points and thorough documentation of process
• Represent HoOs at coordination fora where appropriate and requested, or support the election of an HoO representative, to ensure robust INGO engagement in all relevant coordination fora, and two-way feedback mechanisms between the Area Coordinator or other INGO representative and the broader HoO group
• Together with the INGO Forum Director, ensure linkages between the workstreams.
• Ensure institutional knowledge is gathered and kept on a commonly accessible platform at area level and that key learnings are extracted from coordination processes and
• Carry out and support advocacy with the UN, state government and other stakeholders in Rakhine, as determined to be appropriate by workstreams.

Specific responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Representation, Coordination and Facilitation and Organization of Meetings

• Support engagement and advocacy of INGO Rakhine HoO in coordination mechanisms at Sittwe level such as the RCG, ICCG, OCHA led meetings, MIAG, etc., through preparatory discussions, preparation of talking points, taking of meeting minutes, or other types of information exchanges between INGOs
• Represent HoOs on the Central Rakhine ICCG meeting, ensuring HoO priorities are advocated for at the ICCG and that a two-way feedback loop is established between the ICCG and HoOs, sharing information to HoOs to complement information shared directly by OCHA and the Clusters
• When requested, serves as INGO liaison with UN entities, including senior host government officials, donor representatives, NGO officials, the media etc.
• Facilitate discussion as needed on humanitarian needs and gaps, while avoiding duplication with mandated coordination bodies, in particular to identify advocacy needed to address gaps in discussions in the clusters, ICCG or RCG
• Support OCHA and other UN leadership on humanitarian negotiation with the government, as determined appropriate by HoOs and CDs
• As possible, advocate to ensure coherence between coordination in northern Rakhine and Central Rakhine coordination, referring major issues between the two coordination structures to Yangon
• Organise and ensure the facilitation and documentation of regular Head of Office meetings
  • Including preparation of agendas, promoting of open discussions among Rakhine HoO on key concerns, meeting notes and follow up on action points, capturing perspectives on various topics and developing agreed on talking points
• Ensure linkages, together with HoOs and CDs, between the HoO Group and CD Rakhine Group, and provide organizational support to joint CD Rakhine Group and HoO workshops/meetings, to ensure Rakhine perspectives drive national coordination bodies and planning processes
• Serve as a focal point to support and facilitate new international staff with an orientation on Rakhine Crisis
• Oversee the organization of other ad-hoc meetings and thematic meetings, working groups, workshops, ad hoc meetings with NGOs, donors, UN, ensure their strategic value

Analysis and Advocacy Support

• Track, monitor and analyze key issues emerging relevant to the operational environment and operational challenges, humanitarian access, humanitarian needs, gaps and related inter-cluster workstreams, and higher level policy issues discussed in the Rakhine Coordination Group, avoiding duplication with mandate coordination bodies but ensuring strong INGO engagement and a collective voice as required, and producing talking points, summary and analytical reports, presentations, and emails as required and for a wide ranging audience
• Support INGOs to identify and address, through advocacy and engagement, operational constraints, bottlenecks and administrative challenges, working towards common positions and the development of practical solutions to influence decision making at Sittwe Level, or Yangon, as necessary

Information Management and Sharing

• Maintain the online information management Drive for Head Office in Rakhine ensuring it is regularly updated with relevant documents and information, including contact lists, situation reports, in depth analysis, UN reports, coordination structures
• Adhere to the Rakhine HoO information sharing protocol and update it as necessary, sharing relevant information from OCHA, the ICCG, MIAG, HCT, RCG and other information with INGOs, avoiding duplication of information sharing with OCHA and other mandated bodies while ensuring key information reaches INGO HoOs in a timely fashion, as well as to Yangon

Competencies

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following three categories:

1. Professional competencies

These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Generic professional competencies for this position:**

• Minimum 3 years working experience with NGOs, in INGO coordination role strongly preferred. Although, equivalent experience, including the UN, DPKO missions, diplomatic community, donors, national governments and others is also relevant.
• Technical Knowledge of the UN system, integrated missions, principled humanitarian assistance.
• Strong facilitation skills and ability to foster a collaborative working environment
• Strong analytical skills and demonstrated ability in writing briefing papers, advocacy products and other information products.
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal

Context/specific skills, knowledge and experience:

• Knowledge of the context in Myanmar, highly desirable
• Knowledge of relevant legal and policy frameworks, international and domestic

2. Behavioural competencies

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies, the following are essential for this position:

• Handling insecure environments
• Strategic thinking
• Empowering and building trust
• Influencing
• Initiate action and change
• Analysing

What we Offer

• Duty station: Sittwe
• Travel: 10%
• Duration and type of contract: 12 months renewable based on funding
• Salary and Benefits: As per the pay scale