Roving Safety Specialist

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading protection agency with a mandate to protect, advocate and promote durable solutions for displacement affected populations.

DRC has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, currently DRC employs over 800 staff in Ukraine and will continue significant scale-up in 2024 to implement emergency response in the Protection, Livelihoods, Shelter/NFIs and Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding (humanitarian mine action) sectors, using direct interventions, support to duty bearers and civil society organizations (CSOs), and partnerships with CSOs. DRC will continue and adapt its durable solutions portfolio to the evolving context.

DRC is currently looking for a highly qualified Roving Safety Specialist to be based in Kyiv but with frequent and prolonged travels to the field.

About the job

You will work in close collaboration with Area Managers and field Safety Focal Points (SFP) to ensure high standards of compliance to DRCs Safety Risk Management System (SRMS) and coordinate all aspects of safety across areas of geographic responsibility to ensure safe and effective programming. With such a highly motivated national team, one of the primary functions of this role is to take a leading role in the capacity building of team members. If the successful candidate is internationally recruited, then one of the primary objectives will be nationalizing the role.

Geographic scope

You will be focused on DRCs field areas and ensure compliance to DRC procedures and guidelines with additional ad hoc support to country level operations – specifically in providing country level coverage in the absence of the Head of Safety (HoS).

Your main responsibilities will be:

Team capacity building:

• In close collaboration with HoS, will develop a capacity building plan for local counterparts
• Proactively support in the transfer of knowledge to local staff
• Identify training and development opportunities and support local colleague to engage in these opportunities
• Deliver any relevant safety related training

Safety Risk Management:

• Support with the development and implementation Safety Risk Management (SRM) process
• In collaboration with the Head of Safety, help to develop and audit area and country safety management policies, protocols and procedures
• In collaboration with local SFPs, develop Safety Risk Assessments (SRAs) and support in the implementation of mitigation measures
• Analyse, manage and report relevant information within geographical area of responsibility to the Head of Safety, Area Managers (AM), or any other relevant position as necessary on relevant context updates in a timely and proactive manor
• Create, update and maintain relevant safety documentation, data and records for the areas of concern
• Review and approve field movement requests, working with program teams to produce safe plans where necessary and then monitor field movements remotely Over time, work with national colleagues to hand this task over
• Supervise emergency responses at a local level within geographic area of responsibility
• Monitor formal and informal information networks and issue appropriate advice in accordance to DRC policies
• Support and deliver safety-related training to program staff
• Provide technical supervision to local safety staff including guard and drivers
• Facilitate surge support to the Incident Management Team as required
• Step-up to cover the Head of Safety when required
• Any other tasks reasonable required for this role

Management:

• Whilst this position has no direct reports, the successful candidate will be expected to provide technical support where necessary to the safety team in coordination with the HoS

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to have at least 2-4 years of experience in a position with safety responsibilities for an INGO (Programs and Operations personnel who meet these criteria but who may not have had a position with Safety or Security in the title are strongly encouraged to apply). Moreover, we also expect the following:

• Willing to learn, good sense of humour & high emotional intelligence
• Team player and collaborative but with the ability to work independently, take initiative and make decisions
• An interest in politics, security and a critical understanding of the current situation in Ukraine; a knowledge of regional and wider geopolitical developments and how they influence the war in Ukraine
• An understanding of personal limitations and areas for personal development
• Driven, dedicated and proactive with a drive for excellence
• Stable personality, able to operate in a professional manner under stress
• Proven track record of training and mentoring a range of audiences, both for larger audiences and one on one
• Experience working in multicultural work settings
• Experience with information gathering, analysis and report writing; with critical incident management
• Experience working in hostile or hazardous environments
• Full professional proficiency in English (the ability to read and write English to a high level and to operate in a professional space)

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

We offer

• Contract length: 6 months renewable depending on performance and funding
• Band: G -non-management
• Duty Station: Kyiv, non-family duty station
• Start date: December 2024

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for national and international employees; please refer to our website.