Humanitarian Adviser (Senior Executive Officer) at the British High Commission (BHC) Nigeria

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Humanitarian Adviser (Senior Executive Officer)

Location: Abuja
Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Start Date: 1 September 2023
Job Category: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Programme Roles)
Job Subcategory: Development and Humanitarian
Grade: Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
Working hours per week: 35 hours per week
Region: Africa

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities) 
Main purpose of job:

• Nigeria is a very important country for the UK in Africa and home to one of FCDO’s biggest development portfolios globally. Nigeria is an HMG Tier 1 country but is grappling with serious challenges which cut across many UK priorities, including climate change, conflict, security and stability, prosperity, and demographics. Whilst Nigeria has the largest economy and population in Africa, it is also home to the second largest number of poor people in the world.
• The 500+ staffed Nigeria Mission has an integrated delivery structure of five thematic “blocks” charged with achieving the key outcomes of the Country Plan and NSC Nigeria Strategy. Delivery is supported by five enabling teams.
• The blocks include several other government department staff from across the Mission, including DBT, MOD and the Home Office. The British High Commission has a Deputy High Commission in Lagos as well as a sub-national structure with staff present in six other state-based locations.
• The Lake Chad Basin (LCB) cross His Majesty’s Government (X-HMG) strategy is one of six core pillars of the Nigeria strategy, attracting significant HMG and Ministerial interest.
• The humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region remains one of the largest crises in the world.
• Despite an extraordinary effort in 2017, which helped to avert famine, humanitarian needs are escalating, due to deteriorating security and compounded by Covid-19, with an estimated 8.3 million people now in need of life-saving assistance and protection and a million people have no access to humanitarian assistance. Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing conflict.

Job Description
The post holder will:

• Continually monitor and assess the humanitarian situation in Nigeria; reflect this in evolving policy, strategy and programme priorities; and communicate effectively with HMG stakeholders.
• Help strengthen the effectiveness of the humanitarian response in Nigeria by positioning the UK at the forefront of humanitarian advocacy with the UN and wider international community.
• Lead one or more of UK technical priorities, including preparedness, famine prevention, nutrition, protection and humanitarian access in the humanitarian response.  
• Ensure delivery of FCDO Nigeria’s humanitarian programme is robust, compliant with corporate standards and rules, delivers value for money and achieves its intended results, through working closely with programme management and advisory colleagues.
• The post reports to the G7 Humanitarian Adviser. The postholder will be a member of the LCB Block and lead / co-lead work streams to deliver the X-HMG LCB strategy, working closely with colleagues from the political, development, stabilisation and CT teams within the block.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve
In this role you will be responsible for:

Assessment and analysis:

• Maintain situational awareness through regular assessment and analysis of needs and corresponding response, including through regular field visits.
• Monitor and analyse the humanitarian situation, communicating effectively with HMG colleagues to inform humanitarian diplomacy and to effectively influence the necessary evolution or changes of policy, strategy and programme priorities.

Policy and advocacy:

• Assess and contribute to advocacy strategies, working closely with UN, Red Cross and NGO partners, including on food security, nutrition, protection and access.
• Directly advocate for UK humanitarian policy objectives through various senior forums within HMG or externally at country, regional or global level, engaging with FCDO’s Humanitarian Department, Research and Evidence Directorate and other relevant policy leads elsewhere to ensure policy work is informing and learning from UK humanitarian policy as it develops.

Programme delivery:  

• Provide technical support and advice into the design, appraisal, delivery, monitoring, evaluation and learning of humanitarian projects and programmes.   
• Contribute to ensure delivery of humanitarian programmes is robust, compliant with corporate standards, delivers value for money and achieves its intended results to the appropriate quality standards, working closely with the programme team.

Partnerships and networks:  

• Establish constructive relationships and build networks with key individuals and organisations as a basis for information gathering and triangulation, as well as forward thinking for changing contexts and needs.  
• Represent FCDO with relevant partners and in relevant forums.   

People and building capability:  

• Maintain cutting edge understanding of and application of evidence and work to build the capability of others.
• Provide up to 10% time to support FCDO’s wider humanitarian objectives.

Technical Competencies:

• Prioritise humanitarian assistance to people in greatest need and provide them with what they need the most to recover from crises.
• Protect the people most at risk, including from conflict-related sexual violence and barriers to humanitarian assistance.
• Reform: Humanitarian theory, architecture and system effectiveness.
• Prevent and anticipate future shocks and build resilience in long-running crises by tackling the underlying drivers of crises, instability, and extreme food insecurity.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Relevant experience working on humanitarian programmes in Nigeria and strong understanding of Nigeria humanitarian policies and architecture.
• Specific technical background and/or experience in any of the following fields; food security, nutrition, protection, humanitarian access.
• Excellent inter-personal and team working and communication skills, with an ability to work flexibly and adapt to emerging issues.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience:

• FCDO assessment is competency-based rather than on years of experience, but previously most successful candidates have drawn on approximately 5 years of relevant humanitarian experience to show sufficient evidence of the required competencies.
• A Masters qualification is desirable, but relevant experience can be considered in lieu of this.

Required behaviours:

• Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together.

Salary
USD41,092.51 Annually.

Other benefits and conditions of employment:

• Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):
• Professional development is an important part of being an FCDO humanitarian advisor, and the Resilience and Humanitarian Team is committed to supporting your humanitarian career development. 
• You will be expected to keep abreast of the evidence of what works and make a 10% humanitarian cadre contribution supporting teams elsewhere in the FCDO global network.

Application Closing Date
18th August, 2023.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Additional information  

• Please complete the application form in full as the information provided is used during screening.
• Please check your application carefully before you submit, as no changes can be made once submitted.
• The British High Commission will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position.
• Employees recruited locally by the British High Commission are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law.
• All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit.
• The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to:
  • Obtain the relevant permit
  • Pay fees for the permit
  • Make arrangements to relocate
  • Meet the costs to relocate
• The British High Commission do not sponsor visas/work permits except where it may be local practice to do so.
• Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
• Information about the Civil Service Success Profiles can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles.
• Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates.
• The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability.
• We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.