Humanitarian Access Officer at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, emergency food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Humanitarian Access Officer

Job ID: 15758
Location: Abuja (FCT)
Job Category: Health, Safety and Security

Job Summary

• We are looking for people who are passionate about helping refugees and people forced to flee. 
• If you are those people, the Norwegian Refugee Council in Nigeria is looking for an enthusiastic and passionate Humanitarian Access Officer to join our team in Abuja, the Federal Capital.
• The purpose of the Access Officer position is to promote efforts of humanitarian access and coordination and support the day-to-day implementation of the NRC Project by negotiating impediments.
• The main tasks will be delivered through training of staff on day-to-day access negotiation, and humanitarian principles and contributing to evidence-based advocacy.

Responsibilities
Humanitarian Access Strategy and Initiative Implementation:

• Support the Country Director, HoP, AMs and the HSS Manager in monitoring, and reporting access-related constraints across the NRC Area Offices in Nigeria.
• Support the Country Office in reviewing and updating the Country Access strategy by consolidating contextual information from the various NRC Area Offices.
• Assign, brief and train Access Focal Persons in each CC in order to be able to monitor and report related constraints.
• Work closely with NRC Programs Core Competencies and Field staff to come up with access initiatives in order to overcome various constraints.
• Collate and compile monthly access reports in consultation with all CCs, Area Managers, and Program Coordinators and submit them to HSSM, AMs, HOP and CD.
• Maintain and update area-specific actors and stakeholder mapping, and access constraints tracker for all NRC locations using the available templates.
• Continuously and proactively monitor and evaluate the political, economic, social, and humanitarian situation for developments affecting humanitarian access, to inform NRC’s response.
• Collaborate with the Area Managers and Advocacy team to respond to monthly access-advocacy global surveys.
• Using available NRC resources, generate access constraint maps and share them with the program team and supervisor. Support the HSS team to track and map security incidents which impede access to program locations.

Access Coordination Support:

• Participate and represent NRC in all Access Working Group meetings, Civil-Military Co meetings and ad hoc meetings as may be directed from time to time by the supervisor.
• Share coordination/ AWG updates with the AM, HSSM, HoP and CD.
• Participate as required in Area Office coordination meetings.
• Regularly travel to NRC field locations and program sites to conduct actor service mapping, and monitor specific access situations in those locations. 
• Support the field office and program staff to establish and maintain contact with key interlocutors or community gatekeepers.
• Conduct regular visits in all NRC field locations including those with potential for interventions and work closely with NRC RRM and other CCs to conduct needs assessment.
• Advocate and support field staff and newly recruited staff to undertake online Access training on the NRC platform.

Qualifications
Professional competencies for this position:

• Significant experience in humanitarian operations with a programming or monitoring background. 
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the capacity to negotiate with non-government stakeholders
• Strong Report-writing ability and negotiation skills
• TOT on humanitarian Negotiation and Mediation or its equivalent with experience in training frontline staff on Negotiation OR Basic training on humanitarian access and negotiation
• 1 to 3 years of experience within a similar function with INGOs, the UN, government or private sector.
• Previous experience from working in complex and volatile contexts, particularly in the North East Nigeria
• University degree in Social Studies, Public Administration, Conflict Resolution and peacebuilding, Security  Management, Humanitarian and Refugee Affairs, and Disaster Risk Management.

Context-related skills, knowledge and experience:

• Understanding and respect for humanitarian work, particularly relating to refugee and displacement issues.
• Demonstrated ability in both written and spoken English.
• The ability to fluently speak Hausa/Kanuri or local language skills is highly desired.
• Ability to work under stress and in high-risk contexts.
• The ability to travel regularly to the field independently is essential and on short notice.
• Flexibility to work outside standard working hours.
• Excellent computer skills (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, etc).
• Knowledge and skills in using map applications like ArcGIS, GPS, or other mapping tools are required.

Application Closing Date
30th August, 2024.