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Programmes & Accountability Assistant

Employer
Disasters Emergency Committee
Location
London
Salary
£24,000-£27,500
Closing date
24 Sep 2019

Introduction

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is a unique and dynamic membership organisation which comprises 14 of the UK’s leading humanitarian agencies: ActionAid, Action Against Hunger, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide (UK), Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam, Plan International UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision. 

Since it was founded in 1963, the DEC has run over 70 fundraising appeals and raised more than £1.4bn to help save lives and protect livelihoods in disaster-affected communities around the world.

The DEC launches appeals when there is a humanitarian emergency of such magnitude to warrant a national UK response.  DEC fundraising appeals benefit from unique corporate partnerships through our Rapid Response Network and the combined expertise of our member agencies, resulting in wide reaching appeals across high profile TV, radio and an increasing number of digital channels.

The majority of DEC funds are raised over an intensive two-week period following a disaster.  Appeal funds are specifically for overseas humanitarian work and are normally spent over a two or three-year response period.  An important part of the DEC’s remit is in learning, accountability and sharing information.

The DEC Secretariat is funded by contributions from its member agencies and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the DEC.  There are currently 23 staff members and a small number of dedicated volunteers, working together to promote the values of dynamism, openness, collaboration, empowerment and innovation.

Role purpose         

The purpose of this role is to support the efficient functioning of the Programmes and Accountability Team through administrative and logistical support; and to boost team capacity by providing backstop support to the team.

Key responsibilities

Team admin, logistics and coordination

  • Support team members with administration e.g. reconciling invoices/expenses, organising travel logistics, arrangement of team meetings, external meetings and facilitating smooth running of other processes when necessary.
  • Understand and manage the use of appropriate technology and tools to support strong team operations, including IT tools and practices.

Knowledge information management and data analysis

  • Play a key role in supporting team monitoring, reporting and learning activities through managing systems that facilitate data collection, querying and analysing data and writing short summaries when required.
  • Day-to-day management of DEC Knowledge Information Management system, including maintenance of the member plans and reports submissions tracker.

External engagement

  • Liaise with external stakeholders including DEC Member Agencies and consultants to gather and share information.

General

  • Provide team-wide support pre- and during appeals when and where required.
  • Perform other duties that are relevant and appropriate to the role when required.

Working hours and travel

The post-holder may on occasions be required to work additional hours in response to an emergency, events held outside office hours or to extra workload.  Where possible, notice of this will be given and TOIL (time off in lieu) is available.  Occasional UK travel may be required.

Person Specification

The Programmes and Accountability Assistant will be selected against the following criteria:

Essential

Education / qualifications

  • Educated to degree level qualification or equivalent
  • Experience of working with an international NGO

Applied skills, knowledge and expertise

  • An understanding of humanitarian issues and principles
  • Experience of providing administrative and operational support in a similar role, including proven ability to develop, maintain and improve administrative and operations systems and procedures.
  • Experience of working in a high pressured and changeable working environment and working to tight deadlines with multiple and complex priorities.
  • Good organisational and time-management skills and the ability to prioritise competing priorities and meet deadlines, without upward referral.
  • Working with qualitative and quantitative data and experience in creating and using spreadsheets for managing information, including use of web / intranet-based systems, databases etc.
  • Sound knowledge of Office programmes including MS Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel.
  • Able to maintain confidentiality and use discretion where appropriate.
  • Clear and confident verbal communication.
  • Ability to work self-directed, using own initiative to identify and resolve routine problems

 

  • Familiarity with monitoring and evaluation frameworks
  • Budget monitoring or financial monitoring

Competency Profile

    Delivering Quality Results (A)

 

  • Puts in effort required to ensure the delivery of own work and objectives to meet (and exceed) expectations.
  • Strong self-management of time and effort.
  • Checks own work to ensure quality.
  • Completes tasks / routine work in a timely manner

Planning (B)

  • Takes account of team members and others workload when planning.
  • Maintains awareness of impact on other parts of the organisation, keeping abreast of other’s activities, objectives, commitments and needs.
  • Has a good understanding of the sector in which the DEC operates.

Analytical and Innovative Thinking (A)

  • Interprets basic written information.
  • Pays attention to detail by identifying and correcting errors.
  • Recognises problems within their remit.
  • Uses appropriate methods for gathering and summarising data.

Communications (B)

  • Maintains constructive, open and consistent communication with others.
  • Resolves minor misunderstandings and conflicts effectively.
  • Communicates equally effectively at all organisational levels as well as external stakeholders (suppliers, partners and member agencies)
  • Tailors communication (content, style and medium) to diverse audiences.

Team Working and Collaboration (A)

  • Knows their stakeholders and their requirements well.
  • Respects and listens to different views/opinions.
  • Is proactive in providing and seeking support from others.
  • Gives and receives constructive criticism

Leading and Motivating (A)

  • Actively manages own development and performance positively.
  • Builds capacity of colleagues by sharing knowledge (induction) and acting as induction ‘buddy’ when asked.
  • Open to learning new things.
  • Responds positively to feedback from others.
  • Learns lessons from successes and failures

    Resilience (A)

 

  • Recognises limitations and take steps to manage any resulting pressure or stress.
  • Remains focused on objectives and goal in a rapidly changing environment.
  • Takes responsibility for own work and for the impact of own actions.
  • Shows a flexible approach to taking on mutually agreed additional work / responsibilities when needed to achieve results.

Further details of specific tasks and duties will be agreed with the line manager as part of the performance agreement. Any reasonable duty may be assigned that is consistent with the nature of the job and its level of responsibility. This role profile is not prescriptive; it merely outlines the key behaviours the role-holder requires to be successful in the role; the key behaviours and responsibilities are subject to change. Any changes will be made in consultation with the role-holder. You will be expected to abide by the Code of Conduct, policies and procedures of the DEC which may be updated from time to time.

Application procedure

Along with your CV, please submit a cover letter (no more than 2 pages) to hr@dec.org.uk outlining the ways in which your skills and experience match the job description and person specification for this role by giving answers to the following questions: 
 

  • Delivering Quality Results

Please give an example of when you had to manage multiple and competing priorities. How did you manage to ensure timeliness and quality in your work?

 

  • Planning / team working & collaboration

Please describe a time when you have been required to take account of other team members’ workloads and priorities when planning your work. How did you balance everyone’s priorities whilst ensuring that team deliverables were met?

 

  • Communications

Please tell us of a time when you had to establish and maintain excellent working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including external stakeholders. 
 

 

The deadline for applications is 5pm, Tuesday 24 September.

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