The Emergency Cash Technical Advisor is a vital role responsible for providing specialized technical support to emergency responses led by partners and country teams, focusing on timely and robust Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Basic Needs/Food Security interventions. This role ensures the quality and scalability of IRC's emergency cash programming globally, championing partner-led approaches and driving strategic improvements in preparedness, implementation tools, and measurement systems. The role requires up to 15-20% travel, including deployment to emergency responses for up to 2 months at a time.
Major Responsibilities
1. Response-Centered Support (50%)
- Provide emergency technical support and backstopping in select Orange and Red classifications to ensure timely, robust technical assistance to emergency responses, aligning with the Quality in Emergencies (QiE) Technical Assistance model.
- Offer emergency-focused technical support to Basic Needs and Food Security interventions and Group Cash Transfer programming across diverse emergency contexts (conflict, food security, natural hazards, and outbreaks).
- Ensure program delivery quality is compliant with IRC and donor standards and policies.
- Following emergency responses, collaborate with emergency Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) and deployed staff to analyze response metrics, support learning and After Action Reviews, and implement subsequent actions to address identified gaps.
- Work closely with regional Economic Recovery & Development (ERD) technical teams and the Emergency Cash Preparedness and Anticipatory Action Specialist to enhance existing country teams' readiness to respond to emergencies with quality, timely, and scaled CVA, especially in Watchlist countries.
- Ensure partnerships are integrated into cash and basic needs emergency programming, proactively engaging partners in program design and proposal development, and ensuring CVA implementation adheres to IRC’s principles of fair and equal partnerships and minimum standards.
- Conduct technical support visits to country programs for continuous program quality assurance improvements, new program area design, compliance checks, audit readiness, and staff training.
- When necessary, deploy to emergency responses for up to 2 months at a time (estimated 15-20% travel) to strengthen on-the-ground capacity and provide targeted surge support for key workstreams (e.g., assessments, financial service provider set up, partner workshops).
2. Strategic Objectives (30%)
- In close collaboration with the Cash and Emergencies team, lead the development, implementation, and improvement of key strategic resources for cash and basic needs in emergencies, including Technical Frameworks and user-friendly program implementation tools (IRC’s STEP toolkits).
- Champion a culture of effective and respectful partnerships, promoting partner-led emergency programming consistent with IRC’s “why not partner?” and ‘cash-first’ approaches.
- Support the adaptation of IRC direct implementation emergency cash tools and guidance for partner use based on identified needs and requests.
- Lead the recruitment and management of Emergency Surge Teams for cash and basic needs, facilitating capacity building and team building.
- Socialize wider understanding of Global Emergency Service Offerings and support the improvement of program design and theories of change.
- In collaboration with the Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for cash and emergencies, support IRC’s Impact at Scale ambitions for cash programming, guiding strategic direction and enabling IRC’s ability to scale CVA during emergencies.
3. Data Management Systems and Learning (10%)
- Support the setup and standardization of emergency cash and basic needs M&E systems and practices, including adopting the IRC’s Cash App toolkit, by collaborating with MEAL teams in Emergency Management Unit (EMU), the ERD Technical Unit, and IRC’s Measurement Unit.
- Support quantitative data collection, analysis, and centralized management of IRC’s emergency responses to trend analyze and visualize the speed, scale, and quality components of cash and basic needs programming implementation.
- Gather qualitative data and analysis for key emergency responses, including writing ‘case studies’ to support knowledge management, the sharing of lessons learned and ‘what works,’ to further strategic direction for emergency cash responses at IRC.
- Draft technical and capacity ‘briefs’ and other communication mediums (videos, blogs, etc.) to highlight IRC’s value-add for cash and basic needs in emergencies for external and internal dissemination.
4. Resource Development and Grant Management (10%)
- Provide leadership and technical review in the development of proposals for EmU or TU-led emergency cash grants, relating to global technical support projects.
- Interact with IRC’s Business Development Unit, ERD TU, and country programs to assess opportunities and evaluate which are most needed to address humanitarian needs in the context of IRC’s strategic priorities and how to best leverage available resources.
Team Culture
- Build and maintain strong working relationships across the organization (EmU, ERD TU, other Technical Units, Anticipatory Action team, regional colleagues) and continually promote a culture of partnership and collaboration.
- Cultivate and maintain a positive, collaborative, safe, and protective work environment, setting an example of ‘One IRC’-way of working within the team, EmU and the wider organization.
- Contribute to efforts across EmU to promote gender equality, diversity, and more inclusive practice across programming and ways of working.
Key Working Relationships
- Position Reports to: The Senior Technical Advisor, Cash and Emergencies with management in partnership with the Deputy Director of the ERD Technical Unit.
- Position directly supervises: External emergency roster personnel; when required, temporarily supervise country team personnel.
- Other Contacts: Works closely with Cash and Emergencies team members, including the Emergency Cash Preparedness and Anticipatory Action Specialist, the ERT Emergency Cash Coordinator, and the Cash and Operations Specialist. Engages with other technical sectors in the EmU’s Quality in Emergencies (QiE) team (Health, Protection, Education, Partnerships), the Director of Program Quality and Performance in Emergencies; operations staff across EmU (especially Finance and Supply Chain); the ERD Technical Unit (including Regionally aligned Cash TAs).
Job Requirements
- Education: Masters’ degree in economics or a related field. A Bachelor degree and additional experience may substitute for some education.
- Work Experience: At least 7 years of experience in Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), basic needs, and/or food security-related program development and implementation, including in emergency and complex crisis settings. Significant expertise in CVA programming. Experience starting-up emergency responses is required, and experience of at least two country contexts is strongly preferred.
