Officer, Cash and Voucher Assistance

The CVA Officer will provide technical advice to improve the quality and accountability of cash interventions, practical solutions for challenges in cash interventions, support the procurement of Financial Services Providers for National Societies in the region, strengthen CVA capacities, and facilitate the technical coordination among partners on cash interventions. The position will support decision making and implementation, as well as increasing the accountability of National Societies assisting crisis-affected people with timely and quality cash and voucher assistance. The position directly supports Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tomé & Principe and Gabon.

The incumbent will also be responsible for providing technical support to NSs on their cash preparedness journey with the objective to have them ready to deliver, when appropriate, CVA in a timely, accountable and effective manner at any time and at any scale. This will ensure that emergency responses being implemented by those NSs are always routinely considered for CVA during response options analysis and are based on informed decisions. The incumbent will also support the mainstreaming of CVA across all operations / plans when relevant.

Furthermore, the CVA Officer will establish and lead a Community of Practice (CoP) across National Societies in Central Africa. The CoP is a learning and exchange platform between National Societies engaged in or interested in engaging in CVA. Other participants in the CoP are Partner National Societies, other relevant IFRC staff and ICRC staff. The CoP covers Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tomé & Principe, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

The CVA Officer will work in close coordination with the Regional CVA Coordinator (based in Nairobi) and the Cluster focal points for Disaster Management, Procurement and Preparedness. The CVA officer will collaborate and seek support from the Regional Cash CVA Coordinator and the Cash Hub as needed.

Working together with technical coordinators of the Cluster and the Regional CVA Coordinator, the CVA Officer will work within the following areas:

CVA design, implementation and monitoring:

• Support the implementation and revision of all CVA activities included in National Societies (NS) of the Central Africa Region response plans and budgets
• Provide direct support to the IFRC team and the NS setting up cash and voucher assistance interventions
• Ensure completion of cash planning, preparation and rollout of activities in NS with a cash component within DREF’s and Emergency Appeals
• Ensure that market assessment, financial service provider mapping, tendering and contracting are conducted in due time to have a timely and effective implementation that meets the programme objectives in the Central African NS that use cash or vouchers as a response tool
• Monitor progress of cash interventions of the NS with a cash component in the Central Africa Region, and collect required reporting documentations per IFRC standards

CVA preparedness:

• Be responsible for the procurement process of Financial Service Providers carried out by the NSs in coordination with the Regional Office
• Support cash preparedness efforts in relevant NS and IFRC Country Cluster Delegation, including capacity self-assessments, trainings and other capacity strengthening efforts
• Ensure beneficiary communications, feedback mechanisms and accountability structures are set up in each NS planning to or implanting CVA
• Ensure standard tools are customized by NSs for their respective CVA interventions and standards are applied to the various areas in which the CVA will be implemented in the country, based on the RCRC Movement Cash in Emergencies toolkit
• Assist NSs in developing the process and post-distribution monitoring system including market monitoring that provide systematic and standards indicators for CVA implemented through emergency responses.

CVA coordination and reporting:

• Set-up and support coordination on CVA between Movement colleagues, including the ICRC, Partner National Societies (PNS) and the implementing National Societies; both through the cross-cutting CoP but also at national levels
• Produce or report into monthly reports of cash and voucher delivered assistance in all National Society members of the CoP having a cash component within their programmes
• Ensure that CVA key messages and relevant information are effectively disseminated to CoP members
• Liaise with Finance and Logistic to ensure that standard procedures linked to CVA are well applied, especially in FSP procurement.
• When relevant, engage in coordination with other stakeholders in the supported countries (Cash working Group, NGOs, WFP, etc.)

• University degree or professional qualification in Humanitarian Assistance or another relevant area.
• Practical Emergency Cash Transfer Training (PECT) or other relevant high-level cash training.
• Cash Level 2 Training.
• Market Assessment Training.
• Technical training in disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
• ODK or KoBo Training.

• At least 5 years of experience in humanitarian assistance.
• At least 3 years of experience implementing or coordinating cash and voucher responses within a humanitarian context.
• Demonstrated experience in assessments which including market and cash feasibility considerations.
• Proven capacity strengthening experience with National Societies or national or local partners, delivering trainings and providing on the job training and coaching.
• Understanding of data protection and data responsibility in humanitarian action.
• Experience in financial service provider procurement.
• Experience with integrated data management tools such as Red Rose.
• Experience living and working in challenging and multicultural environments.

• Sound knowledge of and commitment to, a holistic approach to disaster management, with a particular understanding of recovery, and proven experience in cash and voucher assistance.
• Good understanding of food security, shelter, livelihoods, and WASH interventions.
• Proven skills in strategic and operational planning, budgeting and reporting emergency response that include CVA.
• Understanding of the key issues relating to delivering cash at scale and skills to address them.
• Knowledge of feedback and response mechanism, including of appropriate methods of beneficiary communication and channels.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with independent decision-making capacity and the ability to think strategically while under pressure.
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills with the ability to represent the International Federation and to negotiate and influence people’s opinions.
• Ability to transfer knowledge, skills, and/or abilities to staff and volunteers.
• Fluently spoken and written English.
• Fluently spoken and written French.

• Respect for diversity, integrity, professionalism, accountability.
• Communication, collaboration and teamwork, judgement and decision making, creativity and innovation, building trust.