Handicap International is an independent and impartial international aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our action and testimony are focused on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions and promoting respect for their dignity and their fundamental rights.
Handicap International is a not-for-profit organisation with no religious or political affiliation. It operates as a federation made up of a network of associations that provide it with human and financial resources, manage its projects and implement its actions and social mission.
Through its Emergency Response Department (ERD), created in 2006 after the merge with Atlas Logistique, the organization is committed to: Provide an adequate response to major natural disaster and conflict situations, anywhere in the world as much as possible within 72 hours; Provide assistance to vulnerable groups (refugees, IDPs, persons with injuries, elders, children, etc.) affected by a crisis and maximize the number of beneficiaries. Within vulnerable groups, target especially PwD and meet their specific needs; Constantly monitor chronic crises and/or conflicts to ensure preparedness for and rapid response to eventual emerging needs.
Directly linked to the Emergency Response Department of Handicap International France, the expatriate will be mandated for the following mission:
MISSION CONTEXT
A critical humanitarian situation According to UNHCR latest figures (October 11th 2012), there is between 2,5 and 3 millions IDP within Syria. More than 250,000 refugees are now registered Syria neighboring countries. The current humanitarian response is far from answering to most urgent needs, growing by the day, with a partial coverage only. Moreover, amongst those victims of the conflict, an estimation of 8% (figures average from the UNHCR for refugees in neighboring countries, excluding elders – if inclusion of Syrian IDPs and elderly, estimation would likely rise to between 15% and 20%) of them would be in an alarming situation of vulnerability, in terms of protection, access to basic services and in terms of coverage of their specific needs. Persons with mental or physical disabilities and/or chronic diseases, elders, children head of households are in a critical situation, experiencing difficulties to access to already scare humanitarian resources. The situation of injured is also at stake. For those of them having benefited from emergency health care in Syria or host countries, facing the unavailability or lack of access to post-surgery services is likely to have a devastating impact on the prevention of further impairments, or to adapt to a new and challenging environment.
19 months after the initial starting of the crisis, number of injured within Syria and neighboring countries is still rising, with a patent lack of immediate rehabilitation and psychosocial relief. Inclusion of vulnerability in the global humanitarian response remains a major concern. The lack of follow-up of the most vulnerable persons, having often experienced 2 or 3 displacements may generate discrepancies in the provided relief, and – in neighboring countries - could even create tensions between refugees and host populations. Voluntary returns (i.e : from Za’atari camp, Jordan) and pendulum movements (i.e : Turkish borders) are hurrying the need for risk education dissemination.
Jordan Situation The estimation number of planned refugees according to UNHCR RRP until 31/12/12 reaches 310,000 (250,000 + 60,000 at least unregistered refugees). According to HI projections, those figures include: - Injured: 6200 (estimation 2%, based on current ratios), 40% of them being in need of rehabilitation care. - Vulnerable: 46,500 (estimation of 15% of refugees) The Jordanian Government initially put in place 3 transit camps to welcome Syrian refugees, who were allowed to leave the transit site if a Jordanian family bailed them out. As existing transit sites were not able to absorb the daily arrivals, the Government authorized the opening of a new transit site in July. The four transit sites arrived to saturation point in July 2012, leading to the opening of a long term camp in Al Za'atari municipality. At completion of the site, this latter will have capacity for hosting 60,000 persons. In the meantime, the bailing out system has been stopped except for emergency purpose. In October 2012, the Jordan Government has announced the upcoming opening of another refugee camp in order to cope with the increasing number of refugees and to relieve congestion in Al Za’atari camp. If the situation in the camps is of high concern, the living conditions of refugees scattered within the host community is often critical. Beyond the general level of vulnerability, those populations are experiencing major livelihood issues, coupled with a lack of access to humanitarian services.
Lebanon Situation
The complexity of religious and political components as well as fighting events in Lebanon set a more difficult assistance response. Issues of access to services remain. Half of the refugee population is not prepared to winter, which could lead to life threatening conditions. Few injured are now in Bekaa as the flux has been directed toward North and Tripoli since the beginning of the conflict even if some still arrives in Northern Bekaa.
Humanitarian coordination, if getting better, is not yet fully effective. Relevant stakeholders have not consistently taken into consideration specific needs of vulnerable populations. UNHCR-registered households are receiving most of the consistent assistance, while the unregistered ones are struggling to find any kind of support beyond local charity associations and organizations which doesn’t deliver through registration status. Some tensions are rising at host community level, in relation with general poverty of the area.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES HI activities implementation After a first round of assessment on March 2012, HI emergency department is implementing since May 15th an emergency intervention for the most vulnerable people affected by the Syrian crisis in Jordan and Lebanon, funded by ECHO, Centre de Crise (French MoFA), Swiss Cooperation and private donors, and aiming at supporting persons with injuries and other vulnerable groups (including persons with disabilities). HI is until now the only organization to address those issues through community outreach, and benefits from the trust of both communities’ representatives, local stakeholders and other field implementing organizations. In August 2012, HI initiated a basic needs assessment in Bekaa, leading to strong recommendations for winterization activities targeting vulnerable populations. Simultaneously, after a technical assessment in Jordan, HI decided to support a first risk education project addressing both Syrian refugees and local host populations living at the Syrian border. HI regional strategy HI decided to develop and strengthen a regional strategy along 4 central points: 1. Disability and Vulnerability Focal Point - Lebanon : geographic implementation of a Disability and Vulnerability Focal Point (DVFP) mechanism to all Bekaa - Lebanon : implementation of a DVFP mechanism in Tripoli and Akkar - Jordan : implementation of a DVFP mechanism with implementation of fix points Goals : - Follow-up and assistance to injured in need of rehabilitation - Identification and direct/indirect assistance to vulnerable people - Reinforcement of the general impact of emergency rehabilitation and psychological care - Reinforce the inclusion of vulnerable people and persons with disability in the global response. 2. Inclusion - General : mainstreaming activities towards humanitarian actors - Lebanon : winter preparedness (distribution and adaptation), targeted NFI distribution for completion of mainstream distribution - Jordan : camp accessibility / cash management for vulnerable Goals : - Inclusion of vulnerability and disability within the global humanitarian response.
- Risk Education Activities
- Identification and localization of main risks related to the conflict
- Training and support material to Syrian community focal points (schools, hospitals, civil society), monitoring of dissemination
Goals : - Mitigating risk of accidents related to explosive remnants of war and urban conflicts
- Activating a civil society network within prompt to deliver a first response and to identify other urgent needs
- Contingency stocks
- Positioning of emergency stocks within the neighboring countries Goal : Providing a 48h delay response capacity in case of a sudden broader humanitarian access or massive influx of refugees
Activities in Jordan
The situation of the most vulnerable persons (including people with injury) leads to implement a four dimension intervention, in continuation of the previous phase (on-going project):
- Provision of support to hospitals in order to improve the provision of emergency rehabilitation care for 1 755 Syrian refugees with injuries
Objective: Provision of equipment, consumables, on-the-job training and accompaniment for local professionals of governmental health structures (Ramtha, Irbid and Mafraq) and to Duleil JHAS's hospital in order to improve the provision of emergency rehabilitation care for Syrian refugees with injuries and contribute to better respond to needs related to the ongoing crisis
- Identification, assessment and specific support to ensure tailored response to the needs of most vulnerable Syrian refugees, including refugees with injuries and other vulnerable groups (through direct and indirect services Objective: 2 types of beneficiaries to be identified:
- Individuals who will fully recover with rehabilitation because the injury
- Individuals who have injury resulting in a new and permanent impairment leading to different levels of disabling situation.
- 1755 conflict affected vulnerable persons with their family members (i.e 8775 beneficiaries) have a better coverage of their basic and specific needs through direct provision of services and/or referral upon needs Objective: Provision of direct emergency rehabilitation service cares, complementary dedicated NFI, mobility aids and psychosocial support at community level (Mafraq, Ramtha, Irbid and Zarqa) and camps (Za’atari camp)
- Support to inclusion and accessibility for all in Za’atari camp through formal training to stakeholders and direct accessibility work
Objective: Sensitization of stakeholders through formal trainings and dissemination of sensitization materiel in the clusters and accessibility in the construction of facilities in the camp (WASH, health facilities, school...).
MAIN RESPONSABILITIES OF THE EXPATRIATE
Under the responsibility of the Rehabilitation Technical Advisor, in charge of:
- Provision of technical support for other stakeholders in Za’atari and future camps on issues of:
- Accessibility (design accessible latrines..)
- Inclusion of PWDs and PWIs in their project
- Recruitment and training of accessibility officer
- Recruitment of local architect or engineer
- Technical training on accessibility principles, universal design, inclusion and implementation in refugee setting
- Transition of responsibilities to the accessibility officer
- Advising on accessibility
- Consult with relevant stakeholder on camp accessibility
- Provide training on accessibility to stakeholder working in the camp including local or international NGOs and others
- Minor Modifications
- Assessment
- Planning and implementation of minor modifications to existing structures in Za’atari camp (through a contractor)
- To regularly report on the above activities (statistic, review monthly objectives, etc.) as per requested by the Emergency Coordinator, the technical advisor and the HQ Advisor;
MAIN TASKS OF THE EXPATRIATE
Representation
In coordination with the Rehab TA and the DVFP West Field Officer and on demand, to represent Handicap International in accessibility with any relevant stakeholders, local, national and international partners in order to facilitate the implementation of project activities Participate in relevant meetings held in the camp as necessary Participation in planning of new camps in relevant forums
Provision of technical support for other stakeholders in Za’atari and future camps on accessibility - Liaison with other actors - Consulting on planning and provision of technical recommendations - Development of resource materials regarding accessibility (accessible latrine for example) - Development and delivery of training sessions on accessibility to different stakeholders
Management of accessibility officer
Recruitment of a local architect or engineer Technical training on accessibility principles, universal design, disability inclusion and implementation in refugee setting Transition of responsibilities to the accessibility officer Collaboration on engineering and disability elements of accessibility
Minor Modifications
Carry out assessment in Za’atari camp (other camp if required) for security, accessibility and protection threats and jointly develop an action plan to reduce these threats – using a participatory process Consider the following critical issues when carrying out the assessment and designing the response: accessibility, lighting, securing of unsafe areas, separation of women’s and men’s areas, etc Design the relevant accessibility modifications Overseeing process of selection of contractor, BOQ and construction (in liaison with country logistics department) Management of the accessibility engineer for the direct supervision of the work in order to make sure of the completion of the minor modification in the camp.
Team management: You ensure a good communication – coordination – information level of each member of the team through regular coordination meetings (or other if needed) in close coordination and collaboration with the partner You define, with each member of your staff, his action plan and delay for reaching defined goals (IAP); You support and advise your team in the implementation of their IAP; You ensure feed back towards your team about issues potentially raised by them; You are concerned and aware on the personal and professional evolution of each member of your staff, and its development within the mission : individual interviews, oral and written evaluations; You ensure conflict resolution (personal and professional) within your team and inform the emergency coordinator and the administrator; You support your staff in their management duty: coordination meetings, individual interviews, etc. Responsible for the planning of the team on the field : collection and compilation of the visits planned Transmission of the weekly planning every week to the Rehab TA Responsible for the availability of the materials of the team for the field activities In collaboration with the technical advisor, participation to the training of the team
Reporting: With the Technical Advisor, develop methodologies to survey appropriateness of accessible WASH and other facilities, and where the survey points out continued inaccessibility, propose and implement solutions Write regular activity and progress reports, including compilation of statistics upon his/her solicitation Ensure all services are provided in a professional and ethical manner Maintain a positive image of Handicap International at all times and in all circumstances. Write case studies (and support the project team to do the same) on beneficiaries and activities of the project Assess project needs and formulate requests to the Technical Advisor accordingly. Other activities related to project implementation as per the needs Participate to the monthly situation report (SITREP) by providing relevant data related to your position; You provide to the desk officer with a mission report and/or handover document at the end of your contract; Debriefing at HQ at the end of your mission (and during Home-Break).
PROFILE REQUIRED
Compulsory OT degree. Consider PT if previous experience on accessibility At least 2 years of professional experience in the field of vulnerability / disability At least 2 years of professional experience in the field of rehabilitation Proven ability on accessibility issues, accessibility in emergency or camp setting would be an asset Masters of Public Health or related studies would be an asset Experience in humanitarian context, preferably in emergency Strong communication and reporting skills Strong interpersonal and intercultural skills Ability to work under high pressure and without constant supervision English mandatory (oral and written)
How to apply:
Send curriculum+ cover letter to officerh2@handicap-international.org, mail subject: Name/Surname-Accessibility OT If your application retains our attention, you will be contact to spend a preselecting day in Lyon or you will have some interviews by phone.
