Community of Practice Facilitator, Markets in Emergencies -Employment, career opportunity in USA

Job Title: Community of Practice Facilitator, Markets in Emergencies
Sector:     Economic Recovery & Development          
Location:     US - NY -New York    
Job Type:     Regular          
Employee Category:     Part Time          


Description:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

In recent years, international humanitarian and development agencies have been re-examining their responses to humanitarian emergencies.  There is a growing realization that unless responses are designed with a good understanding of key market systems, they may crowd out the indigenous private sector, damage livelihoods, jobs and businesses; thus undermine long-term recovery and prolong dependence on outside assistance.

In response to this, the IRC, Oxfam GB and Practical Action, with funding from the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, developed the Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis (EMMA) Toolkit to quickly analyse markets in the emergency phase of a rapid onset disaster. This process of phased work started in 2007, and in early 2010, following several years of piloting and field-testing the EMMA Toolkit was published by Practical Action Publishing.

Since 2010, the IRC has continued to promote the EMMA toolkit and to provide support to agencies interested in using EMMA in emergencies. The IRC’s support for the global uptake of EMMA has included trainings in EMMA at a number of global locations, the development and launch of an EMMA website, the translation of EMMA into French, the provision of timely support to teams undertaking EMMAs and awareness raising of EMMA (this includes a number of EMMA presentations and publications) amongst other activities. The IRC and its partners in EMMA have trained over 250 relief and development practitioners from more than 40 organizations and implemented more than 20 EMMAs in the field, resulting in more than 1 million indirect beneficiaries. With the broad recognition of the importance of market analysis in emergency contexts, there has been an explosion of interest and experience in emergency and recovery-oriented market-based programming. With this rapid expansion of practice has come a proliferation of approaches, tools, and learning of best practices in applying market-sensitive approaches to humanitarian programming. A key challenge now facing emergency practitioners is to foster a community of learning and experience-sharing across the global spectrum of market practitioners and countries where EMMA and other forms of market analysis has been successfully used.


SCOPE OF WORK:
The Markets in Emergencies Community of Practice Facilitator will be responsible for growing and broadening a community of practitioners by stimulating vibrant discussions through various social media networks,  encouraging the sharing and support dissemination of field-based learning, and to transform the EMMA website and social-media platforms into dynamic resources for individuals conducting EMMA and other types of market assessments. The Markets in Emergencies Community of Practice Animator position is currently funded as a part-time position will work under the overall guidance and supervision of the Emergency Economic Coordinator.


ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
The specific responsibilities of the Markets in Emergencies Community of Practice Animator will vary, but may include any combination of the following activities:

•     Engage with the broader humanitarian community in stimulating dialogue and discussion around market analysis in emergencies, as well as encouraging discussion of specific topics relevant to market-based programming and the EMMA community of practice;
•     Update the website and manage the social media networks (including the EMMA listserv, Linked-In account, Dgroups etc.) to keep conversations vibrant, encourage the sharing of field information, and to maintain content up-to-date and ‘alive’ with new material;
•     Gather, document and share lessons learned, case studies and other learning from EMMA assessments, and disseminate these resources in support of market assessment and analysis activities at field-level;
•     Create multi-media resources such as training videos that can be used for training in the classroom, in the field, or simply viewed by decision-makers and practitioners who want to expand their knowledge about the methodology;
•     Support the organization and facilitation of various EMMA training courses over the next 10 months as well as an EMMA Learning Event to bring together practitioners and share practical experience;
•     Other EMMA-related tasks, as necessary. 

REQUIREMENTS:

•     Proficiency with social media, website development and maintenance.
•     Knowledgeable in the theory and practice of market analysis in emergencies, preferably with experience implementing EMMA assessments and market-based programs in emergency contexts.
•     Strong communication skills and excellent writing and computer skills (word processing, e-mail, spreadsheets, writing for the web).
•     Knowledgeable in inter-agency networks, platforms and resources that complement and promote market analysis in emergencies.
•     5 years of humanitarian experience.

The Markets in Emergencies Community of Practice Facilitator is a part-time position, anticipated to require an average of 1 day of work per week, depending on the level of dialogue and maintenance required to foster a dynamic community of practice.


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