Technical Advisor – Environmental Impact (Re-advertisement) – Catholic Relief Services – CRS

Environment and Natural Resource

Catholic Relief Services – CRS

About CRS: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For nearly 60 years, CRS has taken the lead in responding to natural and man-made disasters affecting Ethiopia’s most vulnerable communities. Moving beyond emergency response, CRS’ disaster mitigation and recovery projects in drought and flood-prone areas have rebuilt individual and community assets through non-food aid in the form of agriculture, livestock, health, nutrition, and water and sanitation assistance. CRS’s humanitarian work in Ethiopia also provides livelihoods support to farmers and entrepreneurs, promotes equality and inclusion, and mitigates the impact of COVID-19.

Background: The Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP) is an emergency food assistance program targeting transitory food insecure households through a project participant targeting process led by the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC). JEOP provides emergency assistance to protect their lives and livelihood where recurrent drought affected in significant harvest loss, livestock death and price increase of essentials. The consortium is led by CRS and includes consortium partners, CARE, Food for the Hungry, Relief Society of Tigray (REST), World Vision and Organization for Relief and Development in Amhara (ORDA). CRS also works thorough local implementing partners Hararghe and Meki Catholic Secretariat (HCS and MCS).

Job Title:                             Technical Advisor – Environmental Impact

Department:                      JEOP, Program Quality Unit

Band:                                   9

Required number:            One

Employment Term:          Fixed term from May 1, 2022 up to September 7, 2026 

Country/Location:             Ethiopia/Addis Ababa 

Job Responsibilities:

• Support development and contribute to implementation of JEOP-wide gender-sensitive environmental impact strategies, standards, tools and best practices across operations and programming that effectively engage partners, USAID, and Government of Ethiopia. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach for environmental impact integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction, supporting collaboration between JEOP and CRS’ USAID-funded Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA).
• Conduct regular monitoring of JEOP consortium activities to ensure full compliance with USAID environmental compliance regulations using a Do No Harm lens. Share the results of this monitoring in a timely manner and follow-up on recommendations given.
• Ensure Climate Risk Management mitigation measures are implemented.
• Work closely with team members, partners, and local government to build capacity on environmental management, specifically focusing on strengthening institutional capacity, improving environmental quality and sustainable management of natural resources, promoting equitable solutions in managing commons such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity conservation and others.
• Work in close collaboration with the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) and Compliance and Risk Monitoring (CRM) teams to ensure that all the required environmental indicators are properly aligned and tracked with existing monitoring plans and ensure streamlining and mainstreaming of environmental impact activities into existing workstreams.
• Undertake environmental monitoring and evaluation of program activities against environmental regulations and standards. Spearhead spot checks to ensure that proposed mitigation measures are properly implemented in line with the guidelines and unforeseen environmental and human health impacts are minimized. Prepare reports (quarterly, field monitoring) on risks with appropriate actions to be taken and ensure that timely actions are taken.
• Facilitate preparation and updating of environmental lessons/results by USAID’s requirements.
• Conduct assessments and advise teams on the environmental implications of planned activities.
• Coordinate with external stakeholders and contractors. Develop a scope of work, tendering, recruitment, and engagement of a consultancy firm to conduct a carbon footprint and thorough environmental impact assessment of JEOP, and support JEOP take strategic actions to make programmatic and operational adjustments considering findings.
• Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations and other institutions, participate in forums in environment to collect and share best practices. Provide technical support to JEOP’s partner teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, and MEAL, helping to ensure high-quality implementation of activities to ensure environmental compliance.
• Support JEOP’s MEAL team to include environmental perspectives in research, mid-term and end line evaluations and mainstream sex and age disaggregated and youth-sensitive indicators into the overall MEAL framework. Contribute to developing indicators, milestones and plans, and lead reporting on all indicators for environmental impact, and program progress.
• Provide dynamic leadership, technical support, and team coordination to JEOP’s environmental impact assessment and connected activities (ensuring do no harm and gender sensitive lenses are employed), including ongoing technical support in integration and empowerment and build knowledge and technical capacity to implement and monitor environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures in operations and programming.
• Support capacity strengthening initiatives for staff and partners through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and coaching.
• Collect and analyze program data, capture, and share lessons learned and best practices for specific projects to facilitate improvements in decision-making and contribute to the environmental impact learning agenda.
• Contribute to maintaining relationships with USAID, peer organizations, research, and other institutions, participate in forums to share best practices and promote CRS’ work.

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Required Education and Experience

·         BA/MA level degree in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Planning and Management, Natural Resources management, Environmental Health, Environmental Engineering, or related field.

·         Minimum of 5 years relevant work experience with progressive responsibilities.

·         Demonstrated experience working in some of the following: environmental safeguarding, climate risk management, conservation, capacity building.

·         Experience in working in large scale complex programs, in challenging environments, with strong emphasis on poor and vulnerable populations, pastoralist cultures, and agriculture.

·         Experience with participatory methods. Demonstrated capacity and experience with institutional strengthening of local civil society and government agencies.

·         Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations and civil society partners.

Desired Education and Experience

• Demonstrated commitment to and application of gender responsive programming and positive action measures towards gender equality, including the participation and leadership of women

• Demonstrated knowledge of and commitment to safeguarding, including the protection of program participants, community members and staff from all forms of abuse and harm

• Relevant work experience with an international non-governmental organization including field-based experience.

• Knowledge of mainstreaming protection, gender integration, and gender-based violence (GBV).

• Demonstrated experience and knowledge of Government of Ethiopia environmental regulations and USAID environmental compliance.

• Knowledge of and experience working with complex MEAL systems and indicator tracking

• Experience working on technical sectors covered under the JEOP: food security (commodity and cash) EWS, nutrition, etc.
• Experience working on a USAID funded program.
• Understanding of partnership principles and experience with faith-based partners.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.

Personal Skills

• Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings
• Inclusive approach, able to elevate the voices of underrepresented groups.
• Flexibility, persistence, and ability to work well with people and cross-cultural skills.

• Excellent written and oral communications skills in the English and Amharic.

• Strong self-management and interpersonal skills

• Knowledge of capacity strengthening best practices.

• Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment

• High degree of integrity and ability to manage sensitive situations and information confidentially and safely.

• Strong presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills

• Proactive, resourceful, and results-oriented

Female applicants and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. CRS is committed to maintaining a diverse talented workforce.

Required/Desired Foreign Language: Strong written and verbal communication skills in English and Amharic; ability to draft reports, communications materials, detailed implementation plans. Written and verbal skills in other Ethiopian national languages a plus.

Travel Required: 30-50% by road and air across Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, Sidama, Dire Dawa City Administration and Tigray (subject to need and flexible to family commitments)

Key Working Relationships:

Supervisory: N/a

Internal: JEOP Chief of Party and Senior Management Team; MEAL, EWS, CRM, Gender, JEOP technical team leads; CRS Ethiopia Country Program staff; CRS Regional and Headquarters Technical Advisors.

External:  JEOP Consortium members, local government stakeholders and communities, peer organizations and, representatives from for-profit and other non-profit organizations, operating in JEOP woredas.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

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