Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is looking for a skilled individual that could support the capacity building and integrate disaster risk reduction, disaster response, preparedness, mitigation, and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) measures, as appropriate to the context of Branch and National Organizations (NOs). The Specialist in Disaster Response and Risk Reduction (DR3) will report to the Associate Director, Program Operations at the Asia Pacific Regional office.

This is a local position and will be based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Candidates must be currently eligible to work in the country without sponsorship. The successful candidate will be offered an initial contract of 2 years that is subject to renewal depending on the availability of the funds, and a local country-based compensation package.

The work arrangement for this position is hybrid, and flex-time schedule.


Essential Duties and Responsibilities:


Disaster Response

Support Habitat National Offices in responding to humanitarian or emergency situationsParticipate in shelter cluster coordination, donor, and government meetings during emergency response.Provide direction, leadership and backstop support for the development, oversight, and management of disaster response interventions.Support the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of disaster response programs.Facilitates the communications, conduct assessments, supports conceptualization and design of disaster response interventions in collaboration with Headquarters (HQ), other Area Offices (AOs), National Organizations (NOs), Branch Offices and Partners on disaster response program developments and monitoring.Be readily available for deployments in the event of an emergency situation to respond to disasters at a branch or national office in the region within 24 hours.
Disaster Preparedness

Support the capacity building of HFH affiliated entities to implement disaster response programsEnsure effective, practical, field operations plan which will facilitate country specific disaster responses are integrated and addressed in country DR³ Plans and country strategic, contingency and management plans.Design, promote, facilitate and participate in disaster response (rapid response) training activities.Assist the NO’s in the prepositioning of shelter kits and provide guidance to define a minimum standard kit.Promote the use of cash voucher assistance (CVA) and provide capacity strengthening initiatives.Engage and connect HFHI to peer agencies and networks (internal and external), authorities and the DR³ donor communitiesEngage in partnership cultivation and development for activation in response to disasters within Asia Pacific (AP).Support collaborative resource development for disaster response initiatives within AP particularly those related to the AP DR³ Reserve Fund.Engage and support in the development of industry-wide position papers, best practice documents and standards on behalf of HFHI-AP and HFHI in relation to disaster response.Contribute to the timely and appropriate use of the AP DR³ Portal.Advance the development of the HFHI AP DR³ Community of PracticeManage the AP Rapid Response Roster (member recruitment, database maintenance, members’ capacity building monitoring) in collaboration with AP HR.Contribute in the HFHI Global DR³ Community of Practice when required.Participate in and help create opportunities for on-going interactions between DR³ SMEs throughout AP region.
Disaster Risk Reduction and AdaptationBuild capacity of HFHI and HFH affiliated entities to design, monitor and implement disaster risk reduction and mitigation strategies and programs.Works closely with HQ, NOs, Branch Offices and Partners to conduct assessments in support of conceptualization and design of appropriate disaster risk reduction and mitigation regional and country strategies and program interventions;Facilitate the development of DRR and mitigation intervention in collaboration program team in line with AP and country strategic business plan ensuring that it is within external standards in community resilience programming, with emphasis on international standards, such as SPHERE, IASC, Core Humanitarian Standards, ALNAP etc.Provide technical advice on resilience-building in disaster prone contexts.Supports the development of systems, standard operation procedures (SOPs), terms of reference (TOR) and guidelines to enhance HFH’s readiness to respond to disasters, and country strategic, contingency and management plans.Design, promote, facilitate and participate in disaster response (rapid response) training activities to increase the capacity of staff, volunteers and Habitat active communities.Assist in prepositioning shelter kits and provide guidance to define a minimum standard kit.Engage and connect with peer agencies and networks (internal and external), authorities and the DR³ donor communities.Advance the development of DR³ Community of Practice.Facilitate the development of DRR and mitigation intervention in collaboration with program team in line with Habitat Philippines country strategic business plan ensuring that it is within external standards in community resilience programming, with emphasis on international standards, such as SPHERE, IASC, Core Humanitarian Standards, etc.
To be an HFH employee, you have a responsibility to learn significant awareness on safeguarding in order to recognize and be alert for the signs of potential safeguarding misconduct, and to make a timely report about any incident related to it.


Minimum Requirements:Education: Bachelor’s degree or in development related studiesYears of Related Experience:
- Minimum of 5 years of direct experience in managing Humanitarian emergency response, preparedness and DRR initiatives in the AP region
- Must have been deployed in at least 2 emergencies and or must have had experience working in hardship areas in shelter/housing interventions.
- Direct work experience in community development projects.
QualificationsEffective communication and coordination skillsDemonstrated experience in providing training and development of training materialsExcellent interpersonal skills, cross-cultural communication skills and ability to work with other cultures and nationalitiesAbility to work independently; and interdependently within a team, and with other HFH entities or partnersFluent in written and spoken EnglishReady and willing to be deployed in humanitarian response as advised by the Line Manager
Preferred:Graduate studies in the relevant field or equivalent experienceExperience in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating an interdisciplinary emergency responseExperience in knowledge managementExperience in developing DR³ framework that is appropriate to the context of Asia Pacific regionExperience in writing project proposals, design, and management, including budgets – aligned with the requirements of the donorsExperience working in a non-profit organization is preferredKnowledge on CVA preferredInternational experience in managing emergency response / preparedness initiatives