Disaster Preparedness Coordinator

The Disaster Preparedness Coordinator serves as the primary expert for institutional and community-based disaster readiness measures in Venezuela, focusing on proactive strategies, early warning systems, and community resilience. The role involves providing technical guidance, leading strategic direction, designing donor proposals, and fostering coordination among internal teams and external partners.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical support and guidance to DRC Venezuela in the implementation of projects and tools related to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRD), Disaster Preparedness (DP), and Disaster Management (DM) at organizational, government and community levels linked to anticipatory action, early warning, and disaster resilience.
• Monitor and follow up on the implementation of DRC Venezuela projects related to disaster preparedness and resilience.
• Provide technical support for the integration, preparedness, and resilience of disasters into DRC Venezuela's plans and strategy.
• Promote greater understanding of disaster preparedness and resilience terminologies, tools, quality criteria, and approaches.
• Provide technical and operational support for preparedness mechanisms in situations of imminent disaster risk, considering anticipatory measures and response actions.
• Lead the design and implementation of Anticipatory Action (AA) projects and proposals, develop tools and methodologies, and establish systems to measure impact.
• Liaise with relevant inter-institutional and local partners on disaster preparedness and resilience mechanisms to ensure coordination and identify synergies and partnerships.
• Contribute to planning and resource mobilization, prepare concept notes, lead/participate in project proposals related to disaster preparedness and resilience.
• Co-Lead the AA sub-working group and represent DRC in regional and global forums.
• Strengthen capacity-building and knowledge-sharing at organizational and community levels for disaster preparedness and resilience initiatives.
• Provide timely updates and advice on scientific and technical developments, trends, best practices, and lessons learned.
• Finalize Impact Studies on localized AA interventions.
• Support formulation of plans and technical reports.
• Provide feedback and quality assurance to DRC offices and teams on disaster preparedness and resilience approach integration and scaling up.
• Participate in coordination meetings, providing technical support and relevant information.
• Technically line-manage DP Team Leaders in Apure and Zulia and other focal points if recruited.

Requirements

• 5 years of experience in the humanitarian sector related to management of programs and/or operations in Disaster Risk Reduction linked to strengthening institutional and community preparedness capacity and emergency response operations.
• 3 years of experience working as a project manager related to disaster risk management and/or preparedness in Latin-America.
• Experience in developing humanitarian early action and/or early warning systems.
• Good understanding of the global humanitarian environment and in Latin America.
• Good ability to lead multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience in coordination with authorities and other humanitarian actors.
• Experience in designing localized and integrated Disaster Preparedness responses.
• Experience in narrative and financial reporting.
• Climate Change Adaptation knowledge is an advantage.
• Advanced degree in Disaster Risk Reduction & Management, Urban Planning or another related field is highly preferred, OR Advanced degree in social sciences, social work, gender studies, international development / WASH / Rights Based approach / Community Empowerment or related fields, OR Advanced degree in Project Management.
• Fluency in English (speaking, writing, reading) is essential.
• Communication skills in Spanish is mandatory.

Skills

• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Emergency response operations
• Project Management
• Humanitarian Early Action
• Early Warning Systems
• Humanitarian Coordination
• Disaster Preparedness
• Narrative Reporting
• Financial Reporting
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Community Preparedness
• Institutional Preparedness
• Multi-disciplinary Team Leadership
• Donor Proposals
• Humanitarian Programme Management
• Latin America Humanitarian Context
• Stakeholder Coordination
• Community Resilience

Languages

English, Spanish