The jobholder will provide advice, support and leadership in the region to ensure that Oxfam and its partners are both ready and able to respond in a timely, proportionate, and professionally competent manner to humanitarian emergencies, wherever and whenever they occur in the region, as well as provide capacity building within the region.
The Job Holder is expected to provide high-quality support to different units of the Country Office and to partners according to Oxfam’s standards and contribute to Oxfam’s global and regional learning aspirations through capacity building, coordination, mentoring and monitoring, making sure that Oxfam’s humanitarian response meets humanitarian standards.
Your Job Description
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (Technical, Leadership, People and Resource management)
Humanitarian Strategy and Coordination
Lead the design, implementation, and review of Oxfam’s humanitarian strategy in alignment with national, regional, and global frameworks.
Coordinate humanitarian preparedness and response in collaboration with Oxfam Country Teams, the Regional Platform, and the Global Humanitarian Team (GHT).
Represent Oxfam in key humanitarian coordination forums with the Government, UN agencies, INGOs, and other stakeholders.
Strengthen country-level humanitarian capacity through mentorship, planning, and technical support.
Contribute to humanitarian policy debates and advocacy initiatives on issues relevant to the Nigeria context.
Emergency Preparedness and Capacity Strengthening
Lead the development and periodic review of Oxfam’s emergency preparedness and contingency plans.
Facilitate staff training and simulations to ensure readiness for rapid and effective response.
Build and maintain strategic partnerships with government agencies, civil society, and private sector actors to enhance collective preparedness and resilience.
Oversee humanitarian risk analysis and monitoring of emerging crises, ensuring timely and evidence-based decision-making.
Support the establishment and management of Oxfam’s humanitarian roster and surge mechanisms.
Humanitarian Response Management
Lead and coordinate humanitarian assessments, response design, and implementation in the event of emergencies.
Ensure effective coordination with Oxfam affiliates, partners, and humanitarian actors for coherent and complementary response efforts.
Support the development of quality funding proposals, concept notes, and donor engagement for humanitarian interventions.
Ensure humanitarian responses adhere to Oxfam’s programmatic standards and accountability mechanisms, including gender and protection mainstreaming.
Collaborate with advocacy and communications teams to develop evidence-based humanitarian influencing strategies.
Programme Quality and Accountability
Ensure all humanitarian programming complies with international standards, including the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), SPHERE, and Oxfam’s Gender and Protection Standards.
Promote learning and continuous improvement through evaluations, after-action reviews, and documentation of lessons learned.
Ensure protection, gender, and inclusion considerations are fully integrated into all humanitarian initiatives.
Strengthen accountability to affected populations and ensure community feedback mechanisms are functional and effective.
Leadership, Management, and Technical Support
Provide technical guidance to humanitarian teams and partners in Oxfam’s key sectors (WASH, EFSVL, Gender, Protection).
Manage and mentor humanitarian staff, ensuring clarity of roles, performance management, and capacity development.
Oversee humanitarian budget planning, expenditure tracking, and resource mobilization in coordination with finance teams.
Ensure effective communication and information flow between field teams, the regional platform, and Oxfam affiliates.
Promote integration of humanitarian, development, and influencing work for a coherent “one programme” approach.
Financial management
Ensure that budgets are drawn up for all humanitarian projects, and that costs are kept within budgets, implement a monthly program budget monitoring (Budget Vs Actuals), quarterly analysis of trends and timely budget reallocation.
Support project leads to developing supply plans and manage procurement in compliance with Oxfam’s and donor requirements.
Fundraising
Constantly scanning the donor and private sector landscape for opportunities.
Prepare capacity statements, concept notes and project proposals ensuring they are aimed at achieving economic justice, resilient income and food security for small holder farmers especially women and youth.
Ensure that proposals developed for specific calls are in line with co-financing targets and priorities of the country program.
Prepare monthly, quarterly, mid-term and annual reports to be submitted to Oxfam and donors (existing and prospective).
The Job Requirements
Education
A master’s degree (or equivalent) in Humanitarian Affairs, Development Studies, International Relations, Social Sciences, or a related field.
Additional certification or training in programme management, advocacy and influencing, and humanitarian development is an added advantage.
Knowledge & Experience
At least five years’ experience of managing humanitarian response work in a range of environments, including field-level management of complex humanitarian response programmes and all phases of the project/programme cycle.
Commitment to the Humanitarian Imperative with demonstrated abilities in crisis management and coordination of rapid humanitarian responses.
Demonstrable experience of policy development in relation to humanitarian response work.
Experience of identifying training needs and coordinating training implementation.
Ability to manage competing demands and produce results under pressure.
Demonstrated commitment to equal opportunities, including gender equity.
Willingness and ability to travel frequently.
Training in Disasters Preparedness/Emergency Response (desirable).
Ability to work within multi-cultural teams and as an individual; a self-starter with proven ability to work creatively, innovatively, and effectively within a framework and with limited direct supervision.
Skills & Abilities
Demonstrable skills in gender analysis in humanitarian response or preparedness programming, and a clear understanding of the practical significance of gender issues in humanitarian environments.
Demonstrated facilitation and coaching skills.
Demonstrated ability to think strategically with a high level of analytical skills.
Demonstrated financial management skills.
Demonstrated ability to manage workflows and balance competing priorities.
Ability to represent Oxfam in a professional and competent manner with external individuals and organizations.
Well-developed conceptual, critical, and analytical thinking with the ability to convey complex information straightforwardly and influence a wider audience.
Proven experience as a team player and cooperative with members of other teams, responding quickly and accurately to queries and issues.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal English) and the ability to write clear, concise reports.
Knowledge or appreciation of Nigeria in terms of political, economic, and social trends, plus understanding of key development and humanitarian issues in the region.
Commitment to Oxfam’s overall aims and policies and experience of promoting women’s rights and interests of marginalized people.
Willingness to travel frequently to remote areas.
Competencies
Influencing: Ability to engage with diverse stakeholders to increase organizational impact, identify opportunities to influence effectively, and create them respectfully when none exist.
Relationship Building: Understanding the importance of building relationships within and outside the organization, engaging with stakeholders to increase organizational impact.
Humility: Putting ‘we’ before ‘me’, emphasizing the power of the collective, nurturing the team, leveraging individual strengths, and valuing knowledge and expertise of others across all levels.
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