Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Intern

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191 member National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.”  The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.

The IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.

The IFRC Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional office based in Beirut, Lebanon supports 17 national societies in the region. The MENA Health, Disasters, Climate, and Crises (HDCC) unit within the MENA regional office works with one regional plan as well as provides the technical support & quality assurance to country cluster support teams and country offices. The MENA HDCC unit has articulated its alignment with the strategic priorities and enablers in-line with the global IFRC Strategy 2030, IFRC’s Plan and Budget 2021-2025, and The Movement Ambitions to Address the Climate Crisis

Job Purpose

Climate change is a humanitarian emergency, threatening human survival now and in the long term. The frequency and severity of extreme weather events have increased and will continue to do so, together with more uncertainty. Meanwhile, longer-term impacts of climate change, such as rising temperatures, sea level rise, growing desertification, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, are increasingly being felt. 

In addition to the impact of climate change, the region is also at high risk of other hazards such earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides, technological hazards, etc. IFRC is working to support global climate and DRR agreements such as the Sendai Framework and Paris agreement through the promotion of climate smart disaster risk reduction.  We aim to scale up efforts to meet the increased demands on national societies.  To do this, we need a systematic assessment of what is currently being undertaken across the region and to improved communication methods and tools to engage with MENA national societies and partners.

The role of the Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Intern is to support with analysis and data gathering that will inform strategy and planning.  This role will be tasked with:

• Conducting an environmental scan of current climate and DRR focused activities being undertaken by national societies across the region to identify emerging trends.
• Supporting in the development of a climate and DRR story map or other visual tool to highlight work across the MENA region.
• Supporting outreach and engagement with National Society climate and DRR focal points

Job Duties and Responsibilities

The intern will carry out the following specific tasks:

• Climate and DRR Project and Activity Scanning
• Work with line manger to finalize the methodology and approach to be taken for the environmental scan of Climate and DRR projects.
• Conduct a desk-based literature review of reports and studies related to projects and activities.
• Connect with national society climate and DRR focal points across the region to learn and document past and present climate and DRR projects.
• Map out examples, case studies and lessons learned relating to climate change, eco-DRR, NBS and resilience building both internally (RCRC) and externally.

Develop Tools and Approaches for Enhancing Awareness and Outreach

• Research and develop tools and templates to support outreach on the topic of climate and DRR- i.e. development of the shared Teams site, newsletters, assist with the delivery of webinars.
• Support the development of a Climate and DRR outreach plan for 2024.

Other Tasks:

• Support in dialogues related to climate smart resilience and disaster risk reduction.
• Participate and support in the implementation of monthly Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Community of Practice meetings.
• Support IFRC MENA Climate & Resilience team in any other tasks.
• Actively work towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals
• Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles
• Perform any other work related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager

Education

• Engaged in a University degree in Environmental studies, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change (or relevant area). - Required 

Experience

• Experience in conducting research, interviews, and data analysis. - Required
• Experience producing high quality and creative visual data tools and/or communication tools. - Preferred
• Demonstrated experience working on an outreach or communication campaign related to climate or environment. - Preferred
• Experience working within the RC/RC Movement. - Preferred

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Excellent communication and writing skills. - Required

Strong inter-personal and partnership building skills, demonstrated capacity to build functional networks. - Required

Flexible and adaptable to work effectively in a multicultural environment. - Required

Fluently spoken and written Arabic and English. - Required

Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish). - Preferred

Competencies, Values and Comments

Values:

• Respect for diversity.
• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Accountability

IFRC provides equal employment opportunities