Occupied Palestine: Junior EU Aid Volunteer in Gender

Mar 19, 2019 | Gruppo di Volontariato Civile
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The EU Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps – EU Aid Volunteers and related legislation create a framework for joint contributions from European volunteers to support and complement humanitarian aid in third countries.

Therefore, the EU Aid Volunteers Initiative provides opportunities to European citizens and long-term residents, from a wide range of backgrounds and with a diversity of skills and professional experience, to get involved in humanitarian aid projects, support the provision of needs-based humanitarian aid in third countries and engage in volunteering opportunities, through deployment and online-volunteering.

The initiative focuses on strengthening the European Union's capacity to deliver needs-based humanitarian aid by providing professional support through the deployment of trained volunteers to people in need. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen the capacity and resilience of vulnerable communities in third countries, through the implementation of joint projects between experienced humanitarian operators and local organizations in third countries.

The EU Aid Volunteers Initiative offers:

  • Opportunities for European citizens to become EU Aid Volunteers in humanitarian projects worldwide, showing solidarity with those who most need it;
  • Professional support by trained and well-prepared volunteers to communities affected by disaster;
  • Capacity building for local staff and volunteers of organizations in countries hit by disasters;
  • Technical assistance for organizations based in Europe to strengthen their capacity to participate in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

WEWORLD-GVC (Italy), Alianza por la Solidaridad (Spain), Acción contra el Hambre (Spain), Action Aid Hellas (Greece) and FOCSIV (Italy) are international non-governmental organizations that have joined their expertise in management of humanitarian action worldwide and now implement the “EU Aid Volunteers acting for LRRD” project.

The objective is to add value to the Commission’s European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Department and other Humanitarian Operations (ECHO) with the support of 47 trained EU Aid Volunteers working within 19 hosting organizations in 19 Countries.

3 senior (more than 5 years of professional experience) and 44 junior (less than 5 years of professional experience) EU Aid Volunteers will be deployed in 19 countries (Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Georgia, Guatemala, Haiti, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestine, Senegal, Thailand, Tunisia).

The project aims also at building the capacities of local organizations in hosting volunteers, preventing emergencies and being prepared in case of disaster.

Moreover, Europeans and Nationals will work together to strengthen the resilience capacity of vulnerable communities in least developed and fragile countries.

General

  • Under the direct supervision and mentoring of the WEWORLD-GVC Country Director and Emergency Coordinator, the EU Aid Volunteer will support the implementation of the WEWORLD-GVC gender strategy in the country.
  • Build capacity and awareness around the Gender and WASH sector, using WEWORLD-GVC WASH & Gender Toolkit for Palestine and Gender Case Study (Emergency Supply of Water Trucking to Area C of the West Bank);
  • Mainstreaming gender in the WEWORLD-GVC multisectoral integrated programming;
  • To support SADD collection and analysis of data from a gender, age and diversity perspective;
  • To review reports, questionnaires, assessments and other documents from a gender perspective, adding and/or suggesting adding what might be missed;
  • To participate in some new projects/programs identification to make sure the gender component is properly mainstreamed;
  • Capacity building: train on basic concepts and principles of gender for all WEWORLD-GVC staff;
  • To strengthen the internal use of the WEWORLD-GVC WASH & Gender Toolkit as a reference tool to enable better gender mainstreaming;

Meetings and field visits

  • The EU Aid Volunteer will participate to all relevant meetings with local stakeholders; she/he will participate to the team coordination meetings; she/he will run field visits to the rural community and women supported by WEWORLD-GVC;
  • To provide policy recommendations to WASH Cluster members, as gender focal point in the WASH cluster;
  • To participate in vetting panels or review of HRP proposals using OCHA gender & age markers;

Advocacy

  • The EU Aid Volunteer shall run advocacy and awareness raising activities on gender equality and women participation both at local and national level;
  • To support sector Coordinators in building strategic alliances with other key actors internally and externally in order to advocate for gender-sensitive programming;

Writing

  • The EU Aid Volunteer shall support identification and proposal writing on gender equality and women empowerment related areas
  • Communication and Awareness on EU Aid Volunteers Initiative

The EU Aid Volunteer shall:

  • Promote local volunteerism in disaster risk reduction, prevention and response;
  • Train local volunteers on organization and implementation of volunteer-based activities, when applicable;
  • Promote partnerships and collaboration between local and European organizations;
  • Draft and publish articles describing volunteer's experience in the field;
  • Gather audiovisual materials to be used in a public awareness activity in the volunteer's local community in Europe;
  • In coordination with the NGOs partner of the project, organize and execute a public awareness activity once back in Europe.

Other

The EU Aid Volunteer shall perform other duties, as required.

Required competences

  • Degree in international relation/social studies/political science/anthropology
  • Specific gender studies desired;
  • Languages: Fluency in spoken and written English; Arabic preferred;
  • Skills:
    • Good interpersonal, team working skills and ability to work independently;
    • Good ability to adapt to the situation of instability;
    • Ability to write reports;
    • Experience:
      • Experience in volunteering desired;
      • Minimum 5 years of working experience in relevant fields;
      • Good general knowledge of the full Office suite;
      • Familiarity with the application of gender toolkit, gender markers, humanitarian protection principles mainstreaming;
      • Basic knowledge of Project Cycle Management, such as Sex & Age Disaggregated Data collection, gender sensitive indicators and source of verification;

Eligibility and exception criteria

The candidate for EU Aid Volunteers must be a citizen of the EU or a third country national who is a long-term resident in an EU Member State, and must have a minimum age of 18 years.

Availability for the following activities:

  • Training in presence starting from June/July 2019;
  • Pre-deployment induction in WEWORLD-GVC HQ, in Bologna, starting from August 2019;
  • Deployment starting from October 2019.

Minimum Requirements

Candidates must satisfy the requirements set out in Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps ("EU Aid Volunteers initiative"), which include having a minimum age of 18 years old and being a citizen of EU or a third country national who is a long-term resident in an EU Member State.

WEWORLD-GVC applies a policy of equal opportunities and accepts applications without distinction on the grounds of sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.