Urban Refugees Advocate
Location:
Reports to:
Salary:
Staff reporting to this post:
London
IRC-UK Director of Policy and Advocacy
£32, 633
None
Background
Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global leader in providing
emergency relief, rehabilitation, post conflict development, human rights protection, resettlement
services and advocacy for refugees and other people uprooted or affected by violent conflict and
oppression. The IRC is committed to restoring hope, freedom, dignity and self-reliance. IRC-UK,
situated in London, was established as an independent British charity in 1997 and is the IRC’s
European Headquarters.
Since its establishment, IRC-UK has grown rapidly and is now recognised for its high quality project
management and technical expertise in responding to humanitarian crises, particularly in women’s
protection and empowerment. The IRC also has offices in Brussels and Geneva, which work
alongside IRC-UK. IRC-UK conducts advocacy to UK and European policymakers. We work closely
with the wider community of practitioners, academics and think tanks to disseminate and build the
IRC’s expertise and learning, and provide a European perspective on humanitarian concepts, policy
and practice to the IRC global network.
The UK advocacy team works closely with the IRC’s global team of advocates in Washington, New
York, Brussels and Geneva, as well as with teams in priority countries and regions. In particular, we
work closely with the Brussels office to establish and implement European-wide advocacy and
policy. The UK Advocacy team also works with the IRC’s programme staff around the world and is
able to access real time information from the field programmes, allowing IRC-UK to speak to the
most salient issues facing refugees and displaced people.
Context: Urban Refugees/Displacement
According to UNHCR, more refugees now reside in urban areas than in traditional camp settings. For
organisations like the IRC with a mandate to address the needs of refugees and displaced people,
this trend is changing how we respond to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. Much of the
humanitarian response architecture and standard tools are geared towards responding in a camp
setting, and too often those refugees who are not in camps are left without assistance or protection.
The IRC already has programmes working with urban displaced in many countries across the world,
both in a humanitarian and recovery context. However, to date the IRC in common with much of the
humanitarian sector has failed to tap this experience and develop standard approaches for urban
settings and take those approaches to scale. There is insufficient awareness of the scale and nature
of urban displacement among policy-makers, while at the practitioner level there has been a lack of
understanding and at times commitment to translate expertise in specific contexts into broader
guidance on programme design in urban areas.
IRC-UK is creating a new role specifically to change the nature of policymaker and practitioner
response to urban refugees and displaced people, as well as working with host communities, both
through internal and external advocacy and by developing new tools to facilitate more effective
programming by both the IRC and other key actors.
Scope of work
As part of a small, dynamic policy and advocacy team based in London, the IRC-UK Urban Refugees
Advocate will work closely with IRC staff throughout the organisation to help improve outcomes for
refugees and displaced people in cities around the world. Specifically, this position will:
 Take a leadership role in promoting urban refugees as a priority issue within the IRC
(headquarters and country programmes), and in compiling the IRC’s learning, best practice
and policy recommendations. The Advocate will work to bring together these occasionally
disparate efforts into a cohesive process with long-term advocacy goals around responding
to the needs of urban refugees and displaced people, and position the IRC as a thought
leader on the issue.
 Develop partnerships with other operational organisations, academic institutions and other
actors working on related issues, and link the IRC’s work into other global advocacy and
initiatives around urbanisation.
 Work with other key actors both within and outside the IRC to develop a new assessment
tool to effectively identify the needs of refugees in urban areas and design responses that
are innovative, effective and sustainable.
 Organise and host IRC-UK’s annual policy conference at Ditchley Park in autumn 2013,
focused on urban refugees and displaced people.
 Engage with UK and EU donors, UNHCR and other humanitarian actors to persuade them to
increase their commitment to addressing the specific needs of refugees and displaced
people in urban settings.
The Urban Refugee Advocate will report to the Director of Policy and Advocacy of IRC-UK, with a
strong functional line to the IRC’s Deputy Regional Director for Horn and East Africa, who has a
specific focus on urban refugee issues.
Tasks and responsibilities
Promote urban refugees as a priority area within the IRC
 Lead the IRC-UK strategic planning group on urban refugees and co-lead the IRC global
working group on urban refugees.
 Build support for urban programming among country teams, regional and headquarters
offices of the IRC.
 Gather and disseminate information on existing IRC urban programming, including bestpractice, lessons learned, key challenges and advocacy objectives.
 Work with regional teams to identify and access funding opportunities for urban
programming.
Identify gaps in research and develop partnerships with academic institutions to fill these gaps
 Work with the IRC’s Research, Evaluation and Learning Unit and partner organisation, the
Women’s Refugee Commission, to identify key research gaps and questions and to design
research proposals.
 Establish the IRC as a go-to organisation for academic institutions for research partnerships.
Ditchley Conference and design of the Assessment Tool
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Work with others both within and outside the IRC to develop a new rapid assessment tool
that helps humanitarian actors identify urban refugees, understand their needs, and design
appropriate and sustainable response.
Design and organise a 2-day IRC policy event at Ditchley Park in autumn 2013 for a wide
range of high level policymakers, practitioners and donors focused on improving responses
to urban refugees and displaced people, and progressing development of the tool.
Organise future policy events and conferences as appropriate.
Advocacy strategy development and implementation
 Develop a detailed advocacy strategy on urban refugees/displacement to improve donor,
humanitarian actor and host government policy and practice in relation to urban refugees.
 Conduct advocacy with high-level UK/European advocacy targets on the need for an
increased focus on the protection, livelihoods and other needs of urban refugees and urban
displaced populations.
 Develop contacts and linkages with key experts and stakeholders on urbanisation and urban
displacement.
 Work with IRC-UK Media and Communications team to highlight the needs of urban
refugees and displaced people among the UK and EU public.
 Produce materials for advocacy, communications and media on urban refugees, including for
briefing papers, reports, opeds etc.
Qualifications/
Education/
Knowledge
Experience
Required
Skills/ Abilities
Personal Qualities
Other
Essential
Masters degree in a subject related to the IRC’s work
(e.g. International Relations, Refugee or Migration
Studies, Development Studies, Public Health, Public
Policy), or equivalent
Excellent understanding of humanitarian aid and
knowledge of relevant policy issues
Experience advocating on humanitarian and/or
development issues
Operational background or expertise in urban
environments
Experience working with donors and policymakers,
especially UK and European donors such as DfID,
ECHO and SIDA, among others
Ability to think and plan work strategically
Excellent ability to communicate effectively in
English, both verbally and in writing
Good presentation and networking skills
Proven ability to work in close collaboration with
team members and remote field offices
Good analytical skills attention to detail
Ability to work independently
Commitment to team work
Highly motivated self-starter
Flexibility
Ability to travel overseas, sometimes at short notice,
to situations of conflict
The right to work in the UK
Desirable
Experience in monitoring and
evaluation and/or
conducting field research
Training in advocacy
Experience advocating for
policy change with UK and
European governments
Additional language:
preferably French
Experience of public
speaking and working with
the media (including
writing and broadcast
interviews)
To apply
Please send a CV (two page max.) and cover letter (two page max.) to Selena Victor at
applications@rescue-uk.org
Please note that:
 Applications without a cover letter will be rejected automatically
 UK work permit is required for this post
 Unfortunately, a relocation package is not included for this post
 Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Unfortunately we cannot give any feedback
to those who are not shortlisted
Please state clearly in the cover letter:
 Your reasons for applying
 The skills and experience you possess relevant to this post, and how you meet the person
specification
Deadline for applications: 10 am Monday 3 June 2013
In order to minimise administrative costs, IRC-UK will only contact shortlisted candidates.
IRC-UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC-UK is committed to equality of
opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure
we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality,
ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.