Emergency Operation and Information Centre (EOC) Coordinator

About the Ethiopian Red Cross Society

The Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) was established in 1935 and is one of the oldest and largest humanitarian organizations in Ethiopia. ERCS provides services to communities affected by natural and manmade disasters through the provision of emergency responses, ambulance and first aid, family reunification, essential drugs, water and sanitation, and other humanitarian services. ERCS also runs disaster risk reduction programs with the aim of creating resilience households and communities. Currently the ERCS has a structure consisting of 12 Regional Offices, 34 Zonal Branches and 131 District/Woreda Branches, 599 Woreda Red Cross Committee and 5871 Kebele Red Cross committees.

ERCS also runs disaster risk reduction programs relating to food security, climate change adaptation, livelihood diversification, and institutional capacity building interventions, with the aim of creating resilience households and communities. ERCS works in partnership with the Ethiopian Government, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), partnering National Societies, members, volunteers and the communities we serve.

Job Purpose

Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) has established Emergency Operation and information Centers (EOC) which enables to coordinate and support the on-scene incident management operations. Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) coordinator will be a key member of disaster preparedness and response team, representing the Emergency operation center (EOC) assisting to organize and administer the Emergency Operations program and plans and identifying innovative technologies/tools to support the center. S/he will work closely with the DPR/Disaster Risk Management head, IT staffs, and regional branch EOC coordinators. This position is supported by Netherlands Red Cross and funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid.

Key Duties and responsibilities

• Overall project management of the Emergency Operation Centre of ERCS both at ERCS HQ and Amhara Region in close coordination and collaboration with, DPR/DRR, ICT services, GIS Coordinator and M&E Unit of ERCS.
• Overall responsible for proper management of the HF radio system including installation and maintenance with ICT staffs of ERCS.
• Improve the information and project management practices of ERCS by providing timely and quality information on projects implementation status to the management of ERCS.
• Work closely with Netherlands Red Cross “big data department”.
• Ensure that the National Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) is used as information hub between the branches and ERCS HQ to inform timely and quality decision, this includes linking with concerned departments and demonstrating the ‘value add’ of the EOC
• Ensure that the EOC centers are used as a database for ERCS (all projects of ERCS, baseline, evaluation, monitoring reports).
• Regularly updated volunteers, members, BDRTs, NDRTs roaster on EOC system and regularly updated resource mapping ERCS.
• Collecting risk and disaster data on regular basis (from global, regional, national and local sources), analyze them, and generate a regular report that will inform decisions and project/programme development at various levels using power BI and other available platforms.
• Develop forms in consultation with PMER unit using Kobo monitoring system tools agreed by concerned department to collect data of a particular situation and make analysis for decision makers of the national society.
• Linked to similar risk and information database of IFRC (such as go platform) and also reliable information hubs of relevant government Ministries, NGOs, and UN Agencies.
• Regularly generate reports and share to the management of ERCS on emerging, changing and expanding risks in the country.
• Collect, analyze, compile and share early warning information on weather (flood and drought), pandemic and epidemics, conflict etc. Link with Climate Centre, ICPAC, IGAD, NMA, AU, EPHI etc.
• Responsible for volunteers working in the EOC and in the HF radio communication.
• Roll out various analysis (e.g. social media in conflict reporting, pandemic and epidemic early warning systems) in portals at the EOC to be accessible to all ERCS staff.
• Embedding and ensuring a smooth run of community feedback and complaint mechanism within the EOC system.
• Responsible for the proper management of the EOC according to approved operational descriptions and budgets.
• Prepare annual plan and budget for the EOC and HF radio operations of ERCS and prepare annual narrative and financial report on the EOC and HF radio operation.
• Developing and review the emergency operation center (EOC) working manuals

Qualification Requirements:

• Master or First degree in Disaster Risk Management, information technology, project management, GIS, Statistics and relevant field
• 8/10 relevant work experience, in risk information management, statistical analysis, risk analysis, risk database, remote sensing preferably in disaster context, statistical analysis, digital risk analysis, monitoring and evaluation, emergency operations.
• Hands on experience on data collection tools, on QGIS usage, data analysis tools such as power BI, Tableau and others open source software’s.

Competencies/Technical Skills:

• Ability to work in a challenging environment with a minimum supervision and meeting deadlines without compromising qualities
• Experience of working with various dashboards, kobo tool box and GIS applications
• Willing to abide by and respect Red Cross/Red Crescent Principles and Values
• Work experience with other international organizations, large NGOs and/or governmental development agencies
• Experience working with diverse teams remotely;
• Experience with the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement
• Proficiency in analysis, interpretation and reporting of data from multiple sources to support decision making;
• Demonstrated robust skills in MS Office suite of tools, especially Word, PowerPoint and Excel;
• Ability to process large volumes of data to anticipate and identify key messages, lessons or gaps;
• Effective and creative problem solving abilities, including the ability to solve complex problems;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English is required
• Versatility, judgment, maturity and the ability to work in a team;
• Practical knowledge of computer skills (data analysis, GIS);
• Skills with various Powerbase dashboards, GIS applications and Kobo tool box are considered a strong asset
• Strong communications skills and robust knowledge of information sharing tools, and the ability to implement them.
• Ability to multi-task and work under stressful conditions to meet deadlines.
• Strong capacity building and facilitation skills is an advantage;
• Both Disaster Risk management and IT background is highly recommended