The Italian Red Cross

The Association of the Italian Red Cross (ItRC) is a private law entity of public interest under the high patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, which aims to provide health and social assistance both in times of peace and conflict. The Italian Red Cross is part of the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and, when acting on an international level, it coordinates with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in times of conflict, and with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), in times of peace.

In this context, based on the analysis of the needs and vulnerabilities of the community to which it addresses, in December 2018 the Assembly approved the Strategic Objectives 2018-2030 identifying the humanitarian priorities of the Italian Red Cross at every level.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 12 million volunteers, 450,000 staff and 160,000 branches across 191 countries. The Federation is a membership organisation established by and comprised of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

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.”  It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The Federation is served by a Secretariat based in Geneva, with regional and country offices throughout the world. The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity of the International Federation to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s focus includes providing support to the IFRC governance mechanisms; setting norms and standards; providing guidance; ensuring consistency, coordination, and accountability for performance; knowledge sharing; promoting collaboration within and respect for the RCRC Movement; and expanding engagement with partners.

The Solferino Academy

The Solferino Academy supports the IFRC network in transforming to be more fit for future and capable of thriving through the complex and dynamic changes occurring throughout the world in order to more effectively meet the humanitarian and development challenges.  It aims to;

• Be a leader in promoting cutting edge thinking in humanitarian work that can catalyse change and innovation in the sector
• Support RCRC leaders develop approaches for and to implement change throughout their National Societies that will enable more innovative, agile and future fit organisations
• Support experimentation with new and innovative approaches to humanitarian and development work.

The Solferino Academy is a ‘think and do tank’ that ultimately leads to improved outcomes for vulnerable communities. Leadership of National Societies are the primary target group for the initiative, but it will also target other Red Cross and Red Crescent stakeholders and the wider humanitarian/ development sectors.

The Solferino Academy is an Initiative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent developed in partnership with the Italian Red Cross and the wider National Society network and a number of external partners and collaborators.

Job Purpose

The Unit Manager Strategic Foresight will lead a team who source, produce and collaborate on futures research to provide advanced analysis of trends and major challenges and opportunities facing the humanitarian sector in the coming years, and the implications for change within the sector. 

The work of the team will challenge and provoke humanitarian organisations, promote dialogue, debate and catalyse opportunities for change and innovation to be more effective and relevant.

The Challenge

The challenge is how to help leaders and humanitarian organisations make sense of a rapidly changing world to inform and support change agendas so that they are better able to anticipate and navigate complex challenges and opportunities and drive more effective organisations and better outcomes with communities.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

The role will initially focus on:

• Producing Futures analysis:  with the teams and partners research, analyse and produce research, position papers, think pieces, blogs and other material that interrogate trends and transformations in the world and their impacts on the humanitarian sector.
• Building teams and partners:  working with the Head of the Solferino Academy source staff-on-loan from National Societies, interns, fellows and volunteers to work with the Solferino Academy and support the delivery of the research agenda.
• Identify and secure a wide range of highly effective partnerships with universities, think tanks and other relevant bodies to collaborate on the agenda.
• Promote engagement with the research: working with the Unit Manager Engagement and Design and others support the design and delivery of communications strategies that can educate, engage and inspire across a massive distributed network.
• Utilising both digital engagement across the network and in person experiences at workshops and events, create compelling narratives, story-telling and, discussion and debate that confronts the major challenges facing the organisation and excites and catalyses opportunities for change

Who you will work with

The role will work with the Head of the Solferino Academy to build a team of professionals that include a combination of staff, interns, fellows, students and volunteers. While the team will include some direct reports it will also comprise professionals working within National Societies, the Secretariat of the IFRC and reference centres of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The candidate should be able to effectively engage with and coalesce the efforts of these many teams and professionals towards shared goals.

The role will have a close working relationship with the Solferino Academy’s Unit Manager Engagement and Design, specifically in transforming the evidence and ideas emerging from the Strategic Foresight team into communications for reach and impact and to inform the design of workshops and events. The role will also work closely with other relevant teams in the IFRC Secretariat, including Operations teams in Geneva and the regions, Communications, Partnerships, National Society Development and Knowledge and Learning.

The role will also build and manage extensive external relationships with universities, think tanks and other relevant organisations.

Education

Advanced level of studies in one or some of the following: Arts, Humanities, social sciences, international development, political science, Knowledge Management, Innovation, or other related fields

Experience

• Leading or facilitating practice or academic research agendas and teams, particularly within the Humanitarian and Development sectors
• Experience with futures research approaches, particularly in quantitative and qualitative horizon scanning and trend analysis desirable, and Horizon Scanning platforms desirable. 
• Experiencing staging research and learning events and dialogues to encourage engagement with research findings
• Experience managing diverse, distributed and remote teams in matrix arrangements, including fellowship programs

 Knowledges and essential requirements

• Securing and managing strategic alliances and partnerships and building business lines for both internal and external stakeholders
• Creative, entrepreneurial and innovative
• An inspiring leader who can understand and connect with a diverse range of stakeholders
• Excellent communication skills and relationship management
• Comfortable with collaborating and influencing distributed people and teams in a matrix environment
• Flexile and adaptive
• A self-starter who functions well within multiple concurrent teams
• Excellent command with the English language. Preferred proficiency with either Spanish, Arabic or French
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office tools

Soft skills

• Good command of International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and of the Italian Red Cross
• Organisational change and transformation
• Complexity and systems thinking
• Leadership development

This position, funded and hosted by the Italian Red Cross, is also open to International Staff, as part of an International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies initiative.

Area/Department: Solferino Academy

Duty station: Rome

Reporting to: Head of the Solferino Academy

Type of contract: Fixed-term contract

Duration: 12 months

Gross annual salary: To be confirmed

Deadline for applications (Rome time zone) : 31 january 2020