Global Practice Lead, Environmental and Climate Health

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 50 countries and more than 25 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you’re a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Job Overview

The IRC delivers high-impact WASH services to millions of people in some of the world’s most challenging and fragile settings. In 2023 alone, we reached over 2.8 million people with water services and hygiene promotion, provided access to improved toilet facilities for over 1.2 million people, and distributed hygiene supplies to over 1 million people.

We are now seeking an experienced and strategic leader to advance our Environmental Health/WASH programming globally to the next level. This leader will be responsible for:

1. Developing the vision and strategy for IRC’s Environmental Health programming globally, and raising its quality, impact, and scale. Environmental Health (EH) is the term that IRC uses for WASH.

2. Leading the development and integration of innovative WASH solutions in IRC programming to achieve multiple outcomes including health, protection, and economic development.

3. Leading the Health Unit’s efforts to address climate change in health programming, and establishing a center of excellence on WASH and Climate Health.

The Global Practice Lead will serve as the organizational leader for Environmental Health and climate-health nexus for the IRC’s Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) department and will be a core member of the Health Unit’s Leadership Team.

This role has significant potential for impact, allowing you to directly shape the quality and reach of our WASH programs and ensure scalable solutions that improve people’s lives in humanitarian and fragile settings worldwide.

Major Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership and Innovation

• Act as the organizational and strategic leader for Environmental Health/WASH internally and externally.

• Lead strategic direction and delivery planning for Environmental Health, in line with the organizational global strategy (both S100 and Health Strategy).

• Develop sustainable and scalable water solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change on water security and human health.

• Responsible for identifying global areas of programmatic risk in EH and elevating issues to Regional Leads and Health Unit leadership.

• Facilitate collaboration across Health, Nutrition, and EH Practice Areas to develop climate adaptation, mitigation, and anticipatory actions.

2. Champion Environmental Health/WASH Technical Excellence

• Provide technical oversight for global technical standards, methodologies, and tools for EH based on evidence-based best practices in partnership with Technical Advisors and specialists.

• Lead development of high-value tools and methodologies to integrate cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, diversity and inclusion, and climate adaptation into Environmental Health programs.

• Establish competency framework for Environmental Health practice area and work closely with Regional Leads to identify competency gaps and drive capacity strengthening.

• Accountable for ensuring Technical Advisors and Technical Coordinators have the tools and resources that are needed to measure EH programs.

• Oversee Technical Unit-led strategic awards in EH, working closely with regional Technical Advisors as applicable and the Grant Operations and Analytics Team.

• Line manage global specialists, as applicable.

• Support Technical Advisors and Technical Coordinators with thorny technical problems, career planning support, and mentorship, as appropriate.

3. Foster Learning and Research to Drive Best Practices

• Set up and lead a Community of Practice for Environmental Health to ensure pro-active and inclusive management with sustained learning, development, innovation, and best practice sharing.

• Coordinate with Regional Leads and Technical Advisors to lift up program learning for cross-sharing and incorporation into global best practice.

• Guide research and evidence use efforts in Environmental Health and the climate-health nexus, working closely with colleagues and leaders in Airbel, the Health Technical Unit, other technical units, and regional colleagues.

• Establish knowledge management systems to keep Regional Leads and Technical Advisors updated on global standards and methodologies.

• Provide technical inputs to EH-specific MEAL tools, and support data interpretation in learning routines.

4. Expand External Influence and Strengthen Business Development

• Lead Technical Unit-led business development for Environmental Health and support strategic project level proposals, and coordinate with Awards Management Unit (AMU) for public and institutional fundraising and with External Relations (ER) for private donor engagement to achieve strategic priorities.

• Act as a key strategic advisor to Policy & Advocacy, Research & Innovation, and External Relations teams on advocacy campaigns and priority policy and practice shifts related to EH.

• Responsible for identification, development, and maintenance of strategic relationships and global partnerships with relevant stakeholders (e.g. donors, UN agencies, NGOs, research and educational institutions, private sector actors) in EH Global Practice area.

• Represent IRC in external forums as relevant.

Key Working Relationships

• Position Reports to: Senior Director, Health Unit, CRRD Technical Excellence

• Member of Health Unit’s Leadership Team

**• Direct Reports:**1-2 Technical Experts/Specialists, TU-led Project Directors as applicable

Key Internal Relationships

• Health Unit Senior Management Team

• Health Unit’s Deputy Director, Enabling Areas Leads and other Global Practice Leads

• Health Regional Lead team across 6 regions, and regional Technical Advisors

• Policy Solutions, Advocacy Influence, and Systems Change Global Teams

• CRRD Senior Management Team and Leadership Group; Regional Leadership Teams

• Global leaders in the areas of ERD, Education, Governance

**• Global HQ:**Awards Management Unit (AMU), Emergencies and Humanitarian Action Unit (EHAU), Airbel Team

• Key External Relationships: INGO counterparts; UN Agencies, Public and Private Donors

About Technical Excellence at IRC

IRC’s Technical Excellence team is comprised of five teams or sector “Units” which have deep expertise in their respective fields: Education, Economic Wellbeing, Governance, Health, and Violence Prevention and Response, as well as teams which provide measurement and finance/grant management support. Technical teams are also matrixed with a team that focuses on the quality and content of cross-sectoral programming in emergency responses.

IRC’s Technical Excellence teams offer five core services to IRC country programs and the wider organization:

**• Program Design:**We support country and regional teams to design state of the art programming, incorporating the best available evidence, cost data, and expertise of what has worked elsewhere, with the knowledge that country teams, partner organizations and our clients bring to the table.

**• Quality Assurance:**We partner with our measurement teams to design and drive the use of indicators to measure progress towards outcomes; we partner with regional and country teams to review program delivery progress and help address implementation challenges and adapt interventions to changed circumstances.

**• Business Development:**We partner within and outside the IRC to design winning bids and identify winning consortia; we deploy technical expertise in public events and private meetings to position IRC as a partner of choice.

**• Research & Learning:**We partner with our research lab to design cutting edge research to fill evidence gaps, and with country teams to learn from implementation such that we continuously improve our future design and delivery.

• External Influence: We showcase the IRC’s programs, technical insights and learning in order to influence and improve the humanitarian sector’s policy and practice.

Technical Excellence has completed a change process called “Regional and Technical Alignment.” We are doing this to ensure that the impact of our programs and the influence of our ideas create meaningful change for people affected by crisis. This next phase of IRC’s commitment to program quality will more deliberately resource and link global thought leadership with practice on the ground. Updated Technical Unit structures will have new roles with clearer mandates. The Global Practice Lead is a new leadership role introduced by this change process.

About the IRC’s Health Unit

IRC’s health programs comprise the largest proportion of its overall program budget and are essential to both IRC emergency response and long-term programming worldwide. In 2023, IRC’s health programs provided over 10 million outpatient consultations to people in some of the world’s most challenging and fragile settings. We admitted over 578,000 children for acute malnutrition treatment and treated 581,000 children for malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia through community health worker programs.

The Health Technical Unit is a dynamic team of more than 70 professionals in Primary Health Care, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Nutrition, Mental and Environmental Health. They provide IRC’s 40 plus country offices and emergency response team with world class technical expertise, capacity building and a cross country view of what works to achieve outcomes in terms of both evidence and practical experience. They also lead focused research agenda, influencing donor policy to support interventions and innovations proven cost effective to achieve positive change in people’s lives.

Desired Experience And Skills

**• Recognized expertise:**Established or growing recognition as an expert in WASH, Environmental Health or Climate-Health nexus at a regional or global level, with a minimum of 12+ years of progressive experience designing, leading, and implementing programs, and at least 7 years specifically in Environmental Health.

• Strategic and visionary leadership: Proven experience in strategy design and planning for WASH, Environmental Health or related sectors.

**• Innovative solutions:**Track record of scaled innovations preferred, ideally including experience with both digital and analog solutions.

**• Business development:**Demonstrated ability to identify and convert business development opportunities for self and staff.

**• Humanitarian experience:**Demonstrated experience leading programs in fragile or humanitarian settings and across the humanitarian-development nexus.

**• Evidence-based practice:**Strong track record of driving the uptake of evidence-based practices.

**• Policy and advocacy:**Experience with sectoral policy and advocacy efforts and campaigns for change, as relevant.

• Leadership and management: Excellent management and leadership abilities, including coaching, mentoring, and performance management.

**• Stakeholder influence:**Proven ability to influence a wide range of diverse stakeholders, both internally and externally.

**• Operational excellence:**Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.

• Interpersonal skills: Superb interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments.

**• Communication skills:**Exceptional communication, influencing, and storytelling skills.

• Language proficiency: Fluency in English is required; proficiency in Arabic, French, and/or Spanish is strongly preferred.

**• Global mobility:**Ability to travel globally up to 25% of the time, occasionally on short notice.

Education: Master’s degree in WASH, environmental health, Public Health and/or related fields or an equivalent professional experience background is required. Sound training and experience using data and research evidence for programmatic decisions and rigorous analytic skills are an advantage.

Compensation:

Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

US Benefits:

The IRC offers a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. All US employees are eligible for sick time, a 403b retirement savings plans: up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus an 3-7% additional IRC contribution, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

In addition, full-time employees are eligible for 10 US paid holidays, 20-25 paid time off days, disability & life insurance, medical, dental, and vision insurance (employee contribution starting at $135, $7, and $5 per month respectively) and FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs. Part-time employees are eligible for a proportionate amount of paid time off. These additional benefits apply to employees who work at least 6 months within a 12 month time period.

**Standard of Professional Conduct:**The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.

More Information

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