Description

About Us

Action Against Hunger leads the global movement to end hunger. We innovate solutions, advocate for change, and reach 24 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a non-profit organization that works across over 50 countries, our 8,300 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. We strive to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good.

Action Against Hunger USA is part of the Action Against Hunger International network. As an independent NGO, Action Against Hunger USA currently manages operations in 8 countries: Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Haiti. Action Against Hunger-USA has over $100 million in programs, and approximately 1,100 permanent staff based in New York City, Washington D.C, Nairobi, and country offices. Additional growth is anticipated.

Organization context and rationale for this position

Action Against Hunger (ACF), in close institutional partnership with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), is implementing a DG ECHO-funded Regional Disaster Preparedness Program across Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, operationalizing the SCALAA methodology and the IGAD Anticipatory Action Roadmap through four interdependent Result Areas over twenty-four months. The Djibouti component under Result Area 3 focuses on comprehensively strengthening urban preparedness and service continuity systems in Djibouti Ville, a city of approximately six hundred thousand people increasingly exposed to flash flooding from the Ambouli Wadi drainage system, extreme heat regularly exceeding forty-five degrees Celsius, epidemic risks and waste-related environmental hazards, reaching fifty-two thousand, two hundred and eight direct beneficiaries across ten priority neighborhoods in six municipalities. Simultaneously, Djibouti is a critical national anchor of Result Area 1, which operationalizes the IGAD Anticipatory Action Roadmap at national level including the development of municipal SOPs, school DRM integration and the establishment of urban resilience committees linked to the national DRM framework. The Project Manager and Coordinator position exists because the full breadth of Result Area 3, combined with the AA Roadmap policy integration mandate and the formal secondment obligations to CIGRC, ONARS and IGAD, requires a dedicated senior national manager with the institutional presence, government liaison authority and program coordination competence to drive all Djibouti activities simultaneously. This role is the cornerstone of the program's government ownership strategy in Djibouti.

SUMMARY OF POSITION

This position wil be hired through our local partner in Djibouti

The Project Manager and Coordinator is the most senior ACF program position in Djibouti, responsible for the overall coordination and day-to-day operational management of all Result Area 3 urban preparedness activities and Result Area 1 AA Roadmap outputs. Seconded to IGAD and embedded within CIGRC and ONARS, the incumbent serves simultaneously as ACF's Djibouti program lead and as a trusted technical advisor to national government institutions, driving implementation of the eight-activity urban preparedness agenda while building the institutional ownership, municipal SOP infrastructure and government-embedded DRM systems that will protect communities in Djibouti Ville long after the project period concludes.

Purpose To provide overall coordination and management of all Djibouti Result Area 3 activities, leading urban DRR functions including municipal SOP development, school DRM integration, heatwave and flood preparedness planning and urban resilience committee establishment, while simultaneously acting as the primary government liaison with CIGRC and ONARS and overseeing workplan and budget management for the full Djibouti component.

Engagement To engage daily as both an ACF program coordinator and a seconded government advisor, working with CIGRC, ONARS, municipal authorities across all six target districts, school administrations, urban DRR committees, IGAD's AA Technical Working Group, IOM, the Red Cross and the broader humanitarian coordination architecture in Djibouti.

Delivery To deliver, on time and to quality, all Result Area activities and all Djibouti-specific Result Area outputs including the National AA Roadmap, municipal SOPs and school DRM integration, within budget and in full compliance with DG ECHO contractual requirements.

ESSENTIAL JOB ROLES

Overall Program Coordination and Workplan Management

Hold primary operational and coordination responsibility for all Djibouti program activities under the DG ECHO Regional Disaster Preparedness Program, maintaining a comprehensive living implementation plan covering all eight Result Area 3 activities and Result Area 1 AA Roadmap outputs, tracking progress against activity timelines and output targets, escalating risks and delays to the Regional Consortium Coordinator and ACF Djibouti Country Director, and ensuring all outputs are delivered to the quality standards required by DG ECHO's Results Framework and Annex 2 reporting obligations.

Lead all program planning, coordination and review cycles for the Djibouti component, facilitating monthly operational review meetings with CIGRC, ONARS, municipal authorities, implementing partners and ACF field staff, convening quarterly joint review sessions with the Regional Consortium Coordinator, Regional MEAL Specialist and Regional Finance Manager, and preparing high-quality narrative progress reports with accurate evidence-based updates on activity progress, expenditure and adaptive management actions.

Manage the Djibouti component budget in close coordination with the Regional Finance Manager, reviewing field expenditure against approved activity budgets, monitoring the Result Area 3 budget at activity level, initiating budget reallocation requests as programmatic needs evolve, ensuring all field-level expenditure documentation meets DG ECHO audit standards, and supporting ACF Djibouti's Country Finance function with timely submission of financial documentation.

Lead workplan adaptation and adaptive management throughout the program cycle, regularly reviewing implementation progress against MEAL evidence, After-Action Review findings, government feedback and evolving urban risk conditions, and proposing targeted workplan adjustments to the Regional Consortium Coordinator to ensure the program remains responsive, effective and aligned with DG ECHO results requirements.

Contribute to the consortium's regional learning and knowledge management agenda, systematically documenting Djibouti implementation lessons on urban preparedness in extreme climate environments, government secondment models, school DRM integration approaches, heatwave preparedness programming and urban resilience committee governance, and sharing findings through IGAD AA TWG, SCALAA, ICPAC learning platforms and the Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform as replicable models for the Greater Horn of Africa.

2. Government Liaison and CIGRC, ONARS and IGAD Secondment

Serve as the primary ACF liaison and embedded technical advisor to CIGRC and ONARS, providing day-to-day technical support on the operationalization of urban contingency plans, municipal early warning system governance, urban DRR committee management, and the integration of anticipatory action provisions into national DRM policies and Djibouti's Vision 2035 development framework, in accordance with formal secondment agreements between ACF, IGAD, CIGRC and ONARS.

Serve as ACF's technical liaison embedded within IGAD's operational presence in Djibouti, supporting the IGAD AA TWG in its coordination and convening role, facilitating the development and operationalization of Djibouti's National Anticipatory Action Roadmap, supporting the establishment of a National Technical Working Group on Anticipatory Action within Djibouti's DRM framework, and contributing to cross-border SOP development across the Somalia-Djibouti and Ethiopia-Djibouti border corridors.

Lead all formal government engagement processes, representing ACF and IGAD in high-level technical meetings with national and municipal government counterparts, securing formal government endorsements of program outputs including municipal contingency plans, heatwave preparedness plans, school DRM frameworks and urban resilience committee governance structures, and maintaining authoritative written records of all government agreements for DG ECHO reporting.

Strengthen CIGRC and ONARS institutional capacities for anticipatory action and urban DRM governance, designing and delivering targeted technical advisory support and capacity-building activities, building government staff knowledge on AA trigger management, multi-hazard contingency planning, urban early warning system operation and urban DRR committee governance, embedding institutional ownership before the project end date.

Facilitate regular coordination meetings between CIGRC, ONARS, municipal authorities, IOM, the Red Cross and ACF, mapping existing urban preparedness initiatives, confirming distinct coverage boundaries, avoiding duplication of community structures, and documenting all complementarity arrangements in formal coordination minutes for DG ECHO institutional compliance reporting.

3. Municipal SOP Development and Urban Preparedness Planning

Lead the design, facilitation and finalization of Municipal Standard Operating Procedures for multi-hazard emergency response across all six target districts, ensuring SOPs cover flash flood response, extreme heat emergency protocols, epidemic outbreak response, waste management crisis procedures and cross-hazard cascading risk scenarios, and are formally endorsed by CIGRC and municipal authorities with clear trigger thresholds linked to the IGAD and ICPAC multi-hazard trigger matrix under Result Area 1.

Integrate ICPAC climate projection data and trigger calibration outputs produced by the Regional Climate and AA Modeling Specialist into the municipal SOP framework, ensuring SOPs are anchored in scientifically sound, regionally consistent trigger thresholds including flash flood frequency, extreme heat duration and epidemic early warning indicators, and that SOP activation mechanisms are fully compatible with the IGAD AA TWG trigger verification and Crisis Modifier activation procedures.

Lead the development of Contingency Planning workshops and validation simulation exercises for municipal SOPs, coordinating CIGRC, ONARS, municipal authorities, school administrations, DRR committees, emergency responders, IOM and Red Cross participation, conducting structured After-Action Reviews within thirty days of each exercise, integrating findings into SOP revisions and contributing simulation evidence to IGAD AA TWG and the Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform.

Develop a municipal SOP monitoring and maintenance system, establishing a formal review calendar under CIGRC's institutional governance, training CIGRC and municipal authority staff to independently update and adapt SOPs as urban risk profiles evolve, and ensuring the system is formally embedded within Djibouti's national DRM governance framework and funded through CIGRC's recurrent budget before the project end date.

Align all municipal SOPs with Djibouti's national DRM legislative framework, national early warning systems, Vision 2035 climate resilience goals and the IGAD Regional AA Roadmap, ensuring full technical coherence across local, municipal, national and regional levels, and contribute SOP development methodology and templates to IGAD and SCALAA as replicable tools for urban anticipatory action SOP development in comparable East African urban contexts.

4. School DRM Integration and Preparedness Education

Lead the integration of Disaster Risk Management into the Djibouti school system across target neighborhoods, working with the Ministry of National Education and CIGRC to develop a contextualized school DRM framework covering classroom DRM education, school emergency response plans and evacuation procedures, student DRR committee structures and teacher capacity-building on disaster preparedness, ensuring the framework is adopted as national Ministry policy and embedded in the Ministry's annual planning by the program's end date.

Design and deliver age-appropriate DRM education materials and training programs for primary and secondary school students and teaching staff across target neighborhoods, covering Djibouti-specific urban hazards including flash flooding from the Ambouli Wadi, extreme heat risks, epidemic preparedness and personal protective action, with materials available in French, Somali and Afar to ensure accessibility across Djibouti's diverse school-age population.

Facilitate the establishment of Student DRR Committees and Teacher Safety Focal Points in target schools, training members on school emergency response, early warning communication, evacuation coordination and linkages to community-level Urban DRR Committees and CIGRC's municipal alert system, and ensure school DRR committee governance protocols are formally integrated into school management frameworks endorsed by the Ministry of National Education.

Develop and validate School Emergency Response Plans for each target school covering evacuation procedures, shelter-in-place protocols for extreme heat events, family reunification systems and continuity of learning arrangements, coordinating with CIGRC, ONARS, municipal authorities and community Urban DRR Committees to ensure school emergency plans are fully integrated with municipal contingency plans and formally endorsed by school administrations.

Coordinate with IOM and Red Cross to ensure school DRM integration covers schools serving refugee, asylum-seeker and displaced children, applying inclusive educational approaches that ensure DRM information reaches vulnerable student populations through accessible formats and home-school communication channels, and document school DRM integration evidence for DG ECHO Results Framework reporting.

5. Heatwave and Flood Preparedness Planning

Lead the development, consultation and finalization of a comprehensive Municipal Heatwave Preparedness Plan for Djibouti Ville, coordinating with CIGRC, ONARS, municipal health authorities, school administrations, the Regional Climate and AA Modeling Specialist, IOM and Red Cross, defining scientifically grounded heatwave alert thresholds calibrated to Djibouti's specific thermal environment, institutional coordination protocols, public communication procedures, cooling centre activation procedures and vulnerable population targeting systems for all fifty-two thousand, two hundred and eight direct beneficiaries.

Lead the development of a comprehensive Municipal Flood Preparedness Plan integrated across the Ambouli Wadi flash flood risk zone, covering pre-flood season drainage maintenance coordination, community evacuation activation protocols, emergency WASH service continuity arrangements, drainage Maintenance Committee seasonal activation systems and post-flood recovery protocols, ensuring the plan is formally endorsed by CIGRC and linked to ICPAC seasonal forecast release cycles and the multi-hazard trigger matrix.

Integrate heatwave and flood preparedness plans with the multi-channel Urban Early Warning System established under Activity A3.4, ensuring alert thresholds, public communication procedures, DRR committee activation protocols and institutional coordination steps are operationally coherent, activation-ready and regularly tested through seasonal preparedness drills coordinated with CIGRC, school administrations, DRR committees, IOM and Red Cross.

Coordinate the development of targeted vulnerable population outreach protocols within both preparedness plans, ensuring all direct beneficiaries including refugees, asylum seekers and persons on the move are systematically reached through IOM, ONARS and community DRR Committee channels during heatwave and flood alerts, with heat emergency referral pathways to health facilities and flooding evacuation support for mobility-impaired individuals.

Integrate heatwave and flood preparedness trigger thresholds into the Crisis Modifier activation framework, working with the Regional Consortium Coordinator and Regional Climate Specialist to ensure ICPAC-based forecast triggers for extreme heat or peak flooding can activate CM pre-approved early action packages within twenty-four to seventy-two hours, and that CM activation for Djibouti-specific hazards is formally included in the Crisis Modifier SOPs reviewed under the result.

6. Urban Resilience Committee Establishment and Support

Lead the establishment and operational support of Urban Resilience Committees across all ten target neighborhoods, building on and formally linking to Urban DRR Committees established under Activity A3.3, and upgrading their mandate to include broader urban resilience functions including municipal service monitoring, climate adaptation advocacy, community preparedness campaign planning, school DRM coordination and linkages to Ward-level municipal planning processes, ensuring minimum forty percent women's representation and meaningful inclusion of youth, persons with disabilities, refugees and persons on the move.

Design and deliver a structured capacity-strengthening program for Urban Resilience Committee members covering urban risk governance, multi-hazard preparedness, community mobilization for heatwave and flood preparedness, school DRM liaison functions, early warning communication coordination and disaster loss documentation using DesInventar methodology, ensuring committees can independently convene, plan and implement seasonal preparedness activities without ACF facilitation support by Month 12 of the program.

Formally integrate Urban Resilience Committees into CIGRC's national DRM coordination framework and municipal governance structures, establishing clear reporting lines from committee chairpersons to municipal authorities, standard protocols for submitting community-level risk observations to CIGRC's national alert system, and formal recognition of committees within municipal emergency management plans.

Support Urban Resilience Committees in leading community-level preparedness campaigns ahead of each peak risk season, coordinating awareness campaigns on flood preparedness, heatwave protective measures, school DRM and epidemic prevention aligned with the IGAD and ICPAC seasonal forecast cycle, and ensuring campaigns reach all fifty-two thousand, two hundred and eight direct beneficiaries including refugees and persons on the move through accessible formats coordinated with IOM and ONARS.

Document Urban Resilience Committee governance models, capacity-building methodologies and operational evidence throughout the program lifecycle, contributing case studies, lessons and replication tools to IGAD AA TWG, SCALAA and the Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform as examples of government-embedded urban community preparedness structures, and support the Regional MEAL Specialist in tracking committee performance indicators against the DG ECHO Results Framework.

7. Partner Coordination and Team Supervision

Manage all formal implementing partner relationships for the Djibouti component, monitoring partner performance against activity deliverables, reviewing narrative and financial reports for accuracy and DG ECHO compliance, conducting field-level performance assessments, ensuring adherence to ACF partnership standards, PSEA protocols and DG ECHO Minimum Environmental Requirements, and escalating performance concerns to the Regional Consortium Coordinator and ACF Country Director without delay.

Coordinate systematically with IOM Djibouti on people-on-the-move data integration, ensuring IOM's displacement data is regularly updated in the CIGRC beneficiary targeting system, jointly defining coordination boundaries between ACF urban preparedness activities and IOM displacement site preparedness programs, documenting joint activity protocols in formal coordination minutes, and ensuring no duplication of Urban DRR Committee structures with IOM's existing community preparedness groups.

Coordinate systematically with Red Cross Djibouti on community preparedness complementarity, mapping Red Cross community preparedness activities across target neighborhoods, confirming distinct committee coverage boundaries, coordinating joint simulation exercises where feasible, sharing Early Warning System technical standards and contributing to each other's After-Action Reviews to maximize learning across both organizations' urban preparedness portfolios.

Maintain active coordination with the ACF Regional team, attending all consortium coordination calls and quarterly review meetings, providing timely activity updates to the Regional MEAL Specialist for Results Framework tracking, supporting the Regional Finance Manager with accurate and timely financial documentation, and responding to requests from the Regional Consortium Coordinator and DG ECHO within agreed turnaround times.

Directly coordinate and provide day-to-day operational guidance to the Project Officer and Data Analyst, assigning clear workplans and priorities, reviewing outputs before submission, ensuring both staff members comply with ACF HR and code of conduct requirements, supporting their professional development and contributing to performance review processes in coordination with the ACF Djibouti Country Director.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Project Manager and Coordinator provides day-to-day operational supervision and guidance to the Project Officer and the Data Analyst in Djibouti. Works with the Project Assistant (IGAD) on heatwave and flood planning deliverables. Coordinates with ten Urban DRR Committees and Resilience Committees and CIGRC and ONARS secondment counterparts. Does not hold direct line management over CIGRC, ONARS or IGAD institutional staff.

Key Relationships

Internal Relationships

Regional Consortium Coordinator (ACF): Primary line manager, country-level accountability, HR management and operational support

ACF Somalia Program Director: Technical reporting, overall program quality, strategic alignment and donor compliance

IGAD AA TWG: Secondment technical reporting, AA Roadmap facilitation and cross-border SOP coordination

Regional Climate and AA Modeling Specialist: Climate trigger advisory, heatwave thresholds, flood risk and EWS calibration

Regional MEAL and Learning Specialist: MEAL coordination, activity data, Results Framework tracking and AAP oversight

Regional Finance Manager: Budget management, field financial reporting, BvA reviews and CM financial readiness

Project Officer Djibouti: Direct supervisee, community mobilization, field implementation and reporting

Data Analyst Djibouti: Direct supervisee, data collection, MEAL data management and reporting support

External Relationships

CIGRC: Primary national DRM authority and secondment host, SOP development and AA Roadmap

ONARS: National emergency response authority and secondment host, beneficiary registry and refugee coordination

Municipal Authorities in all 6 districts: SOP validation, contingency planning, DRR committee governance and school DRM integration

IGAD Regional Office Djibouti: Secondment anchor, AA TWG support and cross-border SOP facilitation

Ministry of National Education: School DRM integration, framework development and curriculum endorsement

ICPAC: Climate forecast integration, heatwave and flood alert threshold calibration

IOM Djibouti: Displacement data integration, urban preparedness complementarity and beneficiary targeting

Red Cross Djibouti: Community preparedness coordination, simulation exercises and DRR committee mapping

Municipal Health Services: Heatwave health preparedness, referral pathway strengthening and health worker training

PHYSCIAL DEMANDS

Regular field work across all six target districts and ten priority neighborhoods in extreme heat conditions regularly exceeding forty to forty-five degrees Celsius, including outdoor site visits, evacuation route audits, school inspections and Urban Resilience Committee field meetings.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

WORKING CONDITIONS, TRAVEL AND ENVIRONMENT

The duties of the job require regular attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours as required, including during municipal emergency simulations, heatwave or flood alert activations, government validation workshops and DG ECHO reporting periods.

100 percent based in Djibouti Ville across all six target municipalities with no international travel beyond occasional regional program coordination forums. Embedded advisory presence in CIGRC and ONARS institutional offices as agreed under formal secondment arrangements.

GENDER EQUALITY COMMITMENT & ZERO TOLERANCE TO ABUSE

Foster an environment that supports values of women and men, and equal access to information.

Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance

Respect beneficiaries' women, men, boys and girls regardless of gender, sex orientation, disability, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, age or marital status,

Values and respects different cultures.

Promote and uphold the Safeguarding/PSEA policy and procedures

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

This position is responsible for developing and managing all activity-level budgets for the Djibouti component during implementation and any required replanning exercises.

Reviews and approves field-level activity expenditures within authorized thresholds in coordination with the Regional Finance Manager and ACF Djibouti Country Finance function. Oversees the Result Area 3 budget at activity level.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's degree in Disaster Risk Management, Urban Planning, Public Administration, Development Studies, Environmental Studies, Social Sciences or a closely related field. A master's degree and additional professional qualifications in urban DRM, anticipatory action, government institutional strengthening, school safety or climate change adaptation will be an added asset.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Minimum of five to seven years of professional experience in humanitarian program management, disaster preparedness, urban DRR or government institutional capacity development, with at least two years in a program coordination or management role with multi-stakeholder accountability.

Demonstrated experience working with national government institutions, municipal DRM authorities or national DRM structures in a formal technical advisory, embedded or secondment capacity, with evidence of securing government endorsement of policy or planning products and building sustained institutional ownership.

Proven experience in municipal or community-level contingency planning, SOP development, school safety programming or urban resilience committee governance, ideally in an African urban context or comparable resource-constrained environment.

Experience with DG ECHO-funded programs, DG ECHO Minimum Environmental Requirements, AGDI inclusion standards and anticipatory action frameworks is a strong advantage and will be weighed positively

Fluency in English language is required while French is highly desirable. Knowledge of Afar or Arabic is an additional asset. Knowledge of Djibouti's institutional landscape is highly desirable.

This position wil be hired through our local partner in Djibouti

All candidates should apply online at https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/careers/current-openings/Action Against Hunger-USA provides all staff with an attractive salary & benefits package. We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees & qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Action Against Hunger-USA complies with all applicable laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.