Purpose of the Position

The Head of Humanitarian Diplomacy Unit will lead, manage, and strategically position the Sudanese Red Crescent Society’s (SRCS) Humanitarian Diplomacy (HD) agenda. Located within the Secretary General’s Office, this senior role drives strategic engagement to strengthen the SRCS’s positioning as the leading, neutral, and independent humanitarian actor in Sudan.

The incumbent will bridge the gap between operational realities and high-level advocacy, ensuring that the voice of affected communities and the auxiliary role of the SRCS inform national and international decision-making. The core focus of this role is institutionalizing HD across SRCS headquarters and branches, managing strategic risks, and crafting powerful messaging to increase donorship, secure humanitarian access, and protect civilians.

Key Responsibilities

1. HD Analysis, Information Management & Risk Advisory

• Contextual Analysis: Monitor and analyze political, humanitarian, security, and policy developments affecting SRCS operations, humanitarian access, and the protection of civilians in Sudan.
• Leadership Support: Prepare regular context analyses, stakeholder mappings, evidence-based policy position papers, and high-level briefing notes to support the Secretary General in targeting key audiences.
• Strategic Risk Management: Manage the provision of strategic risk management to the SG. Ensure the successful embedding of risk tracking, mitigation, escalation, and reporting into day-to-day SRCS tools and processes.
• Correspondence Quality Control: Ensure the relevance, accuracy, and diplomatic quality of the SG’s strategic outgoing correspondence by coordinating with internal stakeholders and analyzing compound political realities.
• Evidence-Based Advocacy: Gather and synthesize operational data from branches, volunteers, and Movement partners to develop innovative, evidence-based influencing strategies.

2. Strategy, Planning & Donor Positioning

• HD Roadmap: Establish, implement, and monitor a clear HD strategy and annual roadmap for Sudan, directly addressing the operational challenges outlined in the SRCS Strategy.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Develop comprehensive stakeholder engagement plans identifying key power centers, decision-makers, and influencers at both national and state (branch) levels.
• Resource Mobilization: Design targeted influencing strategies aimed at encouraging increased donorship and sustainable funding to SRCS’s emergency responses and long-term programming.

3. Capacity Strengthening & Institutional Development

• Institutionalization: Lead efforts to mainstream HD principles across all SRCS headquarters departments and branch structures.
• Training & Mentorship: Develop and deliver training, workshops, coaching modules, and practical standard operating procedures (SOPs) on HD and the Fundamental Principles for staff and volunteers.
• Localization: Establish internal communities of practice to strengthen branch-level HD initiatives and enhance local humanitarian negotiation and acceptance capacities.

4. External Engagement, Representation & Auxiliary Status

• Diplomatic Relations: Proactively identify and leverage opportunities for engagement with the diplomatic community, government authorities, UN agencies, international organizations, and civil society.
• Auxiliary Role Promotion: Support SRCS leadership in promoting a clear understanding of, and respect for, the unique legal auxiliary status, mandate, and independence of the National Society.
• High-Level Representation: Facilitate and prepare SRCS participation in relevant humanitarian coordination, policy dialogue platforms, and technical forums.

5. Internal Coordination & Movement Cooperation

• Cross-Departmental Coherence: Work closely with Operations, Communications, Disaster Response, Health, Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), and Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI) to ensure unified messaging.
• Movement Alignment: Coordinate and share information closely with the IFRC, ICRC, and Partner National Societies (PNS) to ensure complementary and cohesive HD approaches in Sudan.

6. Communications Support & Perception Management

• Unified Messaging: Collaborate with the Communications team to promote the visibility of humanitarian needs and the impact of SRCS interventions while strictly respecting the principle of Neutrality.
• Countering Misinformation: Monitor, identify, and formulate strategic responses to misinformation or toxic narratives that could jeopardize SRCS operational safety, acceptance, or access.

7. Monitoring, Learning & Reporting

• Tracking Systems: Develop and maintain stakeholder engagement tracking systems and advocacy monitoring tools.
• Accountability: Produce regular reports on HD outcomes, achievements, and lessons learned to foster continuous organizational improvement.

Education

• Required: University degree (Master’s preferred) in International Relations, Political Science, International Law, Public Policy, Humanitarian Affairs, Communications, or a related social science field.

Experience

• Professional Experience: Minimum of 3–5 years of progressive professional experience in humanitarian diplomacy, policy advocacy, external relations, or high-level humanitarian affairs.
• Sector Knowledge: Proven experience working within the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, UN agencies, international NGOs, or diplomatic institutions. Strong familiarity with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the Fundamental Principles is critical.
• Strategic Background: Demonstrated track record in strategic planning, stakeholder mapping, risk management, and preparing high-level executives for diplomatic engagements.
• Facilitation: Experience designing and facilitating training workshops and capacity-building initiatives in complex environments.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep understanding of the political, social, and humanitarian context in Sudan.
• Highly developed diplomatic, negotiation, and networking skills.
• Strong analytical, writing, and strategic thinking capabilities.
• Ability to work neutrally and independently under high-pressure, politically sensitive conditions.

Languages

• Arabic: Native/Fluent (Required for local authority and stakeholder engagement).

English: Professional Fluent (Required for international diplomacy, movement cooperation, and reporting).

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