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The IRC was present in Sudan from 1981 to 2009. In November 2019, the IRC re-registered in Sudan and opened a main office in Khartoum, with programming beginning in 2020. The IRC expanded into non-SAF-controlled regions of Darfur and South Kordofan in 2024. It is currently operational in Al Jazeera, White Nile, Gedaref, River Nile, Blue Nile, South Kordofan, West Darfur, Central Darfur, and North Darfur states, including a satellite office in Tunaydbah (Gedaref). The IRC’s impact groups are vulnerable individuals impacted by conflict and crisis, including women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, refugees, mixed populations, and host communities.
Since the outbreak of war in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country has spiraled into relentless violence, institutional collapse, and mass displacement. Despite multiple ceasefire announcements, violence has continued for nearly two and a half years, displacing over 12 million people across all 18 states. Sudan is facing one of the most complex and devastating humanitarian crises in the world today.
More than 30 million people now require humanitarian assistance, and around 25 million people face acute food insecurity, including 770,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Damage to infrastructure, supply shortages, and restricted humanitarian access continue to severely hinder the humanitarian response. In response to increasing needs, the IRC has scaled up its humanitarian efforts despite immense challenges. The IRC supports Sudanese communities, within the country and across national borders.
The project is designed to run from mid-2026 for up to 3 to 5 years.
SCOPE OF WORK
The IRC is seeking a Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) Specialist for an upcoming FCDO funding opportunity. This project aims to enhance the wellbeing of survivors of GBV and CRSV and their families and reduce GBV and CRSV in targeted states by ensuring improved understanding of drivers of GBV, providing inclusive access to dedicated services, and preventing harm and promoting recovering.
The GBV & CRSV Specialist will provide technical guidance on of protection assistance and protection risks management to the HOPE-S project team. The GBV & CRSV Specialist is responsible for ensuring compliance with technical sectoral standards and best practices, and IRC standards across the project. The GBV & CRSV Specialist is responsible for the implementation and coordination of all GBV and CRSV interventions across the consortium, promoting complementary, knowledge and capacity sharing. S/he will contribute to developing project’s operational plans with consortium and downstream partners and will monitor project delivery against the agreed targets. The GBV & CRSV Specialist will promote a learning environment, ensure knowledge and capacity sharing across the consortium and beyond in close coordination with other consortium partners. S/he will work closely with protection teams and directly report to the Consortium Coordinator.
Please note that recruitment is contingent upon the successful award of the project, and the selection of final applicants is subject to FCDO’s approval.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Provide strategic and technical leadership on GBV and CRSV across the HOPE-S project, ensuring alignment with FCDO priorities, global standards, and best practices.
Provide technical support and guidance on GBV and CRSV across risk mitigation, response, and social norms change components, including GBV prevention and response programming.
Lead adaptive programming and learning, using data, partner feedback, and contextual analysis to refine approaches and improve programme impact.
Promote integrated and harmonized service delivery mechanisms and strengthened referral pathways to ensure safe, timely, and inclusive access to services across the consortium.
Promote the dissemination and application of survivor-centered approaches, including support to contextualized and survivor-led mechanisms within the consortium and civil society.
Integrate GBV and CRSV considerations across emergency response, preparedness, resilience, women’s empowerment, and social norms programming.
Drive the integration of GBV risk mitigation across sectors (e.g., Health, WASH, Protection), ensuring a coherent, multi-sectoral response.
Oversee risk management and safeguarding integration, ensuring GBV/CRSV risks are proactively identified, mitigated, and monitored across all interventions.
Strengthen accountability to affected populations (AAP) by embedding feedback mechanisms and ensuring programming is responsive to survivor and community needs.
Contribute to and actively engage in the GBV sub-cluster and wider humanitarian coordination architecture, ensuring GBV/CRSV priorities are integrated across clusters and working groups.
Support advocacy, donor engagement, and strategic communications on GBV and CRSV priorities, needs, and response gaps.
Mobilize and strengthen engagement with women’s rights organizations (WROs), women-led organizations (WLOs), women’s networks, and relevant government actors in coordination, planning, and implementation.
Ensure localization commitments are operationalized, promoting meaningful participation and leadership of national and local partners.
Identify capacity gaps among downstream partners and lead capacity strengthening, mentoring, and supportive supervision across the consortium.
Ensure programme quality and compliance through implementation of quality management systems, in close coordination with technical and MEAL teams.
Support and guide protection assessments, monitoring, and analysis to identify evolving risks, drivers of GBV/CRSV, and priority needs.
Work closely with Safeguarding and GEDSI colleagues to ensure mainstreaming of safeguarding and inclusion principles across all interventions.
Engage proactively with service providers, government counterparts, and other stakeholders to strengthen coordinated response efforts.
Promote complementarity with other protection, health, and multisectoral programmes.
Lead and support knowledge management, documentation, and learning, including dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.
Contribute to high-quality reporting, evaluations, and programme reviews, ensuring strong technical inputs and evidence-based analysis.
Support consortium governance and coordination, including facilitating technical working groups, addressing implementation challenges, and ensuring coherence across partners.
Support preparedness and contingency planning, ensuring GBV and CRSV considerations are integrated into emergency scale-up plans.
REQUIREMENTS
Advanced degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Social Sciences, Human Rights, Protection, or a related field.
Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible experience in GBV/CRSV programming in humanitarian settings, including demonstrated experience in complex, conflict-affected contexts (experience in Sudan or similar contexts strongly preferred).
Proven experience providing strategic technical leadership on GBV/CRSV within multi-sectoral and multi-partner (consortium) programmes.
Demonstrated ability to design and lead adaptive programming, using data, learning, and contextual analysis to inform decision-making and programme adjustments.
Strong experience integrating GBV risk mitigation across sectors (e.g., Health, WASH, Protection), with a clear understanding of inter-sectoral approaches.
Proven track record in capacity strengthening, mentoring, and partnership management, particularly with women-led and women’s rights organizations (WLOs/WROs) and national NGOs.
Experience operationalizing localization approaches, including shifting decision-making and resources to local actors.
Strong understanding and applied experience in accountability to affected populations (AAP) and community engagement, including feedback and complaint mechanisms.
Demonstrated expertise in safeguarding and protection risk management, including prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and safe programming.
Extensive experience engaging with humanitarian coordination mechanisms, including GBV sub-clusters, inter-cluster coordination, and relevant working groups.
Strong experience in advocacy, donor engagement, and external representation, particularly with institutional donors such as FCDO or similar.
Proven ability to lead programme quality assurance, including use of MEAL systems, data-driven decision-making, and evidence generation.
Experience conducting and/or guiding protection/GBV assessments, analysis, and research, including understanding of drivers of GBV and CRSV.
Demonstrated ability to work in highly insecure, fluid, and access-constrained environments, with strong problem-solving and risk management skills.
Strong knowledge of the Sudanese context, including conflict dynamics, displacement patterns, and populations at heightened risk (women, girls, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups).
Excellent coordination, communication, and facilitation skills, with the ability to influence diverse stakeholders across consortium partners and clusters.
Fluency in English required; Arabic strongly preferred.
Please note that the job description is high-level and indicative only at this stage and may be subject to change once the Terms of Reference for the project are released and as the opportunity develops. This position will be contingent on the outcome of the stage-1 process.
The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.
How to apply
Please apply on our website:
https://theirc.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External_Careers/job/Sudanese-Territory-Sudan/Gender-based-violence–GBV–and-conflict-related-sexual-violence–CRSV–Specialist_JR00002854