Handicap International/Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is an independent and impartial international solidarity organization, which intervenes in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflicts and disasters. Working alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, it acts and speaks out to meet their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. More info: www.hi.org

At Handicap International-Humanity & Inclusion, we truly believe in the importance of inclusion and diversity within our organisation. This is why we are engaged to a disability policy to encourage the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities. 

Please indicate if you require any special accommodation, even at the first interview.

The South East Asia Program includes operations in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand. The Regional Program Office is based in different countries of the program, but mainly in Vientiane. The first Regional Operational Strategy will be conceived in 2024-2025 for the next 5 years (2025-2030). 

South East Asia is the region of birth of HI and our activities are still largely traditional, with a dominant in Inclusion (42% of the 2021 budget volume), Rehabilitation (19%) and Mine Action (15%). The region encompasses a wide variety of humanitarian contexts, ranging from the civil war in Myanmar, to support to the Vietnamese government in the development of an international standard of rehabilitation services, or to emergency responses to climate-related disasters in the Philippines. 

In February 2020, HI initiated the process of regionalization of the Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam programs, joined later by China (October 2021) and the Philippines (January 2023). The regional office is in Vientiane (Laos). In March 2023, decision has been taken to merge the Myanmar/Thailand program into the Mekong program to finalize the integration of the Regional Direction and Geographic Direction. 

JOB CONTEXT: 

The South East Asia Program include operations in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand. Regional staff are spread across the countries of the region. The first Regional Operational Strategy was approved in March 2021 and the next one will be conceived in late 2025 for the next 5 years (2026-2030). The ongoing strategy aims to improve participation, resilience and quality of life of persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups through the strengthening of inclusive livelihoods, inclusive education, rehabilitation, mine action and DRR.

Under the hierarchical supervision of the Technical Head of Programs (THOP), with support of the Global Technical Specialist at HQ, the Regional Technical Specialist contributes to the implementation of the mandate and the strategy of Humanity & Inclusion. He/she ensures optimal quality and impact of the projects implemented in the region, through a delegation system with appropriate control mechanisms. He/she shares with all HI managers the responsibility of a sound management and successful functioning of the global organization, through paradigm changes.

YOUR MISSION: 

The Disability Inclusion Specialist will be in charge of technical support to project teams, partnerships with Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs) and advocacy efforts. Furthermore, the Specialist will take the role of any specialist in the Technical Unit:

• Leverages his/her technical expertise and interpersonal skills to define and deliver Humanity and Inclusion’s (HI) strategic vision in his/her sector of expertise, based on the global STRATECHs and within the relevant region
• Is responsible for developing the technical and partnership strategy, providing technical design, and ensuring the implementation of high-quality projects
• Ensures technical support to projects and builds the capacities of both technical and non-technical staff on topics related to their area of expertise
• Contributes to the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure quality control of projects and demonstrate programme outcomes; and disseminates lessons learned and insight to teams and partners
• Supports advocacy and influence activities at regional and national levels, while developing strategic partnerships at various levels (sub-regional, national, local) in line with HI’s commitment to the localisation of aid. 
• Ensures external representation on key technical issues
• Works closely with other thematic regional technical specialists, Senior Technical Officers (STOs), and global specialists at HQ

Mission 1: Technical Expertise 

1. Provides sector-specific technical input to the regional Operational Strategy (StratOp) in line with the global Technical Strategy (StraTech)
2. Leads the development and monitoring of the regional sectoral strategy in its sector, and ensures its implementation across the various countries where it operates
3. Contribute to synergies and promotes integrated programming approaches with other sectors, based on strategic and operational priorities and standard projects
4. Supports HI’s strategy on Technical Assistance (TA) to help development actors, as well as public and private service providers, become more expert
   1. Ensures technical support to projects in accordance with global technical standards and frameworks within their sector of expertise
5. Develops and contextualises technical guidance and specific tools related to their area of expertise (including contextual analysis, needs assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, etc.)
6. Provides technical advice and support to a portfolio of projects in development, emergency, and protracted crisis contexts
7. Supports programmes in designing strategies aligned with a Nexus approach and get prepared for emergencies responses
8. Integrates and promotes HI's cross-cutting approaches; Disability-Generation-Age (DGA) marker, conflict sensitivity and protection mainstreaming in its interventions
   1. Ensures technical quality control and monitoring
9. Carries out technical monitoring missions in the field to support teams and partners through training assessments, internal audits, team coaching, etc.
10. Applies and adapts quality control tools and frameworks (project reviews, checklists, dashboards) as defined by HQ, alerts THOP or TUM & reports any issues or needs for adapting the technical quality reference framework
11. Provides technical support to country teams during key phases of the project cycle (design, implementation, evaluation)
12. Recommends adaptations to the programme in response to potential contextual changes (e.g., humanitarian crises)

Mission 2: Influence and Advocacy

2. Contribute to the local external prestige and influence of HI’s expertise in the sectorial scope 
   1. Represent the technical expertise of HI throughout the local relevant networks
   2. Contribute to advocacy on specific themes in line with the global advocacy priorities
   3. Contribute to communication messages locally in line with the global communication priorities
3. Design and steer the advocacy strategy of the regional programme towards national and regional policy changes 
   1. Support the Regional Programme Director and THOP in the preparation and monitoring of the components of the regional programme Operational Strategy relating to advocacy 
   2. Together with the regional and country project teams, identify key issues emerging from HI operations that would require advocacy for policy changes
   3. Lead the design and implementation of coordinated advocacy strategies and action plans at regional and national levels, in collaboration with the project teams (and the HI Advocacy Project Specialists if any), and the relevant local partners, and ensure they are properly implemented
   4. Carry out and constantly update a stakeholder mapping and power analysis to identify key advocacy targets and allies
4. Contribute to the implementation of the regional advocacy strategy
   1. Lead or contribute to the preparation of advocacy tools for regional and national advocacy as per the action plans (reports, briefing papers, talking points, medias/social media tools), in support of project teams where relevant
   2. Ensure that the programme produces reliable and consistent data for the national and regional advocacy as needed 
   3. Engage in relevant fora, networks and coalitions or with key partners at national or regional levels to feed the analyses and promote HI positions, in coordination with the project teams; identify opportunities for collective advocacy initiatives, and collaborate with the AIR team as relevant 
   4. Build and maintain contacts with key decision makers at national and regional levels, in relation to the regional programme advocacy topics, through the organisation of regular meetings, exchanges and events at national and regional levels 
   5. Inform and provide support to key operational staff and national partners on HI advocacy activities 
   6. Support partners to build or reinforce their links with relevant national, regional and international networks 
   7. Evaluate, mobilise and organise the internal and external resources needed for advocacy activities 
   8. Manage the programme social media and press relations 
   9. Regularly share internally information on the regional programme activities, including on advocacy, by feeding HI internal communication platforms

Mission 3: Partnerships

3. Contribute to the development of partnerships at national level
   1. Working closely with Country Managers, advise on strategic partnerships with OPDs
   2. Support Country Offices to identify and engage OPDs and OPD networks
   3. Support coordinated advocacy efforts with local networks
4. Lead the development of regional partnerships
   1. Engage with relevant regional bodies and forums on disability inclusion
   2. Establish connections with regional OPD networks and 
   3. Identify & develop local partnerships and/or consortium with NGOs, Institutions, Companies on technical priorities or important topics in the region under his sectorial scope 

Mission 4: Business development

4. Ensures strategic technical monitoring
   1. Monitors regional dynamics and multi-stakeholder initiatives to anticipate collaboration opportunities and tracks trends in their area of expertise in relation to national and regional contextual developments
   2. Analyses internal strengths and weaknesses considering the institutional ecosystem and ensures alignment of proposals with strategic frameworks and donor requirements
   3. Contributes to strategic monitoring of relevant calls for proposals at regional level
5. Develops strategic partnerships
   1. Identifies opportunities for partnerships and/or consortia with development and humanitarian actors, research institutes, multilateral organizations in the global framework of the Stratech
   2. Supports teams in developing strategic partnerships with local, national, and international organizations based on needs and technical complementarities, and as part of HI’s strengthened commitment to the localization of aid
6. Supports the development and drafting of new project proposals
   1. Provides technical support to country teams in drafting concept notes and proposals, ensuring the technical quality of intervention logics, results frameworks and budgets
   2. Leads or contributes to drafting concept notes and proposals
   3. Supports and/or develops technical assistance (TA) offers to support and build the capacities of partners and development actors ‘practices
7. Represents HI in external coordination and advocacy spaces
   1. Actively participates in relevant regional sectoral groups (clusters, alliances, inter-agency groups)
   2. In collaboration with the Institutional Funding Division (IFD), identifies potential donors (both private and institutional), networks, partners, NGOs, and advocacy groups aligned with HI’s technical and 3 I vision, and ensures the development of technical and strategic links
8. Contributes to technical visibility and external communication
   1. Supports the organization’s technical visibility through presentations, publications, and participation in regional and national events or workshops, with the aim of strengthening HI’s recognition and credibility within their sector
   2. Produces content (capacity statements, project sheets, thematic fact sheets) to promote HI’s approaches and positioning in their sector to external audiences

Mission 5: Knowledge Management 

5. Coordinates knowledge management and promotes innovative initiatives
   1. Designs tools and participatory processes for documenting field experiences (case studies, lessons learned, innovations); and identify lessons learnt thanks to evaluations recommendations
   2. Facilitates cross-country learning workshops and actively participates in global Communities of Practice (CoPs)
   3. Contributes to the writing of analytical reports, technical briefs, and capitalisation documents, and ensures their dissemination both internally and externally
   4. Facilitates reflection and the development of innovative thematic outputs, ensuring that gender, disability, climate change adaptation, and digital transformation are meaningfully integrated into programming
6. Supports and ensures capacity building for technical and non-technical staff (Managers, Technical Officers, etc.) in line with the globally defined framework
   1. Participates in the recruitment (“R” of technical test and technical interview) and validation of technical positions within projects
   2. Ensures the induction of newly hired staff so they are familiar with sectoral priorities and objectives
   3. Carries out training needs assessments in collaboration with the field teams
   4. This contributes to staff capacity development through the implementation and monitoring of a capacity-building plan, including training and coaching mechanisms, to promote continuous learning in line with HI’s professional competency frameworks

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSITION:

A good level in written and spoken English is mandatory as it will be the only working language.

The position will imply to act as the Regional Disability Inclusion Specialist, reporting to Technical Head of Program. 

YOUR PROFILE: 

Qualification: 

Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Human Rights, Political Science, Social Policy, Education, Law or Inclusion related field

Required Skills:

• In-depth knowledge of development and/or emergency response approaches
• Proven experience in project strategy & project management within the sector
• Strong expertise in supporting vulnerable groups (women, youth, persons with disabilities, etc.) and in designing interventions that promote their participation and inclusion
• Specific expertise in disability inclusion is considered a strong asset
• Strong capacity to conduct capacity-building activities (designing training modules and technical guidance) and to organize learning and exchange events/workshops for HI staff and partners
• Ability to develop public relation / communication and representation with a variety of stakeholders (donors, networks, ministries, local authorities, technical services, etc.)
• Demonstrated skills in programme design, monitoring and evaluation
• Learning lessons from experience and continuous learning 
• Enabling sustainable impact and scaling-up strategies to be achieved and enhanced
• Safe Programming: Risk Management – Protection 

Experience: 

• Experience working with people with disabilities 
• Experience in technical positions related to Disability Inclusion
• Experience working closely in partnership with international development agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other collaborators/ stakeholders

Personal qualities:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, particularly for coaching and supporting technical teams in the field
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, suitable for high-level external representation, with the ability to tailor messaging to different audiences
• Ability to work independently, take initiative, prioritise and meet deadlines
• Flexible, available, and able to travel across countries in the sub-region

CONDITIONS: 

Local work contract, 1 year fixed duration contract (potential to be extended)

HI offers: Approximate Gross salary 1,470 to 1,680 USD (Sub-Category A1, Grad 1-4), the salary will be paid in Lao Kip (LAK) based on the exchange rate of pay day.

We offer also: other benefits according to country policies that candidate work location under Southeast Asia Program,  

TO APPLY: 

Applicants should email a letter of interest together with CV to email:  office-recruitment@laos.hi.org 

 by 07/10/2025; please state clearly in the Email subject the position being applied for “Regional Disability Inclusion Specialist”. Only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted. 

IMPORTANT : In the content of the CV please outline responsibilities and tasks from previous & current work, volunteer experiences and training received. 

HI reserves the right to not accept applications submitted after the deadline. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for testing and an interview. 

Only candidates who passed the selection will be taken into consideration for a technical assessment and will be afterwards notified of the final decision. Selected applicants may be invited for an interview. HI reserves the right to contact the applicants for further information before the final selection of the selection committee.

Handicap International encourages qualified persons with disabilities or chronic illness and women to apply.

HI is committed to protecting children and vulnerable adults from harm. Employment is subject to HI protection standards including background checks and adherence to HI protection policies

(Child protection, PSEAH), Anti-fraud and Corruption and Code of Conduct.

All information shared by the applicants remain confidential.

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