Peace Building Specialist

Danish Refugee Council, one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, is currently looking for a highly qualified Peace Building Specialist- Anticipatory Action (AA)

About the job

The Peacebuilding Specialist will provide technical leadership and field-level support to the AHEAD Anticipatory Action project, ensuring that peacebuilding, social cohesion, and conflict sensitivity are effectively integrated into anticipatory action systems and early response mechanisms.

The role focuses on preventing and mitigating displacement linked to conflict and climate-related shocks by strengthening community preparedness, inclusive dialogue, local conflict management mechanisms, and protection-oriented anticipatory actions. The position will support the design, implementation, and learning of conflict-sensitive anticipatory interventions that reduce violence risks before shocks escalate into displacement

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Key Responsibilities

1. Peacebuilding & Conflict Sensitivity in Anticipatory Action

• Provide technical guidance to ensure peacebuilding and social cohesion principles are embedded within anticipatory action design, triggers, and response packages.
• Support the integration of conflict analysis and political economy analysis into anticipatory action planning, readiness activities, and trigger validation.
• Ensure anticipatory actions do not exacerbate tensions and contribute to violence prevention, trust-building, and inclusive community engagement.
• Advise on context-specific anticipatory protection and peace dividends, including dialogue facilitation, community mediation, and conflict de-escalation activities.

2. Community Preparedness & Local Systems Strengthening

• Support community-based preparedness activities that strengthen local conflict prevention, early warning, and response mechanisms.
• Work with community leaders, women’s groups, youth structures, and local authorities to promote inclusive participation in anticipatory action processes.
• Support the design and implementation of anticipatory community dialogues linked to forecasted shocks (e.g. drought, flooding, conflict escalation).
• Strengthening linkages between community early warning systems and national / humanitarian anticipatory action frameworks.

3. Coordination & Stakeholder Engagement

• Coordinate with local authorities, community structures, CSOs, and protection actors to align peacebuilding efforts with anticipatory action objectives.
• Support DRC’s engagement in AA, protection, and peacebuilding coordination platforms, ensuring conflict dynamics inform anticipatory decisions.
• Facilitate collaboration between peacebuilding, protection, and anticipatory action teams to ensure coherent implementation.

4. Implementation Support & Quality Assurance

• Provide technical support to field teams during anticipatory action readiness, activation, and post-activation phases.
• Support monitoring of peacebuilding-related outcomes within anticipatory action interventions.
• Ensure participatory, conflict-sensitive approaches are applied during implementation, especially during trigger activations.

5. Learning, Evidence & Knowledge Management

• Contribute to evidence generation on how anticipatory action can reduce conflict risks and displacement drivers.
• Document lessons learned, good practices, and challenges related to integrating peacebuilding into anticipatory action.
• Support learning exchanges and contribute to national and global AHEAD knowledge products.

6. Compliance & Accountability

• Ensure adherence to DRC’s Protection, AGD, Conflict Sensitivity, and Do No Harm standards.
• Support compliance with DRC policies on safeguarding, accountability, and ethical engagement

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to have:

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, International Development, Social Sciences, Political Science, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in peacebuilding, conflict prevention, social cohesion, or protection programming.
• Demonstrated experience integrating conflict sensitivity into humanitarian or resilience programming.
• Experience working with community-based early warning, dialogue, or mediation mechanisms.
• Familiarity with anticipatory action, early warning, preparedness, or forecast-based approaches is a strong asset.
• Experience working with national and local partners in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
• Strong facilitation, analysis, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience in Somalia contexts is highly desirable.

Other Requirements:

• Able and willing to be based in Mogadishu, Somalia, with occasional travel. Travel to remote and isolated rural communities will be required within this role.
• The position requires a high degree of collaboration with program staff and all relevant stakeholders to ensure effective communication and priority setting.
• Experience with programming related to climate resilience, preparedness, and conflict sensitivity.
• Demonstrated ability to innovate and take a flexible, problem-solving approach in complex humanitarian environments.
• Strong project management skills and experience with donor reporting and proposal writing.
• Familiarity with humanitarian coordination mechanisms and key international standards.

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies: 

Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process. 

Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback. 

Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation. 

Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly. 

Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

We offer

Contract length: 12 months

Band: Employment Band Non-Management -G2

Work location: Mogadishu

Start date: February 2026

Reporting to: Project Manager-AA

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for

employees on national contract.

Application process

All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English. Applications sent by email will not be considered.

Closing date for applications: 31st December 2025.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and highly encourage female applicants to apply.

For more information about the Danish Refugee Council, please visit our website drc.ngo.

Danish Refugee Council is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and positive work environment based on mutual respect for all employees. All applicants are considered for employment regardless of personal characteristics or attributes.