Médecins Sans Frontières, an international humanitarian medical association created in 1971, provides medical assistance to populations whose lives are threatened: mainly in the event of armed conflicts, but also epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters or exclusion from care. MSF's Paris Operational Center (OCP) is present in around thirty countries.
As part of a reorganization, we are looking for a Migration Unit Manager based in Paris for the operations department.
Mission :
The increase in conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, the use of migration as a tool of geopolitical pressure, leads to an increase in attempts to migrate to Europe. In addition, European policies are negatively reinforced, reception standards are eroding, states are increasingly moving towards exclusionary, dehumanizing and radical policies. This situation leads people to take dangerous routes and be exposed to significant violence.
In 2024 and for the years to come, helping migrant populations, the vast majority of whom are victims of violence, particularly along the central Mediterranean route, remains a priority for MSF OCP and therefore maintaining our missions in Libya and France, working on the humanitarian corridor to Italy among others (Out of Libya initiative) and looking at the situation on other routes to Europe.
Migration-related operations require the development of adapted approaches, over the long term, with specific expertise (physical and mental health of mobile populations and victims of violence, non-medical such as protection, social, legal), political commitment and transnational and local reflections on the migratory route(s) – we have had these objectives for several years, so our successes remain partial. The OCP strategy needs to be reviewed.
Purpose of the migration cell
The migration cell aims to:
• Develop knowledge and expertise in the field of Migration within MSF : geopolitics, legal (national and international law), medical (including psychological care), protection and social work. This knowledge must be capitalized, formalized; and adapted to the specific field of migration (going beyond MSF “standards” when necessary).
• Ensure systematic multidisciplinary work in defining strategies and implementing operations and relief.
• Ensure the inclusion of our projects in the aid and reception landscape, including participation in coordination, the establishment of support, collaborations and partnerships.
• Ensure a satisfactory distribution of roles between field teams and headquarters teams : enable missions to assume responsibility for the operational implementation of projects autonomously, within the strategic framework previously defined with the operations management; by coordinating headquarters supports in a coherent manner.
• Effectively implement enhanced collaboration between Migration-labeled projects : mobility and secondments, sharing of best practices, development of expertise, in order to cross-reference understandings of the paths and needs of the people encountered on our projects and to bring out good practices and a shared activity framework.
• To enable deeper links and exchanges with the institutional, associative, academic and scientific world.
• Develop the capacity and actions for mobilization and advocacy at local, national and international levels (including in conjunction with other political, aid, reception and other section actors).
Main responsibilities:
Under the hierarchical responsibility of the Director of Operations and one of the Deputy Directors of Operations and by delegation of authority, you are responsible for your team and the operations of your cell.
The first step will be to consolidate the chosen model and define the working methods best suited to this model and to our operations.
Unlike other cells, the main changes are:
• A reduced headquarters cell and in particular the formalization by the cell manager (CM) of the membership of the heads of mission (HOM) to the operational team in charge of strategic and operational decisions at a regional level, on the migratory route (regional approach vs. country approach)
• A migration unit composed of migration coordinator positions, regionalized (medical, mental health, protection, advocacy) which are managed by a tight-knit team (RC/CDM) and shared between missions. These positions have 2 major roles to play: direct support to missions and the development of expertise - in their respective fields - for migration projects as well as participating in improving the care of victims of violence.
• An adaptation of coordinations according to needs and the articulation with this migration unit
1/ Setting up the migration cell
• Recruit and structure the migration cell team by specifying roles and responsibilities.
• Based on the defined model, specify roles and responsibilities and recruit team members
• Adapt the mission coordination set-up to the implementation of the migration unit (mobile positions)
• Liaise with departments to define their interactions with the migration unit given the new organization
• Align with your team (CDM/missions and migration unit positions) the ways of working (regional vision vs mission, mobility, multidisciplinarity, links with other stakeholders)
2/ Contribute to the definition of strategy and operational orientations
• Participate in defining MSF-OCP’s medical-operational strategy regarding migration (participation in key events of the operations department: seminars, board meetings, budget committees, Group Committees, etc.)
• Develop strategies on the migration route(s) towards Europe, particularly the central Mediterranean, while adapting our operations to contextual, political and aid and reception developments
• Provide support in terms of advice and guidance as well as provide technical support by the migration unit to other cells or sections wishing to develop migration projects on other routes (e.g. Asia, Africa and the Atlantic route)
3/ Supervise the missions and themes of your unit by involving the heads of missions as well as your deputies, and by registering in the environment of migration, aid and reception actors:
• Be responsible for the relevance, quality and proper implementation of field projects. Be on watch and coordinate the response to emergencies in relation to the intervention contexts of the cell / unit
• Analyze the context of migration to Europe and propose the most appropriate operations,
• Define and continuously adjust the organization and resources required for the deployment of missions as well as the stages of implementation of actions
• Support your team in problematizing files and negotiating the intervention space
• Ensure the proper flow of information within your team, with the Operations Department, other departments, the field and within your teams
• Be a privileged contact for those responsible for support departments
• Define, taking into account the strategies of aid and reception actors, a strategy for political mobilization and communication of influence
4/ Manage your teams hierarchically (unit managers and mission leaders):
• Recruit, supervise, advise, support, motivate, unite your teams and develop the skills of your employees,
• Ensure that the ways of working within the teams are effectively multidisciplinary so that the management of the individuals benefiting from our support is as appropriate as possible
• Ensure with the missions the transversality of operational thinking along the route for a mobile and/or excluded population; ensure the link between projects and missions
• Setting directions, defining individual and collective objectives
• Ensure the proper contribution of your cell to the migration projects of other cells or sections as well as within the framework of the file for improving the care of victims of violence
5/ Transmission of skills:
• Ensures that the migration unit plays its role of developing expertise, know-how, coordination and support with other actors, and supporting other initiatives in the medical humanitarian response to migrant populations.
• Ensures the creation of a pool of human resources with an interest in migration and possessing the necessary expertise;
• Participate in the definition and implementation of Learning and Development (LnD) strategies
• Propose assessments/capitalizations, opinion papers, political strategies, interaction with stakeholders in your area + highlight humanitarian issues
6/ Manage the budget for your unit and team’s operations:
• Develop, manage and monitor the budget,
• To be the guarantor of the search for institutional funds, the achievement of objectives and compliance with contracts signed with donors.
7/ Represent and promote the interests of MSF:
• Represent MSF in your area,
• Ensure the proper flow of information and good coordination with all stakeholders (internal & external) in your area.
Experience and skills:
Humanitarian experience : You have experience in humanitarian work with MSF or another NGO is essential.
Operational experience : you have significant experience as Head of Mission or Medical Coordinator.
Project management and management : You have a very good command of project management, have the ability to lead a multicultural and multidisciplinary team on a regional scale, with people based in different locations, in a coherent manner and towards objectives understood by all. Your collaborative approach and ability to unite are essential skills for this position.
Interest in migration issues : You demonstrate an interest in issues related to migration and protection. Prior experience in this field is an asset.
Languages: Fluent French and English, spoken and written – (Level C1)
Status: Permanent management position based in Paris. Frequent travel in the field. Position with functional mobility.
Conditions : €71.4k gross annually over 13 months.
22 days of RTT per year. Health insurance 100% covered by Médecins Sans Frontières. Meal vouchers with a face value of €11 (60% covered by Médecins Sans Frontières). Public transport ticket 50% covered.
Position to be filled : February 2025
Our desire is to promote inclusion and diversity. We also want to improve the representation of people with disabilities within our workforce.
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