Background of Oxfam:

Oxfam started working in Southern Africa in the 1980s. Since then, we have implemented both development and humanitarian programmes to support practical and innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty.

We work with local stakeholders to find lasting solutions to the root causes which keep people in poverty. Oxfam is currently collaborating with the Government, international and local CSOs, UN Agencies and other stakeholders.

Oxfam envisions Southern African countries to be free of extreme inequality and injustice; a society where citizens and particularly women across all age groups claim and exercise their rights and responsibilities and can influence decisions that affect their lives.

Our regional program aims to promote women’s rights, good governance and accountability, resilient livelihoods, as well as enhance preparedness, reduce vulnerability to disaster and ensure an effective response to humanitarian crises.

Job Summary:

The Humanitarian Action Programme Manager provides strategic, technical, operational, and people leadership for Oxfam’s humanitarian portfolio across the Southern Africa (SAF) Cluster, ensuring that emergency preparedness, anticipatory action, response, recovery, and resilience programming are effectively designed, coordinated, and delivered.

The role is responsible for ensuring that humanitarian interventions are timely, principled, partner-led, and fully aligned with humanitarian standards, Oxfam’s safeguarding and localisation commitments, and the broader SAF Strategy (2026–2030). It ensures that humanitarian programming not only addresses immediate crisis needs but also contributes to broader nexus programming by linking emergency response with long-term resilience, development, climate adaptation, and systems-change objectives. Working under the strategic leadership of the Programme and Influencing Lead, the role serves as the principal thematic leader for humanitarian action across the Cluster, ensuring coherence between operational delivery, technical quality, partner systems, evidence generation, policy engagement, and strategic positioning. It also strengthens Oxfam’s ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to increasingly complex humanitarian crises across the region.

The role directly leads and manages a distributed multi-country humanitarian team, including technical coordinators and emergency specialists, ensuring strong leadership, technical excellence, operational readiness, staff wellbeing, and coordinated delivery across all humanitarian portfolios. Through strategic leadership, operational excellence, strong humanitarian systems, and regional coordination, the Humanitarian Action Programme Manager significantly strengthens Oxfam’s capacity to act as a credible, partner-led, regionally integrated humanitarian actor while advancing localisation, feminist leadership, and long-term resilience across Southern Africa.

EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCIES

Essential

• Master’s degree in Humanitarian Studies, Public Health, Development Studies, Environmental Studies or equivalent qualification. A bachelor’s degree combined with relevant postgraduate or professional qualifications and significant experience of at least 10 years may be considered.
• 6 years of relevant experience in in humanitarian programming, including emergency response, preparedness, and coordination. Strong technical knowledge of humanitarian.
• standards and principles, including at least 3 years in a team leadership or management role.
• Proven experience in multi-country humanitarian systems, Team management, Strategic programme design, partner-led programming, and Policy integration.
• Strong communication, analytical, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to build strong, credible relationships with internal and external individuals and Organisations.
• A high level of self-awareness, personal energy, stamina and flexibility.
• Proven experience as a team worker and demonstrably cooperative with members of other teams.
• Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Desirable

• Portuguese language capability.
• Southern Africa regional experience.
• Experience with humanitarian-development nexus.
• Strong institutional donor exposure.
• Commitment to Oxfam’s overall aims and policies and experience of promoting gender equity and diversity and the interests of marginalized people in all aspects of Oxfam’s work.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly, at times at short notice, locally and regionally.
• Excellent personal communication skills, in written and verbal English and ideally Portuguese.

Contract Type: Fixed Term, 1 year, renewal subject to availability of funding.

Salary: National terms and conditions, competitive and negotiable within the salary ranges depending on experience, skills and competencies. This role offers scope for immense personal fulfilment – as well as outstanding opportunities to develop your career.

Location: SAF countries where one has the right to work (Mozambique Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

• Provide strategic, technical, operational, and people leadership for Oxfam’s humanitarian portfolio across the Southern Africa (SAF) Cluster.
• Ensure effective design, coordination, and delivery of emergency preparedness, anticipatory action, response, recovery, and resilience programming.
• Ensure humanitarian interventions are timely, principled, partner-led, and fully aligned with humanitarian standards, Oxfam’s safeguarding and localisation commitments, and the broader SAF Strategy (2026–2030).
• Ensure humanitarian programming addresses immediate crisis needs and contributes to broader nexus programming by linking emergency response with long-term resilience, development, climate adaptation, and systems-change objectives.
• Serve as the principal thematic leader for humanitarian action across the Cluster, ensuring coherence between operational delivery, technical quality, partner systems, evidence generation, policy engagement, and strategic positioning.
• Strengthen Oxfam’s ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to increasingly complex humanitarian crises across the region.
• Directly lead and manage a distributed multi-country humanitarian team, including technical coordinators and emergency specialists.
• Ensure strong leadership, technical excellence, operational readiness, staff wellbeing, and coordinated delivery across all humanitarian portfolios.
• Advance localisation, feminist leadership, and long-term resilience across Southern Africa.

• Strong communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Decision-making skills
• Ability to build strong, credible relationships with internal and external individuals and organisations
• High level of self-awareness
• Personal energy, stamina and flexibility
• Team worker
• Cooperative with members of other teams
• Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies
• Portuguese language capability (desirable)
• Excellent personal communication skills, in written and verbal English and ideally Portuguese

• Master’s degree in Humanitarian Studies, Public Health, Development Studies, Environmental Studies or equivalent qualification. A bachelor’s degree combined with relevant postgraduate or professional qualifications and significant experience of at least 10 years may be considered.
• 6 years of relevant experience in humanitarian programming, including emergency response, preparedness, and coordination.
• Strong technical knowledge of humanitarian standards and principles.
• At least 3 years in a team leadership or management role.
• Proven experience in multi-country humanitarian systems.
• Proven experience in Team management.
• Proven experience in Strategic programme design.
• Proven experience in partner-led programming.
• Proven experience in Policy integration.
• Southern Africa regional experience (desirable).
• Experience with humanitarian-development nexus (desirable).
• Strong institutional donor exposure (desirable).
• Commitment to Oxfam’s overall aims and policies.
• Experience of promoting gender equity and diversity and the interests of marginalized people in all aspects of Oxfam’s work (desirable).
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly, at times at short notice, locally and regionally (desirable).