Plan International is hiring a Regional Humanitarian Preparedness and Response Coordinator for Asia-Pacific. The role supports 15 country offices, helping them prepare for disasters and respond well when they do. If you have solid, hands-on disaster response experience and can travel for much of the year, this senior regional role is worth a look.
The closing date is 22 November. Salary and contract length are not stated on the official page. What the posting does make clear is the scale: one coordinator, 15 countries, and regular travel to places where help is needed most.
A regional job that moves with the crises
This is not an office-bound post: the role involves 50 to 60 percent travel, inside and outside the region, often in hardship locations. When a major disaster hits, the coordinator may deploy to a country office for 4 to 12 weeks in the first phase, or 4 to 8 weeks during recovery, working as a technical adviser or Deputy Emergency Response Manager.
The posting lists the location as a Plan International country office in Asia, reporting to the Regional Head of Humanitarian Preparedness, Response and Resilience. Working well in a virtual team across time zones and cultures matters as much as technical knowledge.
What the work looks like in practice
Before any disaster, the coordinator helps country offices stay ready. That means supporting their Ready to Respond approach, tracking whether agreed Minimum Preparedness Actions are done on time, and keeping the region’s emergency response database and dashboard up to date. The coordinator also prepares a regular disaster hotspot analysis for Asia-Pacific.
Training is a large part of the job, including Emergency Response Team training and cash and voucher assistance training, so teams are not learning from scratch when a crisis arrives. The role also leads Plan’s work in regional networks covering accountability to affected people, cash assistance, and gender in humanitarian action, and coordinates the Asia-Pacific Children in Crisis Fund, including drafting donor reports.
Key details at a glance
| Detail | What the posting says |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Plan International |
| Region covered | Asia-Pacific, 15 country offices |
| Location | A Plan International country office in Asia |
| Reports to | Regional Head of Humanitarian Preparedness, Response and Resilience |
| Travel | 50 to 60 percent, often in hardship locations |
| Closing date | 22 November |
| Salary | Not specified on the official page |
Who Plan is looking for
Plan wants a practitioner, not a beginner, with documented experience across disaster risk management: preparedness, readiness and response. Check each item below honestly against your own record.
- Documented experience in disaster risk management, including preparedness, readiness and response
- Documented experience of at least 2 major disaster events in high-risk environments
- Trainer or facilitator experience on humanitarian issues and international standards
- Expertise in one sector, such as child protection, education, health or water and sanitation in emergencies
- Familiarity with Sphere, the Core Humanitarian Standard, INEE, and Child Protection Minimum Standards
- Direct experience working with children and young people
- Institutional donor experience, plus familiarity with cash and voucher assistance and gender in emergencies
Strong communication matters, since the coordinator must argue a case clearly to country teams, donors and forums. Strategic thinking and managing a complex workload to tight deadlines are also required.
A quick self-check before you apply
You are a strong fit if you can point to real disasters you worked on, training you delivered, and country teams you supported across borders. Donor reporting and coordination forum experience will also help. If your experience is mostly in one country or sector, think carefully about whether you can show the regional range this job demands.
Do not apply if you cannot travel for long stretches, or if hardship deployments are a problem, because travel is more than half of this job. It is also the wrong role if you have never worked in a disaster response, or have no training experience, since both are core duties.
How to make your application stand out
Make Plan’s checklist easy to tick. Name the two major disaster events you worked on, your role in each, and the outcome. Vague claims about emergency experience carry little weight; concrete examples do. If you delivered training, say what you taught, to whom, and where.
Show that you understand Plan’s focus: children’s rights and equality for girls. Give one or two examples of how you put protection, gender and accountability into a real response, rather than just listing standards by name. Readers of similar deployable roles on this site, such as the IRC emergency response team supply chain role and the field coordinator role in Tigray, will recognise the same pattern: humanitarian posts reward evidence, not adjectives.
How to apply
Read the full posting first, then prepare a CV showing your documented disaster experience, training work and sector expertise in plain, concrete terms. Use the application button below to open the listing and follow the instructions there. Apply before 22 November, and keep a copy of everything you send.
What happens after you apply
The posting does not describe the selection steps or timeline, so those details are not specified on the official page. For a role like this, expect your application to be screened closely against the documented experience requirements, followed by interviews that test your field judgement. Be ready to talk through your two major disaster events in detail, and to answer practical questions about short-notice deployment to difficult conditions.
Questions applicants usually ask
Q: Is this an office-based job?
A: No. The role involves 50 to 60 percent travel, often in hardship locations, plus emergency deployments.
Q: Is the salary published?
A: No. Salary and contract length are not specified on the official page.
Q: Do I need Asia-Pacific experience specifically?
A: The posting states no regional-work requirement. It asks for documented disaster risk management experience, including at least 2 major disaster events in high-risk environments.
Q: Does the posting state nationality or residency restrictions?
A: No. It states none, and gives the location as a Plan International country office in Asia.
