Midwives Pool

Opening 15 May 2023

The German Red Cross (GRC) provides essential humanitarian support worldwide for people affected by crisis situations. Should the need for urgent deployments of delegates arise due to disasters or crises, GRC utilises its humanitarian surge roster (GRCReady) to alert and deploy qualified experts within 72 hours.

Midwife Role

GRC is expanding the surge capacity of its Clinical Health and Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Pool and welcomes qualified midwives to apply. We are opening the pool for qualified, experienced midwives who have the skills and expertise to be deployed as delegates in an emergency response anywhere in the world for a minimum of six weeks and up to three months.

GRC’s midwives are typically deployed as part of an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) which can be a hospital or clinic, and which provides basic and advanced healthcare to affected communities together with its sister National Societies overseas. An ERU is a standardised package of trained personnel plus modules of equipment ready to be deployed at short notice. Midwives can also be seconded to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) or the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

As a midwife you will provide high-quality and ethically sound professional and technical services to support the work of the ERU or other Movement partners and must therefore be able to work independently. You will organise and manage the maternal child health services in coordination with other personnel, and supervise, mentor, and provide training to local staff as required. In partnership with relevant stakeholders, midwives furthermore ensure the smooth operation of the Reproductive Health Unit and other wards in the clinic or hospital.

You can read the full generic job profile here:

Midwive job profile

Application for Midwives Pool

Pool opens: 15 May 2023 
Pool closes: 15 December 2023 at 11 am Berlin / Geneva time

Step 1: Create a GRCReady account if you do not have one already.
Step 2: Log into your account and click on "Recruitment". Then select "Midwives". Follow the application instructions.

​If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact surge(at)drk.de

Your profile

Does the following profile sound like you? If yes, we encourage you to apply and look forward to guiding you through the admission process.

  • You are available for a surge deployment for a minimum duration of six weeks up to three months in the coming two years.
  • You are a practising midwife with a minimum two years of work experience in a level 1/2 hospital.
  • You are willing to provide comprehensive sexual reproductive care in low-resource, emergency settings and have experience in managing a delivery room and handling high volumes of patients.
  • You have empathy but can also maintain a professional distance.
  • You have experience in training and/or mentoring other health personnel.
  • You can work autonomously but collaborate well within a multidisciplinary team.
  • You enjoy working with people from other countries and cultures and can communicate with them in an effective, respectful, and courteous manner.
  • Your English level is C1 or higher. Further languages are an asset.
  • You preferably have previous work experience overseas* in a low-resource setting.
  • You have preferably worked within the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement before.

*International experience can be gained through assignments, internships, and volunteer work overseas.

Open question: Please prepare in advance

Applications from German Red Cross volunteers and staff members who meet the criteria are also welcome.

During the application process, you will be asked to answer the following question: Please provide an example from your recent work experience where you needed to respond to a critical patient incident. What was the context? How did you manage the incident and what was the outcome?

If you prefer to prepare your answer in advance (max. 1.500 characters), you can also copy and paste it into the GRCReady application field.

Please note that this is an application process to join our humanitarian surge roster, not for a specific midwife position at GRC. For more information on our roster, GRCReady, please click here.

Other Pools

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Helferin Rotes Kreuz auf den Bahamas nach Hurrican Dorian

Closed 1 June 2023: The Security advisor pool consists of trained specialists who have the skills and expertise to be deployed as delegates in an emergency response anywhere in the world for up to three months.

Closed 1 July 2023: The Information Management pool consists of trained specialists who have the skills and expertise to be deployed as delegates in an emergency response anywhere in the world for up to three months.

DRK Wasserwacht, DRK-Journalistencamp Xanten

Opening 15 September 2023: GRC is expanding the surge capacity of its Prehospital Emergency Care Pool and welcomes applications from qualified professionals for deployments for up to three months.

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