TITLE: Child Protection & Child Rights Governance Technical Advisor – South Sudan Country Office

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Program Development

&

Quality Department – Technical Unit

Location: Juba

Contract Length: 24months

Grade: TBC (Competitive Package) Post Type: National/International

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

At Save the Children we work to prevent violence from happening and respond efficiently by strengthening families and caregivers, implementing laws and policies, working with governments and other partners to develop strong child protection systems, changing attitudes and social norms, listening to and involving children, building the social work workforce and providing services for children. The Technical Advisor of Child Protection & Child Rights Governance takes overall responsibility in setting the strategic direction, growth and coordination of Save the Children’s work on Child Protection & Child Rights Governance in South Sudan, which includes protection of children from violence, appropriate care, children on the move, child protection systems, and child protection in emergencies, child resilience, child participation, and gender and inclusion. This includes leading and overseeing the development and delivery of high quality and cost effective programmes in both humanitarian and longterm development settings, resulting in immediate and lasting change for children.

In collaboration with the Research and Evaluations team, the Technical Advisor of Child Protection & Child Rights Governance will also provide technical leadership in Child Protection & Child Rights Governance focused studies, documentation and dissemination of innovations and good practices to inform project design, implementation and policy and advocacy efforts in line with the Country Office’s Evidence & Learning Agenda. S/he will also be responsible for networking, collaboration and partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the country, Government ministries, UN agencies and civil society organisations, as well as playing a leading role in establishing, maintaining and expanding donor relations to mobilise resources to in line with the sector’s strategic ambitions.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Deputy PDQ Director – Program Development & Quality

Staff reporting to this post: One (3) Technical Specialist

Budget Responsibilities: None

Country Dimensions:

SCI has been in South Sudan since 1989 when Southern Sudan was part of Sudan. Under a ‘One Country, Two Areas Programme approach and has since been, implementing both humanitarian and development programs aspiring to reach every child in the hardest to reach areas and isolated communities in South Sudan. SCI remains the leading child rights humanitarian organization in South Sudan providing long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance including education, health care and nutrition support, as well as families with food security and livelihoods assistance to vulnerable children including former child soldiers and those affected by violence and displacement across seven states out of the ten states. Save the children’s South Sudan CO has about 500 personnel, 38 active grants/projects, and 8 operational programme offices across 7 states and administrative areas (E Equatoria, central Equatoria, Warrap, Jonglei, Lakes, upper Nile, Abyei) throughout South Sudan enabling us to deliver life-saving services to all corners of the country, despite the poor infrastructure. the country office will be managing over $50m portfolio funding, Moreover, SCI SSD is implementing over 30% of its funding through national and international partners; there are approximately 29 national NGOs implementing programmes with Save the Children in various states across the country, as well as 4 different humanitarian & development consortia led by Save the Children in South Sudan.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Strategic Leadership

• Provide technical inputs into the design, development, monitoring and reporting of the Country Strategic Plan and Annual Plans, including driving the development and realisation of ambitious yet practical Child Protection & Child Rights Governance strategies and plans.
• Provide strategic direction and leadership to the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance team to roll out global initiatives in South Sudan aimed at delivering concrete results for the three organisational breakthroughs for children (Survive, Learn, Be Protected).
• Work with other thematic leads to seek opportunities and linkages, wherever applicable, for programmatic integration with other thematic areas (child poverty, education, Health, Nutrition, WASH) to increase depth of impact for vulnerable children.
• Provide thought leadership and technical guidance to the Senior Management Team (SMT),
• Program Development & Quality (PDQ) department and Child Protection & Child Rights Governance field teams to advance Save the Children’s relevance in relation to emerging trends and priorities in country, regionally and globally.

Resource Mobilisation

• Actively inputs into strategic fundraising to support implementation of the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance Strategic Plan, including analysis of donor priorities and positions on issues related to Child Protection & Child Rights Governance, and identify synergies and scope for collaboration.
• Along with the Deputy and PDQ Director and Head of Program Development, maintain excellent professional relationships with existing donors, as well as engaging potential donors, to continuously leverage support and resources for the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance portfolio.
• Provide timely and quality technical inputs into project design and proposal development for Child Protection & Child Rights Governance funding opportunities by bringing together learnings from programme delivery, global best practices, innovation, and donor interests.

Technical Assistance

• Lead and work together with the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance technical specialist and program operations teams to ensure that programs are implemented to a high standard of quality, are cost-effective, and sustainable, including undertaking regular project monitoring and provision of technical recommendations.
• Lead and work together with the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance technical specialist to provide technical supportive supervision to Child Protection & Child Rights Governance project teams, including training on appropriate approaches and methodologies; conceptual and practical frameworks; monitoring frameworks, standards and tools for effective and quality delivery of Child Protection & Child Rights Governance programmes.
• Provide technical review, guidance and inputs to donor reports to ensure that the reports are of high technical quality, aligning to Child Protection & Child Rights Governance plans and deliverables in project proposals.

Representation and Advocacy

• Represent and position Save the Children South Sudan programme in high-level and strategic internal and external fora related to Child Protection & Child Rights Governance, including influencing key stakeholders in South Sudan .g., donors, Government, UN agencies and NGOs.
• Work closely with the Advocacy and Campaigns team to develop and deliver our policy, advocacy and campaign initiatives related to Child Protection & Child Rights Governance.
• Identify and capitalise on key opportunities and events for Save the Children to showcase and position itself as the leading organisation for Child Protection & Child Rights Governance.

Learning and Knowledge Management

• Work closely with the Research, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning & Monitoring (REALM) team to track progress towards Child Protection & Child Rights Governance programme and global indicators, and utilisation of data to inform decision making and course correction.
• Lead and foster a culture in the technical and operations teams of the systematic collecting, documenting, sharing and utilising of evidence, learning and best practices in Child Protection & Child Rights Governance to drive quality and impact of programming and advocacy.
• Provide technical review, guidance and inputs into Child Protection & Child Rights Governance focused research studies and evaluations and facilitate the dissemination and uptake of findings, both internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors.
• Serve as a technical knowledge, skills and experience hub for the sector in South Sudan, and in doing so play a leading role in introducing innovations in Child Protection & Child Rights Governance programmes gained from existing and emerging Save the Children’s global, regional and South Sudan knowledge and practices.

People Management & Development

• Provide leadership to the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance team, including strategic vision and direction, team cohesion and team building.
• Lead, in coordination with HR, the recruitment, professional development and promotion of direct line reports as appropriate, including the identification of development opportunities, such as coaching/training/stretch assignments to build and maintain technical skills and competencies required for leading first class programmes.
• Provide day-to-day direct line management of the Child Protection & Child Rights Governance technical specialist, including: manage and define expectations; delegation of roles, responsibilities and tasks among the team; provide technical guidance and support to the team as needed.
• Undertake performance management, including setting of annual goals and quarterly deliverables, undertaking quarterly reviews, and provision of feedback to ensure delivery of results.

Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others. Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength.
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions. Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

QUALIFICATIONS

Post-graduate degree in social sciences; child development or human rights or a related field with additional training in child rights governance and project planning and management techniques.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Knowledge of current global and regional debates on child rights and governance.
• Recommended a minimum of eight years of relevant technical experience including at senior level.
• Proven experience of developing and managing high quality, innovative and cost-effective technical CRG and CP projects in fragile and insecure environments, preferably in South Sudan context and with International NGOs.
• Proven experience and skills in research and advocacy and influencing institutional, private and/or corporate donors and writing up high quality donor reports.
• Experience of working with local/national governments and capacity building of systems, partners and staff.
• Ability to extensively travel for project monitoring and provide on-site technical support to field teams.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets.
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in.
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required.
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children International’s aims, values and principles.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Adult Safeguarding.

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy, all employees are also expected to carry out their duties in accordance with SCI protection from sexual exploitation abuse.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.