NATIONAL FAMILY STENGTHENING AND CHILD SAFEGUARDING PROGRAM ADVISOR

Mission of the position:

Under the leadership of the National Programme Development Manager (NPDM), the National Family Strengthening and Child Safeguarding Program Advisor drives programme development in the field of Family Strengthening and Child Safeguarding in line with the “Vision, Mission, Values”, the Brand and approved strategies, policies and plans of the organisation and national legislation.  As a member of the national programme development department, she/he contributes to setting and reaching the strategic objectives and targets of the MA in the area of families support and intervention, community work, child safeguarding risk assessment, capacity building, and monitors and evaluates progress towards achieving set targets. She/he provides technical expertise and content-wise leads SOS Children’s Village Programme unit managers/leaders in a location in planning, implementing and monitoring of programme interventions in the area of family strengthening and child safeguarding. The NFSCSPA is responsible for introducing and monitoring the implementation of quality standards in the area of Family strengthening. Content wise, the NFSCSPA receives guidance from the regional FS and CS content leader and advisor. As a member of the regional EUCM network the NFSCSPA shares good practices and experiences with colleagues from other MAs.

Main clients:

• Family Strengthening coordinators and staff
• CV Directors and staff
• National Programme Development Manager
• IOR FS content leader and advisors
• IOR CS content leader and advisors

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

Programme development

• Under the leadership of the NPDM, contributes to annual and strategic planning and monitoring of progress towards targets.
• Under the leadership of NPDM and in cooperation with other Programme Advisors, actively contributes to putting federation policies into practice taking into consideration national legislation and context.
• Supports NPDM in planning for Family Strengthening programmes/Projects for approval by GSC.
• Develops detailed psycho-pedagogical concepts for new types of interventions in the country jointly with programme staff in the locations for approval by IOR.
• Provides technical expertise to the NPDM when setting up new FS programme units and interventions in a location.
• Supports NPDM, FSP coordinators in locations in applying for public funds.
• Provides content wise guidance to programme unit managers in the locations in planning, budgeting, and reporting of programme interventions.
• Leads specific programme development projects as assigned by the NPDM.
• Regularly reports on developments in FS to the NPDM and the regional PD advisor.
• Organise diverse trainings for the staff in accordance with their specific roles and responsibilities
• Conduct child safeguarding risk assessment to identify CS risks, design and implement mitigation measures
• Assess care quality to identify areas for quality improvement to lower CS risks
• Conduct child safeguarding and care quality audits
• Contribute to development of global training materials and adapt for regional usage, including development of regional training modules
• Conduct CS capacity building activities for MAs and support assessment of CS risk and care quality
• Monitor the implementation of MAs project activities
• Conduct regional cross-functional reviews and audits (PD, CS and HR) and support national audits

Quality Management, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Jointly with other PD Advisors, supports NPDM in the development and establishment of a national association quality management system.
• Supports FSP coordinator in 2 locations in implementing quality standards.
• Monitors and evaluates the quality and progress of programme interventions and projects, including through project visits, internal audits, and review of and feedback to project reports, statistics, and self-evaluation results to ensure that interventions are in line with organisational plans, standards, and policies, and with national legislation.
• Supports regional quality audits and external evaluations. Advises and supports the implementation of recommendations.

Human Resources Development

• Supports FS coordinators in the effective implementation of the HR cycle related to programme unit managers. Participates in the recruitment and on boarding of the Programme units’ coordinators and programme staff in the location, as well as provides input into annual performance appraisals, and proposed staff development measures for the Programme units’ coordinators.
• Organises or provides joint training for staff from different locations working. Ensures knowledge exchange between staff working in different locations, including through meetings.
• Advises and monitors implementation of appropriate staffing standards and structures in line with quality standards in close cooperation with national HR Manager.

Research and Knowledge Management

• Documents and distributes lessons learned and good practices to support organisational learning on national, regional and international level.
• Participates on behalf of MA in the regional network and contributes to regional projects.
• Participates on behalf of the MA in international/national studies and research projects.

Partnership building and Advocacy

• Supports NPDD, and Programme units’ managers in the location in building strong links and cooperation with national government and local authorities, as well as other stakeholders to enhance programme development.
• Joins relevant networks, platforms, campaigns, working groups and advocates on behalf of the organisation for the promotion and protection of children’s rights, especially on issues linked to children at risk of losing the care of their families or children without parental care.
• Participates in relevant national/international conferences.

Child Safeguarding (CS)

• Responsible to raise awareness of the SOS Child Protection Policy principles and to protect children from all forms of abuse, abandonment, exploitation, violence and discrimination
• Supports NPDM, Programme units’ managers in organising relevant preventive actions addressing existing and possible CS risks as identified by the CS risk assessment.
• Responsible to report any CS suspicion, concern, allegation or incident immediately, following Child Safeguarding reporting procedures. CS reports should be made to the national CS focal person or any other member of the national CS team and/or to respective line manager.  

Direct supervisor: National Programme Development Manager