National Programs Development Director (NPDD)

The National Programme Development Director (NPDD), under the leadership of the National Director, drives the area of Programme Development (PD) in the member association. She/he steers the development of the programmatic strategic directions in the national strategy and of programme activities in national annual plans. He/she ensures the development of national programme concepts (e.g., youth care) and guidelines, following SOS CV federation and national requirements. The NPDD with his/her team of national programme advisors content wise support’s location managers and staff in the development and implementation of relevant, effective, and sustainable projects and services in line with federation and governmental strategies, policies, and standards. He/she, together with advisors, monitors programme/project results and compliance with federation and national quality requirements. He/she coordinates and supports location managers and staff in the implementation of results based management and leads the development and implementation of a systematic approach to quality assurance in the MA. The NPDD steers the development of the national advocacy strategy and plan and contributes to its implementation. He/she is a member of the National Management team (NMT). The NPDD is responsible to establish and lead a team of competent national programme advisors. As a member of the Regional EUCM NPDD network, she/he shares good practices and experiences with colleagues from other MAs.

SOS Children’s Villages has zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation, harassment, abuse, fraud, and corruption, among other safeguarding aspects. We also provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, or marital status. SOS Children’s Villages complies with all applicable laws related to non-discrimination in employment.

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

Programme development, RBM, Quality assurance

• Steers strategic programme development in the national strategy development process, ensuring relevant and sustainable programmes in alignment with SOS CVI 2030 strategy and SOS Care Promise as well as national government strategies and policies
• Leads the development of national child rights situation analysis and other analysis to inform strategic programme development
• Monitors progress towards planned national strategic targets (KPIs, programme trends) and proposes mitigation measures to national management in case of non-achievement
• Contributes to national annual planning, including input to programme/project budgets
• Leads the development of national programme concepts (e.g., national youth development concept) and guidelines, following SOS CV federation and national requirements
• Steers the MA’s participation in global Strategic Federation Projects and ensures achievement of desired results
• Contributes to national risk management through identification of risks in PD and advising the implementation of mitigation measures
• Coordinates nationally and ensures support to progammes/projects in the implementation of the results-based management approach, including PDB2; contributes to the overall implementation of Connect SOS, including ProDigi, new programme structure, partnership agreements etc.
• Leads the development of a systematic quality assurance approach and supports progammes/projects in setting up internal control
• Supports programmes/projects in the implementation of services to be evidence based and aligned with federation and national policies and quality requirements, in order to ensure legality, relevance, quality and sustainability of services
• Supports projects/programmes in planning new or changing existing services, i.e. in the development of needs assessments, project ideas, concept notes, service descriptions, results frameworks, M&E plans, activity plans and budgets; checks quality of programme ideas/concepts and proposes for approval by ND
• Organizes support to programmes/projects in monitoring and evaluation
• Monitors progress of programmes/projects towards planned results and compliance with federation and national policies and quality requirements, including through internal quality audits
• Contributes to the development of programmes/projects in new locations

Child Safeguarding

• Follows the Child protection policy, Code of Conduct, and reporting and responding procedures
• Responsible within own area of work to raise awareness of the SOS Child Protection Policy principles and to prevent and protect children from all forms of abuse, abandonment, exploitation, violence and discrimination 
• Supports programmes/project in preventing and mitigating child safeguarding risks for children and in planning and providing rehabilitation support in child abuse incidents.
• Reports immediately any CS suspicion, concern, allegation or incident following nationally defined Child Safeguarding reporting procedures

HRD

• Plans, monitors and supervises the work of the national PD department, ensuring relevant technical expertise and competencies among PD advisors
• Leads national programme advisors as direct supervisor following the HR cycle
• Ensures national PD support in the recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing development of CVPDs/location managers and service leaders

Knowledge management and Research

• Fosters innovation and stays informed about latest research and evidence
• Keeps NMT and programmes/projects informed and regularly updates about new and changed international and national policies, guides, standards etc.
• Initiates and coordinates national research activities and participation in international research projects to support evidence-based programming, in cooperation with external partners
• Ensures the NA’s participation in international research projects carried out by SOS CVI, e.g.
• Participates in the regional NPDD network and contributes to knowledge management and systematic learning

Partnership building and advocacy

• Ensures the development of national advocacy strategy and plans and contributes to the implementation
• Monitors child rights violations in relation to the MA’s target group and contributes to national child care reform and the development of the national child and social welfare sector
• Develops and maintains contacts, exchanges information and develops partnerships with key stakeholders in the child welfare sector

This position involves working with an NGO committed to children and human rights and is subject to strict safer recruitment checks. The successful candidate will be required to complete safer recruitment checks including criminal record and reference checks to help verify their suitability to work for SOS Children’s Villages. In addition to assessing candidates' ability to perform the duties of the post, in  the selection process will be also explored the motivation and approach of the candidate to safeguarding

Must criteria

• University degree education in social sciences
• Minimum 5 years experience in child and family development programmes
• Minimum 2 years management experience
• Motivation for work focused on children and families
• Leadership experience
• Good knowledge of written and spoken English
• Competencies – knowledge, skills, abilities
• Experience in programme management and planning
• Good knowledge of standards and current directions of development in the field of child’s rights approach, and social welfare systems
• Good knowledge of legal issues relating to social welfare
• Good knowledge of Human Resources Development
• Organisational skills – skills of planning and organising resources necessary for achievement of goals
• Leadership skills
• High level of communication skills
• Ability to work in stressful conditions
• Ability to prepare budget and financial management skills
• Computer literacy (MS Office)
• Driving licence