Senior Child Protection Technical Advisor at Save The Children

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Senior Child Protection Technical Advisor will use their in-depth contextual understanding, technical expertise, and relationship building skills to define and deliver our strategic ambition for Child Protection in Nigeria.  The role will lead strategy development and the technical design and implementation of high-quality programme that deliver change for children in both emergency and development programming. 

The role supports national advocacy and influencing, while driving strategic partnerships for new business development. It supports the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to demonstrate impact, while sharing learning across our programmes, teams and partners.  The role will work closely with operations colleagues and with partners in Nigeria, building their capacity and building ownership and agency of local organisations. 

This role includes a focus on external representation on priority issues including ending all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children in all settings, and the strengthening of an effective and sustainable child protection system.  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.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: 

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership for Child Protection for the Country Office and set the strategic approach in relation to the wider country strategy.
• Build capacity of national staff and partners in key technical approaches related to Child Protection. 

   Ensuring Programme Quality (Design & Implementation):

• Support New Business Development colleagues through technical inputs on funding strategies, donor engagement, capture planning, partnering and forming consortia, and opportunity preparation.
• Lead high quality technical child protection programme design; work with cross-functional colleagues across the movement and with local partners to deliver technical programme designs that are evidence based and in line with our programme quality principles, international standards, and donor requirements.
• Work with Child Rights Governance colleagues to ensure that a rights-based approach is reflected in our programme design and implementation (in line with our child rights programming approach), with a strong focus on child participation.
• Promote a Child Protection Systems Strengthening approach as the overarching framework, that supports working in collaboration and partnership with governments and local partners and working towards impact, scale and sustainability.
• Provide oversight and guidance to the programme implementation teams to ensure that thematic programme components are technically sound, implementation methods are consistent with national and global strategies, acknowledged good practice (e.g. Save the Children Common Approaches); and are likely to achieve scale, as well as equitable and sustainable results. 
• Promote and monitor integrated programming in a way that increases overall impact of child protection programmes at the community level.
• Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) teams to carry out relevant studies and conduct quality monitoring against international standards through participatory methodologies that promote gender equality and social justice (including child-friendly and gender sensitive/transformative methodologies). 
• Contribute towards the creation of an organisational learning culture that promotes the use of disaggregated data, evidence and analysis (including gender and power analysis) and understands its link to quality and accountable programming; Contribute to strengthening the use of equality-focused programme principles and good practice across themes and sectors.
• Undertake field visits to project sites; work with implementation teams to understand impacts, operational challenges, and continuously identify opportunities for learning and improvement.
• Contribute to organisational learning on child protection, ensuring that learning from our programmes is shared across the Country Office and our partners, as well as with colleagues in the wider regional and global child protection community in Save the Children. Contribute to strengthening the use of Child Protection competencies within training and learning initiatives in the sector. 
• Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans, conduct sectoral assessments and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes. Ensure synergies between humanitarian Child Protection teams, data and programme design. 

 Networking & External Engagement:

• In alignment with Country Office strategy and leadership, engage in strategic positioning with donors, partners and government in-country, and ensure that Save the Children is a partner of choice in Child Protection.   
• Ensure that Save the Children is influencing and learning from others through national technical coordination and networking bodies such as child protection clusters and working groups. 
• Strengthen civil society engagement in national dialogues and policy processes to end violence against children through working closely with advocacy and child rights governance colleagues. Ensure that the diverse voices of children, girls and boys are equitably heard and represented in our child protection work.
• Represent the program to National and Local government representatives, donors, partner agencies, etc. as required. 
• Ensure the quality, clarity and consistency of technical components of internal and external reports (e.g. programme reports, sit-reps, internal updates), working closely with awards, programme implementation and communications colleagues as needed. 
• Leverage and liaise with technical colleagues from across Save the Children, including technical working groups and centres of excellence, ensuring that learning from the Country Office is shared with others and global lessons brought back. 

People Management:

• Support implementation of the Save the Children performance management system, by supporting, coaching, supervising and reviewing performance of the Child Protection staff.
• Create and maintain a cooperative and positive working environment where staff have clear roles and responsibilities, participate in decision-making and are supported in progressing towards their objectives.
• Working together with the Child Protection Teams to identify learning and development needs of the team and develop specific plans to address the learning needs. 

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Master’s degree in social work, Child Protection, child welfare or related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 5 years’ experience of leading the design and implementation of Child Protection Programmes.
• Understanding of the Child Protection sector in Nigeria.
• Familiar with child protection systems, social work with children and families, case management, positive parenting, community level child protection and integration of child protection with education and other sectors. 
• Track record in successful business development/fundraising such as, EU, DFID, SIDA, USAID. 
• Demonstrated program design, monitoring and evaluation skills, including designing pathways to sustainable impact at scale.   
• Experience of strategy development and planning.
• Experience of context, capacity and policy analysis, and influencing and advocacy at regional/international level in order to hold duty bearers to account to realise children’s rights. 
• Skilled at networking, representation and partnership development in order promote learning, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources.
• Able to generate and use data and evidence to innovate, deliver, learn and share what works and what doesn’t work for children.
• Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one cross-cutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; child rights; disability; migration and displacement.
• Significant experience in training, capacity building, and mentoring.
• Fluent in English and high level of English writing skills.

KEY COMPETENCIES 

Technical competencies:

• Promotes optimum levels of child development.
• Works to strengthen the components and linkages within the child protection system. 
• Prevents violence abuse exploitation and neglect of children.
• Responds effectively and appropriately to violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect of children.

Generic Competencies

• Being the Voice of Children: Promotes evidence-based policy and public engagement that includes the voices of children and their communities.
• Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalised children.
• Building & Strengthening Partnerships: Promotes working with diverse partners as critical to delivery.
• Child Rights: Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers.