Head of Child Poverty (FSL)- Somalia/Somaliland Country Office

ROLE PURPOSE: The Head of Child Poverty takes overall responsibility for the strategic direction, growth and coordination of Save the Children Internationals work on Food Security & Livelihoods (FSL) and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Somalia/Somaliland programme. As a senior member of the Technical Support Team in the programme, the Head is responsible for leading and overseeing the development and delivery of high quality, innovative, cost effective programmes in FSL and TVET in both emergency as well as long-term development settings, resulting in immediate and lasting change for children. The Head is also responsible for monitoring programme quality, initiating and taking technical leadership in FSL and TVET focused studies, documentation and dissemination of innovations and good practices by working together with other members of PDQ team; leading on policy research and advocacy through networking and collaboration with relevant civil society organisations and other institutions; playing a leading role in establishing, maintaining and expanding donor relations for the sector.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Deputy Country Director; Programme Development & Quality

Dimensions: Save the Children works in four regions in Somalia/Somaliland with a current staff complement of approximately 500 staff and current expenditure of approximately US$67 million in 2016.

Staff directly reporting to this post: 1 FSL Technical Specialist and 1 TVET specialist

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Strategic Programming

Lead on development of multi-year thematic strategy in Child Poverty focusing on child sensitive livelihoods, child sensitive social protection and youth training and employment, in relation to programme and policy designs in line with Save the Childrens Country Strategic Plan for Somalia/Somaliland programme. This will be achieved through ambitious and innovative thinking and the ability to negotiate multiple internal and external positions and viewpoints to ensure a common vision, strategic purpose and concrete actions in addressing Child Poverty.

Lead and oversee development and realisation of ambitious yet practical Child Poverty plans as part of the Country Annual Plans by bringing together learnings from programme delivery, good practices and donor interests

Lead and work together with other members in PDQ and operations teams to ensure that high quality, cost-effective, innovative and sustainable programmes are developed and realised for the Child poverty sector in line with Country Annual Plans and Country Strategic Plans

Seek strategic linkage, wherever applicable, with other thematic areas of Somalia/Somaliland programme i.e. child protection, education, Health-Nutrition-WASH, DRR and CRG for developing integrated programmes for difficult to reach children in Somalia/Somaliland

Work with other PDQ leads to deliver on the organisational breakthroughs on survival, learning and protection for the most deprived children in Somalia/Somaliland

Work with the global SCI Child poverty team to roll out global initiatives aimed at delivering concrete results for the three organisational breakthroughs for children.

Resource Mobilisation:

Lead on strategic fundraising to support implementation of the Child Poverty Strategic Plan and related advocacy. This includes funding for projects, research and advocacy to support change objectives in policy and practices.

Analyse and inform donor priorities and positions on issues related to Child poverty and influence senior management decisions on strategic priorities for the Child Poverty sector; contribute to the development and regular updating of SCI Somalia/Somaliland fundraising plan

Along with the PDQ Director and the Business Development lead, maintain excellent professional contacts with strategic and potential donors and key technical agencies to continuously leverage support and resources for children in Somalia/Somaliland programme

Strategic Technical Assistance

Lead the development of relevant and sustainable capacity building strategy for area teams and different categories of partners on Child Poverty, in coordination with the operations teams

Provide technical guidance and strategic inputs where relevant to the operations teams and consortium partners and do technical sign offs for donor reports to ensure that the reports are of high quality, aligning to Child poverty strategic plans and deliverables in project proposals

Carrying out strategic technical monitoring of projects and programmes and provide elaborations and as required directions and trainings to operations teams involved in delivering projects focusing on appropriate approaches and methodologies; conceptual and practical frameworks; monitoring frameworks, standards and tools for effective and quality delivery of Child Poverty programmes.

Policy Analysis, Representation and Advocacy

Represent Somalia/Somaliland programme in high level internal and external fora including donor meetings (as appropriate) related to Child Poverty.

Lead by working closely with Advocacy manager and operations teams to develop policy research and advocacy strategy, policy briefs and position papers in Child Poverty in line with the Country Strategic Plan and global strategy of Save the Children

Leverage donor interest and influence government policies for the difficult to reach children in Somalia/Somaliland both in emergency and development situations through targeted advocacy/key messages

Identify and capitalise key opportunities and events for Save the Children to position itself as the leading organisation for food security, livelihoods and TVET linked to childrens rights in Somalia and Somaliland

Work and coordinate with consortium members wherever applicable to further Save the Childrens mission for children

Ensure that the voices of children guide research, advocacy and policy change objectives

Research and Knowledge Management

Work closely with the REALM and Advocacy managers to ensure that the Child Poverty work contributes to all relevant programme and global indicators

Lead and work closely with the REALM Director to identify and lead strategic ground breaking research in Child Poverty for development of innovative programmes and issue-based advocacy

Facilitate appropriate dissemination of research findings and good practices documentations in the projects internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors strategic for immediate and sustainable development of children in Somalia/Somaliland

Serve as a technical knowledge, skills and experience hub for the sector in Somalia/Somaliland, and in doing so play a leading role in introducing innovations in Child Poverty programmes (gained from existing and emerging Save the Childrens global knowledge and practices). Document and share best practices and innovations for replication and advocacy together with advocacy manager.

Work with technical resources among Save the Children members to facilitate sharing and learning in Child Poverty good practices and leverage their support for strengthening Child Poverty related studies, assessments, innovations, advocacy and capacity building in favour of children in Somalia/Somaliland

Ensure that the strategic purpose of Child Poverty sector in Somalia/Somaliland programme is clearly understood and appreciated internally in Somalia/Somaliland programme and among the members

People Management, Mentoring and Development

Ensure that all technical staff in Child Poverty understand and are able to adapt their roles in both emergency and development contexts

Manage and define expectations in the Child Poverty team; provide leadership and evaluate direct reports regularly

Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate; ensure availability of and support appropriate professional development opportunities for staff in Child Poverty

Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process.

Oversee that all Child Poverty staff proactively build and maintain technical skills and competencies required for leading and/or inputting for first class programmes both development and emergency nature

Manage the performance of all direct reports in Child Poverty through: effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measureable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations; coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities; recognition and rewards for outstanding performance; documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvement workplans

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.

Technical Budget Management

Manage technical budgets across all Child Poverty programmes efficiently and in line with donor guidelines and project plans as appropriate and as delegated and by working closely with the finance and Ops teams.

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our 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 others to do the same

Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others

Future orientated, thinks strategically

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

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Post-graduate degree in social sciences; economics; natural resource management or a related field with additional training in food security, livelihoods & TVET, and project planning and management techniques
• Knowledge of current global and regional debates on sustainable food security and livelihoods, resilience building and TVET models, and especially their linkages with Child Poverty
• Familiar with the global standards on FSL and resilience programming, and experience in overseeing project implementation according to those standards
• 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 FSL/TVET projects in fragile and insecure environments, preferably in Somalia 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 Save the Children values