Colombia: Child Protection Coordinator

Requisition ID: req1956

Job Title: Child Protection Coordinator

Sector: Child Protection

Employment Category: Fixed Term

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: Colombia

Job Description

Background/IRC Summary:

A combined two decades of economic mismanagement, a drop in oil prices, deterioration of democratic institutions has resulted in a humanitarian crisis inside Venezuela. Insecurity has manifested following protests in April 2017 against the president and his government, particularly for failing to address the growing inflation rate which lead to large-scale food insecurity. The demonstrations were initially peaceful but grew in severity of violence as time passed. Venezuela's economic devastation worsened in the last half of 2017. This caused a massive migration of Venezuelans into neighbouring Colombia in search of affordable food, medicine and work. The number of Venezuelans living in Colombia has increased to more than 550,000 people.

Cúcuta is the capital of Northern Santander department (Norte de Santander), it is a major access point for Venezuelans' coming into Colombia. It is also located in one of the regions of the country most affected by a number of pre-existing stressors including: armed groups; drug cultivation, processing, and trafficking; trafficking of goods/people across the border; high unemployment and natural disasters. This complicated dynamic in Cúcuta goes back decades and has nearly exhausted the capacity of the Colombian government to respond to the needs of its citizens in the region.

Job Overview/Summary: The Child Protection Coordinator will be responsible for providing strategic direction and vision to the IRC's Child Protection programming in Cúcuta Colombia. The Child Protection Coordinator will be responsible for the overall quality implementation of all aspects of an integrated response combining information sharing, risk reduction, vulnerable case identification and referrals and specialized programming for women and children. The Child Protection Coordinator will oversee two Managers, one Senior Information Officer and one M&E Officer and will have overall responsibility for the day-to-day management of the program, focused on safe spaces for women and girls, adolescent focused programming with a parenting component and provision of information and case management for women and children. The Child Protection Coordinator will work extensively with other sectors to ensure that protection principles are being incorporated into the emergency programs.

Who this position reports to: The Child Protection Coordinator will report to the Deputy Director of Programs, and will have access to technical guidance from the Child Protection Technical Advisor and Women's Protection and Empowered Technical Advisor.

Major Responsibilities:

Technical Quality

• Provides technical and management leadership to the Child Protection program and the Women's Protection and Empowerment program in accordance with best practice and IRC policy.
• Leads, or contributes to, development of country sector strategic direction and plans, in consultation with the Violence Prevention and Response Technical Unit (VPRU)
• Provides technical guidance on confidential and safe data collection, case identification and referral mechanisms inline with internationally recognized best practices.
• Provides technical guidance on safe information sharing and maintenance of safe spaces inline with internationally recognized best practices.

Staff Supervision & Development

• Directly supervises the Child Protection and Women's Protection and Empowerment Managers, one Senior Officers and one M&E Officer and provides quality oversight to and mentoring of the protection teams in the field.
• Maintains open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.
• Ensures timely completion and submission of monthly timesheets, probations reviews and annual performance reviews.
• Overall responsible for staff work plans, work and vacation schedules, and staff training/development activities
• If/as required identify staff performance issues and work with Human Resources to document and address these in accordance with the National Staff Employment Policies

Grant Planning & Implementation

• Leads the overall implementation of the child protection and women's protection and empowerment program and provide guidance to staff to ensure that stated goals and objectives are met, that the project is appropriately monitored and evaluated, and that project reports are written and submitted in a timely manner
• Prepares program work plans that meet the program objectives and prepare appropriate operational guidelines for project staff;
• Ensures that project activities are implemented within the assigned budget parameters, manage all financial aspects of the programs, approve relevant expenses and review expenditures, in consultation with the Finance Team;
• Analyzes protection concerns in Cúcuta, propose new areas of work to IRC, and participate/lead in proposal development;

Grant Monitoring & Reporting

• Development/ maintenance of effective and efficient oversight, support, quality control and reporting systems and processes.
• Ensures regular field monitoring and modifications as required.
• Ensures IRC and donor reports as per set schedules (monthly, quarterly and annually) on grant activities, indicators and achievements are produced in quality.

Coordination & Representation

• Develops and maintains effective coordination and long-term relationships with external stakeholders, representing IRC's position, promoting long-term strategy and resolving problems/conflicts
• Works closely and coordinates with IRC logistics, finance and grant staff to ensure timely and compliant program activities and expenditures; including active participation in grant opening/closing and review meetings
• Effectively represents IRC at Protection coordination forums, like the Protection Working Group/Protection Cluster
• Negotiates and maintains appropriate information sharing protocols within IRC programs and with external actors.
• Maintains effective and safe referral pathways for protection concerns and other vulnerable cases. Spearhead development and maintenance of SOPs for referrals.

Other

• Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of the team; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaising with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC programs
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs

Professional Standards

· All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies, as well as IRC's Child Safeguarding Policy.

REQUIREMENTS:

· MA/MSc equivalent in health (MPH), MSW Social Work, social science, law, humanities or other related degree

· Minimum of 8 years professional experience in managing protection, GBV or child protection projects in complex environments. Preference given to candidates with experience in more than one area.

· Prior experience working in emergency settings or insecure environments.

· Strong program/technical and budget management skills, planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills

· Strong written and oral communication skills, effective in representation and liaison with external parties.

· INGO experience required

· Demonstrated experience in capacity building and mentoring of national and international staff

· Must be capable of applying their skills and knowledge in a range of capacities, including direct implementation, advisory functions, training and the transfer of technical knowledge and management skills to others.

· Personal qualities: Works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure well.

· Fluency in Spanish essential; Fluency in English a plus

Working Environment: The position will be based in Cúcuta, Colombia. This position may require some travel to Bogotá.

Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties and responsibilities associated with position.

Interested applicants should submit their CV to IRC to add email indicating in the subject the title of the position they are applying for. Deadline for receiving applications is until add deadline.

Due to the expected high number of applications only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please note that deadline for applications may close earlier.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=YXN0cmlkLm1hdGhldy41NDgyMy4zODMwQGlyY2NkLmFwbGl0cmFrLmNvbQ