Child Protection Technical Advisor

The Opportunity

 The Child Protection Technical Advisor will be responsible for ensuring that Save the Children delivers technically sound child protection programming, with a focus on supporting communities to better protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation.   The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that key organisational principles and approaches (such as child participation and accountability) are well integrated throughout the project cycle and in advocacy. S/he will develop strategic partnerships with governmental institutions, civil society organizations and relevant private institutions (academic, mental health, disability, etc.). S/he will also be responsible for ensuring that lessons learned from implementation of projects are well articulated, documented and disseminated both internally and externally and contribute to the strategic development of the overall Child Protection portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

Key Area 1:

Technical leadership and support:

• Provide ongoing high quality technical support, guidance and leadership to managers and staff working on child protection programs.
• Lead on development and application of innovative approaches to child protection.
• Support project teams in producing high quality and timely reports to donors and SC members.
• Promote and support the appropriate implementation of Save the Children’s child protection common program approaches
• Develop and implement strategies to ensure gender equity, child participation and beneficiary accountability in all child protection programs.
• In collaboration with humanitarian colleagues, respond to emergency situations, ensuring timely and quality responses to humanitarian crises in line with international standards and technical best practice.
• Collaborate closely with relevant Save the Children members, technical working groups and other relevant stakeholders to ensure technical excellence as per latest technical discussions and approaches, and keep Save the Children in Vietnam team abreast of technical updates and discussions.

 Key Area 2:

Program Development:

• Work with Save the Children staff to develop a clear funding strategy for child protection in Vietnam
• Develop concept notes and proposals to expand the child protection portfolio in line with strategic priorities and technical best practices for a wide range of donors
• Establish good networks and strategic partnerships with institutional and private donors.

 Key Area 3:

Program Quality:

• Build the capacity of staff in Save the Children’s Child Protection technical competencies ensuring complementarity with other programs related to Child Rights Governance, Education, Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response, etc.
• Identify internal and external capacity building opportunities and resources for technical staff to build knowledge and technical competence, enabling the team to provide high quality CP technical assistance to Save the Children’s partners
• Conduct internal workshops and contribute to other fora to disseminate learning, best practices and ensure that a high level of technical capacity is maintained.
• Integrate program learning across the child protection projects, ensuring coherence of technical approach across programs, identifying best practice, and cross-sectoral complementarity.

• Ensure that regular project review meetings take place and are attended by the relevant project manager, and include technical support and capacity building needs of project staff.

• Work with child protection and campaign colleagues to identify priority policy and advocacy objectives and develop an effective advocacy strategy to achieve these.
• Ensure evidence of impact of interventions is rigorously maintained, documented and disseminated internally and externally as appropriate.

 Key Area 4:

Representation, Networking, Communications and Advocacy:

• Support the programme team to carry out child protection related policy analysis and advocacy.
• Develop advocacy plan for child protection programming in Vietnam, aiming for sustainability and the achievement of results at scale.
• Promote effective child protection representation on national, regional and international networks and fora, and participate in conferences/meetings that will enhance our reputation and programming in child protection
• Build strong networks with other NGOs, CSOs, UN agencies and academic institutions, as well as donors, working on child protection to collaborate on joint learning, analysis and advocacy initiatives
• Actively participate in technical coordination meetings to ensure synergies with other agencies in our emergency responses and development work
• Maintain excellent relationships with donors and government agencies.

 Other tasks required by supervisor

The job duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience, including adjustment on job description.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Post-graduate qualification in a field relevant to child protection or social sciences
• At least 3-5 years’ experience supporting child protection programming in developing countries

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential:

• Significant experience in providing technical advice to staff
• Strong conceptual understanding of child protection systems
• Experience in and commitment to child participation
• Good communication and interpersonal skills and an ability to motivate staff
• Demonstrated experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning,
• Sound strategic thinking and planning skills, including ability to think creatively and be innovative
• Proven track record in fundraising, proposal development and building good donor relations
• Strong analytical and writing skills with demonstrated ability to write briefing papers and targeted advocacy messages
• Experience working effectively in coalitions/networks of civil society organizations, NGOs or research groups, particularly in support of shared advocacy goals
• Experience in facilitation, delivering training giving presentations
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills in English and Vietnamese
• Commitment to Save the Children’s mission, values and approach (includes child focus, gender equality and child rights).

 Desirable:

• Experience of implementing child protection programmes

Experience in developing innovative solutions for child protection and empowerment programming

The Organisation

 We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

 We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

 We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information

 Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.

Location: Ho Chi Minh

Employee Status: Permanent