Child Rights Governance & Partnership Advisor

The Opportunity – Child Rights Governance & Partnership Advisor

Post location: oPt CO – Ramallah with frequent travel to Gaza Strip and West Bank

Contract Duration and Level of Effort: 2 years

ROLE PURPOSE:

As a member of the Programme Development & Quality (PDQ) Department, the CRG and Partnership Advisor will be responsible for setting the strategic direction of our child rights governance work, as well as our partnership approach with different stakeholders, including children, CSOs, line Ministries or NGOs in line with the SCI policies and standards. The overall aim of the CRG and Partnership Advisor will be to ensure adherence to SCI partnership practices, policies and procedures, promoting Save the Children’s Partnership Principles of value-driven and empowering relationships. The post holder will ensure good practices in partnerships within partner organizations, and within SC, transparency, accountability and mutual benefit; and ensure quality programme implementation with partners through a strategic and informed partnership approach guided by the Palestine Country Strategic Plan, the Partnership strategy, and Save the Children’s Global Partnership Framework.

The CRG and Partnership Advisor Further, in close coordination with the program operations will provide technical guidance in the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of all CRG activities, ensuring they are implemented in a high quality and timely manner, and provide support to the country and field offices to ensure availability and compliance with SCI standards. This includes developing and implementing technical capacity building plans for SCI and partner teams.

The CRG and Partnership Advisor will be a lead on developing high quality concept notes and proposals in close coordination with relevant programs team and partner organizations and the wider SCI team. In addition to ensuring program development and quality, the CRG and Partnership Advisor will represent SCI and ensure ongoing coordination with the Palestinian Government.

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.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Director of Programme Development and Quality.

Staff reporting to this post: no direct reports.

Budget Responsibilities: None.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

In Child Rights Governance:

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership for CRG and Partnerships 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 these technical areas, supporting strengthening national systems and investment in children.

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 integrated and standalone CRG 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.
• Ensure that a rights based and systems strengthening approach is reflected in our programme design and implementation (in line with our child rights programming approach), with a strong focus on child participation.
• 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.
• 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 CRG, 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 CRG community in Save the Children. Contribute to strengthening the use of CRG competencies within training and learning initiatives in the sector.
• Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans, and conduct sectoral assessments (including gender analysis and disability situation analysis using SC assessment processes and tools) and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes. In particular, ensure that consultations with children and affected communities are integrated into emergency preparedness and executed through our response plans. Ensure synergies between humanitarian teams and CRG teams with respect to data sharing and programme design.
• Through close collaboration with other sector specialists/ advisors/ focal points, ensure CRG Strategy efficiently integrates with other sector approaches, ensuring holistic child rights vision development across sectoral lines.
• Support national advocacy with local partners and national institution, and ensure these are coordinated closely with the ACCM Department.

Capacity Building:

• Develop learning needs assessment and capacity building plans for both SC and partner organizations & staff.
• Coach and mentor partner staff, SC team and national level counterparts on CRG, child rights, child rights-based programming, partnerships tools, values and principles, and link in to wider organisational talent development mechanisms.
• Capacity development of child consultative groups (child board) at SC and other partner organizations.

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 CRG.
• Take the lead for the CO in strengthening civil society engagement in national dialogues and policy processes on empowering children to claim their political and civil rights, promoting their own voice and safeguarding ‘space’, public financial management and how it impacts public investment in children, monitoring and reporting on child rights, and influencing national development planning processes (e.g. on the SDGs). Through working closely with advocacy and other thematic colleagues . Ensure that the diverse voices of children, girls and boys are equitably heard and represented in our CRG 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.

In partnership:

• Review and implement the Partnership Strategy ensuring alignment with the Country Strategy and SCI partnerships approaches, while updating it as needed.
• Conduct partner scoping, mapping and review of current and potential partnerships.
• Cultivating partnership culture, and promoting innovation, learning, knowledge and collaboration.
• Develop, train and advise staff on partnerships approach, processes and tools in coordination with compliance focal point and AMU.
• Coordinate the organizational capacity assessments (identification of strengths, weaknesses), capacity development plans and progress against target objectives.
• Coordinate strategic partnerships with the government as a strategic partner, in addition to UN and INGOs as needed & develop MoUs to govern the relationship.

In order to be successful you will bring/have:

QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in in political science, social science, international development or relations, public administration, governance, law, human rights, or similar, or equivalent experience.
• Professional qualification in law, public administration, public financial management, social policy.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the field or relevant fields.
• Understanding of Child Rights Governance and Partnership sectors in oPt.
• Previous experience in working/ engaging with national and international organisations, in particular from the civil society.
• Familiar with some or all of the following tools: political economy analyses, gender analyses, child rights situation analyses, and participatory research methodologies. Also familiar with human rights led approaches to programming (and particularly child rights programming approaches). As well as one or all of the Child Rights and Business Principles or ‘doing development differently’.
• Track record in successful business development and program design with SIDA, DANIDA, NORAD, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands, USAID / DoS, UK FCDO, Irish Aid, Global Affairs Canada, Green Climate Fund, World Bank & EBRD (& Corporates), EU Instrument contributing to Stability & Peace, EU EIDHR, EU CSO, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute.
• Experience of strategy development and planning.
• Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one cross-cutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; disability; migration and displacement.
• Experience of supporting humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery.
• Significant experience in training, capacity building, and mentoring.
• English and Arabic.

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. This role is offered on the basis of national terms and conditions.

Save the Children promotes a diverse and inclusive work environment, women and people with different abilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Organisation

Save the Children works in development and humanitarian contexts with children and partners to help families, communities, and governments identify and use innovations to ensure all children survive, learn and are protected.

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 realize 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 environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.