Regional Sponsorship Transformation and Child Protection Lead, Southern Africa Region

With over 70 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 33,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

The purpose of the Sponsorship Transformation and Child Protection Regional Lead role is to provide strategic leadership in Sponsorship Transformation and quality Child Protection. This role will provide leadership in child sponsorship and enhancing child sponsorship operations, which include increasing effectiveness, simplicity, and relevance of child sponsorship operations. This role will lead initiatives that transform sponsorship for the next generation and working with Field Offices to develop evidence-based practices that leverage sponsorship as a developmental asset enabling the sustained well-being of children.

This role can work from any location within SAR where World Vision is registered.

• This role will serve as a business partner to field offices and provide technical leadership in child protection ensuring quality implementation of the World Vision International child protection minimum requirements in all programs with child sponsorship leading to reduced child protection risks.
• The role will lead meaningful child protection integration across all work in the region, especially related to field offices positioning with donors and external partners for improved grants acquisition, growing high quality acquisitions, improved retention of new and existing sponsors and programmatic impact, resulted from child protection sensitive programming.
• This role will also provide guidance and leadership on Sponsorship transformation and quality child protection programming to all Southern African context including fragile, grant funded and transitioning economies, by supporting Field Offices towards increasing impact in the field and reducing child protection organizational risks.
• This position will provide overall technical leadership, guidance in the implementation, coordination, monitoring, reporting evaluation and learning of Child protection and transformative sponsorship.
• This position will also co-lead with the Regional MEAL and impact team the WV’s evidence building efforts ensuring relevant data generated by WV programs is analysed and used effectively at all levels to demonstrate WV impact in Child protection and how sponsorship programming is transforming the lives of children and communities.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Transformative Sponsorship 25%.

• Provide leadership that transforms sponsorship and enhances sponsorship operations through;
• Strategic leadership and integration of sponsorship: Ensure integration of sponsorship in relevant NO strategies, Technical Programmes (TPs) and National Community Engagement & Sponsorship Plans (CESP) according to their context and priorities.
• Risk Management and mitigation: Provide technical leadership for developing and monitoring on-going risk management processes assuring accountability, transparency and integrity to children, programme communities and sponsors. Functional Sponsorship risk management and mitigation plan executed.
• Sponsorship Ministry Capacity Building: Provide guidance to field offices (FOs) to implement the Sponsorship capacity building framework and plans; and other Global capacity building initiatives, developed because of capacity needs assessment.
• RC portfolio management: Provide support and manage risks related to SO funding transitions, while ensuring regional Sponsorship funding picture is clear for leadership’s informed decision making.
• Field Office strategies articulate Child Sponsorship sufficiently and sponsorship is well integrated and contributing to delivery of CWB outcomes as well as impact reporting.
• Increased FO line management and accountability for sponsorship performance and operations. FOs are more intentional in RC engagement and inclusion in their programme planning and implementation.

Leadership and supervision to the Regional Sponsorship Quality Assurance Specialist 20%

• Work with Regional Sponsorship Quality Assurance Specialist to ensure: Sponsorship 3.0:

• Effective and Efficient implementation and roll out of Sponsorship 3.0 Initiative. Work with the Regional Sponsorship Quality Assurance Specialist (RSQAS) to support, lead and guide the implementation of Sponsorship 3.0 initiatives across SAR. Guide and support all FOs in simplification of operations, returning sponsorship to growth and experiencing innovation.

• Sponsorship Operations Performance: Assure accountability to sponsorship minimum programming standards and service operations key performance indicators (KPI)´s performance in alignment with Partnership policies and standards, through coaching and management interventions based on exception reporting and audit findings. Support and monitor corrective actions.

• Monitoring and Evaluation: Provide guidance in monitoring, reporting, evaluation and learning of transformative sponsorship.

• Provide Sponsorship Analytical Information and Reports: Working with the Southern Africa Region (SAR) Sponsorship Quality Assurance Specialist to ensure relevant data generated by WV programs is analyzed and used effectively at all levels to demonstrate WV impact of Child protection and how sponsorship programming is transforming the lives of children and communities Provide guidance in monitoring, reporting, evaluation and learning of transformative sponsorship.
• Innovation and Learning: Generate regional level periodic reports on sponsorship and RC well-being and engage Field offices and regional leadership accordingly. Facilitate and/or participate in learning events. Document lessons learned and generated stories of impact.
• Evidence-Based Practices: Lead the sponsorship related learning and best practices generation, establishing systems and processes for sponsorship knowledge management and sharing across the Region.
• Knowledge Management: Establish a regular cycle of documenting Child Protection and Sponsorship Transformation project success and impact to improve programme implementation, re-design, strategy revision, policy advocacy, and external publications.
• Field offices have sufficient information and capacity to make informed decisions and scale up Sponsorship 3.0, as well as other global change initiatives.
• Effective, efficient, and Innovative child sponsorship initiatives leading to growth in acquisition and improved retention.
• Field Offices increased capacity and knowledge through learning events across SAR.
• FOs Practice adaptive management using evidence, lessons learned and best practices.

Child Protection 25%

• Grow the scope and quality of child protection efforts in all WV SAR operation areas.
• Child Protection technical programming: Provide technical guidance in child protection ensuring quality design and implementation of the WVI child protection core project models and supporting approaches in all WV programming contexts in alignment with strategy.
• Influence decision makers and technical specialists across the region, for continuous Child Protection Programme Quality and quality improvement using programme data.
• Strategic leadership and mainstreaming of child protection: Ensure strategic integration and or mainstreaming of child protection and participation (with consideration of gender dynamics) in all FO strategies, Technical Programmes (TPs) and National Community Engagement & Sponsorship Plans (CESP) according to their context and priorities.
• Child Protection Minimum Requirements (CPMR): Provide guidance and leadership in ensuring all programs with Child Sponsorship programs implement the CPMR ensuring Registered Children are included in the CMPR interventions.
• Contribution to resource acquisition and retention: contribute to the regional resource development efforts and retention of new and existing sponsors and programmatic impact, with the focus on child protection sensitive programming.
• Support Safeguarding strengthening efforts on child protection incidences: Support the regional Safeguarding Lead by ensuring all Safeguarding policies and guidelines are followed and continued awareness on existing reporting mechanisms with FO teams.
• Continuous capacity building: Support Field offices’ capacity in child protection is continuously improving to meet and exceed organizations minimum expectations and quality standards and ensure that Child protection work is successfully integrated and maintained in field offices programmes.

• Support field offices leverage the Integrated Child protection minimum requirements and strengthen child protection programming across the contexts.

• Ensure that field offices are equipped to successfully implement Child protection core project models and supporting approaches and fully leverage sponsorship and child protection integration opportunities.

• Ensure that Child Protection standards are ensured and followed.

  Data Analytics, Knowledge Management, learning, Research, and Impact 10%

• Work with the Program Quality and Impact team to generate evidence and data for external engagement, influence, and resourcing.

• Well defined, structured, and usable repository of data for external engagement.

  External engagement and cross function Networking 20%

• Represents the Region in relevant partnership forum, networks and working groups.

• Position WV as an organisation of excellence in Child Protection including representation of WV at key regional CP&P forums, to advance the protection of vulnerable boys and girls.
• Develop strategic partnerships that enhance WV SAR’s position Child Protection and child participation programming, influence decision-makers, and increase income. Identifying best practices and lessons learned from programming evidence to inform policy advocacy at regional level, external facing publications, and research.
• Foster on-going engagement between Sponsorship, technical units, and Global Child Protection units to share and respond to critical issues that affect sponsorship performance, and child protection.
• Enhanced positioning of regional office with donors and external partners on child protection for improved policy influence, grant acquisition and programmatic impact.
• CP and child participation best practices are used in regional policy advocacy; WV regional office produces quality external facing publications and reports.
• Increased engagement and integration between sponsorship and technical units.
• Improved collaboration and networking for quality sponsorship performance.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Minimum education, training, and experience requirements to qualify for the position:

• Master's degree in Child Protection, Social Work, Operations Management, Business/ Public administration, international development, Child Development or related field.
• The incumbent will bring to this role a combination of Child Sponsorship and Child Protection, Program Quality, and Impact reporting experience.
• 5+ years working on holistic, development, 5 years’ experience in project management of WV or similar NGO Operations/ child sponsorship and child protection.
• 5 years’ experience in detailed business and data analysis.
• Broad and deep experience in Child Sponsorship, DME, Field Operations, Child Protection, Communications, and cross-functional senior management experiences within WV.
• Strong understanding of global strategies and frameworks to end violence against children. Knowledge on legal international conventions related to child protection. Good technical/ impact report writing skills.
• Strong inter-personal communication and collaboration skills Strong negotiation, networking, liaison, and donor engagement skills Comfort and confidence working in a diverse and inclusive team environment.
• Compassion and commitment to ending violence against the world’s most vulnerable children. Demonstrated proficiency using Excel, Microsoft Suite of products, databases, and statistical packages. Consistently demonstrates high-level influence and strategic engagement skills and tactical savvy in delivery of technical assistance.
• Ability to think broadly and look at the macro, strategic issues to inform strategy choices and management process.
• Practical field experience Child Sponsorship and Child Protection License, registration, or certification required to perform this position
• Demonstrated ability to report, present, communicate and influence, written and verbal in modern standard, grammatically correct English.

Travel Requirements

• The position requires ability and willingness to travel regionally (SAR) and internationally up to 40% of the time.
• Virtual /hybrid work environment
• Based in any location within SAR where World Vision is registered.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Fluency in written and spoken French or Portuguese desired.

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local Applicants Only