Senior Child Protection Manager-Erbil

Job Description

Background/IRC Summary: Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (www.theIRC.org) is a world leader in relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict development services for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. The IRC is currently working in over 25 countries around the world, addressing both the immediate and life saving needs of conflict affected people in emergencies and the reconstruction needs of post-conflict societies. The IRC has been working in Lebanon since 2012 to provide support to refugees and vulnerable host community members in the areas of women’s protection, children’s protection and cash assistance.

The IRC's CYPD is focused on ensuring that children and youth are safe within their families, schools and wider community and to reinforce their wellbeing through safeguarding child rights and increasing their safety and access to schools and other protection services. Also to involve the parents and caregivers of currently or formerly displaced as well as those returning to their area of origin to help them release stress and building their knowledge on how their children are developing, positive parent-child interaction techniques, stress response and management strategies, and non-violent discipline practices the IRC's team is a leaders in ensuring that vulnerable children are receiving adequate services through specialized and individualized services including the case management and PSS. And holding awareness raising campaign and community-based mechanism assistance in schools under PTAs groups and within the community through the child protection committees.

Job Overview/Summary: Under the direction of the CYPD Coordinator, the senior Child Protection Manager will be responsible to oversee quality implementation of CYPD programming across Iraq and KRI Governorates as well as identifying the needs and supporting capacity building activities for the staff and participating in governorate level Protection Working Group meetings throughout Iraq. The senior Child Protection Manager will mainly oversee the CP tools, data collection and reporting, the referral systems and community based child protection activities. He/she will also lead on the identification, analysis and succinct reporting of child protection trends and issues of concern to feed into child protection sector strategy development, IRC programming as well as relevant humanitarian coordination fora, such as the child Protection Working Groups, Case management task force, education cluster …etc. The senior Child Protection Manager will also contribute to the continued development of the CYPD sector, and will contribute to drafting funding proposals and budgets, under the guidance of the CYPD Coordinator and in close collaboration with CP Managers and other technical sector leads.

Reporting to the CYPD Coordinator, the senior Child Protection Manager will be based in Erbil and provide technical roving assistance to other field offices. The senior Child Protection Manager will technically oversee 3 or 4 CP Managers responsible for the day-to-day management of the program, and other staff depending on project development. The Senior Child Protection Manager will work extensively with the CYPD coordinator to ensure that child protection principles are being incorporated into the emergency programs, and that we have and outcomes-based approach.

Responsibilities:

Grant Planning & Project Implementation

- Lead the overall implementation of the Protection program in all governorates and provide guidance to the CYPD managers and 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. - In coordination with the CP managers, prepare program work plans that meet the program objectives and prepare appropriate operational guidelines for project staff. - Regularly update the grants metric. - Provide significant inputs into donor reports in a timely manner, including up-to-date data for indicators. - Ensure that project activities are implemented within the approved budget parameters, contribute to managing all financial aspects of the CP programs (budget follow-up, spending plans, cash forecasts, etc) and flag any irregularities with the CYPD Coordinator, approve relevant expenses and review expenditures, in consultation with the Finance Team and the CYPD Coordinator to ensure that project activities are implemented within the assigned budget parameters. - Participate in strategic meetings for proposal development, grants opening and grants review meetings and support the CYPD Coordinator in establishment/update of overall protection strategy. - Ensure IRC and donor reports as finalized per set schedules (monthly, quarterly and annually) and indicators and achievements are followed-up and reported upon, according to the work plan. - Work 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

Technical Quality/Programme Management

- Provide technical guidance to field teams on all child protection activities - Develop quality systems and tools for child protection activities in coordination with IMO to ensure the effective collection and analysis of qualitative data relating CP trends that is making it easier for decision making. - Oversee the smooth implementation of mobile data collection system for child protection activities, following the DP\ISP data protection and information sharing protocols. - Strengthen the capacities of national staff in the governorates and with the support of the CYPD Coordinator, ensure all monitoring and reporting tools are harmonized. - Provide technical guidance to staff and partners, on confidential and safe data collection in line with internationally recognized best practices IRC data protection protocol. - In coordination with the CYPD Coordinator, maintain effective and safe referral pathways for child protection concerns and other vulnerable cases between the CP programme, other internal IRC programmes and external partners, and ensure development and maintenance of SOPs for referrals. - Assist the CYPD coordinator in the development of standard operating procedures CP activities and community based CP interventions. . - Support the CYPD Coordinator and the capacity building senior officer in the development and delivery of appropriate trainings for IRC staff and partners on introduction to child protection, child safeguarding, safe identification and referral pathway, protection mainstreaming, and other CP related trainings based on the CP trends and raised issues with the targeted community through the child protection situation monitoring and case management trend and ensure that CP trainings for IRC CP and other sector’s staff, as well as external actors are of high quality. - Maintain open and professional relations with the CP team members, promoting a strong team spirit and provide quality oversight and mentoring to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions. - Support the CP Managers in the development and implementation of a context-appropriate, scalable community-based child protection approach to foster self-protection capacities and engagement of conflict affected populations in camp and non-camp settings.

Staff Supervision & Development

- Overall responsibility for CP staff management including: development/revision of job descriptions, review of work plans and/or performance management plans, vacation schedules, timesheets, probation reviews, annual performance reviews and staff professional development activities. - Technically supervises CP Managers, and provides quality oversight to and mentoring of the CP teams in the field, with a strong focus on building the capacity of national staff to take on management responsibilities. - Maintain 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, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback. - Promote and monitor staff care and well-being, coordinate with respective Field Coordinators to manage all leave requests to ensure adequate coverage. - In close cooperation with the CYPD Coordinator, participate in preparing basic CP training package for new IRC staff - Coordinate with the HR department to undertake induction/ orientation for New CP staff

Reporting and Advocacy

- Analyze CP data to produce succinct, analytical monthly child protection monitoring situation reports to be shared with both external and internal stakeholders, highlighting key CP trends and concerns. - In Collaboration with the Protection Coordinator, advice on child protection trends to inform country-wide and regional advocacy. - Support CYPD Coordinator in writing fact sheets, briefs and recommendations for Senior Management to circulate to UN agencies and other stakeholders. - Use data analysis to put together effective advocacy initiatives with national staff, with the aim of improving the child protection environment in areas of operations. - Strengthen the capacity of the child protection team on advocacy. - Use child protection information and survey findings to propose new areas of work for the IRC, and support in proposal development.

Coordination & Representation

- Develop and maintains effective coordination and long-term relationships with UN agencies and other external stakeholders, representing IRC positions, promoting long-term strategy and resolving problems/conflicts. - Actively contribute and participate in the National Protection Cluster’s Protection Working Groups, and provide inputs to the CYPD Coordinator for meetings held at the national level. - Negotiate and maintain appropriate information sharing protocols within IRC programs and with external actors.

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

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: CYPD Coordinator

Position directly supervises: Technically supervises field based CP Managers, capacity building Sr. officer, Information Management Officer,

Indirect Reporting: Deputy Director Programs,

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Country Director; Country Program Sector Coordinators (WPE, CYPD, ERD); Field Coordinators; Advocacy Advisor; Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator; Grants Coordinator

External: UN agencies such as UNICEF; child Protection Working Group; child Protection colleagues at peer agencies

Qualifications

- University Degree in social sciences or equivalent - At least 5 years professional experience in child protection work, of which at least 3 in a managerial position, experience in emergencies, rule of law and human rights programming preferred - Proven experience in implementing child protection projects, including in drafting child protection monitoring situation reports. - Experience with qualitative data collection, analysis and reporting - Proven experience in setting-up and following up on referral systems - Previous experience leading diverse teams and with remote management - Strong program/technical and budget management skills, planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills - Demonstrated experience in training/capacity building or national staff - Good CP background and knowledge of refugee, IDPs context, as well as demonstrated ability to identify and refer vulnerable cases, is desirable. - Excellent drafting and oral communication skills in English, Arabic, Kurdish.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

- Strong management and organizational skills. - Strong interpersonal communication skills, and ability to build and maintain strong relationships. - Ability to determine priorities and great attention to detail. - Patient, flexible and able to handle pressure well, team spirited and willing to learn. - Good computer skills including, at minimum, MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Working Environment:

The position will be based in Erbil and cover child protection work across south central and KRI Governorates. This position will require travel in South-Central Iraq and Erbil.

Standards of Professional Conduct:

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.

Gender Equality:

IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including maternity leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances. Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Attention Returning National Candidates:

IRC strives to attract, motivate and retain qualified national staff in our programs. We strongly encourage national or returning national candidates to apply for this position. If you are a national of the country in which this position is based and are currently located outside of your home country and possess over two years of international work experience, IRC has introduced an attractive remuneration package. The package includes competitive compensation, return flight to post, shipping allowance, temporary housing and a relocation allowance. Certain restrictions may apply.

Notice to all Job Seekers IRC implements an equal employment opportunity policy and our recruitment process is based on merit.

Applicants and/or successful interview candidates (both internal and external) are not required to pay any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.

If anyone asks you for any financial or non-financial favors to help you secure a job at IRC, kindly report to Iraqhr@rescue.org

ملاحظة لكل الباحثين عن وظيفة

تعتمد لجنة الانقاذ الدولية سياسة فرص عمل متساوية و ان عملية التوظيف لدينا تعتمد على الجدارة.

لايتوجب على المتقدمين لاي وظيفة او المؤهلين للمقابلات (سواء كانوا موظفيين حالين او متقدمين من خارج المنظمة) دفع اي مبلغ مالي خلال اي مرحلة من مراحل التوظيف.

اذا قام اي شخص بطلب اي خدمة مالية او غير مالية لقاء مساعدتكم في تأمين فرصة عمل داخل المنظمة ،يرجى الابلاغ عن ذلك الى Iraqhr@rescue.org

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.