As the Senior Technical Advisor (STA) Child Protection and Care System Reform you will provide technical leadership and support in the areas of child protection, care system reform and family strengthening, in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices. You will provide strategic and technical leadership to ensure that child protection and care reform is both a dedicated programmatic focus and a cross-cutting priority across all sectors of the organization’s work. CRS is defining the care reform process as the changes to the systems and mechanisms that promote and strengthen the capacity of families and communities to care for their children, address the care and protection needs of vulnerable or at-risk children to prevent separation from their families, decrease reliance on residential care and promote reintegration of children, and ensure appropriate family-based alternative care options are available.[1]
You will work to ensure programming excellence across at the global, regional and country program levels. You will work to ensure that child protection is both a dedicated programmatic focus and a cross-cutting priority across all sectors of the organization’s work. You will provide thought leadership and representation internally and externally in the areas of child protection and care system reform as well as family strengthening. You will take a lead role in developing strategies and approaches to advance CRS’ child protection and care work through capacity sharing and establishing a vision sector for the sector that contributes to CRS’ Vision 2030 and Goal 4: All children reach their full development potential in safe and nurturing families. Finally, you will support resource mobilization efforts throughout the project cycle. Your expertise, leadership, and influence will be key in determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS’ child protection and care reform programming is across the globe.
Technical Leadership
- Lead on the development of strategic plans for how CRS can position itself and maximize opportunities to expand its influence in the child protection and care sector. Plans should leverage CRS experience, articulate CRS’ commitment to safe, nurturing, inclusive family environments and the prevention of harm to children by strengthening local systems, leadership and ownership. Ensure that the plan(s):
- Promotes both stand-alone child protection programming (prevention and response), care form, and child protection mainstreaming across sectors (e.g., education, livelihoods, health, education, youth, humanitarian response, etc.).
- Embeds care reform as a central pillar, focusing on the transition from institutional to family-based care, and the strengthening of national and sub-national care systems, in partnership with faith-actors where relevant.
- Provide expert technical assistance to country programs and partners to develop and rollout of tools, guidance, standard operating procedures, training materials for child protection, child protection mainstreaming, care system strengthening and family strengthening (including alternative care, prevention of separation and reintegration).
- Strengthen internal systems for monitoring, evaluation, and learning to track progress and inform continuous improvement and ensure quality implementation.
- Ensure all child protection and care programming are grounded in child-rights principles trauma-informed, inclusive, adaptable to diverse contexts and aligned and informed by with global standards and frameworks e.g., UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, INSPIRE, etc.
Child Protection Prevention and Response
- Lead the design, implementation, and quality assurance of child protection programs focused on preventing and responding to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence against children.
- Develop and oversee comprehensive child protection interventions, including case management systems, family strengthening, psycho-social support, and community-based child protection mechanisms.
- Provide technical assistance to support the development of strong referral pathways and coordination mechanisms with government and non-governmental actors to ensure timely and effective response services for children at risk.
- Promote child and caregiver participation in program design, implementation, and monitoring to ensure accountability and relevance to local needs.
Child Protection Mainstreaming and Integration
- Collaborate with sectoral teams (e.g., health, education, WASH, livelihoods, youth, gender, etc.) to integrate child protection risk mitigation and response into project design and implementation.
- Support the development of sector-specific child protection mainstreaming approaches and monitoring frameworks aligned with CRS’ safe and dignified (SDP) programming standards and approaches.
- Promote accountability to children and communities through participatory approaches and feedback mechanisms.
Care System Reform & Strengthening
- Lead CRS technical approach to scaling care reform, building on the lessons learned and accomplishments of CRS’ Strengthening Families for Thriving Children platform and its flagship initiative Changing the Way We CareSM.
- Provide technical assistance to CRS country programs as they support governments and partners to strengthen national and sub-national child protection and care systems, including governance, policies and legal frameworks, coordination, workforce development, financing, information management, and service delivery models.
- Provide technical assistance to countries to develop and oversee comprehensive care reform strategies, including gatekeeping mechanisms, family-based alternative care models, and reintegration support for children leaving residential care.
- Promote the participation of individuals with lived experience—particularly care leavers—in the design, implementation, and evaluation of care reform efforts.
- Use a multi-sectoral approach to enhance the quality and sustainability of care reform efforts, drawing on expertise from education, social protection, livelihoods and other allied sectors.
Capacity Strengthening, Sharing and Learning
- Lead capacity strengthening/develop capacity sharing initiatives for staff and partners through training, workshops, small group technical discussions, exchange visits, joint technical support activities, technical accompaniment and mentoring.
- Provide technical assistance and accompaniment to country programs and partners to develop and implement strategies, curricula, tools, learning agendas, standard operating procedure, communications briefs, lessons learned, project reports that support child protection and care reform programming.
- Stay abreast of current developments in quality and innovations related to child protection and care reform and share relevant information as appropriate.
- Contribute to the maintenance of a resource library of relevant technical resources.
- Foster cross-country learning and knowledge exchange on effective child protection and care reform practices.
- Document and disseminate lessons learned, promising practices, and evidence to inform global learning and business development.
- Support the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) and operations research efforts of country-led child protection and care reform projects.
Business Development and Growth
- Lead the diversification of funding for child protection and care programming.
- Contribute to donor engagement through the development of materials, participation in meetings, etc.
- Collaborate with the innovative financing team to explore sustainable funding mechanisms.
- Lead or support the development of concept notes.
- Lead design workshops to inform the project design; work closely with programming, business development, finance and operations staff to support growth opportunities.
- Write technical narrative for funding proposals, ensuring sound project design.
- Ensure the technical narratives, indicators, detailed implementation plan, organizational structures, staffing and budgets are aligned to deliver high-quality, scalable child protection and care reform interventions.
- Engage with governments, faith-based actors, civil society, and private sector partners to promote coordinated, locally led and owned systemic responses.
- Contribute to global learning and advocacy on child protection, care reform and de-institutionalization.
Representation and Policy Engagement
- Strengthen collaboration and partnerships with key global actors and donors, including but not limited to, UNICEF, World Bank, Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, the Better Care Network, Transforming Children’s Care Global Collaborative Platform, Faith to Action, Catholic Church, and other civil society and inter-governmental platforms to strengthen influence, learning and engagement to advance care reform and family care.
- Represent CRS at global forums, networks, United Nations, Congress, and major donor forums and conferences to present CRS’ work and research in child protection and care system reform and to influence technical partner approaches, future funding opportunities, and policies.
- Network with relevant organizations to increase CRS’ profile in child protection and care system reform, influence in the global child protection and care reform community.
- Contribute and/or lead agency-wide efforts to improve policies and strengthen the integration of child protection and child safe principles and practices within programming.
- Master’s degree in social work, child development, public health, social sciences or related field. PhD a plus.
- Minimum of ten years of work experience in child protection and care reform with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with five years in multiple countries or regions as a technical advisor and/or program manager of a child protection and care reform project and/or multi-sectoral project with a child protection and care reform component.
- Experience designing, implementing, and technically supporting country-level initiatives in child protection, care reform, family strengthening, alternative care, and/or social service workforce strengthening in low resource contexts/countries.
- Deep understanding and application of technical principles and concepts in child protection, care reform, family strengthening, alternative care, factors influencing residential care (e.g., US and European donor funding), etc. Good knowledge of related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
- Track record of contributing significantly to successful business development activities capturing public and/or private donor funding in child protection and care reform.
- Experience in developing curricula, guidance, tools, and other products to support child protection and care reform interventions and programming.
- Demonstrated experience in strengthening the capacity of others and transferring knowledge to diverse audiences through training, coaching, mentoring, and other formal and informal methods.
- Experience with program monitoring and evaluation including development of indicators, data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation.
- Demonstrated experience and skills to represent the organization at the highest levels at meetings with donors, government, international NGOs, local partners – faith-based and civil society. Understanding of partnership principles.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams), Web Conferencing Applications and strong understanding of information and budget management systems and knowledge-sharing networks.
Required Languages - Fluency in English is required. Fluency in French or Spanish is desirable/preferred.
Travel - Must be willing and able to travel approximately 30% of time.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and gain the cooperation of CRS staff at the regional and country program level
- Strong supportive supervision skills and the ability to work well with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings.
- Proven strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to use sound judgment and make sound decisions
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Excellent presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
- Ability to be proactive, resourceful and results-oriented
Preferred Qualifications
- Technical and/or academic publications highly desirable
- Knowledge of CRS Partnership strategy and Partner management experience, an advantage
- Prior experience working in Eastern and Southern Africa, preferred.
- Excellent report writing skills
Agency Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
- Acts with Integrity - Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
- Builds and Maintains Trust - Shows consistency between words and actions.
- Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
- Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.
Agency Leadership Competencies
- Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
- Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
- Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.
Supervisory Responsibilities - Supervise consultants as needed.
Key Working Relationships
Internal: Social Services team, Program Impact and Quality Assurance Department (PIQA) Technical Advisors, Humanitarian Response Department (HRD) Technical Advisors, and Country Programs.
External: Donors/foundations, relevant local and national governments, peer agencies, networks, universities, local research institutions, partners, donors/foundations, and stakeholders engaged in child protection and care reform programming.
Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/ permanent residents of the countries where we have CRS offices.
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Catholic Relief Services works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. Catholic Relief Services’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.
CRS is committed to safeguarding program participants, community members, staff and volunteers from all forms of exploitation and abuse.The successful candidate is expected to sign and adhere to CRS´ Code of Conduct.
CRS talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people - especially children and vulnerable adults - to live free from abuse and harm.
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Originally posted on Himalayas
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