The Organisation
Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.
We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.
Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.
We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.
We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.
The Opportunity:
Since 2016 Plan International is coordinating and harmonising its response to the Lake Chad crisis through the Lake Chad Programme, coordinated by the Lake Chad Programme Unit. Plan International has full-fledged Country programmes in three out of the four affected countries in the Lake Chad Basin: Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon.
The organisation developed the Lake Chad Programme Strategy (2018 – 2023) outlining Plan International’s bold ambition to transform the life of girls and their families in the Lake Chad Region. The strategy is based on 4 Specific Programme Objectives, one of them focusing on Protection, covering both Child Protection and Gender-based Violence: “Improve the protection of girls and boys from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in the Lake Chad region”.
As the Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) Specialist for the Lake Chad Programme, you will join a dynamic and passionate Lake Chad Programme Unit. This is an exciting opportunity to play a leadership role in ensuring quality child protection and gender-based violence programming at a regional level.
To implement the Lake Chad Strategy and in particular the humanitarian targets under the Specific Programme Objective for Protection (funded by the German Federal Foreign Office) the CPiE Specialist is tasked with the following accountabilities.
1. Provide Technical Assistance to Country-based CPiE teams
- Provide technical assistance to GFFO project implementation teams on the ground
- Provide technical assistance to country offices in the formulation of child protection in emergencies programme strategies and plans
- Support development and roll-out of contextualised CPiE guidance and tools
- Develop and support mobile protection programming (review and contextualisation of guidelines and tools, project evaluation)
- Ensure country-based CPiE Specialists have access to the relevant knowledge, practices, resources and tools
- Strengthen M&E and reporting mechanisms for CPiE program
- Ensure that CPiE interventions are aligned with the Child Protection Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Action and other existing global guidelines and tools for CPiE as well as to create synergies between our CPiE and GBV programming
- Ensure that CPiE interventions are linked in to longer term programming
2. Programme Development and Implementation
- Lead on (rapid) child protection needs assessments coordinating with Plan’s other programmatic areas and country-based Child Protection Working Groups, ensuring assessment findings are documented and disseminated, including the rapid needs assessments which are part of the GFFO project
- Providing programme presentations to potential donors of the Lake Chad Programme to enhance resource mobilisation
- Support Country Office resource mobilisation teams on securing funds for continuous programme scale up through providing lessons learnt and project related contextual information.
- Ensure the effective planning, implementation and coordination of child protection programming
- Contribute to the development of staffing plans to implement CPiE programme activities
3. Capacity Building
- Develop capacity building plans and provide training, coaching and mentorship on CPiE to country programme staff, partners including for the GFFO project teams
- Coordinate and/or implement trainings and briefings of Plan staff, partners and other key stakeholders on CPiE
- Promote the application of best programme practices in CPiE
4. Strengthen Evidence and Learning
- Lead a CPiE learning community to promote exchange of information, lessons learnt and resources across countries
- Promote organisational learning on CPiE programming through collecting and publishing case studies and reports on good practices, lessons learned, etc.
- Provide technical support to research that contributes to CPiE evidence-based programming
5. Coordination and representation
- Build and maintain relationships with relevant UN agencies and NGOs at regional level
- Actively contribute to regional CPiE Coordination Mechanisms
- Contribute to relevant global advocacy and policy objectives with documented learning and evidence
Key Relationships
Internal:
- Lake Chad Programme Manager (line manager), Lake Chad MERL Specialist as well as Lake Chad Communications and Advocacy Specialist
- CPIE specialists and teams at field level in Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria
- Regional GFFO Project Manager and national GFFO Project Managers of each CO implementing the intervention
- Country Director Plan International Niger (administrative line manager)
- DRM/ERMs of Plan International in Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria
- Global Child Protection Lead at Plan International Global Hub, as well as CP/GBV technical specialists at regional, national, and other country offices
External:
- CP Working-Group, GBV Working-Group and Protection Cluster at national and regional level, other agencies and stakeholders working on Child Protection
Do you have what it takes?
Required qualifications:
- University degree in Social Sciences or related field with good knowledge of International Refugee, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
- Progressively responsible professional experience in child protection and gender-based violence in humanitarian settings.
- Strong knowledge and understanding of CPiE and GBViE minimum standards, SPHERE, Red Cross/NGO Code of Conduct and other relevant international standards for humanitarian response.
- Experience providing technical support and leadership to diverse teams, through ongoing capacity-building, standard-setting and guidance development, and development of practical tools to ensure quality implementation.
- Experience building CPiE programmes through strategy design and resource mobilization and working with a range of humanitarian and development donors.
- Experience conducting child and adolescent-friendly data collection activities, including CP assessments in emergency contexts
- Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain positive working relationships and guide local and international staff in a sensitive and participatory manner.
- Ability to operate effectively and with minimal supervision in stressful working environments.
- Strong organizational skills in a fluid working environment, and ability to manage needs of different stakeholders, including conflicting priorities and ad hoc requests.
- Fluency (speaking, reading, writing) in French and English (business-level fluency)