National Programme Development Director - SOS "Bethlehem"
NATIONAL PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR (NPDD)
SOS Children’s Villages takes action for children as an independent non-governmental social development organization. We build families for children in need, we help them shape the development of their communities, we respect varying religions and cultures, and we work in countries and communities where our mission can contribute to development.
SOS Children’s Villages-Palestine started its operation in 1966 with the first SOS-Children’s Village in Bethlehem and is currently searching for experienced National Programme Development Director (NPDD) to join the team of National Office. The NPDD will report to the National Director.
Position summary and main aims:
The National Programme Development Director (NPDD), under the leadership of the National Director, drives the area of Programme Development (PD) in the MA. She/he steers the development of the programmatic strategic directions in the national strategy and of programme activities in national annual plans. He/she ensures the development of national programme concepts (e.g. youth care) and guidelines, following SOS Children’s Villages (CV) federation and national requirements. The NPDD with his/her team of national programme advisors content wise supports location managers and staff in the development and implementation of relevant, effective, and sustainable projects and services in line with federation and governmental strategies, policies, and standards. He/she, together with advisors, monitors programme/project results and compliance with federation and national quality requirements. He/she coordinates and supports location managers and staff in the implementation of results based management (RBM) and leads the development and implementation of a systematic approach to quality assurance in the MA. The NPDD steers the development of the national advocacy strategy and plan and contributes to its implementation. He/she is a member of the National Management team (NMT). The NPDD is responsible to establish and lead a team of competent national programme advisors. As a member of the Regional EUCM NPDD network, she/he shares good practices and experiences with colleagues from other MAs.
Location: Bethlehem with travel to other parts of the West Bank and Gaza.
Key performance areas and main responsibilities:
Programme Development, RBM, Quality assurance
- Steers strategic programme development in the national strategy development process, ensuring relevant and sustainable programmes in alignment with SOS CVI 2030 strategy and SOS Care Promise as well as national government strategies and policies
- Leads the development of national child rights situation analysis and other analysis to inform strategic programme development
- Monitors progress towards planned national strategic targets (KPIs, programme trends) and proposes mitigation measures to national management in case of non-achievement
- Contributes to national annual planning, including input to programme/project budgets
- Leads the development of national programme concepts (e.g. national youth development concept) and guidelines, following SOS CV federation and national requirements
- Steers the MA’s participation in global Strategic Federation Projects and ensures achievement of desired results
- Contributes to national risk management through identification of risks in PD and advising the implementation of mitigation measures
- Coordinates nationally and ensures support to progammes/projects in the implementation of the results based management approach, including PDB2; contributes to the overall implementation of Connect SOS, including ProDigi, new programme structure, partnership agreements etc.
- Leads the development of a systematic quality assurance approach and supports progammes/projects in setting up internal control
- Supports programmes/projects in the implementation of services to be evidence based and aligned with federation and national policies and quality requirements, in order to ensure legality, relevance, quality and sustainability of services
- Supports projects/programmes in planning new or changing existing services, i.e. in the development of needs assessments, project ideas, concept notes, service descriptions, results frameworks, M&E plans, activity plans and budgets; checks quality of programme ideas/concepts and proposes for approval by ND
- Organizes support to programmes/projects in monitoring and evaluation
- Monitors progress of programmes/projects towards planned results and compliance with federation and national policies and quality requirements, including through internal quality audits
- Contributes to the development of programmes/projects in new locations
HRD
- Plans, monitors and supervises the work of the national Programme department, ensuring relevant technical expertise and competencies among PD advisors.
- Leads national programme advisors as direct supervisor following the HR cycle.
- Ensures national PD support in the recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing development of CVPDs/location managers and service leaders.
Knowledge management and Research
- Fosters innovation and stays informed about latest research and evidence
- Keeps NMT and programmes/projects informed and regularly updates about new and changed international and national policies, guides, standards etc.
- Initiates and coordinates national research activities and participation in international research projects to support evidence based programming, in cooperation with external partners
- Ensures the NA’s participation in international research projects carried out by SOS CVI, e.g.
- Participates in the regional NPDD network and contributes to knowledge management and systematic learning
Partnership building and Advocacy
- Ensures the development of national advocacy strategy and plans and contributes to the implementation
- Monitors child rights violations in relation to the MA’s target group and contributes to national child care reform and the development of the national child and social welfare sector
- Develops and maintains contacts, exchanges information and develops partnerships with key stakeholders in the child welfare sector
The Child Safeguarding (CS) team at national level is responsible to:
- Raise awareness of the SOS Child Protection Policy principles among SOS staff at national level and in all SOS programmes of the member association
- Ensure the development of a local strategy for the SOS Child Protection Policy implementation
- Complement the local mapping exercise conducted at programme level by anaylising the national child protection context including the related national legislation and governmental authorities and external agencies responsible for child welfare and protection
- Conduct and complete the CS risk assessment focusing at national level to complement the analysis organised at programme level. Existing and potential CS risks are addressed with appropriate mitigating actions
- Take active role in the annual planning process to ensure that the identified CS risks are reflected during the annual plan of the member association
- Be a support hub to all SOS staff at national level and provide advise and guidance should they raise any questions or concerns related to child safeguarding
- Receive reports of CS concerns and complaints from the SOS staff, children and young people supported by the member association, former SOS beneficiaries and from external third persons.
- Respond to all reported child safeguarding concerns and incidents reported at national level or escalated to the national level
- Responsible to determine the exact nature of a child safeguarding incident or concern reported or escalated to national child safeguarding team and to make decisions on next steps (incident assessment
- Share information about the reported child safeguarding concerns on need to know basis with the relevant stakeholders including the IOR CS focal person and the CVI representative
- Responsible for preparing the final child safeguarding report when the child safeguarding incident is closed
Child Safeguarding (CS)
- Follows the Child protection policy, Code of Conduct, and reporting and responding procedures
- Responsible within own area of work to raise awareness of the SOS Child Protection Policy principles and to prevent and protect children from all forms of abuse, abandonment, exploitation, violence and discrimination
- Supports programmes/project in preventing and mitigating child safeguarding risks for children and in planning and providing rehabilitation support in child abuse incidents.
- Reports immediately any CS suspicion, concern, allegation or incident following nationally defined Child Safeguarding reporting procedures
Key skills and qualifications for the position:
Must Criteria
- Master University degree education in social sciences
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in child and family development programmes
- Minimum 2 years management experience
- Motivation for work focused on children and families
- Leadership experience
- Good knowledge of written and spoken English
Competencies – Knowledge, skills, abilities
- Good knowledge of programme management and planning
- Good knowledge of standards and current directions of development in the field of child’s rights approach, and social welfare systems
- Good knowledge of legal issues relating to social welfare
- Good knowledge of Human Resources Development
- Organisational skills – skills of planning and organising resources necessary for achievement of goals
- Leadership skills
- High level of communication skills
- Ability to work in stressful conditions
- Ability to prepare budget and financial management skills
- Computer literacy (MS Office)
- Driving licence
Preferred Additional Criteria
- Additional education in the field complementary to the basic education (pedagogy/management)
- Experience and readiness to work in a team, ability to lead teamwork
- Experience in project management, monitoring and evaluation
- Readiness to improve his/her qualifications
How to Apply:
Interested candidates must send their Cover Letter including related job achievements, CV, and three traceable references to:
info@sos-palestine.org
by 27th of November 2022
Indicating in the subject line: NPDD Position
Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Applications after deadline will be excluded. Applications not conforming to the conditions will not be considered.
Certificate of Good Conduct/Police Clearance is mandatory to be submit in case of selection.