Organization: Qatar Red Crescent Society
Country: Qatar
Closing date: 06 Apr 2016
Job Purpose:
As a member of the International Development Section under the Relief and International Development Department, the Asia Office Projects Coordinator is required to provide operational support to QRCS development activities in Asia by monitoring and reporting all projects phases and progress in close cooperation with Head Office at Qatar and stakeholders.
Duties:
Administering the day-to-day office activities and documentation pertaining to Asia Projects
Monitoring and evaluating activities and progress of projects.
Assisting with management of finances associated with ongoing projects in Asia.
Researching and writing projects proposals and reports.
Developing relationships with local partner organizations and stakeholders.
Drafting funding proposals.
Assisting in determining the manpower needs for the Projects.
Functional Competencies:
Possesses specialist knowledge in the area of development and rehabilitation.
Proven facilitation, training, networking, coordination, team-building and organizational skills.
Fluency in both Arabic and English Languages.
Ability to contribute to strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
Sound reporting and analytical skills;
Qualification & Experiences:
A university degree in Social Sciences or International Development.
Minimum 6 years experience with an NGO with least 4 years of progressively responsible experience in the area of International Development and Rehabilitation.
Excellent knowledge and understanding of the sustainable development practices.
Very good understanding of concepts and technics of project management.
How to apply:
job@qrcs.org.qa
South Sudan: Consultancy Opportunity -Documenting successful Family Tracing and Reunification approach in South Sudan
Organization: Save the Children
Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 01 Apr 2016
Save the Children International
Generating knowledge to catalyse impact at scale:
Documenting successful Family Tracing and Reunification approach in South Sudan
Concept/TOR
SCI ESARO Regional Multi-Country Programming Unit
The Regional and Multi-Country Programme Unit (RMCPU) is an initiative of the SCI East and Southern Africa Regional Office. The RMCPU leads on a range of research and innovative initiatives with the aim of strengthening the programmatic evidence base in the region to contribute to country teams’ ability to deliver informed, relevant and quality programmes as they relate to a range of national agendas. The RMCPU leverages its regionality to create opportunities for shared learning and knowledge management between countries and sub-regions, research and pilot innovative approaches and engage in targeted resource mobilization to assist countries to rapidly scale up our impact and reach in protecting the most marginalised and deprived children on the move.
BACKGROUND
For over 90 years, Save the Children has been making a difference in children’s lives in more than 120 countries. We are the world’s largest independent child rights organisation, underpinned by a vision in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.
The outbreak of conflict in Juba, South Sudan on 15 December 2013 has created large scale humanitarian need both within South Sudan and in the region more broadly. More than 1.66 million South Sudanese people have become displaced within the country and close to 650,000 have sought safety across the nation’s borders. According to UNHCR records, 65% of the refugees are children, and 12% are separated from or unaccompanied by their parents and caregivers, resulting from both voluntary and involuntary separations. Movement between sites and countries is also fluid, as children and families move in search of food, to be nearer to family or in order to access different services – particularly education. Individual countries have some systems in place for tracing and reunification of children. Programs to ensure effective cross-border tracing and restoration of family links for refugee children are ongoing.
Save the Children is committed to the protection of children in programming areas throughout East and Southern Africa. This includes supporting alternative care for separated and unaccompanied children and taking all necessary and feasible steps towards tracing their families. Children who are separated from families are at significantly increased risk of violence, abuse and being recruited into armed forces. Also, the longer children are away from families, the greater the risk of losing touch entirely and the greater the risk of never being reunified.
The successful reunification of separated or unaccompanied children occurs as a function of a complex interplay between specialized knowledge on the part of child protection actors, effective coordination and cooperation between inter-agency and government partners within and across international borders, and enabling policy and legislative environments. However, expertise on realising truly successful FTR in emergency and development contexts is rare, both internally in Save the Children as well as more broadly within the inter-agency community. Save the Children is the lead agency for Family Tracing and Reunification in South Sudan and the region, working with international and national partner agencies to coordinate the response to children who have become unaccompanied and separated. While this program has experienced significant challenges, it saw high significant improvements throughout 2015 comparative with the first year of the response (2014). At the end of 2014 the program was still struggling to cope with the huge caseload and continuing population movements; 6,920 unaccompanied, separated and missing children had been registered, 643 reunifications had taken place (9% of total caseload), 741 children had received regular monitoring (15% of UASC), and more and more children were being registered every day. Through 2015, Save the Children was able to consolidate its approach and invest in strategic strengthening of the FTR program by building its team, trialing new approaches to communicating with partners and delivering more on-site training. These new approaches are believed to be among a few factors that have contributed to significant improvements in FTR performance – at the end of 2015 11,545 unaccompanied, separated and missing children had been registered, 3,377 children had been reunified (29.3% of total caseload) and 5,606 children were receiving regular monitoring (66% of UASC).
Save the Children is seeking to document the key factors of programmatic success and to use this to ensure continued progress in South Sudan throughout 2016, and to ensure that other teams are able to draw on this as required in other contexts, particularly sudden onset conflict settings. Equally, the South Sudan Family Tracing and Reunification program is embarking on a period of transition through which Save the Children will lead more than 20 partner organisations through installation and use of the Inter-Agency Child Protection Information Management System (CPIMS) in place of the existing data management system. This period will require a well-planned, systematic and collaborative approach to ensure that FTR success continues through 2016.
Taking the inter-agency lead on FTR in East Africa is a critical example of emerging Save the Children leadership in Africa in child migration. This organizational positioning is mirrored in Southern Africa, where Save the Children’s East and Southern Africa Regional Office throughout 2013 to 2015 successfully advocated for inclusion of a Child Protection section in the newly endorsed SADC[1] Regional Strategic Plan to Address Mixed and Irregular Migration (2016 – 2018). Save the Children is listed in the Plan as technical advisory organisation to implementation of its Child Protection section in 15 member states. Joining forces with IOM, UNHCR, UNODC and UNICEF, the SCI ESARO’s Regional and Multi-Country Programme Unit (RMCPU) has been tasked by the inter-agency steering group for the Plan to lead the development of a Practitioner’s Guide on Case Management for Unaccompanied Migrant Children to the 15 member states which will guide the development of the child protection section in each country’s new National Action Plan to Address Mixed and Irregular Migration.
Save the Children Italy has since 2011 played a substantial role in Southern Africa in inspiring an enabling environment for quality programming for children engaging in mixed migration. In the 2016 to 2018 period, through generous support from SC Italy, the country teams of SC South Africa, SCI Mozambique, SCI Zimbabwe and SCI Zambia will continue to implement and refine the collaborative, EU-funded cross-border approach initiated by the SCI SARO to protect children engaging in circular migration within and between affected countries. The RMCPU will initiate and drive a common learning agenda for this collaboration, captured in one comprehensive MEAL framework. The unit will leverage its regional position to create opportunities for cross-learning between countries and sub-regions, research and pilot innovative approaches and engage in targeted resource mobilization to assist countries to rapidly scale up our impact in protecting the most marginalised and deprived children on the move.
Despite significant progress achieved by the EU-funded SARO programme in building government commitment and capacity to implement effective IDTR procedures, and impressive scale-up of innovative interventions, family tracing and reunification remains a significant barrier to realizing durable solutions for children in Southern Africa. Knowledge and skills related to FTR are very rare in this sub-region among government actors and SC staff alike.
By documenting the approach to FTR developed by the South Sudan team and their colleagues in East Africa, the SCI ESARO through the Regional and Multi-Country Programme Unit will generate evidence to inform a step-by-step report to be adapted for the Southern African context. SC Italy’s Southern Africa desk is providing funding to the RMCPU to adapt the package – once documented – and facilitate targeted cross-learning between SC South Africa and the team in South Sudan. This will equip SC South Africa as new member with the technical expertise to not only strengthen and quality assure FTR rolled out in Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, but also enable the evolving African member to henceforth provide technical assistance on a specialized area of knowledge within their relevant geographic region.
Once adapted, the RMCPU will include the FTR approach in the regional Practitioner’s Guide to Case Management for Unaccompanied Migrant Children, extending the indirect reach by guiding development of FTR included in procedure derived from National Action Plans of 15 countries across Southern Africa and realising the Theory of Change:
OBJECTIVES
A consultant will be engaged with a view to consolidating learning from the FTR program, contributing to strengthening the regional approach to FTR through clear documentation, and supporting the program transition phase within South Sudan through effective planning and direct training to field teams.
1. Overall objective of the Consultancy
The primary objectives of the Consultancy are to
a) Formally document the experience of leading the national FTR programme in South Sudan focusing on key aspects of the successes and improvements in 2015, including taking a critical look at start up and challenges in 2014, and including perspectives from all implementing partners across the country.
b) Interrogate the efficacy of different approaches taken to FTR in South Sudan, and support the South Sudan FTR team to determine long-term strategic direction for the program, capitalising on successes and mitigating challenges that may be encountered going forward, both in South Sudan and other contexts.
c) To support Save the Children South Sudan’s FTR team to chart a way through a period of transition to CPIMS for all implementing partners, ensuring the lessons learnt and best practice are applied to ensure momentum is not lost.
2. Specific Tasks
The activities specific to this consultancy are as follows:
a) To be based in South Sudan for a period of 8 weeks to work with the country Child Protection teams.
b) To work with the SCI team and other relevant persons from all agencies to understand how both evaluation and planning could be of most value within the South Sudan program and the regional program more broadly.
c) To produce a report detailing factors for FTR success in South Sudan and guidance for Save the Children teams in adapting this to other contexts.
d) To prepare a clear and concise work plan to support the FTR program transition to CPIMS
e) To travel to field sites as required to help inform the evaluation and/or support field teams with their transition to CPIMS.
The Consultant is required to produce clear, comprehensive documents with a view to ensuring relevance and applicability.
Output
This consultancy has two clear deliverables as follow:
Preparation of a report detailing key factors for success in the South Sudan FTR program, including step-by-step guidance to enable application in other contexts and to determine long-term strategic direction for the South Sudan FTR programme, and
Preparation of a concise action plan/roadmap to guide the FTR transition phase in South Sudan, and support with development of related protocols and documents.
This assignment will require the consultant to be in Juba, South Sudan (with field travel as required) for an eight-week period beginning in 13th of April 2016.
Timeline
The assignment shall not exceed eight weeks as per the following timeline. Adjustments may be made after discussions with the Consultant.
Consultant to report to Juba – Travel and orientation – 3 Days -13 April 2016 (arrival date 11 April)
Desk review and Interviews to inform Evaluation Report – Draft report and step-by-step guidelines prepared – 30 days – 18 May 2016
Submit draft report – Submission to CP Team for review and feedback (includes: S Sudan CP team, SCI Regional FTR specialist, RMCPU COM manager, SC Italy East Africa desk/COM TA) – 4 days – 23 May 2016
Respond to comments and feedback from CP Team and prepare final draft report – Final report prepared and all comments responded to – 2 days – 25 May 2016
In collaboration with CP team, develop a road map for CPIMS transition period – Road map and action plan developed with team – 6 days – 1 June 2016
Undertake implementation of transition plan with team, including field visits and development of related protocols – Visits to field sites, training and coaching to teams – 16 days – 20 June 2016
Debrief and finalisation of consultancy – Mini workshop with CP team – 3 days – 23 June 2016
Travel to home country – Departure from South Sudan – 1 day – 24 June 2016
Total number of Days (work days only, calculated on basis of 6 working days a week) – 65 days
How to apply:
Please send your applications to southsudan.consultancy@savethechildren.org .