. JOB SUMMARY
CARE International has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and abuse. We put the well-being and safety of children, vulnerable adults and the communities we work with at the heart of our work.
In June 2018, DFID published new enhanced due diligence standards on safeguarding. Those 14 Safeguarding Standards now apply to all programmes implementing with DFID funds.
The role of the Senior Safeguarding Officer will be: to ensure that all consortium members implementing the LNGB-AGES project meet DFID’s safeguarding standards so that the project is compliant with its grant requirements; to manage the quality and timely completion of activities as required by the project’s Safeguarding Action Plan (SGAP); to provide both oversight and confidence that CARE’s systems and procedures are being followed as required; to ensure that safeguarding cases emerging through the project are appropriately handled; and to contribute to the development of a community of practice at CARE Somalia (CSOM) which is able to provide valuable reflection and learning from projects to enhance the protective environment (prevention and response policy, practice and capacity) for all programming.
II. RESPONSIBILITIES and TASKS
Responsibility # 1 Ensuring and Enhancing the Protective Environment
· Reviewing edits to CARE’s and downstream partners’ safeguarding related policies, including Codes of Conduct, Child Protection, PSEA, Whistleblowing, and if relevant, HR policies, as per the recommendations of the Surge Safeguarding Technical Capacity Consultant.
· Ensuring the CO’s FCRM entry points are appropriate and well-publicised in relation to the specific subgroups and contexts of AGES implementation
· Monitoring the take up and general efficacy of FCRM entry points and systems, as well as case and issue handling procedures, providing documented internal feedback as appropriate towards improved and adapted practices.
· Ongoing engagement with AGES girls, Community Education Committees (CECs) and other key beneficiaries and stakeholders to raise awareness about CARE’s FCRM, AGES’ safeguarding provisions and standards.
· Ensuring the implementation of AGES protocols for adults when interacting with children, as well as protocols for child-to-child interaction.
· Sharing standards and SOPs for external visitors to CARE offices and project sites to guide safe interactions with project beneficiaries, including children.
· Ensuring AGES’ team capacity on safeguarding, providing training and awareness raising as required/requested.
· Regularly reviewing project risk registers to ensure safeguarding is integrated and mitigating actions are implementable/monitorable.
· Working with AGES management and advisors to evaluate programme activities and monitoring approaches through a safeguarding lens towards achieving greater protective capacity.
· Ensuring that IEC materials, both in support of the FCRM but also for wider purposes (for example, education around rights and abuse at girls’ and boys’ empowerment forums), are disseminated in the community, and that their effectiveness is monitored and reported on.
· Supporting HR to put in place safeguarding levels for existing and new positions in the project, with corresponding requirements from recruitment onwards, and ensuring that these are integrated into the CSOM HR manual.
· Supporting HR with developing safeguarding related questions for interview processes; acting as a panel member for interviews for safeguarding related positions where required.
Responsibility # 2: Quality, Timely and Safe Case/Issue Handling
· Providing accurate, ethically and professionally obtained case/issue information in a timely and confidential manner for input into CSOM’s new centralized databases for sensitive and non-sensitive FCRM entries, to ensure safe and appropriate handling and follow up.
· Following up on AGES disclosures and complaints as required, in accordance with the protocols being developed by the Surge Safeguarding Technical Capacity Consultant around case handling, and the roles and responsibilities identified therein, adhering to the ‘need to know’ principle.
· Quality assuring all identified service providers using the QA tool developed by the Surge Safeguarding Technical Capacity Consultant and revising the referral map for AGES as required.
· Engaging with DSPs and cluster members to seek out additional referral services and cross check that CARE’s referral maps offer the widest range of appropriate services for AGES beneficiary types (including especially SGBV, disability and child protection services).
· Conducting routine/scheduled checks on service availability and quality over the course of programme implementation, and/or in response to user feedback about a service provider, updating referral maps as required.
· Developing TORs and/or protocols for Designated Safeguarding Officers (DSOs), and/or any TORs related to personnel/committees involved in handling cases, as required, and in collaboration with HR and DSPs.
Responsibility # 3: Internal Reflection /Organisational Learning and External Coordination/Communication
· Monthly Team Meetings: Sharing the project’s status against the SGAP, and providing non-identifying headline data on any active cases or initiatives being undertaken on AGES, in line with expected confidentiality protocols.
· Collaborating with CSOM M&E personnel, SOMGEP-T Senior Safeguarding Officer, the PGAA and the humanitarian team to develop a dashboard system for education programming to report the same.
· Quarterly Review Meetings: Routinely presenting progress against key safeguarding milestones and lessons learnt, providing essential safeguarding information/updates and/or capacity building to the team as required.
· Providing guidance on mainstreaming safeguarding language in proposals and reports, and/or contributing to the same.
· Actively engaging in the Protection Cluster (including the GBV and Child Protection sub-clusters) and the Somali Disability Cluster meetings, acting as a representative of CARE and ensuring that key information affecting AGES and CSOM programming is fed back to management and key personnel.
· Participating in any internal protection-related meetings/working groups, and collaborating with the PGAA and other protection/safeguarding related staff as required by management.
II. AUTHORITY
- The Safeguarding Officer reports directly to the LNGB-AGES Project Manager. S/he does not directly supervise other staff, but maintains strong horizontal relations with project staff. No financial management responsibility.
III. CONTACTS/KEY RELATIONSHIPS
- AGES Initiative Manager
- AGES Advisors (Education, SEN, M&E)
- Senior Safeguarding Officer (SOMGEP-T Project)
- AGES Area Managers (x3)
- Key safeguarding personnel at Downstream Partners (DSPs)
- Key personnel at Service Providers
- [Incoming] CSOM Protection, Gender and Accountability Advisor (PGAA)
- [Temporary] Surge Technical Capacity (Consultant)
- Cluster contacts (Protection)
- Other relevant protection-related personnel at CSOM
IV. QUALIFICATIONS
· Bachelor’s degree in Education, Social Work, Social Sciences or a related field; practical experience in safeguarding and protection may be considered in lieu of a degree.
· Knowledge of best practices in safeguarding, DFID’s 14 Safeguarding Standards and the Humanitarian and Protection Principles; experience in case management and handling is desirable.
· Experience of working with vulnerable groups (e.g. IDPs, PwDs, older people) in Somalia on safeguarding or protection is a plus.
· A minimum of three years’ experience in delivering safeguarding or related training, ideally inclusive of producing training materials accessible to non-technical staff.
· Ability to follow guidelines and instructions as well as work independently and produce high quality work.
· Experience of working in an FCAS environment, ideally with previous experience within the AGES implementation areas.
· Experience of representation at cluster meetings and coordination forums.
· Ability to work within a multicultural team, across a number of different stakeholders, in a collaborative manner.