Ethics and Compliance Specialist (Safeguarding & Integrity)

Position Start Date : 01.02.2023

Duration : 24 months

Working time : 100%

Location : Lausanne HQ, Switzerland (with travels)

Terre des hommes does not set closing dates for this position; recruitment is on-going until the position is filled

Tdh:

Terre des hommes (Tdh) is Switzerland’s largest child relief organisation. Since 1960, Tdh has been helping to build a better future for disadvantaged children and their communities through innovative and sustainable solutions. Present in 38 countries with an operational budget of over 90 million Swiss francs, Tdh works with local and international partners to develop and implement projects in the field which improve the daily lives of over four million children and their families in the fields of health, protection and emergency.

Context:

In its 2021-2024 strategy, Terre des hommes reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that the organisation’s Global Code of Conduct is known, carried and applied by all staff, volunteers, partners and consultants. Furthermore, the finalisation of the Institutional Risk Policy and the identification of possible violations of the Global Code of Conduct as a major risk for the Foundation, under the aegis of the CODIR, led to a restructuring that materialised in the integration of safeguarding into a new sector, created at the end of 2021: the Global Ethics and Compliance Office.

This new area is responsible for promoting a culture of ethics and integrity throughout the organisation, addressing violations of Tdh standards as described in the Global Code of Conduct and related policies and guidelines; enhancing knowledge and enforcement; and supporting senior management to ensure compliance with the institutional framework. This sector interacts with all functional sectors of Terre des hommes. This sector hosts the Incident Management Unit and is responsible for managing any reports of alleged violations of the Global Code of Conduct and related policies.

The sector reports to the Executive Board and regularly reports on the ethics and compliance programme, as well as on risk and case management (within the limits of confidentiality) to the Director General, the CODIR and the Board of Trustees. A direct link to the Board of Trustees is established so that the latter can be consulted directly if necessary.

General Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Head of Global Ethics and Compliance Office,

• He/she supports the promotion of a culture of ethics, safeguarding and integrity within the organisation, through strengthening knowledge and application of the Global Code of Conduct and associated policies and directives, mainly the safeguarding (Child Safeguarding, Policy on the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Directive on Staff Misconduct at the Workplace) and integrity policies and related procedures.
• He/she supports the Global Ethics and Compliance Office in its support to all functional areas of Tdh, including executive and senior management, human resources, operations, logistics, fundraising and communications, as well as the various functional areas that report into these departments.
• He/she provides technical guidance and support to portfolios, delegations and advisers/focal points networks in ensuring the organisational ethical, safeguarding and integrity standards are integrated and implemented, in line with internal policies’ provisions. He/she acts as a technical advisor for projects with a safeguarding component
• He/she supports the Incident Management Cell with incident case management procedures into reports of Global Code of Conduct alleged breaches.

Specific Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Head of Global Ethics and Compliance Office, he/she has the following specific responsibilities:

Strategic and technical support:

• He/she supports internal dissemination and awareness, as well as implementation of Tdh’s ethics, safeguarding and integrity standards, as defined in the organisation’s Global Code of Conduct, Safeguarding policies and Integrity policies.
• He/she supports key organisational policies review (safeguarding, integrity) and elaboration and update of relevant policies, procedures and processes as needed.
• He/she proposes tools and model systems for the prevention of and response to the risks of misconduct and abuse within the different organisational functions and to ensure the follow-up and monitoring of standards and policies.
• He/she leads on the safeguarding self-diagnostic process of delegations and offices and provides technical recommendations into delegation’s plans of actions as well as technical support and guidance for their implementation.
• He/she contributes to strengthening skills in the prevention of and response to misconduct and abuse through an adapted pedagogical system. He/she ensures briefing of new recruits and support in development and conduction of induction and training programmes (employees, focal points, partners) and animation of community of practices (regional working groups, Sharepoint).
• He/she provides technical support and guidance to Tdh delegations and operations in ensuring application of Tdh ethical, safeguarding and integrity standards throughout the project cycle. He/she ensures a technical advisory role for projects involving a safeguarding component and mapping of safeguarding projects.
• He/she undertakes special initiatives and performs other duties and responsibilities as appropriate and requested by the Head of Global Ethics and Compliance Office.

Incident Management and reporting:

• He/she consolidates, develops, communicates, and trains relevant stakeholders on case management procedures and tools by supporting a standardised and appropriate framework and practices, consistent with institutional policies, sectoral best practice and donor requirements.
• He/she manages assigned cases and investigations of reports of ethics violations including safeguarding/PSEAH, integrity and other Global Code of Conduct alleged breaches from the reporting stage to case closure and coordinates the different steps to be carried out by the relevant stakeholders, in line with ‘best practice’, sectoral and internal standards.
• He/she ensures adequate registration, documentation, archiving of all assigned cases on the dedicated platform. He/she supports the generation of statistics, trends analysis and reporting to relevant entities.
• He/she supports the identification, sharing and monitoring of appropriate lessons learnt and corrective actions, as a result of incident management. He/she supports the setting and regular monitoring of a mapping and monitoring tool and provision of technical guidance for their implementation.

He/she fosters a culture of trust and confidence, both internally and externally, in Tdh’s ethics reporting, case management, investigation, and follow up systems.

Global Code of Conduct:

• He/she upholds and promotes Tdh’s 12 core commitments, organisational values and ethical standards as defined in the organisation’s Global Code of Conduct and related policies.
• He/she upholds and promotes Tdh’s zero tolerance policy against all forms of abuse and Tdh’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding (protection and wellbeing) of all children and adult beneficiaries, community members and staff.

Gender and Diversity commitment:

• He/she demonstrates sensitivity and understanding of systemic diversity and cultural differences.
• He/she ensures learnings from misconduct incident trend analysis are duly escalated and taken into account in relevant corrective measures plans.

Profile :

• Excellent interpersonal communication skills, a large emotional intelligence (a sense of active listening and diplomacy) and cultural sensitivity
• Excellent critical and analytical skills. Rigor, organisation
• Flexibility, reactiveness, adaptability and pragmatism.
• Highest standards of ethics and integrity, commitment and understanding of key principles of confidentiality and independence

Qualifications :

• Master’s degree or equivalent academic background in the field of law, business administration, international development or another relevant field

Experience :

• Min 5 years of experience in the humanitarian and/or international development sectors, with direct experience with both programmatic and compliance functions
• Min 3 years proven experience in safeguarding and/or integrity (prevention, awareness raising, capacity building, reporting and response)
• Min 2 years proven experience in management and/or conduction of investigations into misconduct and SEAH

Competencies:

• Manages stress and emotions
• Communicates clearly, concisely and responsibly
• Remains aware of best practices and develops professional practices within area or responsibility
• Collects information necessary to monitor his/her activity
• Welcomes and produces creative thinking and innovative initiatives
• Ensures knowledge production, technical expertise and implementation tools
• Proven capacity to reflect, analyze strategically and summarize
• Develops strategies and implementation policies
• Values and strengthens the capacities of targeted players (internal and external)
• Working knowledge of donor mechanisms and requirements (safeguarding and integrity)
• Trainer qualities (development of training tools and animation of trainings)
• An excellent ability to draft and represent in French and English. Arabic, Spanish and German an added value

Languages :

Fluency in French and English; command of Spanish, Arabic and German an added value

IT :

Command of the usual office tools

Experience working with and adapting incident/case management platforms

Salary :

Salary between CHF 6’500.-, and CHF 7’000.- gross x 13 depending on the level of experience.

Tdh Global Code of Conduct and Risk Management Policies :

• Fully complies with Tdh’s Global Code of Conduct and systematically reports any breach to the Code through the whistleblowing procedure: raises awareness within the Foundation on abuse and violence and the rights deriving therefrom, respecting the rights and dignity of children, members of the communities and our own Staff
• Commits to respecting Risk Management Policies including: Safeguarding Policies (Child Safeguarding Policy, Policy on the Protection against Sexual Exploitation and the Directive on Staff Misconduct at the Workplace), Safety and Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption and Prevention of the Financing of Criminal Activities Policies
• Commits to reducing the risk of abuse and harm by developing a culture of open and informed leadership within the organization and in our work with children and the communities in which we intervene in.

We offer an exciting and varied work, useful and meaningful, in a team that wants to make a difference for vulnerable children.

Are you interested? Do you want to face this challenge?