Program Quality and Development Adviser (Yemen)

War Child UK has a small but growing and complex programme in Yemen, working to strengthen child protection mechanisms and structures, assisting children and their family’s livelihoods and ensuring that children have access to basic education. We have ambitious plans to increase the scale and sustainability of our programme in both the North and South of Yemen. To respond in both conflict areas we need to strengthen the current quality of programming and improve the design of future programmes. The Program Quality and Development Adviser will oversee the provision of child protection and quality programming support to our portfolio and provide country-level technical representation and leadership, to in turn support the safe and quality scale up of our programmes.

If you share our values and believe that children’s lives should not be torn apart by war, we want to hear from you.

Department:

Programmes

Contract Type:

Fixed term (24 months with possible extension)

Place of Work:

Sana’a, Yemen

Working Hours:

Full-time, 40 hours per week

Reports to:

Country Director

Salary Range:

Circa £40,000 per annum for international candidates.

As per National Salary Scale for national candidates.

About us

War Child, the specialist charity for children affected by conflict. For more than two decades we’ve delivering high-impact programmes that are rebuilding lives across Afghanistan, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic and Yemen. We understand children’s needs, respect their rights, and put them at the centre of the solution – from reintegrating children formerly associated with armed groups and armed forces (CAAFAG) in the Central African Republic to reuniting children with their families in Afghanistan. We look forward to a world in which the lives of children are no longer torn apart by war. This is a vision that can only be realised through the collective actions of children themselves, communities and their leaders, organisations like War Child, governments and key decision makers.

Your role

As a senior leader and member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Yemen, The Program Quality and Development Adviser is responsible for ensuring development and delivery of high quality, evidence-based, innovative programs for children affected by conflict in Yemen. The Program Quality and Development Adviser oversees the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) function, ensuring that the country team collect and use programme evidence, and that reliable data is used for decision-making. The role will also focus on capacity strengthening, mentoring and coaching of War Child and partner programme staff to promote the adherence to global standards. As a senior leader in the country office, s/he plays a representational role with the government, donors, partners, I/LNGOs and UN agencies, supporting the strategic positioning with donors and partners and leading on project design to ensure that the country strategy can be delivered in line with humanitarian and technical programming principles.

Your responsibilities

External representation, resource mobilization and programme development

• Lead the development and delivery of the inter-sectoral programmes input to the Country Strategy Plan (CSP), annual plans and reporting on results relating to programme quality.

• Develop and cultivate strong partnerships with donors, UN agencies, national and international agencies (particularly in child protection, child migration and justice programming), including maintaining a clear picture of donor calls, opportunities, country specific and regionally relevant response plans. Ensure technical engagement with donors to pre-position and prepare for opportunities.

• Ensure WCUK is taking an active, strategic role in CP and related national working groups and task forces, as well as any cross- sectoral programme quality related coordination mechanisms.

• Create and maintain an active relationship and network for WCUK with child protection and programme counterparts from INGOS, NGOs, CSOs and UN agencies.

• Provide technical oversight and direction to the development of quality proposals and reports, including:

  • Engaging with technical focal points in country and HQ as needed to ensure high quality, evidence-based designs that draw on needs assessments, learning from past programs and child safeguarding principles.
  • Ensuring partners are identified and appropriately engaged in program design
  • Ensuring proposal designs and their budgets include robust MEAL plans.
  • Ensuring the project budget will enable the project to be delivered as designed.
  • Incorporating child and community participation into design, as relevant

• Capacity build and train the in-country team on programme development, including the development of meaningful theories of change and the design of SMART logframes.

• Lead on promoting the integration of sectoral programmes, ensuring regular communication with Program units, and work with other relevant units and staff including Ops and finance to develop innovative linkages and knowledge sharing between sectors and programs.

Child Protection and Programme Quality Support

• Lead the Child Protection capacity development of War Child staff and national Child Protection partners, including conducting a capacity assessment and creating a capacity development plan.
• Facilitate the mapping and assessment of local partners, including ensuring technical assessments relevant to WCUK core sectors, and capacity building plans in place in coordination with M&E.
• Actively contribute to programme strategy development, ensuring cross cutting themes are integrated in programme design and implementation.
• Work closely with the SMT in country to ensure that the support to programmes systems in place are relevant and adequate to a quality programme implementation;
• Work in collaboration with M&E, Programmes Manager and Aden Office Coordinator to ensure the quality of the work of a multi-location and multi-skilled team.
• Work closely with, facilitate and oversee the country wide MEAL function, including leading any assessment and evaluation processes and ensuring quality MEAL plans with relevant tools are in place.
• Conduct regular monitoring & support visits to the project sites to coordinate with program teams on implementation, identify lessons learned from programs and provide timely technical support.
• Ensure harmonized and consistent approach to War Child’s programming across WCUK’s geographical areas.
• Ensure recognized international best practices and WCUK policies are applied and informing programming in the work with children and coordinate the provision of technical support from HQ Technical Advisors.
• Analyse and provide feedback on program implementation to ensure gender equity and adequate child participation.
• Conduct an in-depth case management quality revision in coordination with relevant staff and proposition of recommendations and measures to improve case management.
• Knowledge management: Develop and maintain systematic branding for proposal and reports, working to standardize technical elements of the proposals and reports.

Safeguarding

• Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children, and adults and compliant to WCUK’s Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk policies alongside the Safeguarding coordinator.
• Ensure that child safeguarding and safe programming is embedded in program design and considered throughout implementation to ensure that we do all we can to ensure children in our programs are safe, in line with our child safeguarding policy.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post.

You have:

• Bachelor degree in social work, psychology, child protection, or related field or equivalent experience
• Significant experience in providing technical quality oversight and support to programmes in a complex and insecure environments
• Strong skills and proven experience in new program development, project design and proposal writing with corporate, foundations and institutional donors.
• Proven technical knowledge and competencies in Child Protection, including the integration and mainstreaming of Child Protection into other sectoral prorgamming.
• Experience in developing and managing monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning systems.
• Skills in training, capability building, coaching, mentorship, problem solving, and project cycle management
• Strategic vision with knowledge of the funding environment.
• Proven experience in developing new partnerships. Particularly in building new networks, multi-agency consortia and high-quality local partnerships as well as government liaison.
• Proven experience of participating in the humanitarian coordination system.
• Proven experience of leading the development of integrated, impactful quality programme design
• Proven leadership skills and the ability to motivate and inspire a diverse team.
• Comfortable working independently, as well as with receiving and accounting for direction and engaging as part of a dynamic team
• Previous experience of living and working in an insecure environment and the challenges this brings.
• Strong planning and organisational skills with the ability to make effective decisions.
• Committed to and have an understanding of safeguarding within the humanitarian and development sector.
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Computer literacy including Internet, Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access)
• Knowledge of Education in Emergencies and Livelihoods programming desirable
• Fluency in English essential. Knowledge of Arabic desirable.
• Previous experience of working in Yemen is desirable.

This role is open to both international and national candidates

Child safeguarding and Adults at Risk

Our work with children and at-risk adults to keep them safe is the most important thing we do. We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in all areas of our work. We have zero tolerance for any behaviours and practices that puts children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and/or harm. Successful applicants will be expected to be compliant and sign up to our Child Safeguarding policy, our Code of Conduct and PSEA: Adults at Risk Policy. You can find the Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk policy here: https://www.warchild.org.uk/whats-happening/news/our-child-safeguarding-policies-and-procedures

Contact information

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: Zakir Stanikzai, Country Director, [email protected]

For general information about working for War Child please visit: https://www.warchild.org.uk/who-we-are/working-war-child

Pre-employment checks

Employment with War Child will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:

• a satisfactory police record check to include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and/or an International/National Criminal Record Check, and a clear vetting and Due Diligence check
• receipt of two satisfactory references