Project Management Specialist (Child Protection)

ELIGIBLE OFFERORS:“Cooperating Country National” shall mean the individual engaged to serve in the Cooperating Country under this contract.

“Cooperating Country” shall mean the foreign country in or for which services are to be rendered hereunder.

Opening date: September 21, 2022

Closing date: October 20, 2022

USAID/Uganda is seeking for qualified individuals to fill the Project Management Specialist (Child Protection) position.

The USAID Project Management Specialist (Child Protection) is a senior member of the Education, Youth, and Child Development (EYCD) Office. The EYCD office implements USAID/Uganda’s Basic Education, Higher Education, and PEPFAR/Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) funding streams, integrating youth across the portfolio. This position helps lead EYCD collaboration on cross-cutting activities with the Health and HIV Office (OHH), the Economic Growth (EG) Office, Humanitarian Assistance and Transitions Office (HATO) and the Democracy, Rights, and Governance (DRG) Office to ensure coordination of child protection services for children.

The Specialist provides technical leadership and guidance to plan, implement, monitor, and adapt child protection activities across the EYCD portfolio. The Specialist has responsibility for ensuring coordination of OVC and child protection programs funded by the USG through a variety of governmental and non‑governmental partners at national, district, and community levels. The Specialist serves as an Agreement/Contracting Officer’s Representative (AOR/COR) and provides technical, managerial, and financial oversight to USAID-funded grants, cooperative agreements, and/or contracts. The Specialist is responsible for PEPFAR and non-PEPFAR program activities that strengthen national, district, and community-level capability to support children affected or infected by HIV/AIDS, survivors of all forms of abuse and those at risk of abuse, as well as those with mental health issues. This will require strong relationships with the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development (MGLSD); Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES); and sub-national governmental and community child protection structures and officials, such as Probation and Social Welfare Officers, District Action Committees, and others.

Within USAID, the Specialist is responsible for identifying and building/strengthening linkages with other HIV initiatives and activities, such as pediatric care and treatment, HIV counseling and testing, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, and prevention interventions for youth. Additionally, the Specialist works with non-PEPFAR teams throughout the Mission to ensure integration across programming, especially when EYCD funds are involved. These initiatives include working with education colleagues to reduce violence against children in schools, improving connections with maternal and child health and malaria programming, working with agriculture and OVC teams to design and implement household nutrition and economic strengthening activities, and collaborating with DRG on issues of child justice, child rights, and increasing domestic funding for child protection. Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) is an emerging priority for EYCD, and the Mission and the Specialist shapes this priority into a purposeful approach and strategy and provides technical assistance to teams trying to increase/improve MHPSS in their activities.

Just as child protection is a cross-sectoral field that upholds all child rights, this is a cross-sectoral position that will require a case management lens to working within and outside the EYCD and with the U.S. Government interagency, development partners in education and social protection, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Ugandan governmental and quasi-governmental structures. The Specialist reports to the EYCD Office Director or designee.

1. EDUCATION

Master’s degree in social science, child development, psychology, education, public health, health-related social or behavioral science, or similar fields is required.

1. PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE

At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in OVC and child protection programming and policy development/implementation is required.