Safeguarding Coordinator

The Safeguarding Coordinator’s primary focus will be to support all staff of Islamic Relief Bangladesh (hereinafter referred to as IRB) to ensure continuous improvements in reinforcing protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (hereinafter referred to as SEA). She will support IRB members as well as the Programs (and through them partners & sub-grantees) to foster a working environment that prevents and protects against SEA. This role covers Gender Mainstreaming, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (hereinafter referred to as PSEA), and Child Protection ((hereinafter referred to as CP) in all IRB contexts (all IRB offices or wherever IRB employees work and within all Programs, including humanitarian crisis (FDMN) response). Under the overall supervision of the Country Director of IRB, and in close collaboration with the Head of Programs, Deputy Manager (HRM & OD), and Manager (ERC), the successful candidate will be responsible for supporting and tracking the progress of the implementation of the policy on Protection from SEA, CP & Gender. She will act as the country subject matter expert and will support the Manager/Focal of every Unit/Department/Program as well as other staff members to work together towards a country action plan in identifying & sharing internal/external best practices, harmonizing global policy & procedures, refining capacity-building materials, and reinforcing complaints mechanisms & best practice investigations methods. She will also coordinate with key external stakeholders, exchange learning with counterparts at peer organizations, and represent or support colleagues to represent & promote Islamic Relief in relevant external forums and contexts.

Job Responsibilities:

• Systems strengthening, monitoring, and reporting-30%
• Ensure the process of improving prevention of SEA through HR policy & practices, develop standards on PSEA/CP, design communication materials, and conduct training courses for IRB employees, partners & other stakeholders in consultation with HRM & OD (Human Resource Management and Organizational Development) and other Programs/Departments;
• Develop effective strategies, systems, and procedures to respond to PSEA in coordination with Country Management Team;
• Strengthen Complaint Response Mechanism (CRM) through developing appropriate complaint channels, and guide to the country office on good practices of community-based complaints response mechanisms;
• Strengthen the capacity of staff in identifying PSEA cases, reporting & investigations, and standards on victim/survivor assistance;
• Ensure the presence of effective and consistent monitoring & evaluation mechanisms for PSEA/CP;
• Define, compile, and collect data related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Child Protection, and Sexual Harassment as lead and report back both internally & externally;
• Provide technical support & mentoring to IRB staff and related stakeholders on conducting investigations and act as a resource person to help with the appropriate information, tools, and other resources as deemed necessary
• Technical support and capacity building-25%
• Provide technical advice, support, and mentoring to IRB staff and stakeholders in conducting difficult investigations, and act as a resource person to help source tools, and resources and provide any relevant guidance;
• Create and maintain a PSEA/CP resource tool for ensuring systematic knowledge of IRB staff & stakeholders to prevent and empower them in responding to SEA;
• Lead, coordinate, support, and/or conduct gender & power analysis, effectiveness and efficacy studies, appraisal, evaluation, and needs assessments as required by programs;
• Assist in quantitative & qualitative assessments in targeted communities to assess the effectiveness of interventions and impact;
• Support delivery partners in understanding the role of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment for the program impact groups;
• Ensure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment criteria are well integrated into market-system approaches;
• Work closely with other Program Managers to integrate gender across all programmatic components;
• Facilitate and support a strong learning and knowledge-sharing community around gender-transformative practices amongst delivery partners/programs
• Fundraising and advocacy-10%
• Proactively identify advocacy opportunities, case studies, and research opportunities that link with wider organizational strategic objectives, and turn these into action.
• Collaborate closely with IRB’s Head of Program, Country Director, and External Relation & Communication Unit, for driving key advocacy messages related to PSEA, CP & Gender mainstreaming.
• Oversight of all aspects of IRB communications activity, comprising various project communications activities & other external communication work in a particular relation with PSEA, CP & Gender.
• Help in identifying an external branding/design organization to overhaul the IRB’s visual identity in particular association with PSEA, CP & Gender.
• Build and cultivate a strong relationship with government departments and relevant ministries and ensure that IRB is strategically engaged at relevant forums.
• Advice Country Leadership team in IR branding issues within the country and develop a specific plan to strengthen IR brand in Bangladesh in the context of CP, Gender & PSEA interventions/issues.
• Program development-25%
• Ensure program quality including the full program cycle;
• Strengthen systems for proposal development & learning as well as write, fine-tune and submit high-value, strategic, and/or complex proposals to a range of donors;
• Set and track proposal development timelines and ensure coordination amongst relevant Unit/Program, MEAL, Finance, Human Resource Management & Development, and external stakeholders (if relevant);
• Ensure all expressions of interest, concept notes, and proposals are reviewed for quality assurance, approved according to internal IR processes, and submitted to donors in the required format and on time;
• Organize & lead project design workshops and consultation meetings with internal and external stakeholders;
• Identify partners in coordination with different Program Managers, support partner assessments, and draft teaming agreements;
• Review and synthesize key donor priorities to identify areas for IRB’s further growth;
• Coordinate the preparation of funding applications with donors such as ECHO, EC, DFID, Forum Syd, UN, etc. as well as internal donors;
• Cultivate long-term strategic partnerships with private sector stakeholders and peer development agencies;
• Develop fact sheets on program quality initiatives and best practices;
• Assess existing partners’ capacities & systems to manage and implement institutionally-funded programs, and jointly develop program & project funding proposals;
• Contribute to investing in partners’ capacities by jointly identifying funding needs, developing plans to strengthen capacities – proposal writing, program development, monitoring & evaluation, etc.-, or identifying sources of support;
• Work with partners to regularly assess the quality of the relationship, and ensure that effective communication channels are in place as well as funding-related issues are timely addressed
• Others-10%
• Undertaking record-keeping system/documentation in line with IRB record management guidelines.
• Facilitating external/internal audit;
• Willing and able to travel frequently for extended periods and to remote areas of the projects.
• Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, exploitation, Fraud, Bribery & Money Laundering to achieve the program’s goals of safeguarding implementation and as well as Act as a key source of support, guidance, and expertise on the safeguarding of harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation, Fraud, Bribery & Money Laundering for establishing a safe working environment
• Participate in seasonal (Ramadan & Qurbani) & emergency response programs if required.
• Being a member of Islamic Relief as a child-friendly organization, it is the core responsibility and obligation of each staff member to understand and obey IR Child Protection & PSEA Policy and respond accordingly as and when required.
• Perform any other duties assigned by the line manager