Job Description

Clarissa Country Coordinator

 

Position based in      

:   Dhaka, Bangladesh with travel within Dhaka, and international.

Desired date for taking-up duty

:    January 1, 2020

Post Type

:   Full Time

Contract Type

:   Three years with 3-months probationary period

 

Hierarchical and organizational links:


Reports to :

Line managed by TDH Country Representative, but technical managed by Program Director-IDS Technically

Coordinates with :

Regional Administrator, Project Manager- Protection, MEL coordinator, IDS focal person, HQ Program Manager etc.

Direct line manager of :

Regional Administrator, Senior Cash Transfer Officer, 4 Doumentors, 3 Lead Community mobilisers, 30 Field Facilitors and 2 participatory action researchers

Technical referent :

Head of Program, National Coordinators, Managers at Delegation level

 

Project: Child Labour-Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA)

Background:

CLARISSA is a newly established programme, delivered by a consortium of organisations and led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), to generate a strong evidence base on, and innovative solutions to, the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. It is neither a typical research programme, nor a typical NGO implementation programme – but is designed to build on the strengths of all Consortium partners to work towards a decrease in the number of children in the WFCL in the programme countries. Its focus is on surfacing key drivers of the worst forms of child labour and developing interventions to counteract them (preventing push factors at community, family and individual level and pull factors from unethical business).

The primary beneficiaries are children in the worst forms of child labour and those who are vulnerable to being drawn into it. The families of these children will benefit from greater resilience to shocks, better options for their children’s safe and healthy future and less intra-family stress and conflict. Businesses will benefit from practical solutions to child-labour free supply chains. Policy makers, NGOs, and researchers will benefit from a knowledge of what works.

The programme is arranged around four themes or ‘workstreams’

  • Social Protection workstream
  • Social Norms workstream
  • Supply Chains
  • Children’s Realities and Agency

Among these 4 themes Tdh has a special focus on Social protection.

The consortium, is funded by UK aid from the UK Government and led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) includes (in alphabetical order):

  • Child Hope
  • Consortium for Street Children 
  • Ethical Trading Initiative
  • Terre des hommes

By taking a participatory, adaptive and child-centred approach to evidence and innovation generation, and using intentional scaling strategies, in each country activities will generate evidence of the drivers of and effective innovative interventions to reduce WFCL.

In the short term these will raise awareness of risks, and of where WFCL exists in the informal and unregulated domains of supply chains, such that stakeholders directly involved in programme interventions, as well as policymakers and other key stakeholders in the child labour programming system, will be motivated to engage in developing innovative solutions. In the longer term, we hope it will take us closer to the ultimate goal of ending the worst forms of child labour and those vulnerable to being drawn into it.

Each programme country has named ’host organisation’ who is a member of the consortium with a strong footprint on the ground. In Bangladesh, this will be partners, will provide operational, logistics and office support for the whole consortium in country and will formally employ the Country Co-ordinator on behalf of the consortium.
 
Key tasks :

  • Ownership and responsibility for thecountry programme results framework (fulfilment of outcomes);
  • Ownership and responsibility for the country programme design and delivery ;
  • Team management - leading on recruitment, support and (matrix) management of country programme staff (integrated country team) ;
  • Partnership management ;
  • Effective external representation of theCLARISSA programme/Leading national engagement with stakeholders including policy makers
  • Implementation of, and advocacy around, the programme approach (children’s agency; learning and adaptive management, action research; integrated working; and a focus on the poorest and most marginalised)
  • Oversee Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults and establishing beneficiary accountability mechanisms
  • Annual operational review and planning
  • Financial management and donor accountability
  • Risk & security management

Main Responsibilities:

Ownership and responsibility for the country programme results framework (fulfilment of outcomes):

  • Responsible for the agreed outcomes and impact of the programme
  • Responsible for six-monthly after-action reviews.
  • Hold the country level results framework and will be responsible for the programme fulfilling its outcomes in Bangladesh.

Ownership and responsibility for the country programme design and delivery :

  • Responsible for building a country level operational plan (constructed with local implementing partners), developing a contextualised country level theory of change and ultimately managing and delivering the integrated country programme (which will comprise up to four programme workstream strategies).
  • Oversee capacity development processes and develop opportunities for systematic learning and sharing among the programme team, beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Team management-leading on recruitment, support and (matrix) management of country programme staff (integrated country team)

  • Manage an integrated country team, comprising post holders employed by one or more in-country consortium partners whose core members will be co-located in the offices of the host organisation in each country. The team will include action researchers /participatory facilitators, documenters, administration / project management staff, and an MEL lead and a social worker.
  • The Country Coordinator will designate activities, manage staff workloads and provide day-to-day staff management of programme staff within the integrated (co-located) work-teams. 
  • The team will be managed in line with the adaptive management approach being undertaken throughout the programme – which will imply adaptations to changes and course corrections identified using feedback and learning loops.

Partnership management :

  • A matrix management system will be in place. Country Coordinator will designate activities, manage staff workloads and provide day-to-day staff management of partner staff within integrated (co-located) work-teams, some of whom will be directly employed by the partners while others will report to other Consortium partners.
  • Rresponsible for partnership management including some sub granting.
  • Oversee and ensure compliance with memorandums of understanding, relating to the above, agreed between IDS, the host organisations employing the country co-ordinators, and all other (consortium partner) employers of local staff in Bangladesh.
  • Build and lead a Country Strategic Advisory Board in Bangladesh, comprising leads from each consortium partner organisation involved in the operational aspects of the programme in that country. The Country Coordinator will work through these and other functions as needed, to enhance coordination of the programme at country level. They will consider and act upon country level partnership relationship management; foster participative and inclusive discussions and troubleshoot cross team operational issues where required.

Effective external representation of the CLARISSA programme / Leading national engagement with stakeholders including policy makers

  • Lead national engagement with stakeholders including policy makers on behalf of the programme.  
  • In agreement with the governance lead for partners the post holder will act as a primary spokesperson for the programme externally (e.g. media spokesperson) in coordination with the country representative for Bangladesh and will develop strategic relationships, cultivate policy advocacy and participate in relevant fora and debates.

Oversee Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults and establishing beneficiary accountability mechanisms:

  • Ensure and oversee safeguarding processes in Bangladesh (with the support of the Programme safeguarding lead and a social worker who will be employed as part of the country team.

Implementation of, and advocacy around, the programme approach (children’s agency; learning and adaptive management, action research; integrated working; and a focus on the poorest and most marginalised) :

  • Lead the country team in supporting children to collect child-centred evidence and generating child-focused and child-identified solutions.
  • Operationalise a Child Rights approach with a strong emphasis on safeguarding, in line with an agreed Consortium protocol (a social worker / safeguarding lead will be employed in each country as part of the country team)
  • Implement an adaptive management approach, committing to the improvement of both the quality and the impact of the programme, using feedback and learning loops, and proposing adaptation and course correction in response.   The core driver of innovation will be Participatory and Systemic Action Research.

Annual operational review and planning :

  • Work with the Programme Director to review progress against the original work plan and to review and iterate the work plan. They will ensure the effective development, implementation and monitoring of all programme frameworks, annual plans and reports and will ensure that activities are appropriately monitored and evaluated and proposes, when necessary, adaptation and amendments.

Financial management and donor accountability

  • Oversee the financial management of the programme at the country level, seeking timely and adequate support from the relevant finance teams. The post holder will ensure that programme funds are and will contribute to donor (DfID) stewardship – ensuring that programme funds are used in the most effective and prudent way, demonstrating good stewardship and compliance with all donor policies and procedures, including document storage and project audit requirements. S/he will ensure accurate and timely financial management and reporting against the MEL framework.
  • Lead the development of all progress reporting to IDS and DFID at the country level. They will also be responsible for overseeing all country level reporting to government / ministries (permission-to-operate in country-based reporting).

Risk & security management

  • Take responsibility for any associated risks of operating within the programme, ensuring appropriate risk identification, mitigation, monitoring, escalation and resolution.

Accountability:

  • The country Coordinator will be managed by the representative of the partner’s organisation and will also be programmatically accountable to the Programme Director.

Other:

  • Undertake any other duties that may be determined by his/her supervisor or the Program Director-IDS.

 

Qualifications & Competencies:

  • Masters in community development, social studies, child rights/protection or similar qualification;
  • 5 years + experience of team leadership at a senior level and inspiring high performing teams ;
  • 5 years + experience of complex programme / project management experience;
  • 5 years+ Experience managing partners and sub grants;
  • Experience of advocacy /Policy advocacy to multiple stakeholders at the highest levels and relationship building;
  • Experience of programmes and interventions which work with highly vulnerable and marginalised children, adults and communities to address their needs, in particular child labour programs;
  • Experience of community and stakeholder driven development ;
  • Able to evidence analytical and critical thinking skills ;
  • Demonstrated interest and capacities in building consensus and managing complex partners relationships through participatory processes advancing towards a commonly defined goal ;
  • Understanding of complexity based approaches to change’ (or willingness to learn) ; 
  • Professional / business level English plus fluency in the national language ;
  • Knowledge of and passion for the programme content, issues and approach e.g. child labour, participatory approach, child centredness ;
  • Strong financial literacy;
  • Financial management experience at project / programme level and experience of stewardship of donor funds, overheads and expenditure;
  • Experience of overseeing monitoring, evaluation and learning;
  • Strong understanding of operationalising safeguarding processes;
  • Willingness to travel to and work with communities living in poverty in remote areas;
  • Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills;

Others:

Accept new responsibilities as and when those are assigned by the line supervisor.

The post holder is polite, respectful, honest, punctual (and respects deadlines), creative, pacifist, proactive, committed and – during office hours – non-political. S/he is in constant exchange with colleagues and supervisors, communicates problems and enriches discussions. S/he treats people of different religion, age, sex, and economic status appropriate and equally and actively ensures their wellbeing and raises his/her voice when required. S/he is willing to improve own capacities and is open for all topics Tdh is working on to actively contribute to a comprehensive programme implementation.

S/he uses Tdh equipment, vehicles and premises, internet and electricity economically and responsibly. S/he positively represents Tdh to beneficiaries, stake holders and the general public.  

 

Application process and deadline:

Application should include curriculum vitae and Cover letter addressed to the Country Representative, Terre des hommes Foundation with “Clarissa Country Coordinator” in the subject field.

CV should include current salary (if in employment) or last salary drawn, and expected salary, names of two former supervisors to serve as references with phone and email contact info, and earliest date of availability.

Only properly complete applications will be considered for short-listing. Short-listed applications will subsequently be called for written and interviews.

Candidates should apply only through delegation@bd.tdh.net. The deadline is Tuesday, 8th October 2019 by 5.00 pm.

Recruitment procedure follows the Terre des hommes Child Protection Policy. Tdh is an equal opportunity organization.