JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Function: Management Job title: SENIOR SOCIAL PROTECTION FOCAL POINT
Name and surname: XXX
Reports to: CLARISSA Country Coordinator
 Number of subordinates: 2
Classification of function: XXX  Working time: 100%

About Terre des hommes:

Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh) is the Swiss leading organization focusing on child rights, based in Lausanne (Switzerland). It is active in more than 40 countries with development and emergency projects. Tdh focuses its action on the following areas of intervention: Migration, Child Labour, Access to Justice and Health (with WASH components), with a focus on protection of particularly vulnerable children. Modern management and communication tools ensure the quality of Tdh’s projects. The Foundation constantly aims to improve its services.

Context:

Tdh has been present and active in Bangladesh since 1974 and focuses its work on Migration, tackling child labour, health, child protection, WASH, Access to Justice and humanitarian aid. We are currently working in Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, Ukhia, Teknaf and Kurigram.

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

Background:

CLARISSA is a consortium partnership programme led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and implemented in partnership with Terre des hommes, Child Hope UK and Consortium for Street Children to generate a strong evidence base on and innovative solutions to the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in Bangladesh and Nepal. The programme focuses on surfacing key drivers of the worst forms of child labour and developing interventions to counteract them. The programme’s primary beneficiaries are children in the worst forms of child labour and those 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.

About the social protection component in CLARISSA

The CLARISSA Social Protection (SP) intervention aims to trial and evidence an innovative social policy intervention for tackling social ills, focusing on children engaged in hazardous and exploitative work. Its objective is to support people in building their individual, household and group capacities to meet their needs. Our hypothesis is that this increase in capacities will lead to a corresponding decrease in deprivation and community-identified social issues that negatively affect wellbeing, including the worst forms of child labour. We anticipate that participation in the intervention will enhance people’s freedom to choose alternatives to hazardous or exploitative child work.

The intervention will take place across a slum community in Dhaka and has two components. First, a Relational Component that involves Needs-Based Community Organising (NCBO) with a group of 19 community mobilisers placed at participants’ service for two years. Their goal will be to collaborate with participants at the individual, familial and group levels to identify needs, mobilise resources to attend to those needs, and grow agency and capacity. Second, a Cash component provides one year of unconditional cash transfers to all households, recognising that cash is a vital resource and can augment the building of agency and capacity.

Purpose of Role:

The Senior Social Protection Focal Point has an exciting leadership opportunity in the context of an innovative programme. The person will lead the management of the social protection component of CLARISSA Bangladesh. The role requires solid management skills and an understanding of research to run the social protection pilot that includes community-based relational components and payments of cash transfers in a slum in Dhaka city. S/he will be responsible for planning, implementing, managing, and monitoring cash transfer and relational components and external representations.

The role is supervised by the CLARISSA Country Coordinator and technically supported by the social protection technical leads in the Consortium. This role requires strong collaboration with the CLARISSA team in Bangladesh and the support team in Terre des hommes in Bangladesh.

The role also requires the management and supervision of 2 lead community mobilisers and second-line supervision and close support to 19 community mobilisers.

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Overall leadership of the social protection component in CLARISSA Bangladesh
  • Manage and supervise lead community mobilisers and community mobilisers
  • Work closely with the social protection technical leads in the design and management of cash transfer and relational components, including bi-monthly monitoring, casework, mobilising groups and collective action
  • Develop and implement tools/ mechanisms for monitoring field activities and reporting programme activities, including taking stock of any lessons learned and using evidence to inform programmatic adaptations, working in collaboration with the CLARISSA MEL lead
  • Ensure inclusion and safeguarding across all stakeholders, including programme staff and participants in the community
  • Develop work plans and budgets related to the social protection component and oversee work plan implementation working in collaboration with the country coordinator
  • Coordinate with the external technical partner organisations and provide technical inputs to contribute to household monitoring and impact evaluation
  • Elaborate, oversee, and update cash transfer intervention workplans
  • Liaise closely with administration and finance manager on establishment and delivery of cash transfer through mobile money provider
  • Serve as the first point of contact (through community mobilisers) in case there are issues with the payment of cash transfers related to technical issues and social tensions
  • Supervise, monitor, and report on progress/performance of cash transfer activities (including post-distribution monitoring)
  • Represent the consortium in social protection reference groups/meetings and relevant government meetings
  • Undertake any other duties that the supervisor may determine.

Security and child safety

  • Understands and applies security policies, the Child Safeguarding Policy and fraud prevention policies

Other

  • Accept new responsibilities as and when those are assigned by the supervisors

EDUCATION

  • Master’s in social sciences/ development studies/ anthropology or related field.

EXPERIENCE

  • Minimum 5 years’ experience in similar role in project management with understanding in the social protection context in Bangladesh

COMPETENCIES

  • Successful track record of project management
  • Strong leadership and communication skills to manage a team in adaptive contexts
  • Familiar with social protection system and actors in Bangladesh
  • Proven experience in working with marginalised and disadvantaged communities, preferably in urban slums
  • Demonstrated expertise in managing community empowerment projects, including community organising, managing household and individual level coaching, casework 
  • Experience in managing budgets, including monitoring expenditure
  • Excellent planning, facilitation, and coordination skills
  • Ability to establish strong working relationships with senior government officials, community key actors and other stakeholders
  • Fluency in Bangla and a high level of written and spoken English
  • Excellent skills in Microsoft Office
  • Good understanding of the realities faced by children in the worst forms of child labour and those who are vulnerable to being drawn into it
  • Passion for the programmed approach, e.g., participatory approach, child centeredness
  • Self-motivated, comfortable in working in adaptive management approaches
  • Commitment to team and collaborative working
  • Comfortable facilitating emergent processes, allowing outcomes to emerge through dialogue and action over time.

Others:

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 Motivational Letter addressed to the Country Representative, Terre des hommes Foundation with “SENIOR SOCIAL PROTECTION FOCAL POINT” in the subject field at bgd.dhaka.recruitment@tdh.ch. Please mention “CV Full name” and “ML_Full name” you are applying for the file name. The deadline will be on 06 July 2022.

A motivational letter with an updated 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.

Women are highly encouraged to apply for this position. Tdh is an equal opportunity organization and recruitment procedure follows the Terre des hommes Child Protection Policy.