Program Brief More than 600,000 people have crossed the border from Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh since 25 August, and that number is still growing. The refugees are in urgent need of emergency shelter, food, access to clean water and sanitation, healthcare, protection and mental health support. Over 50% of the refugees are children, including children separated from their parents or caregivers, and are at escalating risk of abuse, neglect, violence, and exploitation, including child labor and trafficking. Lifesaving, quality, and age-appropriate support and services for children is critical for their protection and recovery. IRC is also planning to support host communities with protection, child protection and health services, to fill gaps in services and to support existing government structures. IRC’s programming is highly integrated, supporting the whole family. The IRC additionally plans to launch Safe Healing and Learning Spaces (SHLS) to ensure that children, adolescents, and their caregivers have access to psychosocial support, parenting support, and skills for life and learning. SHLS are an integrated CP-education intervention that seeks to ensure that children are safe, well, and learning in emergencies.
PURPOSE
The SHLS Senior Manager will be responsible for overseeing the establishment and implementation of Safe Healing and Learning Spaces (SHLS), to facilitate access to gender and age-appropriate psychosocial support, Social Emotional Learning, child and adolescent skills for life and learning, and support to caregivers. will work closely with the IRC’s CP case management team, as well as Women’s Protection & Empowerment (WPE) and Health programs and partner organizations to strengthen delivery of child protection interventions in integrated programs. The Senior Manager will also oversee the design and implementation of additional education interventions as the portfolio expands.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:
•Under the guidance of the Child Protection Coordinator, support the development and operationalization of the IRC’s CP response strategy in Bangladesh, ensuring that needs and priorities for programming and advocacy are in line with the context, needs, and gaps on the ground. They will also support the startup phase of education programming until full time education staff come on board.
•Ensure core child rights principles are adhered to, including child participation
•Organize and facilitate foundational trainings on child protection, management of SHLS, Social Emotional Learning, and parenting skills to CP program staff, including frontline SHLS staff and volunteers
•Provide continuous technical support (such as training, practice mentoring, contextualization of guidelines) to CP program staff to support start-up and implementation of IRC Safe Healing and Learning Spaces activities, based on needs and context priorities, to strengthen delivery of programming in line with needs, guidelines, best practice, and community feedback and accountability mechanisms
•Oversee delivery of SHLS programming including project implementation, budget management, procurement, and reporting in accordance with IRC and donor regulations
•Proactively participate in child protection and education coordination meetings, task forces, and build productive relationships to address child protection, building CP and education mechanisms, and strong collaboration and cross-sector working
•Support the development of CP project proposals and budgets, under the guidance of the CP Coordinator.
•Lead the assessment and selection of SHLS locations, in line with needs and gaps in the field, and in consultation with community members, including children
•Provide technical support and guidance to the design and construction of SHLS facilities, ensuring that spaces are safe, accessible, age-appropriate, and gender-sensitive
•Support the development of a Children in Emergencies MEAL framework to ensure quality monitoring and evaluation of program activities, beneficiary reach, protection trends, and donor reporting. Based on learning from the field, identify recommendations to strengthen child protection and education responses in SHLS, and work with CP, education, WPE, and Health staff to implement recommendations
•Assist in the recruitment, onboarding and coaching of qualified staff in the SHLS programs
•As relevant, develop, maintain and/or initiate partnerships with community based organizations, international and local NGOs, UN Agencies, potential and current donors and relevant Government Ministries to support IRC programming. Provide the technical evaluation of potential partners.
•Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of field teams; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaising with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC program
•Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs
MAJOR CHALLENGES:
•Building the capacity of a team from the bottom up.
•Testing, adapting and rolling out the EASE curriculum for the Bangladesh context
•Sourcing appropriate sites for SHLS response.
•Conduct start up for education programming.
Deliverables/KPI
•Establish IRC’s SHLS with good technical quality, including design of sites and training of staff. This will include CP and start up for small scale education programming.
•Launch a contextually adapted EASE curriculum for Bangladesh
•Continuously build the capacity of the CP Team in core CP competencies and SHLS curriculums, ensuring strong technical knowledge as well as capacity as trainers and facilitators. Provide hands on coaching and mentoring.
•Work openly and collaboratively with colleagues in WPE, Health and Education, looking to leverage IRC’s strengths through combined approaches that serve the needs of girls, boys and their caretakers.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ROLES:
Within the Program or Department: Reports to CP Coordinator, works closely with Technical Coordinators, Grants Coordinator.
Outside the Program or Department: Works closely with support functions
EXPERIENCE:
• Masters Degree in a child or youth related field, (eg. education, social work, community work) preferred.
• Excellent professional track record with at least five years of international management level experience within NGO leadership working in child protection in emergency / humanitarian program implementation in conflict or immediate post conflict environments. Education experience would be a major plus.
• At least 2-3 years of staff management experience, including staff capacity development and team building experience.
• Experience in effectively dealing with international and headquarters staff, as well as donor agencies, government officials, and other NGO’s; ability to work with a broad spectrum of people.
• Strong writing and analytical skills, including ability to communicate technical matters to a range of audiences.
• Interpersonal qualities: Works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure well.
• Good coping strategies in stressful and emergency situation, calmness is a requirement
• Fluent in spoken and written English. Bangla language skills strongly preferred.
• Prior experience working with Rohingya communities an advantage.
KNOWLEDGE , SKILLS & COMPETENCIES:
• Good knowledge and understanding of international child protection and youth policy and practice issues.
• Knowledge of and interest in collaborating closely with the Education sector is a major plus.
• Strong proficiency in budget management, grants management and reporting.
• Strong coordination and project management skills, especially working within coordinated multi-sector grants.
• Proven experience with training and hands on coaching.
• Proven experience running learning centers, including life skills, alternative learning, support to caregivers.
• Competent in Windows, MS office programs, emails and relevant database.
SPECIFIC EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION:
Degree Masters Degree in a child or youth related field, (eg. education, social work, community work) preferred. Concentration / Major
