Head of Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection

SOS Children's Villages, founded in 1949, is the world's largest non-governmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care, or at risk of losing it.

Child neglect, abuse and abandonment is everywhere. Families are at risk of separation. Locally led, we work in more than 130 countries and territories to strengthen families who are under pressure so they can stay together. When this is not in a child or young person's best interests, we provide quality care according to their unique needs.

Together with partners, donors, communities, children, young people and families, we enable children to grow up with the bonds they need to develop and become their strongest selves. We speak up for each child's rights and advocate for change so all children can grow up in a supportive environment.

Location: Vienna & Innsbruck (Austria), Skopje (North Macedonia), Dakar (Senegal), Nairobi (Kenya), Faridabad (India)

Duration: Full time, Unlimited

Mission

SOS Children’s Villages maintain a culture of integrity in consideration of the needs and expectations of all stakeholders. An essential component in this context is Safeguarding and Asset Protection and the avoidance or the early detection of financial crime.

This includes countering internal fraud risks: including procurement, fraud relating to donors and/or other third parties, embezzlement, bribery and other forms of corruption, money laundering, terrorism financing or other sanctions violations, information security / cyber security and data management / data protection. In addition it is essential to identify potential conflicts of interest at an early stage and to clarify them through a transparent process. Asset Protectionalso includes the efficient and effective use of assets like buildings, infrastructure, other physical property and funds used by SOS Children’s Villages, as well as data and intellectual property.

The main high-level purposes of the Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection Team are:

• Promoting a culture of integrity, leading and championing asset protection, included but not limited to: anti-fraud & corruption, compliance with financial regulations; such as developing strategies and action plans to ensure asset protection is mainstreamed across all parts of the Federation
• Identifying and assessing risks relevant to asset protection as part of a wider Federation risk identification and risk management approach
• Developing policies, standards and control processes for the asset protection and anti-fraud & corruption
• Creating and running trainings and other awareness raising sessions on all topics relevant to asset protection and anti-fraud & corruption for the Federation, including all relevant stakeholders
• Supporting the management in the General Secretariat (GSC) and Member Associations in the implementation, monitoring and reporting about the implementationof policies, practices, capacity building, awareness raising and other activities for prevention of fraud and corruption in the SOS Children’s Villages system
• Promoting whistleblowing mechanisms, running the incident management process, reporting and supporting management response and actions when dealing with allegations made in relation to fraud and corruption, in conjunction with the independent audit and investigations unit
• Monitoring, evaluating and reporting on progress in delivery of strategies, outcomes and learning to Governance bodies, Leadership and Management
• Scanning for changes in legislation and best practices across main jurisdictions and participating in, sharing with and learning from external networks to improve internal practice and SOS Children’s Villages’ compliance with regulatory requirements and sector wide best practice
• Ensuring that measures taken by the Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection Team are incorporated into the work processes of the relevant departments, in order to work as efficiently as possible

This role is part of the wider Safeguarding and Asset Protection Team. The purpose of the role is primarily to ensure the alignment of policies, processes for prevention and to detect the often- linked cases in safeguarding and fraud / corruption.

Moreover, the purpose of the position is to deliver the mission of the Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection Unit Team by:

• Championing and mainstreaming the work of Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection corruption across the Federation
• Contributing to the enterprise-wide risk identification, assessment and management or mitigation strategies
• Leading the development and implementation of strategies and controls including policies, processes, tools, training, systems and monitoring processes
• Keeping up to date with legal best practices and other changes in the regulatory environment
• Working with all layers and entities across the Federation to enable governance bodies, leadership, management and staff to fulfil their asset protection responsibilities
• Reporting progress, outcomes and overall incident management picture to Leadership and Senate
• Managing the Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection function of the International Office and, as lead of the Federation-wide network, supporting the equivalent teams and individuals in GSC-run operations and countries and Member Associations

Tasks & Responsibilities 

1. Global leadership of Asset Protection

• Champions and enables mainstreaming of Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection across the organisation’s staffing, functions, geographies and its programmes, including supporting and constructively challenging Governance, Leadership and Senior Management roles
• Develops Federation wide asset protection strategies using a risk-based approach, and supports the General Secretariat and Member Associations leadership in implementation of those
• Supports the SOS Children’s Villages Federation to properly develop, implement and improve risk management, compliance and control processes
• Builds a subject matter expert capacity of the asset protection network (International Office and International Office Regionteams, focal points in the General Secretariat and Member Associations) as well as management and other staff across the Federation in Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection
• Champions and models the corresponding organisational values and behaviours
• Works with other functions and their managers to ensure strong integration of Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection principles and approaches with child rights-based, child and youth participation, programmatic, fundraising and other relevant approaches

2. Supporting management and others across the Federation to build an environment in which SOS’s assets are protected, fraud and corruption is minimized

• Develops and updates a full suite of aligned internal controls including global policies, standards, processes, tools and systems for use by leaders, managers and staff across the Federation for Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection
• Builds the relevant elements for Asset Protection, Anti-Fraud & corruption as part of an enterprise-wide risk assessment and risk management approach
• Ensures awareness raising, training and other tools are developed to help all staff know what a good asset protection environment is, their responsibilities and how to implement the relevant policies and processes relating to financial crime, bribery/corruption, fraud etc.
• Collaborates with managers across the Federation to manage related functions: primarily Finance, Procurement and Logistics teams but also, for example, property managers
• Works with legal team on compliance processes and, as needed, on incident management
• Liaises with the HROD / People & Culture team leading the wider work on the Code of Conduct

3. Incident Management

• Promotes, alongside the safeguarding unit, that the International Office team and Regions are running robust Incident Management for General Secretariat managed entities (countries, programmes, International Office, Regions) and supports Member Associations to run high quality incident management processes and that the relevant measures and procedures are properly reported
• Works with Audit and Investigations team to ensure coherent, comprehensive and aligned compliance audits and investigations
• Ensures learning is used to improve incident management processes
• Supports the project team in charge of setting up a Federation-wide incident case management process and tool.
• Works with crisis management team as needed
• In some cases, possibly works directly with law enforcement bodies

4. Monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting

• Reports progress on implementation of strategies and outcomes to leadership and the Senate
• Leads on monitoring and evaluation of asset protection approaches, strategies and outcomes
• Ensures that learning is captured, shared and utilized across the Federation via management and the internal asset protection network
• Participates in external networks to share and learn from best practice across the sector and similar organisations

5. Management of staff and other resources

• Manages, strengthens and leads a diverse and collaborative team of asset protection advisors at the International Office, based in different locations and virtually connected
• Manages the Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection unit budget and seeks additional project or permanent funding from promoting and supporting associations

6. Frequent travel to Member Associations and GSC-managed countries and regions (around 12-18 trips a year)

• In addition to the planned work, the unplanned nature of incident management, especially very complex and rapidly emerging clusters of cases, necessitates adaptability, occasional unsocial working hours and resilience

Requirements

Essential:

• Minimum of 10 years of experience leading a team or network in a complex global organisation with multicultural context and large numbers of staff in a similar function (e.g., risk lead, compliance, finance, law enforcement, audit)
• Proven experience and track record in area of work in managing (designing/operating) the incident management function for an organisation with large and complex case load in a global setting of multiple regions/cultures/applicable laws
• Extensive knowledge of anti-corruption and other similar legislations (e.g., counter-terrorism financing) across multiple jurisdictions
• Expert knowledge in designing asset protection approaches, strategies, policies, standards, processes, systems for use across all functions, geographies and levels in a large organisation or network
• Previous experience in designing quality assurance systems, compliance and control processes for asset protection
• Experience in developing and enabling the utilization of successful monitoring, evaluation, learning and knowledge management culture, processes, tools and systems
• Strong understanding and practical experience/application in incident and/or case management
• Experience in a non-profit and child focused environment is an asset
• Previous experience in being a participant and contributor in relevant INGO networks
• Strong leadership and management experience of multicultural teams including virtual and remote teams across cultures and time zones, building and leading a diverse and inclusive globally distributed team and enable every team member to reach their full potential
• Expertise in strategic thinking, organizational and people management skills, setting realistic goals and translating them into actionable plans
• High competence in making difficult decisions about complex issues using judgment and experience and effectively assessing and managing complex risks
• Strong ability to champion asset protection and anti-corruption integrity over organisational reputation issues or management layer barriers
• Strong skills in results-orientation, looking for solutions and focusing on desired results
• Very good skills in influencing decision makers, leaders, management and staff at all levels from global governance bodies down
• Strong ability to maintain the highest standard and quality of work, managing stress effectively whilst prioritizing multiple tasks and competing deadlines
• Strong skills in demonstrating and modelling organisational values and behaviors aligned with those of SOS Children’s Villages, and inspiring and learning from others
• High levels of inclusiveness and mindfulness of diverse perspectives and experiences, respecting and valuing every person equally
• Expertise in collaboration and removing barriers to participation, sharing decision making and building partnerships
• Very high level in both written and spoken Business English
• A valid work permit to the chosen location

Desirable:

• Experience working for an International NGO 
• Work experience from and/or being based in the Global South
• Knowledge of French, Spanish, or Arabic would be an asset

We offer

• A diverse range of interesting tasks in a leading INGO with multicultural working environment
• As a responsible employer we provide a range of training schemes and encourage educational enhancement 
• A salary that will be commensurate with experience and qualifications
• Flexible working hours 
• Home-office possibility

If you are interested in this position, please submit your detailed application in English by 30th of January, 2023 at https://careers-sos-kd.icims.com