Field Officer 148 views0 applications

The Organization

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Please see https://plan-international.org/organisation/strategy for Plan international strategy

Plan started working in Egypt in 1981 and has a presence in ten of the 27 governorates in which the country is divided: two urban (Cairo and Alexandria) and five rural (Giza, Cairo, Beheira, Kalyoubia, Damietta, Qena, Assuit and Sohag). Plan Egypt’s work focuses on child rights, implementing programmes designed to enable communities to improve the lives of the most marginalised children and their families. Plan Egypt’s Country Strategy focuses on five strategic objectives listed below:

1. Improve the quality of early childhood care & education;
2. Promote economic empowerment of vulnerable young men & women;
3. Facilitate girls in realising their full potential in an enabling and gender responsive environment that protects them from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence;
4. Support adolescents and young people, particularly girls to become active drivers of change and lead the way towards more equitable and inclusive societies;
5. Promote adolescents and young people, particularly girls to be empowered to take informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and live free from gender-based violence

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Area Supervisor (AS), the Field Officer (FO) is entitled to facilitate and monitor the implementation of Plan’s programs in tandem with the approved annual plan of the program unit. Through working together with the PU’s leadership team, the FO retains final accountability for timely and quality delivery of and monitoring of the implementation of the project’s activities ensuring that they are significantly contributing to lasting and positive changes in the lives of disadvantaged children and communities

Dimensions of the Role

• This role acts as the front-line in working directly with communities through different community partners.
• This role has no direct reporters.
• This role requires close relationship with Sponsored Children and families
• This role requires budget monitoring skills as well as familiarity with other monitoring mechanisms.
• This role requires close relationship and coordination with other PU team members.

Accountabilities

Leadership role in the PU

• Work together with the AS in developing the project outlines.
• Team up with the PU leadership team in developing the annual plan for the PU.
• Work together with the AS, local partners in developing the capacity building plans as set out in the approved POs.

Program Implementation

• Facilitate the implementation of the relevant project within the communities ensuring that they contribute to improving the lives of targeted groups and communities.
• Facilitate, guide and monitor the implementing partners and provide continuous feedback to the line manager.
• Collaborate with the AS in developing detailed action plans aligned with the approved log-frames ensuring 100% active participation of sponsored children in program activities.
• Develop the required community friendly tools enabling the marginalized children and families to actively engage in all phases of the project cycle.
• Facilitate the development of community-led sustainability plans ensuring that local communities and partners are capable of leading their own development
• Facilitate the active engagement of children and local communities in participatory advocacy initiatives to demand positive and lasting changes in their lives.
• Provide supervision, technical support and guidance to the project partners.
• Develop the required reports and support AS in responding to the donor’s queries to inform quality programming.
• Develop a detailed plan of action at the community level and in tandem with the program strategy set out at the geographical area.
• Perform his/her duties and responsibilities in accordance to the project proposal and in addition to the programmatic, administrative and financial policies/ regulations of Plan International.

Networking and Advocacy

•  Provide support to the local communities including children and youth groups to organize themselves and engage in collective actions to demand sustainable and positive changes in their lives.
• Create opportunities for community based informal groups to form networks/ coalitions with the overall purpose of advocating for their rights.

Budget management and asset management

• Team up with the AS in developing the budget for the POs within the geographical areas.
• Develop a detailed action plan including the burn rate of the planned activities.
• Ensure that Plan’s assets donated to the local partners are well-utilized.
• Monitor the implementation of the global assurance’s admin recommendations at the community level ensuring that the necessary strategies are in place to mitigate the identified risks.

Sponsorship

• Follow-up and monitor sponsorship activities and communication through volunteers, promoters and ensure that sponsored families are included in program activities.
• Ensure the quality implementation of the sponsorship commitments and in tandem with Plan Egypt KPIs.
•  Ensure that the local community organizations are capable of delivering sponsorship communications with the maximum level of quality.
• Conduct home visits to Sponsored families as the approved home visit plans

• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CPP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Dealing with Problems:

• Demonstrated capacity and commitment to solve day to day program issues.
• Effective community facilitation skills.
• High level of capacity to manage stress and solve problems.

Key relationships

Internal:

• Area supervisor (High Contact).
• PULT members to consult on major decisions related to PU operations implementation (High Contact).
• Finance/operations team (High Contact).

External:

• Local partners to assess progress and agree on the appropriated mitigation strategies (High contact).
• Local respective stakeholders to ensure their engagement in the project as appropriate.

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Essential

• University degree in related field
• 2–3 years of experience working in INGO environment
• A degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies or related discipline
• Experience in the basics of protection mechanisms and structures.
• Facilitation skills.
• Report writing skills.
• Good communication, presentation and problem solving skills.
• Understanding of community development principles and strategies including rights based programming.
• Knowledge of project management cycle.

Desirable

• Good level of English language.
• Willingness to learn and ability to work under stress.
• Positive attitude and strong belief in empowering communities.
• Strong commitment to children’s poverty and gender equality.
• Positive attitudes, self- assertiveness and capacity to inspire others.
• Decision making skills.
• Influence and communication and able to communicate concerns to managers and teams

Behaviours (Plan International’s Values in Practice)

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organization for all children, girls & young people.

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximize long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children

Physical Environment

• Typically, office environment with at least 20% travel to other project locations to attend scheduled meetings with frequent visits to the field.

Level of contact with children

High level: Frequent interaction with children

Type of Role: One year fixed term contract

Location: Assuit Program Unit

Reports to: Area Supervisor

Closing Date: 1st of Dec. 2021

 Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply

Please note that only applications and CVs written in English will be accepted.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Child Protection Policy.

As an international child centered community development organization, Plan International is fully committed to promoting the realization of children’s rights including their right to protection from violence and abuse. That means we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organization, do everything we can to keep children safe. We must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk. 

Plan International operates an equal opportunities policy and actively encourages diversity, welcoming applications from all areas of the international community.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.