Save the Children is seeking to recruit an experienced Technical Director for an USAID project that will provide support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in select districts within Malawi.
The Technical Director will be responsible for the technical oversight of the project and is specifically responsible for project implementation that relates to community, OVC and families, and ensures strong linkages with facility level and other service delivery points. S/he will report directly to the Chief of Party (COP) and will advise and support the COP in providing technical direction to project implementation and ensure the project meets stated goals, expected results and reporting requirements. S/he will take a technical leadership role in coordination with GOM, local community organizations, and other partners. S/he will be knowledgeable about evidence-based and state-of-the-art social service delivery approaches.
What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)
Technical Leadership (Estimated at 60%)
- Provide technical leadership in the development and implementation of strategies, interventions and activities that address the holistic needs of vulnerable children in a friendly manner, including their health, education, psychosocial well-being, protection and economic strengthening needs.
- Ensure that the project engages children in all stages of the project to promote child participation, leadership and ensure that their perspectives are taken into consideration.
- Ensure that project strategies and activities addressing children and adolescents are evidence-based and in line with state-of-the-art, globally-recognized best practices; as well as aligned with Malawi’s National legislation and policies.
- Ensure the project addresses the needs of highly vulnerable sub-groups of children, such as adolescent girls, HIV positive children and children living with disabilities.
- Ensure all child-focused strategies are gender-sensitive and promote equitable programming.
- Promote integration across a range of services for children to take a holistic, family-centered approach to improving their wellbeing.
- Provide technical leadership and oversight for high quality implementation of the household economic strengthening components of the project.
- Facilitate linkages with government safety net programs and other stakeholders to ensure that activities complement other economic strengthening initiatives and adhere to country and global standards.
Build capacity of staff, implementing partners, government counterparts, and other stakeholders in working in child-related services under the project. (Estimated at 10%)
- Assist the COP and sub-partners to ensure quality, timeliness and efficiency of all deliverables on household economic strengthening component of the project.
Contribute to work plans, quarterly and annual reports, financial reports, and other reports and papers summarizing project results and evidence. (Estimated at 10%)
- Monitor and maintain relevant manuals, training materials and reports for youth interventions.
Work closely with the MEAL team to deliver project quality benchmarks, baseline, monitoring, evaluation and key lessons learned. (Estimated at 20%)
Required Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in social sciences, development studies or related field.
- Eight years of experience implementing OVC programs in a development context, with five of these years in Sub-Saharan Africa, preferably Malawi. During this period s/he should have been involved with social services and or public health project design, implementation, system strengthening, reporting and evaluation, including evaluation of evidence-based economic/livelihood projects for vulnerable groups, such as OVC or graduation programming.
- Demonstrated state-of-the-art experience at a mid- or senior level in at least three of the following areas: child protection, household economic strengthening, social protection, education, health and nutrition including HIV/AIDS care and support; quality improvement; social service systems strengthening, including social services workforce; M&E; and operations research.
- Demonstrated experience in managing, coordinating and supervising a team working with local community organizations, families and communities.
- Demonstrated skills in project design, implementation and reporting, preferably for USG funded programs.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government representatives, for-profit private sector entities, local community organizations, donors and other stakeholders, particularly at the sub-national level.
- Professional level of oral and written fluency in English language.
- Strong writing skills about program activities, outcomes and impact.
- Extensive experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa; work experience in Malawi highly desirable.
- Qualified Malawian nationals are highly encouraged to apply.
About Save the Children
Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.
Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom Save the Children is in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue.
We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.
More Information
- Job City Malawi