Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian non-governmental organization 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 its 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
The 18+ Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Ending Child Marriage, and Teenage Pregnancy is Plan International’s regional hub for ending Child, Early, and Forced marriage (CEFM) programmes as well as a shared service providing expertise for programming and evidence-based influencing to end (CEFM), and teenage pregnancy in Eastern and Southern Africa. The CoE was established as part of regional transformation change initiative in June 2018 and is hosted by Plan International Zambia. The Centre of Excellence is also a consortium and core member of the Plan International SRHR Global Network.
| Title | Technical Specialist: Comprehensive Sexuality Education | ||
| Functional Area | 18+ Centre of Excellence on Ending Child Marriage & Teenage Pregnancy in Eastern & Southern Africa | ||
| Reports to | 18+ RESA Programme Manager | ||
| Location | Travel required | 50 % | |
| Effective Date | (2 years – September 2019 to September 2021) | Grade | D2 |
about plan international
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 its 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 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.
Plan International’s global strategy prioritises sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as one of its key thematic areas. We want to see that children and young people can have control of their lives and bodies, and make decisions about their sexuality, including whether, when and whom to marry and whether, when and by what means to have a child, free from discrimination, coercion and violence. Our programme and influencing responses include youth-led advocacy, comprehensive sexuality education, social norm change, and strengthening adolescent-responsive health systems. We work at multiple levels, and across multiple sectors.
ABOUT THE 18+ RESA Centre of excellence on ending child marriage and TEENANGE PREGNANCY
The 18+ Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Ending Child Marriage, and Teenage Pregnancy is Plan International’s regional hub for ending Child, Early, and Forced marriage (CEFM) programmes as well as a shared service providing expertise for programming and evidence-based influencing to end (CEFM), and teenage pregnancy in Eastern and Southern Africa. The CoE was established as part of regional transformation change initiative in June 2018 and is hosted by Plan International Zambia. The Centre of Excellence is also a consortium and core member of the Plan International SRHR Global Network.
The CoE implements multi – country ending CEFM projects, (currently four) and mobilises expertise from a network of internal and external professionals to provide support that enables Country Offices and partner organisations in Eastern and Southern Africa to design and implement programmes, influencing strategies that address CEFM, and Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR).
The underpinning principle is to achieve cost efficiency, and effectiveness while guaranteeing access to relevant, quality, and sustainable services closer to the country programmes.
The CoE was born out of the experience, lessons and successes of the 18+ programme on Ending Child Marriage in Southern Africa, which originally covered Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (2013-2017). The robust sub-regional programme model characterised by multiple levels of interventions, clear objectives, theory of change, and strategies for ending CEFM made it easy to adopt and scale up in different contexts. The 18+ programme model has now been adopted as Plan International’s global approach to ending CEFM.
role PURPOSE
In 2016, Plan International began a global level initiative to provide programme support and guidance to its staff and offices on Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). Ensuring access to CSE for all children, adolescents and youth is a key investment area for Plan International as part of our global strategy. To this end, Plan has developed programme standards to guide its work and developed topic tables to support offices in selecting and adapting curricula. There is a need to support Plan offices to apply global standards and guidance, ensuring appropriate flexibility, contextualisation and adaptation, whilst retaining quality.
The technical specialist is expected to provide very practical support to selected country offices in eastern and southern Africa (Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) on how to advance the technical quality of CSE programme work.
The purpose of this position is to:
- Roll-out Plan International’s CSE standards and guidance
- Develop capacity amongst Plan International and partner staff on CSE
- Contribute to learning and sharing about Plan International’s SRHR work internally and externally
- Support for resource mobilization for SRHR programmes
Dimensions of the Role
The technical specialist will be part of the 18+ RESA Centre of Excellence on ending child marriage and Teenage pregnancy and working in close collaboration with Plan International’s SRHR Area of Global Distinctiveness. The role would liaise with different SRHR and education technical staff within Plan International located within country offices, regional offices, national offices and the Global Hub.
The role will be expected to keep up-to-date with CSE technical developments in the field, and to communicate with peers in like-minded organisations and agencies in order to ensure that our programme work is continually improving and reflects current best practices. The post holder may also represent Plan International in various external networks to develop strategic relationships with external stakeholders, including government officials, legislators, UN agency and development partner staff, to position Plan International as an influential leader in SRHR and gender equality.
Accountabilities
- To test and roll out Plan International’s CSE training and support package with selected country offices and partner organisations in Sastern and southern Africa.
- To work alongside a selected number of programmes in the region to provide deeper technical support and resource mobilisation, and provide light touch technical support to other SRHR programmes in the region.
- To deliver in-country workshops with Plan and partner staff to strengthen technical capabilities and refine support materials for ongoing use in CSE programmes
- To map different CSE programme models used, and make practical recommendations for Plan International on its use of CSE programme models, identify areas of strength for further documentation and learning as well as key support needs
- To support implementation of CSE programme model in selected country offices, for example:
- Taking a “whole school approach” – Support teacher trainings on CSE, and strengthening a safe learning environment in schools
- Contribute to development and implementation of CSE for parents and other caregivers
- Community campaigns and dialogue to address religious and socio-cultural norms that oppose CSE
- Support groups in safe spaces for vulnerable and excluded girls and young women, including those are pregnant, mothers, out of school etc.
- To develop case studies on Plan International’s CSE work to showcase insights and instances of success and failures to ensure ongoing learning within Plan International
- To strengthen M&E for CSE in the region through testing and application of Plan International’s results framework
Technical expertise, skills and knowledge
- Master’s degree in relevant field
- At least 5 years proven experience within the development sector in comprehensive sexuality education programming (experience in both development and humanitarian setting desirable)
- Good understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and inclusion
- Excellent English communication skills (French an advantage)
- Experience in capacity development of project staff; strong facilitation and training skills
- Strategic thinking and analytical skills, and ability to seek practical solutions
- Sharing knowledge and learning from activities and evaluation, especially through supporting active networking internally and externally and the development of knowledge products
- Adjusting approaches, communication style and behaviour to work effectively across cultures and with diverse stakeholders and communities
- Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with colleagues, a variety of team members and external contacts, through good written and spoken communication skills
- Ability to plan work and meet deadlines when working under pressure on a number of projects.
- Understanding of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and other rights instruments.
- Commitment to Plan’s values including the rights and needs of children.
- Experience of working for an international organisation (desirable)
More Information
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