Dear Candidate

Thank you very much for your interest in this role at Save the Children. This role is the head of a newly created team in based in the Programme Policy and Quality Department.

Save the Children is an organisation which is growing in impact and visibility and the next three years are critical time in the organisations growth trajectory.

Over the next three years we want to have dramatically scaled up and improved the quality of our programmes, saving millions more children’s lives and helping them fulfil their potential at home and abroad. We will be globally known for a number of world class programmes, and we will spread innovation and best practice through evidence based research to impact hundreds of millions of children. We will be the major player in the world saving and protecting children in emergencies. We will partner with other major players to increase our reach, influence and to raise significantly more funds. The DRR & CCA Team is integral to realising this vision.

To achieve this vision, Save the Children needs to scale up and further improve the quality of its work across all technical areas by harnessing innovation and ensuring maximum impact. We’ve created this new role in our Programme Policy and Quality department to lead the way in ensuring we have the creativity, drive and strategic vision to develop an ambitious portfolio that enhances countries and local communities’ capacity to better integrate disaster resilience and CCA thinking and practice into their planning.

We are looking for a strategic thinker with highly developed influencing skills to ensure that the way we design, deliver and evaluate our programmes enhances our ability to pioneer, replicate and leverage our work to impact tens of millions of children’s lives’ across the globe.

This post will enable you to bring your expertise in DRR and/or CCA to enhance our programme policy and practice. It will also allow you to apply your extensive experience of working with non-traditional partners, including those from academic and research institutions and the private sector to ensure we have the agility to lead the way in an ever-changing global environment.

Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi

Director, Programme Policy and Quality

JOB PROFILE

Job Title: / Head of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaption (Programmes)
Reports to: / Director, Programme Policy and Quality
Reports: / 2
Grade: / Grade 1
Budget / >£500,000
Child Protection Level: / 2

Job Purpose

The Head of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRRCCA) will lead the team responsible for enhancing the quality, innovation and scale-up of Save the Children UK’s (SCUK) programming on DRR and CCA. This post sits in the Programme Policy and Quality Department.

The DRRCCA Team is responsible for:

  • Developing programme policy for SCUK’s and other SC members as appropriate on DRRCCA portfolio;
  • EnhancingSCUK’s capacity to effectively contribute to improving children’s rights and ability to realise their potential objectives, through the provision of robust technical advice for programme design and implementation of DRR and CCA programmes;
  • Mainstreaming disaster resilience and climate change adaptation across SCUK’s development and humanitarian programmes;
  • EnsuringDRR & CCA projects are underpinned by robust evidence and informed by good practice to enhance their potential to have a demonstrably positive impact on the lives and right of children;

Key accountabilities

People Management:

  1. To lead and manage the DRR &CCA Team providing clear strategic direction, support, motivation and opportunities for staff development.
  1. To provide coordination and quality oversight for DRR & CCA advisors in regional offices.
  1. Develop and provide training to national staff on DRR & CCA analytical and programme skills.

Programmes and Policies

  1. To ensure Save UK has a robust and systematic strategy for supporting DRR & CCA programming. This will include:
  • Developing a DRR & CCA Programming Strategy and a quality standard for programmes
  • Providing technical advice for the development and implementation of DRR & CCA programmes and DRR & CCA components of other sectoral programmes
  • Ensuring DRR & CCA programmes are underpinned by evidence and have robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to assess impact
  • Working with colleagues across the organisation to ensure Save the Children UK meets global targets on DRR and CCA in partnership agreements
  1. To provide sound technical advice to country offices, regional offices and other thematic teams. This will include:
  • Supporting country programmes to integrate disaster resilience and CCA thinking and practice into country strategies and project proposal development;
  • Providing timely, high quality feedback to project and programme development.
  • Providing DRR & CCA expertises to the other thematic teams in Save the Children as required
  • Developing resource materials (guidance notes and toolkits) and training on DRRCCA as necessary
  • Collating and analysing data to improve programme design and increase impact
  • Leading on operational research on DRR & CCA

Networking and Influencing

  1. To further strengthen Save the Children, UK’s networks with key partners in Save the Children International, donor agencies, government, private sector, other NGOs and academia. This will involve:
  • Enhancing Save the Children’s reputation as a key DRR & CCA focused agency with an emphasis on long-term resilience.
  • Technical advocacy with key donors on DRR, CCA and resilience and providing key donors with regular Save the Children DRR & CCA programme updates.
  • Developing a network of DRR & CCA experts / consultants who can be called upon to support programme or strategy development.
  • Establishing links with key stakeholders in academia to enhance learning through the extraction and dissemination of data and evidence;
  • Working with key stakeholders to identify and develop innovative programming solutions to enhance communities resilience to disasters
  • Strengthening SCUK’s technical advocacy and research collaboration with other agencies, bilaterally and multilaterally
  • Strengthening Save the Children UK’s cooperation with Save the Children International and other Members on DRRCCA

Systems Management

  1. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team in the Programme Policy and Quality Department, assist the Director in effective management of the Department. This will include:
  • Ensuring the team adheres to the organisation’s procedures on people management and staff policies:
  • Complying with the requirements of Save the Children UK’s child protection, health and safety and equal opportunities policies;
  • Responsible allocation of and effective expenditure of the team budget and actively support organisational generation of funds
  • Supporting the Director and other members of the SLT as required.
  1. This role will play an integral part of the wider Save the Children International DRRCCA working group supporting global strategy and policy development and contributing to a network of technical support to Save the Children International country programmes.

Person specification

Essential

Technical skills

  • A professional qualification at a post graduate level or equivalent in environment, sustainable development and programming on resource scarcity issues or a relevant social science. Experience can substitute for qualifications
  • Demonstrable expertise in managing and implementing either Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation programmes in international development. Evidence of substantial impact onorganisational design, public policy and decision-makers will be an asset.
  • Significant experience in mainstreaming DRR and/or CCA. Application of this experience within a framework similar to the Save the Children Theory of Change and/or in relation to any of Save the Children’s core thematic or cross-cutting areas - Health, Nutrition, Livelihoods, Child Protection, Education, Child Rights Programming, Gender, Child Participation and Accountability - will be an asset.
  • Experience of strategically driving or using evidence based innovation within an institution. Successful experience in an international development organisation, especially on child rights programming will be an asset.
  • Extensive experience of developing strategic frameworks and effective use of evidence to influence organisational decisions
  • A track record of building, maintaining and developing relationships and networks of partnerships to maximise organisational reach and influence
  • Fluent written and spoken English and computer literate.

Core Competencies

  • Strong interpersonal skills with an ability to communicate effectively verbally and to taper style to a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds and at all levels - e.g. young people, peers, senior colleagues, the media etc.
  • Outstanding writing skills with an ability to write and edit at a level suitable for publication
  • Strong analytical skills with an ability to distil key messages from a large amount of information.
  • Outstanding influencing skills with an ability to build and maintain strong cross-organisational relationships and mobilise support and build ownership. Demonstration of an ability to influence beyond authority will be an asset
  • Strong leadership skills and commitment to team working and ability to build and motivate successful teams, effective team management (including experience of building shared objectives, empowering staff, coaching and mentoring, motivation, performance management, development and training).
  • Experience of developing, allocating, and monitoring budgets and supporting efforts to generate funds.

Other

  • Ability to travel overseas for up to a week per visit as required
  • Commitment to Save the Children UK’s mission, values and approach.

Desirable

  • Demonstrated monitoring and evaluation skills
  • Ability to work both in an advisory and hands-on implementation capacity.
  • Proven capacity to supervise, train and coach national staff.
  • Language skills in French, Spanish or Portuguese