Mozambique: Anti-Child Marriage Specialist MPT-SC 010/2019

JOB TITLE: Anti - Child Marriage Specialist

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Programme Development and Quality Team

LOCATION: Maputo

GRADE: 3

POST TYPE: Fixed Term Contract

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: Level 3: The role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; ore because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Anti-Child Marriage Specialist will be responsible for driving and delivering on our commitment to end child marriage in Mozambique through policy change, national and provincial level advocacy and research. He/She will act as Save the Children’s focal point in the country office team for engaging with like-minded stakeholders, such as INGOs, UNICEF/UNFPA and other UN bodies, donors and national CSOs. He/She will also mobilise new partners and the public as part of a country office-led Campaign to legally end child marriage in Mozambique. The role will ensure close collaboration with the country office communications activities to profile the work on ending child marriage, including media planning and engagement. The function will be a focal person for advocacy and communication enquiries in the country office from Save the Children International and individual Save the Children Members. The position will be part of the Programme Development and Quality team in order to ensure that key advocacy messages and strategies are informed by the work in our programmes and shaped in close consultation with the Technical Specialists. The Anti-Child Marriage Specialist will seek clarification on any politically-sensitive matters which may impact upon the country office operations and seek appropriate sign off (e.g. Country Director level) on any messaging or products.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Program Development and Quality Director

Role Dimensions:

• Responsible for shaping and delivering work, which has a significant impact on Save the Children’s strategy in Mozambique and contributes to our global Ambition 2030
• Achieves goals by influencing external agenda/policies through using high quality advocacy work
• Provides on regular basis creative/innovative solutions to problems or tasks
• Makes independent decisions and solves problem on new and complex issues, requiring creative thinking to find best solutions
• Drives innovation to seize new opportunities in our external environment to maximise Save the Children influence
• Represents Save the Children to external contacts and deals with influential senior stakeholders, including the Government of Mozambique
• Requires the ability to analyse and communicate information to a wide audience
• Expert knowledge on advocacy tactics and tools

Key relationships:

• Senior Advocacy Manager
• PDQ Technical Specialists
• Country Director
• Regional Advocacy and Campaign Director
• SC Members

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Advocacy and Campaign

· Provide overall leadership, vision, strategic direction and management of campaign and advocacy work on ending child marriage in Mozambique, including developing and delivering the Ending Child Marriage Campaign in partnership with the Senior Advocacy Manager.

· Provide support to the country office to integrate advocacy and campaigns on ending child marriage into programme design and proposal development, including budgeting for key activities. Support resource mobilisation and scope funding opportunities with Save the Children’s Members for campaign, advocacy, media and communication related to ending child marriage.

· Identify synergies and convergence between global initiatives and campaign and advocacy work in the country office; keep country office informed of key developments related to ending child marriage and identify opportunities for alignment and linkages to maximise impact, e.g. with the regional office, AU Advocacy Office and global team.

· Lead in identifying and managing potential risks associated with Save the Children’s public positions and design strategies to mitigate the risks that have been identified.

· Capture and document advocacy, campaigns, media and communications successes and impact in the country office and disseminate lessons to other country offices, regional office and Save the Children Members.

· Contribute to country office advocacy and Campaign plans, as part of the country strategic planning, by providing inputs and strategic thinking from the ending child marriage agenda, including innovations from Save the Children and others.

Policy

· Analyse current Government of Mozambique policies on child marriage and child protection to identify areas of divergence with child rights as stated in the UNCRC and other international instruments that Mozambique has endorsed, in order to develop a policy agenda for ending child marriage.

· Identify areas for harmonization of laws and policies to ensure that marriage below the age of 18 is not legal in Mozambique.

· Develop policy briefs on child marriage to inform stakeholders, especially government decision-makers, donors and civil society organisations.

· Develop and implement strategies to change policy and harmonize laws to ensure that all children are protected from marriage until age 18.

Research

· Lead on development of a research agenda for ending child marriage, in collaboration with Technical Specialists and the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning team.

· Coordinate research teams to ensure key questions on ending child marriage, or child rights related issues, are clearly answered.

· Analyse trends in child marriage and child protection issues (e.g. adolescent pregnancy) to quantify the impact of advocacy and policy change on children.

• Coordinate a country office community of practice on ending child marriage, and document learning.

External Representation

· Represent Save the Children in relevant regional forums (e.g. ending child marriage networks), government task forces and UN bodies (e.g. UNICEF and UNFPA) to influence child marriage agendas. Influence debates/conversations related to ending child marriage and share with COs results of engagement.

· Develop working relationships with decision-makers and influencers to create a body of champions to end child marriage.

In case of emergency

• Promote children rights, contributing for children wellness and protection during emergencies, guided by the humanitarian principles and the Save the Children code of conduct
• Be prepared to support Save the Children interventions in response to emergencies and able to be allocated in any province in the country;
• Develop any activity requested by line managers.

Child Safeguarding

Behave towards children in a way which reflects the Code of Conduct and Safeguarding Policy.

· Ensure that all beneficiaries are receiving ongoing, age-appropriate verbal or written information in relevant languages about Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct.

· Ensure that children’s activities are safe for children and that all steps are taken to ensure their meaningful and safe participation.

COMPETENCIES FOR THIS ROLE:

1.PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING

Takes effective, considered and timely decisions by gathering and evaluating relevant information from within or outside the organisation.

Level required: Accomplished

2.WORKING EFFECTIVELY WITH OTHERS

Works collaboratively to achieve shared goals and thrives on diversity of people and perspectives. Knows when to lead and when to follow and how to ensure effective cross-boundary working.

Level required: Accomplished

3.COMMUNICATING WITH IMPACT

Communicates clearly and confidently with others to engage and influence; promotes dialogue and ensures timely and appropriate messages, building confidence and trust with others.

Level required: Accomplished

4.DELIVERING RESULTS

Takes personal responsibility and holds others accountable for delivering our ambitious goals for children, continually improving own performance or that of the team/ organisation

Level required: Accomplished

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

· Masters Degree, and/or 5-7 years work experience.

· At least 3 years of management experience in advocacy and Campaigns.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

Essential

• Significant prior experience child rights, human rights, or development issues, preferably related to child marriage or gender.

· Experience of influencing and advocacy work including lobbying, policy development and information provision, working with government and key stakeholders at the national level.

· Excellent skills negotiation and consensus building.

· Experience developing and implementing advocacy strategies and large Campaigns.

· Good attention to detail.

· Extensive knowledge of child rights and international humanitarian law.

• Experience in working with other NGOs and civil society actors to coordinate inter-agency advocacy activities, strategies and products.

· High-level analytical and strategic thinking skills and strong research skills.

· Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people.

• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities.
• Strong leadership skills with an ability to seek people’s views while also taking responsibility to determine the most appropriate course of action and to act decisively.
• Experience writing funding proposals and budgeting for advocacy activities.
• Communication skills and ability to document work in written, photo and video format.
• Strong communication (written and spoken), and interpersonal skills in English and Portuguese.

Desirable

• Proven skills in media work, including interviews on Radio and TV.
• Commitment to Save the Children values, including safeguarding of staff and children.
• Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours when essential to success of endeavours.
• Willingness to travel within the region.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures

Child Safeguarding:

Behave towards children in a way which reflects the Code of Conduct and Safeguarding Policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures

Interested candidates should request the following detailed terms of reference from Save the Children International, Rua de Tchamba Nº398, Maputo. The CV and the letter of motivation must be submitted in Portuguese and English to the electronic address: recrutamento.moz@savethechildren.org or left at the above mentioned address until July 19, 2019.

"We are an equal opportunity employer, we encourage the candidacy of women. Save the Children is committed to ensuring that all its employees and programs are absolutely safe for children.

We apply strict procedures to ensure that only suitable candidates to work with children are allowed to join our organization and all candidates will therefore be subject to this scrutiny. "

DISCLAIMER:

SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL DOES NOT CHARGE ANY KIND OF FEE AT WHICHEVER STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS AND DOESNOT ACT THROUGH RECRUITMENT AGENTS.

NB: Only the selected candidates will be contacted.