Senior Social Protection Adviser at Save the Children Nigeria

Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with programs in over 120 countries. We save children’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Save the Children is working in Nigeria because one in five children in Nigeria dies before their fifth birthday. About 40% of children miss out on school and have to work to survive while nearly 2 million children have lost one or both parents to an AIDS-related disease.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Social Protection Adviser

Job ID: 210003LV
Location: Abuja (FCT)
Grade: 2
Employee Status: Fixed Term
Team: Nigeria Country Office
Post Type: National

Child Safeguarding

• Level 3. The responsibilities of this post may require the post holder to have regular contact with children and young people and, in the overseas context all posts are considered to be level 3 posts in view of potential situations which may allow staff unsupervised access to vulnerable children and young people.

Role Purpose:

• Strategically lead and manage all technical aspects of the Child Development Grant Programme, accountable for ensuring that the programme is delivered to a high quality, evidence in the programme approach is built and a consistent approach to quality is taken across the consortium.

Scope of Role:

• Reports to: National Programme Manager 
• Staff directly reporting to this post: TBD

Key Areas of Accountability:

• Provide technical leadership for the programme, including proving support to selected States in the development and oversight of cash transfer mechanisms that deliver regular, reliable transfers in a way that is convenient to the beneficiaries, with effective targeting and enrolment processes.
• Deputise for the National Programme Manager in the absence of the Deputy Programme Manager as appropriate.
• Ensure the timely provision of high quality technical assistance to the programme and across consortium partners, including appropriate coordination between the technical and operations staff, and linking with Save the Children Member Head Offices or external technical support providers as necessary.
• Participation in national level social protection discussion forums and advocacy on social protection and cash transfers to engage with the government on policy and strategic issues
• Facilitate capacity building for staff, consortium partners, selected state governments and Federal government in management of social protection programmes as well as policy and strategic issues, through training and mentoring, to enable them to consistently deliver high quality interventions;
• Ensure that programme technical leads are working regularly with, and building the capacity of State Governments to ensure that current information and indicators to monitor needs and performance are available and increasingly used to influence government decision making and ownership.
• Oversee effective monitoring, learning and accountability, including using the monitoring data at the programme level to improve implementation and support the National Programme Manager to adjust planning and implementation as required.
• Lead or participate in regular project meetings with the technical, programme focal points across consortium members to ensure as well as with key programme stakeholders:
• Progress against technical plans are on track;
• Discussion of programme related issues and establishment of coordination mechanisms to address these;
• Learning by the consortium from relevant best practice and assessing performance regularly against agreed programme objectives and indicators 
• Sharing initiatives for capacity building with consortium members, focusing at consortium approaches and methodologies;
• Provide technical support on ensuring value for money on identified effective programmes and techniques and ensure programme systems are flexible and responsive.
• Ensure that you work to the best of your ability and demonstrate high levels of commitment to Save the Children UK and our vision, mission and values in order to ensure the objectives of your role and the country programme are met. Ensure the effective and efficient use of all Save the Children UK resources in order to keep costs low and ensure safety in the workplace.  Comply with the requirements of Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding Policy to ensure maximum protection for children.

Skills and Behaviours (Values in Practice)
Accountability:

• Accuracy and timeliness in all areas of responsibility
• High level of accuracy in work, and ability to analyse complex sets of relationships and situations
• Holds self and others accountable

Ambition

• Creating best-in-class EA function
• Future-orientated, thinks pro-actively
• Driving technical excellence

Collaboration:

• Working effectively with stakeholders to achieve common goals
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Designing more effective admin systems
• Willing to take disciplined risks
• Able to build evidence and develop innovative approaches

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency, demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

Skills and Experience

• Post-graduate qualification in social science, international development, economics or related relevant discipline
• Substantial professional experience working to develop and strengthen social protection systems’, policies at various levels of influence.
• Prior experience providing technical advisory to Government institutions, and overseeing the technical quality of program interventions
• Proven ability to work within or manage large consortiums with a minimum of 4 years’ experience managing multi-agency programmes
• Demonstrable track record of meeting or exceeding programme targets, while maintaining technical quality.
• Ability to represent the programme at a policy and strategic level as well as to engage with and influence key stakeholders
• Demonstrated experience of working with national and/or regional level government structures to strengthen the capacity of the state to take ownership for and deliver social protection services.
• Proven ability to motivate and develop others
• Experience of building, leading and developing a team of senior staff with different backgrounds and expertise
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy-in
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles
• Demonstrable understanding of Value for Money and FCDO’s results agenda.
• Strong communication, and interpersonal skills in English, with substantial experience in managing multicultural teams
• Highly diplomatic and emotionally intelligent with strong oral and written communication skills.
• Highly numerically articulate with a track record of data manipulation and use of spreadsheets and reporting systems.
• Self-motivated and results oriented.
• Ability to coach and mentor multi-sectoral partners.

Application Closing Date
7th June, 2021.