NGO Jobs in Kenya - Save the Children

 Job Title: Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health  (RMNCH) Project Coordinator

Place of Work:Mandera County (Based in Takaba)

Post Type: National

Reports to:Programme Manager- Health and Nutrition -Mandera

Line management Responsibilities: Partner RMNCH Project officers (2)

Budget Accountabilities: None

Child Protection Level: Level 3

Job Purpose

Under the general guidance of Health and Nutrition Program manager, the RMNCH Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination of an up-coming 2½ year EC-funded project on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Mandera County.

The RMNCH project has a full range of interventions in the areas of basic and emergency obstetric care, safe birthing and motherhood, immunization, nutrition, reproductive health, and community-based interventions aimed at increasing uptake of health services.

These interventions will adopt a health systems strengthening approach. SC’s interventions are integrated with and aim to complement the work of the Ministry of Health.

The RMNCH Project Coordinator’s role will support two implementing partners (IPs) to deliver high quality project activities with evidence-based impact and outcomes to further reduce maternal and child mortality in Mandera County.

Key Accountabilities

    Coordinate all aspects of the EU-funded RMNCH project in the county to meet project objectives.
    Ensure quality compliance of day-to-day project implementation as outlined in the detailed implementation plan (DIPs).
    Responsible for planning and delivery of high-quality training of formal health workers and community health workers through effective liaison with accredited trainers.
    Coordinate the project activities with the 2 implementing partners in the county, including needs assessments, trainings, supervisions, supplies distribution tracking and utilization etc
    Provide direct technical management to the IPs RMNCH field officers.
    Work closely with the Health and Nutrition Programme Manager in managing the RMNCH project budget according to Save the Children and donor.
    Assist in development of detailed health programme plans for the designated programme area in line with county health plans.
    Provide regular field reports to the Programme Manager - Health and  Nutrition
    Develop BCC strategy and community outreach strategy to increase demand and uptake of services.
    Work with Master Trainers to ensure that training of health workers is appropriate to the needs of the trainees and that each training module is appropriate to the needs of the participants
    Take the lead in developing/ adopting training modules, manuals, handouts and other materials ensuring their appropriateness to the needs of the target trainees and coordinate the scheduling of trainings and ensure that trainings occur according to pre-agreed training calendar.
    Monitor the effectiveness of training methods and processes and evaluate the outcome of health workers trainings
    Ensure that delivery of trainings planned in the project proposal is of high quality and meets pre-defined training objectives and outcomes
    Work with trainers and the DHMTs to ensure that all planned trainings adhere to standards including meeting criteria for selection of training participants, use of participatory methods, emphasis on training outcomes, use of evaluations and certification, and effective employment of lessons learned from previous trainings
    Participate in knowledge management processes, including the contributions to project publications and documentation and establish and maintain database of accredited trainers and trainees who qualify from Save the Children supported training programmes.
    Responsible for coordinating with other actors working in Save the Children operational areas and those providing health care in other areas to ensure that Save the Children’s Programmes are coherent and appropriate
    Work closely with Save the Children’s logistics department to guarantee that the materials required for the RMNCH project are available on site at the right time
    Represent Save the Children in relevant RMNCH coordinating structures and technical working groups in the County including DHMT meetings, stakeholders’ forums, MCH policy advocacy forums and private sector partnerships, among others; participate in joint agency assessments, task-force teams and workshops, technical committee meetings, and coordination groups.

Person Specification

Essential

    Bachelor of Science degree in public health or nursing
    Additionally, you will have a minimum of 5 years recognized expertise and significant experience and achievement in managing and working in RMNCH programs.
    Experience in health systems strengthening focusing on health services and service delivery.
    Demonstrated familiarity with the structure, systems, and policies of the public and private health sector in Kenya.
    Demonstrated knowledge of Health Information Systems, and Primary and Reproductive Health Care concepts.
    Proven strategic planner and team leader with strong technical knowledge, conceptual and analytical ability. You will have proven operational skills and experience in working in hard to reach areas (particularly pastoralist areas) and in implementing community-based interventions and desirably, experience in implementing EC funded projects.
    You will have demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills including public speaking, and demonstrated capacity to oversee development of work plans, monitoring and evaluation and reporting. You will be available to be based in and travel within Mandera County 70% of your time.
    Ability to produce well-presented project reports
    Excellent spoken and written English and Swahili
    Strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills taking into account cultural difficulties
    Understanding rights based approaches and participatory concepts and practical experience in similar context.
    Excellent understanding of the Community Health Strategy
    Strong capacity building skills and proven success in training formal and informal health workers
    Sensitive to issues affecting children and committed to Save the Children’s Child Safe Guarding policy.



Nutrition Advisor - Kenya Country Office

Team / Programme:Programme Development and Quality   

Location:  Nairobi

Grade:  TBC  (Competitive Package)   

Post Type: National or International

Child Safeguarding:

Level 3 - the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people

Role Purpose:

Under the general direction and guidance of the Director of Programme Development and Quality ensure all nutrition programming is of excellent technical quality, attracts significant donor funding and contributes significantly to Save the Children’s strategic objectives, national/global learning and advocacy.

The Nutrition Advisor is expected to provide technical advice and support to project staff to ensure programming objectives are successfully achieved.

He/she shall also contribute to the development and implementation of the country office nutrition strategy, closely linked to WASH and health programming and the Hunger Signature Programme. 

The Nutrition Advisor must be willing to embrace a child rights programming approach and represent Save the Children in national forums and working groups. 

He/she will support the overall country strategic intent to focus on risk reduction, adaptation and resiliency in light of a changing context in East Africa.

Scope of Role:

Reports to: Director Programme Development and Quality

Dimensions:

Save the Children has been operational in Kenya since 1984, providing support to children through developmental and humanitarian relief programmes delivered both directly and through local partners.

Current programming focuses on child protection, child rights governance, education, health, HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, nutrition and WASH.

Save the Children has an operational presence in Dadaab Refugee Camp, Eldoret, Habaswein, Mandera, Meru and Wajir and has a logistics hub in Garissa.

Currently, we have a staff complement of approximately 370 staff and expenditure of approximately US$30 million this year.

Staff directly reporting to this post: Nutrition Specialist

Key Areas of Accountability:

Strategic Planning and Programme Development

    Be fully aware of and actively participate in the development and review of country strategy and thematic programme plans.  Specifically lead the development and implementation of the nutrition component of the Save the Children Kenya Newborn and Child Survival strategy and stand-alone nutrition strategy.
    Build on technical knowledge, personal understanding of the operation of nutrition policy and services in Kenya, current/previous programming to develop proposals for new programming in close coordination with the programme staff. Ensure all new programming supports the achievement of Save the Children strategic and thematic objectives, specifically improving Newborn and Child Survival, Food Security, Resilience and Adaptation in Kenya.
    Analyse donor priorities and positions on issues related to nutrition; identifying institutional funding opportunities and developing and maintaining contacts with potential donors, partners and key technical agencies.  Ensure that new partnerships in this technical area reflect the programme quality we expect of ourselves.
    Ensure that programme strategy supports and demonstrates good practice in child safeguarding.
    Using a child rights programming lens, ensure that our nutrition programming is built around the Theory of Change and aligns with Newborn Child Survival nutrition strategies.

Advocacy and Policy Development

    Be fully aware of national policies, strategies and other initiatives and developments by government and other stakeholders relating to the nutrition, and related health and Child Survival and/or food security issues.  Regularly assess and communicate the implications for Save the Children’s programme and priorities of any changes in the operating environment relevant to this theme in close collaboration with the relevant advisor(s).
    Help to clearly articulate the nutrition advocacy messages for the Kenya country office.  Develop an advocacy plan (with timeline and key outcomes) with the Nutrition and Food Security Advocacy Advisor.  Ensure implementation of nutrition advocacy strategy.
    Develop policy briefs and position papers as and when required related to the nutrition programme in coordination with the Nutrition and Food Security Advocacy Advisor and EVERYONE Campaign Manager.  This may require technical support from other technical advisors within the country office or within the SC Members.
    Represent and advocate for Save the Children with UN agencies, donors, Kenyan Government, NGOs and others at the highest levels in both verbal and written communications to ensure Save the Children is seen as the lead international agency in terms of innovation and quality of implementation that focus on child survival, food security and resilience.

Specifically ensure the following:

    Participation in monthly Nutrition Technical Forum meetings at the MoH
    Participate in Regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group meetings
    Nutrition Information Working Group
    Ensure presence at relevant to UN/UNICEF coordination meetings at national and regional levels
    Advise field teams to ensure adequate field visibility through technical attendance and technical meetings at district level
    Ensure active dissemination of programmes findings and lessons learned through the production of high technical quality lessons learned documents and their effective dissemination to key stakeholders.

Programme Quality

    Monitor and provide timely, relevant, accurate input on overall technical aspects of Save the Children nutrition programme work in Kenya.  The position will be required to travel 30-40% of the time to Save the Children field locations.
    Liaise with the Programme Operations departmentto ensure all nutrition and other programme staff receive the necessary and appropriate technical support. In consultation with staff and project managers agree on the range of advice, support, training and/or other assistance required from you to facilitate high quality programming.  This will involve regular visits to Save the Children operational areas.
    Assist in the development of tools for project staff and partners to improve the quality of nutrition work.  Where necessary provide technical training for project staff and partners as required (IMAM; IYCF; KAP and nutrition surveys, other monitoring and evaluation; etc …).
    Where external consultants (local or international) are required to technically support or monitor and evaluate projects, lead the recruitment and subsequent management of contracted consultants as per the recruitment guidelines.
    Review relevant monitoring reports to donors to ensure that technical debates are well articulated and reports are of acceptable quality before submission. Provide support where necessary to improve report writing skills. 
    Provide input on partner selection, and provide technical coaching of partners in nutrition.

Monitoring and Evaluation

    Ensure the development of an M&E framework and key indicators for nutrition that helps each project improve quality of reporting, clearly articulate progress and impact of projects, identify issues for advocacy and new programmes/projects in the future.
    Participate in the design of baseline, mid-term and end of project evaluations for nutrition programmes, or nutrition components of multi-sectoral programmes.  Monitor the evaluation process and provide input and clarification as needed.  Review evaluation findings and ensure that lessons and recommendations are captured in the Lessons Learned database.
    Regularly review and monitor programmes for child safeguarding issues.  Take corrective action in modifying programme activities and/or report incidents.

Other

    Participate actively in PDQ programme meetings, planning and review activities, providing enhanced insight into nutrition programming.
    Actively participate in key relevant internal meetings such as Programme Review Meetings, Senior Management Team or Area-based meetings as required.  Participate in any Donor visit to project(s) within the country office portfolio, as required. 
    Ensure the recruitment and training of nutrition programme staff in technical areas of expertise as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities.

Skills and Behaviours (our Values in Practice)

Accountability:

    Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
    Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

    Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
    Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
    Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

    Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
    Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
    Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

    Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
    Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

    Honest, encourages openness and transparency

Qualifications and Experience

    A nutrition professional with a Masters Degree in nutrition or equivalent.
    Significant professional experience, at least 3 years, of working at a senior advisory level in nutrition for international NGOs or the private sector in Kenya.
    Excellent understanding of the nutrition sector within the Kenyan context, particularly maternal, newborn and child nutrition issues.
    Clear understanding of hunger and food security issues in Kenya, particularly in the context of Northern Kenyan.
    Proven representation and advocacy skills.
    Strong commitment to capacity building of national staff and partners with willingness to adopt a participatory and consultative approaches.
    Experience with nutrition programming in humanitarian settings preferred.
    Experience writing donor funding proposals for large institutional grants in excess of US$1 million.
    Strong report writing skills, including experience in writing proposals and donor reports.
    Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels, taking into account cultural and language difficulties.
    Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching
    Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
    Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets.
    Experience solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy-in.
    Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
    Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
    Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required.  Swahili preferred.
    Commitment to Save the Children values, including willingness to abide by and enforce the Child Safeguarding policy.


Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Advisor PDQ

Team/Programme:Programme Development and Quality   

Location:  Nairobi

Grade:  TBC    

Post Type: National or International

Child Safeguarding:

Level 3 - the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people

Role Purpose:

The MEAL Advisor represents a crucial aspect of programme quality management within Save the Children.

He/she oversees the MEAL system, manages Nairobi-based MEAL staff, feeds into country office strategy & planning, manages MEAL budgets (e.g. Breakthrough Accountability Funds from SC UK), participates in proposal development & leads on reporting to SCI.

He/she rolls out a system for monitoring organisational progress against the Minimum Operating Standards, and develops and implements a realistic MEAL system, ensuring that such systems are institutionalised within the existing thematic programme cycle management framework, and that staff have the capacity to implement the systems.

Scope of Role:

Reports to: Deputy Director of Programme Development & Quality

Staff directly reporting to this post: Two (2) positions: Data and Knowledge Management Officer and Accountability Coordinator

Key Areas of Accountability:

System Design and Promoting MEAL

    Lead on the development and oversee the roll-out of an organisational MEAL system (emergency & development) in line with SCI MOS and ensuring accountability to donors and beneficiaries.  Ensures establishment of key indicators for each sector and tracking of data across projects to establish the broader impact on children from all interventions.
    Promote all aspects of MEAL to support the creation of an organisational culture which prioritises quality programming, including alignment with SCI Programme Quality Framework.
    Build strong relationships with colleagues and provide support as required to ensure MEAL system is understood and supported at country office level.
    Work closely with the Programme Operations team to ensure that MEAL becomes an integral element of project implementation leading to enhanced quality, accountability, management and impact, including feeding into new proposal development and sharing lessons learned.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development

    Provide management and leadership to the MEAL team in the Kenya country programme, forming a solid team with clear objectives around data quality, evaluation standards, accountability and learning.  This requires creating cohesion with the field MEAL staff working in different geographic areas with line management through the Programme Operations team.
    Oversee the recruitment of appropriate MEAL staffing in the Kenya Country Office.
    Manage the MEAL team to ensure that the MEAL system operates effectively with the support and resources required and that there are clear links and reporting lines between field and Nairobi level and between PDQ and other country office departments.
    Support the MEAL team progress on specific projects, providing management oversight on progress and problem-solving in case of challenges.
    Manage the performance of direct reports in the MEAL unit through performance management, coaching, mentoring, training and development.
    At the organisational level, devise and manage a MEAL training programme with the goal of increasing capacity and awareness of MEAL for all staff. Assess training needs and engage MEAL team staff to roll-out the training programme.

Internal Reporting

    Responsible to ensure that the organisation delivers on all internal M&E requirements in emergency and development programmes in a timely manner and with high quality information, including reporting on SCI global indicators and quarterly reports, total direct and indirect reach data.  Develop systems for ensure monitoring of child participation and gender equity.
    Working with the Member Services department, sets up a system which ensures that SC members have regular access to M&E data on their projects
    Receive regular field monitoring and accountability reports from MEAL staff and circulate to the country office teams, ensuring that action plans are included and followed up and that SMT reviews reports regularly.
    With the Data and Knowledge Management Officer, lead on organisational MEAL for the PDQ and Programme Operations departments, for example monitoring the department’s progress against SCI Management Operating Standards; and ensure the CD and Directors receive reports on progress.
    Ensure that the Accountability Coordinator operates a clear system of feedback and response from key stakeholders, particularly children, and presents the information to SMT for decision making purposes.

Promoting Learning for Strategy Development and Decision Making

    Ensure that data is brought together and findings from across thematic and operational regions is consolidated into the Lessons Learned database, which allows analysis of impact and promotion of learning and strategy development for the whole organisation.
    Lead on technical support, including formation of TOR and selection of consultants, for evaluations and provide technical review of progress and final reports.  Synthesise this information to improve organisatonal performance and impact for children.
    Communicate top level learning / analysis reports and monitoring data to ensure that management is able to make informed decisions on a timely basis to scale up and face operational challenges.
    Support the Director of PDQ to analyse progress against organisational objectives and strategies.

External Reporting and Representation

    Ensure external accountability to donors through the implementation of timely and quality MEAL activities leading to timely and accurate reporting
    Ensure that high quality analysis reports demonstrating SC’s impact and assessment findings are produced, including evidence of good practice and replicable programmes, and that they are communicated at appropriate events.
    Ensure that SCI is represented at relevant inter-NGO and government level meetings at the Nairobi level (related to MEAL) to enhance inter-agency best practices sharing and learning.


Programme Design and MEAL Resources

    Ensure that MEAL is an integral part of the programme design stage and features in all proposal development.
    Ensure that MEAL resources are included in proposal development and work creatively to secure funding from diverse sources, to ensure that MEAL is integrated in emergency and development programmes in a sustainable way.
    Responsible for effectively managing the MEAL budget, including Breakthrough Accountability funds from SC UK.

Other

    Initiate Action research to test new innovations, identifying better opportunities and approaches and rolling out into Country Office programmes.
    Test and integrated SCI Programme Quality Framework into programme design, delivery and evaluation.
    Ensure that child participation and child safeguarding is integrated into solid design and delivery.

Skills and Behaviours (our Values in Practice)

Accountability:

    Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
    Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

    Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
    Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
    Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

    Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
    Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
    Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

    Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
    Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

    Honest, encourages openness and transparency

Qualifications and Experience

    Masters degree in an area of social development or equivalent.
    Recommended a minimum of five years experience working in MEAL roles including in a senior management position in a both emergency and development contexts, preferably with solid experience in more than one of the Save the Children priority sectors: education, protection, child rights governance, HIV/AIDS, health, nutrition, food security/livelihoods, WASH and emergencies
    Experience of working on all elements of MEAL including designing, rolling out and managing systems
    Experience of securing resources from donors for MEAL activities/staffing and budget management
    Proven experience in designing Terms of Reference and managing large-scale evaluations.
    Awareness of international quality standards (Red Cross Code of Conduct, SPHERE Standard, HAP Standard) and proven experience of using these standards in practical ways to promote quality and accountable programming
    Direct experience of working with communities in participatory activities, including confidence in working with children and an understanding of child-friendly participatory methodologies.
    Proven success in managing a team and dedication to staff development.
    Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching.
    Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
    Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
    Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in
    Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
    Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
    Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required.  Swahili preferred.
    Commitment to Save the Children values, including willingness to abide by and enforce the Child Safeguarding policy.

The application period is now open and will close on Monday 28th January 2013 at 4.30pm. 

To apply for open positions, please send a short cover letter and CV to Kenya.jobapplications@savethechildren.org  indicating the position applied for in the subject line.