Regional Operations Project Officer – Save the Children – Nairobi

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 Regional Operations Project Officer will support the regional operations team and country offices with the production, coordination and dissemination of quality and timely management information (including tracking of humanitarian response finance/grants and human resource deployments); communication products and regional analysis.

This will include working with country offices in the coordination and dissemination of operations planning and reporting, ongoing response information through the use of tools including SitReps, Output Trackers; SCI Operations Management Tool (OMT); regional management KPIs and humanitarian dashboard; and updated programme case studies and factsheets.

The post-holder will support the regional operations team in improving our forecasting, preparedness, contingency planning and backstopping of categorised emergencies in the region – including direct links with country offices to establish and resource identified support needs.

By supporting the regional operations team, through research and monitoring of contextual analysis and humanitarian information sources (internal and external) and attending regional forum and networks the post-holder will assist the production and dissemination of regional trend analysis and early warning information, including humanitarian alerts; written opinions and communication products illustrating the issues that children face across East Africa and showcasing Save the Children’s humanitarian programme activities and achievements in the region to.

The Regional Operations Project Officer will also act as a key focal point; working closely with country office teams; to support and organise internal and external programme visits.

The Regional Operations Project Officer; will support the roll out of regional capacity building; training and mentoring initiatives that are coordinated through the regional office in liaison with the Humanitarian and Leadership Academy learning centre in Nairobi.

The post-holder will also work with country office project officers; information and communication officers and other associated staff in identify and support (including direct training/mentoring) capacity building needs.

Scope of Role:
Reports to: The post holder will report to the Regional Operations Manager.

The post holder will work closely with the regional operations team; as well as others in the regional office (including HR, Finance, M&E etc.) and country office humanitarian, operations and communications teams.

Dimensions: Save the Children works in 12 countries in East and Southern Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi) with a current staff complement of approximately 3500 staff and current expenditure of approximately $300 million each year

Key Areas of Accountability:
Key Responsibilities
Build and maintain a understanding of the type of programme management information that is required for the evolving needs of Save the Children Regional Office, Centre and members based on on-going programme support; profile building and fundraising suitable for a variety of audiences.
Working directly with Country Offices and coordinating across the regional operations team and other departments to ensure the timely delivery of Country Annual Planning and Annual and monthly/quarterly reporting.
Work with country office project officers; information & communications officers and others to produce, consolidate and disseminate regular management KPIs, SitReps; Output Trackers, Funding and Grants; deployment trackers and Operation Management Information (OMT); regional humanitarian dashboard; as well as updated Q&As and Fact Sheets (according to in-country sign off procedures).
Produce and update Quarterly Operations analytic reports synthesising information from HR, Logistics, Awards, Security etc.
Work with the regional operations team to identify and support improved emergency preparedness and contingency planning across the East Africa region – including for the regional office itself.
Work with the regional operations team (and identified country focal points) to support identified backstopping needs to categorised humanitarian responses. Assist in the identification and coordination of resource needs and allocations (including tracking of funding and HR deployments).
Work with regional operations team and others within the regional office and country offices to support the production and dissemination of regional humanitarian trend analysis and early warning information.
Monitor internal and external humanitarian information sources to provide oversight of emerging and continued humanitarian contexts. Attend regional forum and networks as required.
Act as a key focal point within the regional operations team for the coordination of media visits and internal and external programme visitors, providing all necessary Nairobi level documentation & support – including transportation, accommodation, registration and security & child safeguarding briefings.
Act as a focal point across the country programs for media & information requests across the region.
Work with country programmes to ensure that all media and communication protocols are closely followed and the in-county sign off procedures are adhered to by all SC members.
Support the regional operations team and country offices in the identification of capacity building needs.
In liaison with the Humanitarian and Leadership Academy – Nairobi Learning Centre support the implementation of training, capacity building and mentoring initiatives across the region.
Provide training, mentoring and build capacity of country project officers and information communication officers or other designated staff to deliver usable response management information to meet region, centre and member needs.
Act as a link between country offices and centre and members to promote 2-way communication and accountability. Ensure country offices understand the value of the information they provide and that centre is sharing this information effectively.
Occasionally be deployed to country offices in the initial stages of an emergency response to assist with duties linked to this role.
Undertake other duties and responsibilities commensurate with the grade of this post
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
Creates a managerial environment to lead, enable and maintain our culture of child safeguarding
Ambition:
Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale
Collaboration:
Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to; builds and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
Values diversity and different people’s perspectives, able to work cross-culturally.
Creativity:
Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
Cuts away bureaucracy and encourages an entrepreneurial approach
Integrity:
Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds trust and confidence
Displays consistent excellent judgement

Qualifications and Experience
Essential:
Able to manage a high workload and meet tight deadlines
At least 2 years demonstrable experience in role with similar responsibly for information management and coordination
A university Degree in a related field
Must be a self-driven and a self-starter able to work with minimum supervision
Ability to work effectively to elicit information from a variety of stakeholders and to adapt this into concise materials in English to support and promote the work of Save the Children.
An understanding of emergency response management and the critical importance of information management and communications
Excellent written and spoken English
Excellent and proven communicator able to communicate to a wide range of audiences.
Builds capacity with hands on practical approach and can demonstrate experience of training.
Resourcefulness, flexibility, good organisational skills and the ability to prioritise and to meet deadlines.
Good understanding of children’s issues, rights, development and humanitarian issues, and the ability to relate Save the Children’s work within this context.
Ability to work effectively with people from different nationalities, cultures, ethnic and religious groups across the region
Willingness and the personal circumstances to be able to travel regularly around the region for long and short periods (average of one week a month, sometimes more)
Competent IT skills and experience of using email and Internet
Competent writing skills.
Able to change work practices and work long hours if the situation demands.

Desirable:
Experience of working for or with Save the Children, or a related rights or development organisation
Understanding of the developments issues and/or work experience in East and Southern Africa region
Basic competence in one or more of the major languages in the region
Experience of operating multimedia equipment including digital cameras, video recording equipment, web cams, and voice recorders.
Experience of tailoring communication and advocacy messages for a variety of decision-makers and high level audiences.

How to Apply
Please send a copy of your CV with a cover letter to EA.recruitment@savethechildren.org

Application closes 16th May 2016 at 5:00pm.

We work with children, communities and governments all over the world and we believe in the right person for the job regardless of where you come from and how you identify yourself. We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to ensuring that only those who are suitable to work with children are considered for these posts. All successful applicants will therefore be required to complete a Police Check and must sign onto our Child Safeguarding Policy and organizational Code of Conduct.

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