Technical Director - OVC at Save The Children

Job Description

• Save the Children (SC) is seeking an experienced Technical Director – OVC for an anticipated USAID/PEPFAR-funded project providing support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Nigeria.
• The Technical Director will be responsible for the technical oversight of the project and is specifically responsible for project implementation of evidence-based, high quality, multi-sectoral interventions to strengthen families and communities to care appropriately for children affected by HIV/AIDS.
• The Technical Director should also ensure strong linkages with other service delivery points, particularly HIV clinical services.
• S/he will report directly to the Chief of Party (COP) and will advise and support the COP in providing technical direction to project implementation and ensure the project meets stated goals, expected results and reporting requirements.
• S/he will take a technical leadership role in coordination with the government of Nigeria, local community organizations, and other stakeholders. S/he will be knowledgeable about evidence-based and state-of-the-art OVC service delivery approaches.
• The goal of the five-year project is to reduce HIV impact, vulnerability and risk, as well as increase high impact HIV services to improve the well-being of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in southern Nigeria.
• Overall, the project seeks to improve health, nutrition, psycho-social well-being and educational outcomes; and reduced abuse of children affected by HIV.
• This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

Responsibilities

• The Technical Director will work closely with the Technical Team to achieve the strategic objectives of the project - focusing on HIV prevention, care and support as well as supporting cross-cutting themes and integration efforts across the project with other areas of OVC programming, including Household Economic Strengthening and Nutrition.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Provide technical leadership in the development and implementation of strategies, interventions and activities that address the holistic needs of vulnerable children, including their health, education, psychosocial well-being, protection and economic strengthening needs.
• Ensure that project strategies and activities addressing children and adolescents are evidence-based and in line with state-of-the-art, globally recognized best practices; as well as aligned with Government of Nigeria legislation and policies.
• Strengthen the linkages between community-based care activities and health facilities providing HIV care and treatment towards ensuring a continuum of care.
• Promote integration across a range of services for children to take a holistic, family-centered approach to improving their wellbeing.
• Ensure the project addresses the needs of highly vulnerable sub-groups of children, such as adolescent girls, HIV positive children and children living with disabilities.
• Provide technical leadership and oversight for high quality implementation of the household economic strengthening components of the project.
• Facilitate linkages with government safety net programs and other stakeholders to ensure that activities complement other economic strengthening initiatives and adhere to country and global standards.
• Ensure all child-focused strategies are gender-sensitive and promote equitable programming.
• Improve the capacity of implementing CSOs in effective programming for vulnerable children and their families, HIV prevention awareness creation, community mobilization for HIV counselling and testing, PMTCT and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID), and improving referral and counter-referral systems between communities and facilities.
• Promote approaches that support integration and maximize country and community-ownership.
• Coordinate and maintain close liaison with project partners and relevant stakeholders in the focus states
• Take a leadership role in the development and timely submission of to work plans, quarterly and annual reports, financial reports, and other reports and papers summarizing project results and evidence.
• Work closely with the MEAL team to deliver project quality benchmarks, baseline, monitoring, evaluation and key lessons learned.
• Comply with Save the Children’s child protection policies, security procedures and other staff policies.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in Public Health, Social Sciences, Development Studies or related field.
• Minimum of seven years of experience implementing OVC programs in a development context, specifically PEPFAR, with five of these years in Sub-Saharan Africa, preferably Nigeria. During this period s/he should have been involved with socioeconomic services for vulnerable children and or public health project design, implementation, system strengthening, reporting and evaluation, including evaluation of evidence-based economic/livelihood projects for vulnerable groups, such as OVC or graduation programming.
• Familiarity with current thrusts of PEPFAR programming in Nigeria, especially on OVC and continuum of care for PLHIV
• Demonstrated state-of-the-art experience at a mid- or senior level in at least four of the following areas: child protection, household economic strengthening, social protection, education, health and nutrition including HIV/AIDS care and support; quality improvement; social service systems strengthening, including social services workforce development; M&E; and operations research.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government and civil society partners and communities as well as transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, training and meetings using participatory methods and adult learning principles.
• Proven leadership and inter-personal skills for effective team work; as well as the ability to work independently on a frequent basis, taking initiative, managing a variety of activities concurrently, and delivering outputs on schedule.
• Demonstrated ability to support partners working at a distance to achieve results against program objectives/targets.
• Demonstrated skills in project design, implementation and reporting, preferably for USG funded programs.
• Experience with monitoring, evaluation, and reporting TB/HIV Care & Treatment activities as well as OVC.
• Good knowledge of Government of Nigeria OVC programming terrain, HIV Care and Treatment and experience working with Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and other relevant entities.
• Strong writing and presentation skills about program activities, outcomes and impact.
• Excellent English oral and written communication skills; Working knowledge of Hausa language.
• Excellent analytic, organizational and computer skills; proficient in MS Office including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Experience with SharePoint a plus.