Accountability Advisor at Save The Children

Role Purpose

• To provide technical leadership for development and management of accountability structures and systems across the country program.
• The role is responsible for ensuring fully embedded practical and effective mechanisms for accountability to children within the country program, via capacity building, championing and supporting implementation.

Key Areas of Accountability
Leadership and Strategy:

• Lead on strategies and provide guidance related to the CO’s accountability systems.

Accountability to Affected Population:

• Champion accountability to children and communities and child participation across programs and support all program team to understand their roles and responsibilities in this area.
• Support programs to develop and implement a strategy that is informed by children’s voices and promotes their rights.
• Ensure plans to promote accountability to affected populations (AAP) and child participation are documented in the strategy and adequately budgeted for in the master budget.
• Contribute to program strategy development by advising leadership to identify appropriate AAP and child participation approaches for different phases of the response (from the initial phase to longer term recovery efforts), recognising that approaches should evolve over time.
• Champion the use of accountability data and child/community participation analysis to influence strategic decision-making and advocacy.

Information Sharing:

• Support accountability focal points to develop information sharing plan, analyse information needs and appropriate and trusted information sharing approaches. This may be done through use of secondary data or/and through integrated information needs assessment
• Support focal points to establish appropriate information sharing channels for children and communities based on identified preference.
• In collaboration with child safeguarding and the communications team, lead on the development of child-friendly information sharing materials for all programs to ensure that children and communities are aware of Save the Children, its work and what they should expect (including expected behaviour of staff and volunteers).
• Advise thematic and project teams on good practice in child-friendly information sharing.

Child and Community Participation:

• Foster an environment of innovation and creativity in community participation especially child participation
• Build capacity of accountability focal points on child participation
• Provide support to focal point to conduct quarterly child consultation sessions in programs
• Coordinate, consolidate and document lessons learned and best practices of child participation and share with relevant stakeholders.

Feedback and Reporting Mechanisms:

• Use analysis of the context and community preferences to design appropriate feedback and reporting channels that are accessible to children and deprived and marginalised groups.
• Work with the focal points to develop a Feedback Handling Standard Operating Procedure and ensure that feedback is handled in line with it, with consideration of appropriate data protection procedures.
• Support the focal points to analyse and present feedback data to help inform decision-making and improve programme quality.
• Provide technical support to focal points and Programme Implementation teams to ensure the feedback loop is closed meaningfully, in a timely manner and with quality.

Manage Country Office Toll Free Line:

• Manage toll free number and other means of Feedback Response Mechanism (FRM) and ensure all FRMs (hotline, complaint box, hoarding board) are functional at State, LGA and community levels
• Manage FRM Central Database; aggregate complaints/feedbacks from field level databases into the central feedback database.
• Periodic supervision to ensure feedback are logged in a professional and timely manner and beneficiaries are communicated with the in a dignified manner regarding their complaints/feedback
• Provide FRM Report on a quarterly basis
• Support MEAL Coordinators/Accountability focal points to conduct survey for Feedback Satisfaction Assessment
• Coordinate, consolidate and document lessons learned and best practices and share with relevant stakeholders.

Coordination with Program Team:

• Work closely with accountability focal points to ensure timely information sharing and active participation of beneficiaries.
• Work closely with program staff to ensure quality are met in child participation.
• Ensure that Program Staff handle and document complaints as per FRM Design specifications.
• Support Program Team in verification of complaints registered & ensure the timely resolution of the feedback & completion of FRM database.
• Support in ensuring that all information gotten from affected persons is incorporated to program implementation where necessary

General:

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
• Any other duties emerge as CO priorities

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.

Qualifications and Experience
Essential:

• At least a Bachelor's Degree in related field and 7 years of professional experience.
• Previous experience with local or international NGOs on Accountability
• Good understanding of accountability principles in terms of donors and organisational management but critically also to beneficiaries.
• Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers.
• Displays a commitment to the safe, meaningful and ethical participation of all children.
• Builds the understanding and capacity of others in child participation.
• Promotes an enabling environment for participation, and accountability to children.
• Demonstrates an understanding of how to include the voice of children in programme and advocacy work.
• Influences others to adopt good practices in relation to safeguarding.
• Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalised children.
• An aptitude for reviewing, synthesizing and analysing information/ data and producing quality reports.
• Demonstrable ability to design gender aware and/or transformative approaches and strategies within sector programs and humanitarian programs.
• A proven track record in conducting program-based gender analysis, preferably using participatory methodologies.
• Extensive experience and understanding of programming cycles and key milestones and processes.
• Advanced computer literacy (MS Office applications, web-based applications and advanced statistical package utilization e.g SPSS,STATA-12,DHIS etc)
• Good interpersonal skills and influencing skills
• Ability to work within a team setting
• Independence, adaptability and flexibility
• Ability to work in partnership with government and other NGO’s staff.
• Ability to mobilise people – to develop and maintain relationships with staff and communities to ensure their participation in Save the Children’s ways of working.
• Knowledge and experience of child safeguarding policies and procedures.

Skills and Behaviours (our Values in Practice)
Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving results together with children 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 in-country to lead, enable and maintain our culture of child safeguarding

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for self and team, takes responsibility for own personal development and encourages team to do the same
• Widely shares personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future oriented, thinks strategically and on a global scale

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with own team, colleagues, members, donors and partners
• 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
• Always acts in the best interests of children

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:

• We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

• The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety:

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