Accountability Assistant - ECW, Adamawa at Save The Children

ROLE PURPOSE: 

• The Accountability Assistant will be based in Adamawa and will work to put the children and communities we serve at the centre of our work by supporting the humanitarian response to integrate child-friendly, gender-sensitive, inclusive, accessible, and appropriate accountability systems (including information sharing and Feedback and Reporting Mechanisms) and support child participation. This role supports the management of the FRM database by ensuring proper documentation and aggregation of FRM data and responding to feedback as well as support in providing detailed summaries of feedback to the program team during monthly and quarterly meetings. The Accountability Assistant will work closely with the MEAL, Safeguarding, and program teams to support accountability to children and communities.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

• Reports to: MEAL Officer
• Staff reporting to this post: NIL
• Budget Responsibilities: NIL
• Context: Humanitarian 

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: 

Information Sharing

• Support the implementation of the Country Office Accountability to Children and Communities Framework. 
• Support data collection on, and analysis of, of information needs, appropriate and trusted information sharing approaches, and inclusive and accessible feedback and reporting channels, based on primary and/or secondary data, led by the MEAL Manager / Accountability Coordinator.
• Ensure information about Save the Children (SC) and its partners (where relevant) as well as key programme outcomes and activities are shared with children and the wider community in appropriate, timely and accessible ways. This may involve developing information sharing materials such as posters, facilitating the development of “Frequently Asked Questions” documents, and helping programme implementation and child safeguarding teams to develop information sharing plans. 

Child and Community Participation

• Support child and community participation processes across the programme cycle (including in needs analysis, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation). This could involve facilitating/supporting child-friendly discussions, adult focus group discussions, community meetings, child or community committees and other approaches. 
• Support in ensuring participation is done in accordance to the 9 basic ethics of meaningful and ethical participation
• Support capacity building of project team and partners on child participation

Feedback and Reporting Mechanism

• Support the development and roll-out of accessible and inclusive feedback and reporting channels, to enable Save the Children to receive feedback from children and adults. The channels will vary depending on context, but may include focus group discussions, surveys, helpdesks, hotlines, face-to-face feedback, social media, and other channels. 
• Ensure feedback is handled in line with the agreed Feedback Handling Standard Operating Procedure, and that feedback and responses are registered in the Feedback Database. Quality assures the documentation of feedback (quality of data, categorization, etc.).
• In line with the Feedback Handling Standard Operating Procedure, receive and register feedback and their responses in Feedback Database. Make sure that feedback is logged in a professional and timely manner.
• Refer feedback to the appropriate team, including rapid identification and referral of serious concerns such as those related to child safeguarding, unsafe programming, sexual exploitation and abuse, and fraud and corruption. 
• Respond and communicate in a dignified and respectful manner with children and adults regarding their feedback, including informing them of what decisions have been made related to their feedback, and ensuring this is documented in the Feedback Database. Where relevant, support implementation staff to close the feedback loop meaningfully. 
• Contribute to Programme Key Performance Indicator (PKPI) quarterly reporting at national level. 
• Contribute to a strong understanding of child rights principles, accountability to children and communities and child participation through inductions and training, together with other Accountability staff
• Contribute to the analysis and interpretation of feedback and findings from participatory processes for programme management and decision-making.

Safeguarding  

• Ensure all safeguarding concerns received through the central toll-free line are reported on Datix. 
• Follow up with safeguarding colleagues to ensure actions are being taken on reported safeguarding concerns. 
• Maintain confidentiality of safeguarding concerns 
• Work in collaboration with safeguarding colleagues to improve child-friendly FRM 

BEHAVIOURS (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 their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future-orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

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; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS 

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (health sciences, social sciences, development studies or other)
• 1 year experience working in a related position in particular, Humanitarian experience.
• Formal training in Accountability, Monitoring and Evaluation, Data Management, Core Humanitarian Standard, Data Quality Assurance (DQA) is an asset

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS 

Essential

• Experience of working with children and/or with groups most affected by discrimination and inequality
• Creativity, curiosity and enthusiasm, and the ability to develop and test new ways of working and solutions to problems.
• Commitment to actively listening to other people’s ideas and viewpoints.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.
• Passionate, self-directed and the ability to manage multiple competing demands and commitments, and to work flexibly in a team.
• Fluency in Hausa language. 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Ability and willingness to travel occasionally to conduct visits to project locations. 
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours temporarily, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
• Commitment to the aims and principles of Save the Children. In particular, a good understanding of the Save the Children mandate and child rights, and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support.

Desirable

• Experience of supporting meaningful and ethical child and community participation.
• Experience in assessing information needs and communication preferences, and of designing appropriate information and communication approaches.
• Experience of establishing and/or managing Feedback and Reporting Mechanisms. 
• Experience working for an NGO, civil society organisation or similar. 
• Experience of analysing and presenting data in a way that facilitates effective decision-making.