Latest Jobs at Sexual Offences Awareness & Response (SOAR) Initiative

Duration: 1year contract renewable
Start Date: July 2021.

Overall Objective of Job Position

• The Survivor Support Officer will, under the supervision of the SOAR Centre Lead, will apply a survivor-based approach in providing the full range of psychosocial support services provided at the SOAR Child & Teen Support Centre. This will include: responding to hotline calls, support and accompanying of clients and their family members to access justice and other referral services, as required. This must be in line with the Centre’s protocols, procedures and policies.
• Provide psycho-educational activities to clients (children and adolescents), families/caregivers of survivors, communities, secondary caregivers eg teachers and referral partners in order to improve the wellbeing of clients of the Centre and other users of its various platforms.
• The Survivor Support Officer is also required to facilitate cohorts of periodic survivor support group meetings and similar forums to support their healing and restoration process.

Expected Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide initial hotline, online or face-to face crisis intervention counselling to clients as requested and needed.
• Provide quality intake and assessment, case management, counselling, referral and follow-up services, as required, to clients in line with the Centre’s laid down protocols, procedures and policies.
• Accompany clients and their families to access referral and follow-up services as requested and required.
• Provide support to clients during medical examinations and other procedures as requested.
• Provide support, where feasible, to clients requesting support for legal follow-up.
• Work with the client to develop a plan for her next steps that is in line with her own choices, available options, and existing situation,
• Support and facilitate periodic survivor support group meetings and forums (as assigned), whenever such meetings are scheduled, to aid improvement in the wellbeing and mental health of clients.
• Provide basic support and guidance to family members to help them provide ongoing support to the clients at home and during the recovery process, according to the situation.
• Conduct follow up with relevant service providers to which referrals were made to ensure and advocate for quality services provision as required and requested.
• Apply a survivor-based approach in ensuring that support interventions are tailored to meet the specific needs of survivors and their families such that the best interests and rights of the children concerned are upheld.
• Support development of monthly, quarterly and annual report of interventions including reports of the Survivor Support group meetings and forums
• Participate in daily debriefing sessions with the Centre Lead and other Centre staff and volunteers to discuss successes, physical and emotional difficulties experienced in providing support services for clients as a means of avoiding vicarious trauma.
• Be flexible to carry out other duties and responsibilities, as so assigned by the Executive Director, other than those stated above, including those relevant for the sustainability of SOAR Initiative.

Qualification and Experience

• Graduate Degree in Counselling, Psychology, Social Sciences or related field, additional courses on relevant fields are an added advantage
• At least 3 years demonstrated experience in the direct provision of counselling or psychosocial support services to clients of sexual and gender-based violence or alternatively, persons in similar circumstances. Experience with child survivors is an added advantage
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to engage with different groups and stakeholders in coordination and strengthening of referral pathways that support clients, and raising awareness about SGBV.
• Experience engaging constructively with diverse groups of stakeholders at all levels in a participatory, inclusive manner to address issues that may be viewed as sensitive or controversial with respect to traditional socio-cultural beliefs and practices.
• Excellent listening and observation skills; ability to create a space of trust, support, respect, and confidentiality with clients of all ages and backgrounds.
• Basic computer skills (word, excel, email, etc.).

Deliverables:

• Submit weekly log sheet of hotline, on-site and off-site interventions to the Centre Lead
• Submit assessment and care plan of each client to the Centre Lead for endorsement and approval before implementation.
• Submit monthly reports of all cases reported to the Centre indicating:
  • Summary of cases handled by the Centre (hotline, walk-in & referrals
  • Disaggregated data of services provided and referrals made with agencies accessed
  • Status of pending cases
  • Challenges and mitigation strategies adopted to address them
  • Recommendations
  • Lessons learnt during the period under review
• Document all reports to the Centre and open files for intake and case management of individual clients in line with the Centre’s laid down protocols, procedures and policies.
• Update client files, for all interventions provided including progress on case management and review of referral service provision, follow-up and the healing process.
• Submit all files of clients opened or attended to on a daily basis.to the Centre Lead, for review.
• Support organisation and facilitation of at least two cohorts of survivor support groups for adolescent girl survivors annually.
• Attend daily debriefing sessions with the Centre Lead and other staff, to discuss successes as well as physical and emotional difficulties experienced in providing support services for clients as a means of supporting the mental-health and self-care of staff/volunteers as the case may be.
• Support research for content and development of technical documents for the Survivor Support Unit including: policy documents, information, education and communication (IEC) materials, support group curriculum and materials etc to aid effective support of survivors accessing SOAR Initiative’s services.
• Support research for content and development of proposals for funding the SOAR Child Support Centre and other programs of the organisation for the purpose of sustainability
• Be flexible to carry out other duties and responsibilities, as so assigned by the Executive Director, other than those stated above, including those relevant for the sustainability of SOAR Initiative.

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Employment Type: Contract
Duration: 1 year contract renewable
Start Date: July 2021.

Overall Objective Of Job Position

• The Senior Survivor Support Officer is expected to function in the capacity of the Centre Lead at the SOAR Child & Teen Support Centre and provide overall line management for the Centre staff/volunteers and oversight of all operational, administrative and financial activities of the Centre for effective management. This will include ensuring that crisis response, client assessment, provision of professional psychological counselling and therapy and access to referral services are provided to all child survivors as determined and required.
• The Senior Survivor Support Officer will also work with staff and volunteers to ensure that continuous on and offline public sensitisation activities are carried out to sustain awareness & use of the Centre’s services by child survivors, their caregivers and loved ones.
• The Senior Survivor Support Officer & Centre Lead must be able to work proactively and with limited supervision to ensure that cases are responded to in a timely and efficient manner and that ultimately progress is made to achieve all set deliverables as required to support the healing and restoration of child survivors of sexual-based violence.

Expected Duties And Responsibilities

• Provide guidance and oversight to all services provided to child survivors of sexual-based violence and abuse and their families at the Centre. This includes: crisis response, quality assessment, case management, professional counselling, therapy and psycho-educational support group services for adolescent girl survivors, referrals and monitoring of all activities and services of and at the Centre determined and required.
• Help to monitor quality of service provision through regular feedback from clients and their families on services provided through
• Carryout regular feedback sessions, surveys, and other activities with clients to the Centre and their care-givers, as part of quality assurance and monitoring checks, to ensure that they are provided with effective, efficient and timely Centre based and referral services as required.
• Ensure that best practices are observed in all aspects of service delivery, which includes confidentiality, informed consent, providing relevant information, respecting clients' choices, and so forth, and other best practices in responding to clients.
• Prepare regular quality reports, briefs and presentation on activities of the Centre to management, stakeholder partners and other members of the public as required.
• Represent the Centre and advocate to stakeholders on behalf of the Centre at meetings and related events as assigned.
• Contribute to development and reviews of relevant policy documents, procedures and SOPs regarding operation of the Centre.
• Identify sources of funding and develop strategies for accessing funds
• Innovate, develop and implement activities to raise awareness with children and other members of the public, about the services at the Centre.
• Flexible to other assigned tasks relevant for the sustainability of the Centre.

Qualification And Experience

• Women are strongly encouraged to apply
• Graduate Degree: preferably in Social Services, Social work, Counselling/ Psychology or related fields. Additional courses and a Masters degree in relevant fields will be an added advantage.
• At least 4 years demonstrated experience in sexual and gender-based violence service delivery activities/agency. This includes experience in managing the financial, logistical and administrative aspects.
• At least 3 years demonstrated experience in professional counselling of survivors of sexual violence. Experience with child survivors is an added advantage
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of sexual and gender-based violence, and the principles of providing quality service delivery for SGBV clients.
• Able to work independently, multi-task. and take initiative, but also able to delegate responsibilities, harness team efforts, and lead teams successfully in stressful and sometimes chaotic situations.
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to engage with different groups and stakeholders in coordination and strengthening of referral pathways and raising awareness about sexual and gender-based violence and the Centre via the media, to partners and other stakeholders.
• Possess the ability to produce high quality reports, manage data and information.
• Ability to plan in advance and maintain an organized working style, yet able to handle new events and situations effectively as they arise.
• Able to work calmly and lead teams successfully in stressful and sometimes chaotic situations.

Deliverables:

• Organise at least two cohorts of psycho-educational support groups for adolescent girl survivors annually, using the SOAR curriculum
• Submit monthly, quarterly and annual high-quality reports of activities at the Centre to management. This should cover:
  • Incidence and output of activities carried out with target reached eg sensitisation activities, support groups sessions, networking/advocacy activities conducted
  • Summary of cases handled by the Centre (hotline, walk-in & referrals
  • Disaggregated data of services provided and referrals made with agencies accessed
  • Status of pending cases
  • Challenges and mitigation strategies adopted to address them
  • Recommendations
  • Lessons learnt during the period under review
• Present quarterly reports to management of result of the quality assurance, monitoring and client service user evaluations
• Hold daily debriefing sessions with all Team members to discuss successes as well as physical and emotional difficulties experienced in providing support services for clients as a means of supporting the mental-health and self-care of staff/volunteers as the case may be.
• Support research for content and development of technical documents for the Survivor Support Unit including: policy documents, information, education and communication (IEC) materials, support group curriculum and materials etc to aid effective support of survivors accessing SOAR Initiative’s services.
• Support research for content and development of proposals for funding the SOAR Child Support Centre and other programs of the organisation for the purpose of sustainability
• Represent the Centre at all meetings related to providing survivor support and networking with relevant stakeholders to support visibility.
• Be flexible to carry out other duties and responsibilities, as so assigned by the Executive Director, other than those stated above, including those relevant for the sustainability of SOAR Initiative.