JOB PURPOSE:

Under the leadership of the Project Coordinator, the Project field officer supports project development in the field of family strengthening in the line with the “Vision, Mission, Values”, the brand and approved strategies, policies, guidelines of the organisation and national legislation. Project Field officer is responsible to support children who are at risk of losing the care of their biological family which includes direct work with the children, caregivers, and communities, based on the professional social work practice, ethics, values to achieve the sustainable development of the families and integration in the community. He/she is also responsible to ensure the timely completion of the case management procedures at all stages based on the individual approach and on the active participation of children, parents/caregivers. He/she is a member of the multidisciplinary team in the project and coordinates multidisciplinary teamwork within the case he/she is responsible for.

Main clients: 

• Head of SOS Children’s Villages Location

• Head of the Projects and RBM

• Co-workers in the Project

• National Family Strengthening Programme Advisor
• Programme participants
• Community volunteers
• CBOs members

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

Programme Development

• Support Uburumbuke Iwacu – FS Byumba Project Coordinator in the development of services and interventions in the frame of family strengthening.
• Support identification of cases of children who are at risk of losing care from their families of origin through different resources (referral, outreach, self-referral etc.).
• Conduct comprehensive assessment of children and families in strong cooperation with the multidisciplinary team of stakeholders using different resources and social work techniques/methods to identify family needs and strengths and define the required services.
• Facilitate the preparation of family development process, with the strong participation of caregivers, children and the multidisciplinary team.

• Arrange, provide and coordinate the delivery of services to children and families in strong partnership with other service providers and in line with the family development process.
• Keep regular contacts with child and family during the implementation of family development process through phone calls, home visits and meetings in programme premises.
• Document appropriately all activities conducted during the case management stages in the child/family case file by applying methods and tools for gathering information, as well as forms/templates, based on the requirements of national legislation and/or regional guidelines.
• Play a leading role and support the National Association in the project planning and other planning instruments according to the organizational strategic vision and recommend further improvement of the logical framework.
• Assist the Organization in enhancing an integrated process of planning, programming, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, research, analysis and present information gathered from diverse source.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Reassesses periodically the child/family needs and progress in meeting the objectives defined in Family Development Process and make decisions on the case closure, in cooperation with family members and the multidisciplinary team.
• Enters data regularly in Programme Database module (PDB), ensures quality of data and uses regularly the reports and data stored in the database to track individual progress of children and families. Provides information for new requirements (new reports, new data fields or features) to Uburumbuke Iwacu- FS Project Coordinator.
• Upon the request of Project Coordinator, and in accordance with the national legislation, communicates regularly with the child protection authorities on the case progress.
• Supports Project coordinator in the self-evaluation and/or external evaluation processes of Uburumbuke Iwacu- FS Project.
• Regularly collects information about different indicators as defined in the M&E plan of the programme unit and reports to Project Coordinator.
• Support the use of Prodigi, PDB2 and Compass for monitoring and evaluation of strategic plan indicators for the location
• Participate in the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and methodologies consistent with project monitoring and evaluation.
• Implement the overall M&E strategy and guide the implementation of related activities within the programme function.
• Lead in the development/ enhancement of data collection and monitoring tools for child, youth, family, and community development
• Sets up systems and structures to support the development of quality management within the Organization and the counterparts / stakeholders.
• Coordinate the results-based management planning and reporting process
• Assist in the coordination of internal and external evaluations of the projects including drafting Terms of Reference, liaising with partner and independent experts
• Develop and strengthen monitoring, inspection and evaluation procedures as well as impact indicators for the project success.
• Monitor and analyse the project developments, implementation and report the overall progress on achievement, quality and sustainability of the project results.
• Advice and suggest strategies to the project management team for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the project by developing plans to minimize or eliminate such challenges.
• Organize and conduct trainings on planning, M&E for the organizational / project staff including partners stakeholders.
• Prepare various written outputs such as draft background papers on the projects, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications etc.
• Maintain and regularly update the project database.

Human Resource development

• Participates regularly in individual or group external supervision.
• Maintains personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the job, participates in appropriate training activities and keeps up with organisational procedures, legislation, and developments in the professional practice.
• Supports in capacity building of community volunteers

Financial and Resource management 

• Prepares financial requisitions and other expenditure necessary documents
• Provides supporting documents for financial reports
• Monitors budget expenditures in the programme unit, to ensure that funds are properly used and in line with the annual plan and budget.
• Continually looks for ways to provide quality services in a cost-effective manner.

Partnership building and advocacy

• Keeps regular contacts with service providers to ensure that services are provided according to objectives and actions agreed in Family Development Process.
• Advocates for the individual child and his/her family to have access to social entitlements or obtain needed services.
• Contributes in community development undertaken by the Family Strengthening Programme, i.e. organise/participate in awareness raising activities, community mobilisation events and capacity building of the community partners.

Knowledge Management

• Supports Project Coordinator in documenting good practises, human touch stories.
• Keeps regular track of latest developments in social work area as well as changes in national legislation, policies and practises related to children in the target group.

Specific duties as assigned by the supervisor:

Required experience and qualification:

• A degree qualification in social sciences, community development studies, Business Administration, and related fields
• At least 3 years’ work experience in the community development field, child protection and related fields.
• Experience in project cycle management
• Experience in psychosocial support for children and adults
• Positive and professional approach. Ability to work independently, self-organise, use initiative, fulfil commitments, and meet deadlines.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, including written and spoken English; French would be an added value
• Well-developed facilitation, group leadership and presentation skills.
• Ability to develop guidelines and tools and oversee their implementation.
• Computer literacy (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access).
• A team player who is culturally astute, respectful, and tolerant.
• Experience in using applied social research skills (quantitative and qualitative). Additional skills to support FS beneficiaries would be an added advantage.

Competencies:

• Knowledge of child protection issues, such as child safeguarding, child rights, OVC, youth empowerment, entrepreneurship, psychosocial support
• Strong planning, organisational and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a multi-site organisation and geographically dispersed participants.
• Work experience in programmes that build networks at community level.
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of SOS Children Villages.

• Demonstrate creativity and abilities to complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities, deadlines, and multiple reporting relationships.
• Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and clients to facilitate the provision of support, knowledge, management and learning.
• In depth knowledge of Planning, Monitoring and Information System, Monitoring and Evaluation and organizational development issues.
• Excellent abilities to identify significant capacity building opportunities and capacity to deliver such trainings using a clear communications skill.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.