Brief Background

Rays of Hope Ministries is a non-profit organization that collaborates with the Malawi government in the achievement of critical development goals present in the Malawi 2063 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The organization is based out of Blantyre and operates in Zomba, Mchinji, Ntchisi, Thyolo, and Lilongwe.

In partnership with the Save the Children International (SCI), we are in a consortium of four (4) organizations – SCI, Future4All, and Youth for Development and Productivity (YODEP) to implement Abwenzi A Ana project in Ntcheu.

Abwenzi A Ana is a program designed so that Children in Ntcheu, particularly the marginalized/excluded are protected from all forms of abuse, have a healthy start to life, benefit from inclusive, quality education and make a successful transition to adulthood. Such a goal begs for an integrated implementation approach, and Abwenzi A Ana adopted an ecological model to confront the root causes of abuse. To that end, we seek to recruit three versatile field officers with the following specific competencies.

Job Abstract
Child protection is an integral part of the Abwenzi A Ana project. The implementation of this piece goes beyond the protection of children, but it ensures that they are empowered with skills and abilities to make informed decisions and choices to have improved social emotional wellbeing. Using an ecological model, the role touches on various dimension of their growth development milestones such enhanced life skills, adolescent economic empowerment, increased knowledge and utilization of Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) and nutritional services, protection and psychosocial support.  The role involves working with the child protection actors, volunteers and the community at large.

Key Areas of Accountability

I.               Program Implementation Quality

·       Monitor and provide timely, relevant, and accurate feedback on the integration of child safeguarding and child protection of the program components in the community such as ASRH, economic empowerment, psychosocial support, etc.
·       Ensure that all planned interventions on child protection are timely implemented within the budget and achieve the set quality benchmarks
·       Enforce effective planning, and implementation of inclusive child protection activities responding to protection needs/gaps
·       In collaboration with the communities, put together child protection plans making sure that children are not objects of sexual exploitation and abuse
·       Together with the communities, provide technical expertise and guidance to all players in the field ensuring that child protection plans are adhered to.

II.              Coordination
·       Work closely with school and community structures to monitor all planned activities to identify opportunities and challenges so that children and youth are safe and thrive
·       Coordinate the generation of program implementation updates including progress, bottlenecks, and gaps for program adaptive management
·       Provide support in the identification of technical capacity gaps among the targeted structures (school and community) and other child protection players and strategize ways to reduce the gaps
·       Create spaces where the targeted children and youth actively participate in all child protection interventions
·       In collaboration with existing structures at school and the community, explore ways to avail spaces where abused/exploited children and youth receive psychosocial support services

III.            Community Mobilization
In close collaboration with relevant structures, ensure smooth management of case management to protect vulnerable children and youth.
Provide support to individual, family, community and institutional actors to identify cases of child exploitation and abuse
Mobilize relevant structures activate/put in place an effective referral system taking care of abused/exploited children and youth
Working closely with the community, institute a participatory approach in monitoring the quality of the child protection case management practice implemented by various players to ensure the safety of children
Support the organization of community-led awareness-raising initiatives to garner everyone (girls, mothers and fathers, children, and adolescents) in raising their voice for a quality child protection support from relevant structures.
Foster synergies among all existing players present in the community to put strong measures in ending child marriages
IV.            Facilitation
·       Work closely with the youth led groups, various networks, and other community structures to increase their influence to respond to child protection issues
·       Facilitate training and support of relevant structures on Psychological First Aid (PFA) to respond effectively to sexual violence and exploitation of children putting emphasis on prevention and response
·       Create opportunities to facilitate learning in child rights and child participatory engagement targeting relevant school and community structures
·       Avail logistical support to facilitate inter and intra-structure collaboration/partnerships in effective management of case management
·       Facilitate safety spaces for at risk children to sexual violence to use holistic protection and psychosocial support services

Qualifications 
Degree or diploma from an accredited institution of higher learning in either of the following: social work, social sciences, community development, education, and international development and child protection-related qualifications
At least a minimum of two years of work experience in program implementation or other related fields; work experience in the development setting (NGO) is a plus.

Oversight
Field officers shall not have any supervisory responsibility.
Other Essential Attributes
Excellent interpersonal skills, including time management, with demonstrable ability in community mobilization, facilitation, and sensitization.
Admirable organizational skills with a natural attention to detail while juggling multiple tasks to meet tight deadlines
Willingness to work in remote areas in Ntcheu
Must have a valid motorbike license
At least some experience in the specific field of the post you are interested in including proven knowledge of the community and school structures.
Experience working with Nongovernmental organizations and government officials essential will be an added advantage.
Ability and flexibility to work in a team.

Mode of Application 

1. You can post your application files through our website: www.raysofhopemalawi.org/careers

Or Through Email, interested persons meeting the above specifications should submit applications with a detailed Curriculum Vitae as one document, naming three traceable referees to [email protected] addressing:

The Human Resource and Administration Officer
Rays of Hope Ministries,
P.O. Box E365, Post Dot Net,
Blantyre, Malawi

Please, send your emails with a subject line that says, “Abwenzi A Ana Field Officer Application – Child Protection Officer/Livelihood Officer/Basic Education Officer”.

The closing date for receiving applications is Tuesday, 21th February 2023. Rays of Hope Ministries is an equal-opportunity employer. Due to anticipated large volumes of applications, only short-listed candidates will be acknowledged.

Please note:
Rays of Hope Ministries is a child friendly organization that promotes the protection and safety of children. All interested candidates should be prepared to sign and abide by our child safe-guarding policy.