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Project Officer: Child Survival and Health Save the Children Geneva Office

Job title: Project Officer: Child Survival and Health

Location: Save the Children Geneva Office, Geneva, Switzerland

Reports to: UN Geneva Representative and Head of Office

Purpose: To secure impact for children’s survival and health by
working for their rights from local to global level



Candidates for this post must have the right to live and work in Switzerland



Background



Save the Children

Save the Children works for children’s rights worldwide. Twenty-seven member organisations make up Save the Children International, running programmes in over 120 countries, with a staff of more than 14,000. Save the Children's vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.



The Geneva Office

The Geneva Office has a major focus on Advocacy, and more recently on Humanitarian Operations. It currently consists of 10 salaried staff and a number of associates/interns, and is growing. The main goal of the Geneva advocacy function is to create positive change for children by advocating key child rights issues and influencing policy and practice at the global level. This is done by working with and advocating to the United Nations bodies, member states and other organizations based in Geneva. We do this by linking it to impact for children in the field at community level, amplifying their voices to the international stage. Alongside the advocacy staff, other colleagues work from the Geneva Office in leading roles in Save the Children’s humanitarian operational response.



Job Description



The Save the Children Geneva Office is currently looking for a colleague to support our work on children’s right to health and survival, relating closely to Save the Children’s major international campaign ‘EveryOne’.



Responsibilities

Coordination of the SIDA-funded Local to Global project, linking impact for children’s health and survival at community-level (in India, Zambia) to national-level advocacy and to Save the Children’s influence in global capitals such as Geneva
A leading role with partners (WHO, UNICEF, World Vision) in supporting the Committee on the Rights of the Child in producing a General Comment on the child’s right to health
A leading role in organizing (with World Vision) an event on nutrition and health at the March 2012 Human Rights Council
A leading or supporting role in Save the Children inputs into other Geneva-based mechanisms and actors (Human Rights Council, UN Special Procedures, UPR processes, Missions, WHO, GAVI, etc)
Participation in Save the Children mechanisms and meetings (virtually or internationally) representing the Geneva Office in processes related to the EveryOne campaign
Explore, develop and write or co-write project proposals to secure further external funding in the area of child health and in other thematic areas
Coordination between multiple actors (Save the Children offices, partner organizations) at international level and in Geneva
Overseas travel in Europe (up to 2 weeks per year) and worldwide (up to 3 weeks per year) including possibly to remote areas
Other tasks as appropriate within a small office requiring willingness and flexibility


Key Work Areas

Candidates will need to demonstrate excellent knowledge of and experience in at least 4 of the following areas, and the ability to transfer skills so as to deliver in all 7 areas:

Advocacy: the core of this role is advocacy; it requires a strong grasp of policy in the relevant areas, a vision for change in policy, practice and frameworks, and an ability to link these to programmes in the field, to community level action by children, families and communities to secure access to the right to survival and to health for all children
Project management : the post is funded by external grants requiring demonstrable excellence in delivery; the role involves informing and coordinating multiple actors, monitoring, reporting, ensuring delivery by all parties to tight deadlines, budget discipline and monitoring
Child rights: Save the Children is one of the leading global advocates for children’s rights and our engagement with child health issues in Geneva reflects rights-based approaches and requires familiarity with the relevant mechanisms and the ability to use this vocabulary in a way which is accessible and pragmatic
Save the Children members and offices: a key feature of the role is to coordinate and link the efforts of multiple Save the Children actors in offices around the globe, including the ‘global advocacy offices’ in Addis Abeba, Brussels, Geneva and New York; familiarity with these Save the Children actors and the institutions in them will be a significant advantage in becoming quickly effective in the role
Linking between stakeholders globally: the post requires an ability to enable, encourage and coordinate colleagues, counterparts and other actors across the globe, to understand their culture, context and challenges and to find ways to work creatively together
Health: a background in or familiarity with the health sector, and children’s health in particular, is an advantage
UN mechanisms: the role involves operating effectively in and through human rights and other UN mechanisms and bodies such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Council, UN Special Procedures, WHO, UNICEF, GAVI, etc . and therefore requires confidence and ease in moving within them


Qualifications, Experience, Capabilities

Masters degree in a relevant discipline
At least three years professional experience in the development, humanitarian and/or child/human rights sector
Overseas experience, including implementation of programmes in the field
Experience of the NGO sector / civil society
A strong and proven track-record of excellence in at least 4 of the 7 key work areas above and demonstrated ability to transfer skills so as to deliver in all 7 areas
An understanding of and commitment to rights-based approaches applied in a pragmatic way
An ability to get things done, and to enable others to deliver
Self-motivated and able to take initiative, working with limited supervision
Positive, personable, affirming, highly communicative
An ability to work and communicate in a multifaceted, international setting
Excellent spoken and written communication skills including the ability to write clearly and concisely
Fluency in English and French; other languages desirable
The right to live and work in Switzerland so as to be able to take up the post from January 2012. This is an automatic right for Swiss citizens or Swiss permis holders of other nationalities, or for EU citizens; other nationalities are subject to longer application procedures
Commitment to the values and principles of Save the Children


Terms and Conditions

· 80% post for 12 months (Jan-Dec 2012) or 100% for 10 months (Jan-Oct 2012); possibility of extension dependent on funding

· Salary: Save the Children seeks to pay a competitive salary at a moderate level in terms of international NGOs in Geneva; the salary for this post is at the entry-level of our policy/programme range

· Employment: local contract in accordance with the Geneva Office terms and conditions

· Location: Save the Children Geneva Office, office-based; limited flexible working arrangements may be arranged by discussion

· Reporting to: Michael French, Save the Children UN Geneva Representative and Head of Office

· Line management of: possible line management of intern(s)/associate(s); ‘soft’ management by coordination among colleagues and counterparts



Background Information



General information can be found at www.savethechildren.net and further background information will be provided to short-listed candidates


How to apply



Please submit your CV and a covering letter in English, to infogeneva@savethechildren.ch
The covering letter should address the key work areas (above) and indicate how your qualifications, experience and capabilities would enable you to deliver in these areas; it should also confirm that you have the right to live and work in Switzerland
The closing date for receipt of applications is 25th November 2011
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted
Short-listed candidates will be given a written exercise to complete before coming for interview
We aim to hold interviews in Geneva in the week 5-9th December 2012