Senior Advisor, Social Service Workforce Strengthening Alliance

Only applications submitted by February 7, 2012 will be considered.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

For many countries around the world, the social service workforce is weakened by unclear or overlapping mandates. Often there is little to no resource allocation, unclear or conflicting policy and programmatic mandates, little availability of quality training and education, and overwhelming demands for social welfare assistance.

The concept of a Social Service Workforce Strengthening Alliance that would spearhead the new global movement to strengthen the social service workforce and contribute to stronger, more effective social service systems is under discussion. There is currently a nascent Alliance that facilitates ongoing support to country level actions following the November 2010 conference in Cape Town highlighting the challenges faced by the social service workforce as well as explored promising interventions to address these challenges.

To give momentum to the Alliance, the Senior Advisor, Social Service Workforce Strengthening (SSWS) Alliance will principally work on scoping out the current global environment for such an Alliance. This would include identifying the common entry points, options for its organizational structure, and the development of a two year work plan for activities after 2012. The Advisor will also carry out ongoing activities currently being facilitated by the Interim Steering Committee. The Advisor will be supported by the Interim Steering Committee and by the CapacityPlus Project; he or she will be contracted through the CapacityPlus Project.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS •Review policy directions for the social welfare workforce, building on initial work done by the interim steering committee in 2010-2011, to map existing networks and organizations currently involved in strengthening social welfare systems. •Provide initial recommendations on an organizational structure for such an Alliance, including connections with other similar social service strengthening programs at global, regional and country levels. •Provide initial recommendations on specific areas of work that the Alliance can engage in, has a comparative advantage in, or specific niche •Support on going social service strengthening initiatives, and define the most appropriate way to ensure that lessons learned and good practice are accessible to these actors. •Provide support to ongoing tasks for the ISC such as webinars, teleconferences and planning meetings •Identify scope of work for the Alliance •Develop an organizational plan •Develop a programmatic work plan for the Alliance (beginning in 2013) •Begin the process of setting up the Alliance •Convene key stakeholders, facilitate relationships, and build a community of practice •Organize and disseminate critical knowledge, resources, tools and best practices

REQUIREMENTS: •Post-graduate degree in social work or social sciences •Minimum of 10 years’ experience working in organizational development and/or change management, with the ability to develop, review and present different global organizational models for the Alliance and the benefits/risks of each •8 years’ experience working within social service systems, preferably addressing social service workforce issues in low to middle income countries •4 years of demonstrated experience in communication with different stakeholders, preferably with inter-agency teams including multilateral, bilateral, government and NGO stakeholders •Fluency in English required and knowledge of another United Nations official language is an advantage •Highly developed strategic thinking skills, with proven ability to diagnose and assess complex organizational and development challenges, and to present the benefits and risks of different options to a diverse stakeholder mix •Ability to develop strategic direction, and translate into plans and actions that lead to demonstrable results on the ground •Synthesize information into clear, easily understandable talking points and presentations to a wide array of audiences •Demonstrate a high degree of cultural competency •Strong networking, decision making and negotiation skills •Strong writing skills

How to apply:

This is a position with IntraHealth International in Washington, DC, New York or any other global location. For immediate consideration, please apply by visiting https://www6.ultirecruit.com/INT1028/JobBoard/ListJobs.aspx?__vt=ExtCan. Only applications submitted by February 7, 2012 will be considered.

IntraHealth International, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.