SAFEGUARDING SPECIALIST

TEAM PURPOSE

To help define, develop, and deliver a strategic and high-quality operation and programme management support to the Oxfam Ethiopia Country Programme on Safeguarding and influencing policies and practices including our own, based on learning from the programme.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Safeguarding Specialist for Oxfam in Ethiopia will play an essential part in promoting good practice and helping the Country Programme reach the highest safeguarding standards by strengthening the organization's capacity to prevent sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH), including child abuse, ensuring safe programming and a secure work environment across all programs and operations. He/she will support management in coordinating the implementation of Oxfam’s safeguarding policies and procedures at country-level.

The role involves leading safeguarding planning and implementation, primarily with Oxfam staff and partners, by supporting and training Safeguarding Focal Points to ensure the realization of Oxfam’s Safeguarding Core Standards. Key responsibilities include delivering safeguarding training, promoting safe programming, advocating for safeguarding in budgets, building capacity on safeguarding and reporting plus supporting safeguarding investigations/case management when called upon. 

POST HOLDER REPORTS TO :       Head of People and Culture

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE:  

• Providing professional safeguarding advice to senior managers and other technical teams. 
• Influencing the development of a safeguarding strategy and plan of action, supporting and delivering its operational implementation, including supporting Oxfam partners.
• Influencing managers, staff and volunteers and developing effective networks with external bodies, i.e. participate in and contribute to PSEA/safeguarding networks, GBV Sub cluster, and/or Protection cluster/network meetings.
• Receive and report all SEAH allegations to OGB’s Speak Up line. Where appropriate support the OGB Safeguarding Team through interpretation, logistical support, and survivor support. 
• Developing solutions to diverse and complex safeguarding problems within organizational policy.
• Identify and technically support in country safeguarding focal points.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Safeguarding measures within Oxfam:

• Ensure that all staff members understand and abide by the One Oxfam Policy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH), the One Oxfam Child Safeguarding Policy. 
• Provide guidelines to staff and communities on Oxfam’s expected standards of behavior, and how to report any suspicions of SEAH of children and vulnerable people via established internal reporting mechanisms. 
• Design and deliver training in line with safeguarding shared service materials on awareness raising and other capacity building activities for staff, volunteers, and others across Oxfam in Ethiopia.
• Collaborate with and provide advice to key Oxfam teams to fulfil safeguarding responsibilities across all departments. 
• Ensure programme and country safeguarding risk assessments are carried out, including risk identification and the identification of tangible mitigating actions. Programme level risk assessments should form part of the safe programming approach and integrated in the project cycle..  
• Lead and coordinate with relevant program and support function teams for developing the safeguarding reports and submit them within timeline as per donor compliance. 
• Identify the needed resources to implement the safeguarding strategy and advocate to senior management for this, to better prioritize and mainstream safeguarding.  
• Support senior management to identify and elect safeguarding focal points within the different locations and coordinate and work closely with the safeguarding focal points as needs arise. 
• Provide support to Head of People and Culture in any relevant safeguarding matter and also support OGB Safeguarding and Investigation Team in any investigation as and when required.
• Support and work alongside the relevant Technical Teams e.g. Gender, Protection, Human Resources and the Safeguarding Team at Oxfam GB and Regional Safeguarding Advisor HECA to create and maintain information on local referral pathways for survivors (to include medical, psychosocial, legal, security). 

Support to Partners:

• Ensure One Oxfam PSEAH Policy and Child Safeguarding Policy are also rolled out within Oxfam’s partners.
• Review due diligence assessments with partners and ensure all partners are following Oxfam’s safeguarding frameworks and standards with a focus on safe recruitment, training, reporting mechanisms, and digital safeguarding/same communication procedures are in place. 
• Collaborate with all partners to create joint action plans to meet gaps in Oxfam’s safeguarding policies and standards and support on the implementation.
• Undertake and or support the development of local safeguarding procedures in line with mapping of local external environment (legislation, cultural considerations, etc.) and One Oxfam guidelines.
• Support on safe partnership measures from Oxfam to its external partners. 

Support in Safe Programming, Complaint & Feedback Mechanisms:

• Ensure safeguarding and protection risks are included in all risk assessments; as a minimum, reviewing other PSEA assessments and informing Oxfam & partner programming. 
• Participate or consult in program designs to ensure intersectional, safe program approaches that aim to reduce harm-specifically SEAH and child abuse. These approaches should include mitigation measures from the assessments and specified in program budgets.
• Translate the risk assessment findings from the due diligence assessment and safe programming risk assessment into indicators. Provide technical support on safeguarding/PSEA-specific related matters, noting this is a broader practice. 
• Support partners to consult with communities to establish complaint and feedback mechanisms and continuously quality control these mechanisms; when possible, these should be in line with local reporting mechanisms.
• Coordinate on Oxfam’s engagement with relevant inter-agency spaces (regional and national) for PSEA to ensure alignment with inter-agency approaches and to advocate for Oxfam’s approach.
• Advocacy to other INGOs, UN organizations, and local authorities for response measures that prevent SEAH.
• Capture and share safeguarding learning in this response as appropriate. In collaboration with the Country Director implement recommendations from OGB safeguarding reports.
• Work with partners and within Oxfam programming to ensure that all complaint mechanisms properly work and refer cases to the appropriate actors. 
• Escalate all safeguarding cases to OGB’s Speak Up line and support with incident management in line with the One Oxfam Reporting SOPs and Case Management SOPs, ensuring confidentiality is maintained and information shared on a ‘need to know’ basis in line with safeguarding best practice and survivor-centered approaches. 

Other:

• Required to adhere to Oxfam’s principles and values as well as the promotion of gender justice and women's rights.
• Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles.

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

Most importantly, every individual at Oxfam GB needs to be able to:

• Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY and EMPOWERMENT (read more about these here).
• Ensure you commit to our ORGANISATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct):

1. Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity."    
2. Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible. 

Experience, Knowledge & Competencies 

Essentials

For this role, you will need to model Oxfam’s feminist leadership approach so we have selected the most relevant feminist leadership practices which we will use for assessment purposes (which you can read more about here):

• Self-Awareness
• Decisiveness
• Strategic Thinking and Judgment 

Core Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, effective organizational and interpersonal skills.
• A university post-graduation degree in a relevant field. 
• Four years of working experience in Safeguarding and humanitarian organizations preferably in NGO/INGO and UN agencies.
• Ability to reflect and effect a gender and diversity-sensitive human resources policy.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills
• Able to function in high-pressure situations while maintaining emotional control.

Technical Experience  

• Deep understanding of safeguarding and safe programming, gender sensitivity, organizational values, policies, and feminist principles 
• Professional experience in capacity building and supporting (coaching, mentoring, oversight) partners on safeguarding. 
• Demonstrated experience adapting organization-specific safeguarding content including training, policy, awareness raising, and communications tools for use by organization partners 
• Experience or strong understanding of survivor-centered case management and investigations of safeguarding incidents 
• Experience in knowledge management and learning to ensure findings in safeguarding influence practice in real-time 
• Strong experience developing accountability mechanisms, including community-based complaint mechanisms. 

Desirable

• Demonstrated experience building strong and equitable relationships with partner organizations 
• Experience in a training, facilitation or support role delivering content to diverse audiences on safeguarding or related subjects. 
• Management or coordination experience with communities of practice, ideally experience supporting a COP or network of Safeguarding Focal Points 
• Ability to provide technical solutions to implementing partners, remotely and on-site, for how to best apply safeguarding standards, best practices, and tools in the current emergency context.

How to apply:

As part of your online application, please upload your up to date CV and Cover Letter explaining your suitability against the essential criteria in the job profile. Please use the below link to apply;

• Internal career page:  https://jobs.oxfam.org.uk/internal/vacancy/21151/description

• External Career Page: https://jobs.oxfam.org.uk/vacancy/21151/description