Lalibela, Amhara
SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia
Who we areSOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia is an International Non-governmental organization and a member of SOS Children’s Villages International Federation. The organization started its humanitarian work with the opening of its first Village in Mekelle, Northern part of Ethiopia in 1974. The organization has been providing life-saving provisions such as food, water and health services for a very significant number of children devastated by severe drought and the subsequent famine.Today, we have grown significantly to meet the persistent challenges that confront Ethiopian children who have lost parental care and are at risk of losing their parental care. Working in close collaboration with international donors, local government and community based organizations across seven program locations; SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia aspires that every child grows up with love, respect and security.Why we need you?We are looking for a child Protection officer who will lbe responsible for implementing community-based child protection activities in the project. He/she will be responsible for prevention and response activities of the project  that include working with the community and community based child protection structures and system, psychosocial support activities, case management and promote children’s wellbeing and protect them from harm or abuse. What we provide...An amazing work environment that promotes personal growth through providing professional space to grow and advance your career!!Your role....Prepare child protection component of project annual plan, implement and monitor child protection activities and ensure that the child protection activities align with the local context, project objectives and SOS CV CS policy, values and principles;Encourage good practice by promoting and championing child protection policy and support procedures to protect children;Ensure all incidents are appropriately documented, correctly reported and considered in accordance with the state child protection policy and procedures. Analyze trends from reporting mechanisms and provide management with recommendations for improvements;Builds links between community-based initiatives and referral pathways to allow a more efficient access to services, and constitutes an interface between local communities and the project, maintaining and managing relations with community leaders and members, local authorities, community-based organizations, CSOs, Child protection Networks and NGOs;Ensure that children abused or at risk of being abuse are identified and receive individual case management support by direct counseling to the families or by providing the community based child protection network with guidance on conducting case management, in accordance with the state child protection laws, standard tools and procedures;Organize capacity building training for child led clubs, community case workers; youth center facilitators, Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) facilitators, child protection committees and other community structures, community members/representatives, foster parents, and vulnerable children to build their resilience;Maintain confidential records of reported cases, action taken and ensure information is only held on an individual whilst the person continues to carry out their regulated work role within the community;Raise awareness on the Code of Conduct for working with children to community child protection network members, parents/caregivers, teaching and non-teaching school staff, and adults in the community. Raise concern on behaviour that breaches the Code of Conduct;Support community based child protection Network to undertake risk assessments of all spaces accessed by children to implement mitigating and corrective measures;Maintain a system to document risks and concerns raised, ensuring that appropriate follow-up is conducted and that learning from implementing these processes is fed back into the organization’s practice, policies and risk management; Work with state CPN to strengthen the implementation of the child protection activities and Procedures and to build the skills of CCPC members and key implementing partners in managing concerns;Promoting Participation and Empowerment of Children so that they become more involved in addressing their own rights situation and become agents for positive change, such as through life skills education, research and discussion to help promote the involvement of children.Identifying children’s rights issues that are hampering the development of children or leading to negative consequences in their lives; for example, highlighting the abuse and exploitation of children who are working, breaking the silence surrounding child sexual abuse and exploitation, including trafficking, addressing the situation of children in conflict with the law;Addressing gender discrimination, oppression and inequalities that affect the life opportunities and day-to-day experiences of children;Responding to situations of abuse when they occur – both to reduce the impact of the abuse and to prevent situations occurring in the future. In the event of a complaint being made; ensure that the complaints procedures are met and see the procedures through to the final decision;Develop a Child Safety Policy, Risk Registers and other procedures in relation to spaces which children access and are managed by projects teams and partners;Initiate community dialogues to explore community awareness/ initiative and other child rights violation issues going on in the communityWorks to build trust with vulnerable families, ensures safety, and offers protection;Stimulate CCPN members and other community actors to act as a surveillance mechanism to prevention of child abuse and rehabilitation of children, victims of abuse and neglect;Promotes creating protective school environment for children because schools are an important part of the wider safeguarding system for children;