Plan International was founded over 75 years ago with a mission to promote and protect the rights of children. The organisation was set up by British journalist John Langdon-Davies and refugee worker Eric Muggeridge in 1937, with the original aim to provide food, accommodation and education to children whose lives had been disrupted by the Spanish Civil War. Langdon-Davies conceived the idea of a personal relationship between a child and a sponsor – a model that puts the child at the centre, and remains the core of what we do. Today, Plan International is a global organisation that is active in over 70 countries to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. Who We Are We work with communities around the world to end the cycle of poverty for children. We work with communities around the world to end the cycle of poverty for children. Founded over 70 years ago, Plan is a nearly $800 million organization often ranked among the top 10 international development agencies by reputation, size and scope. We work side-by-side with communities in 50 developing countries to end the cycle of poverty for children, developing solutions to ensure long-term sustainability. Our level of community engagement, long-term outlook and constant focus on the needs and priorities of children is unique among international development organizations. Our solutions are designed up-front to be owned by communities for generations to come and range from clean water and health care programs, to education projects and child protection initiatives. Community by community, Plan works to promise futures that are worthy of all children’s potential. Our Vision Our vision is of a world in which all children realize their full potential in societies that respect people’s rights and dignity. Our Mission Plan strives to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of vulnerable children in developing countries by: Enabling children, their families and their communities to meet basic needs and to increase their ability to participate in and benefit from their societies; Fostering relationships to increase understanding and unity among peoples of different cultures and countries; and Promoting the rights and interests of the world’s children.
Role Purpose
- The conflict in Ukraine is resulting in a major humanitarian crisis with over 3 million people having fled to neighboring countries, and millions displaced within Ukraine. Plan International is responding to the crisis and working in partnership with civil society organisations in Poland, Romania, and Moldova to meet the key needs of those affected by the crisis as well as host communities.
- This position will play a key role in the support to country level activities and will provide technical support and guidance to Plan International teams and partners in Poland, Romania, and Moldova. A priority focus will be on supporting child friendly feedback mechanisms established and to ensure accountability is core to our response. The position will initially be remote but may well be based in one of the 3 countries in the future.
- The Ukraine Hub is a service-oriented structure to support initiation of activities, and to help find solutions to problems as and when arise. Creative thinking and identifying work arounds to problems faced will be a critical element of the role.
Dimensions of the Role
- The position will develop Plan International’s approach to accountability, risk communication and community engagement across all response locations, in close collaboration with our partners.
- The role is the primary point of contact for technical staff in Poland, Moldova, and Romania and will ensure Plan International is following high standards of programme quality. Complaints and feedback mechanisms will be established where absent, and close links with our safeguarding activities will be ensured throughout all work.
- The post holder will represent Plan International in external fora, ensuring the organisation is seen as a leader in gender focussed programming in humanitarian response.
Accountabilities
Assessment and Program Design:
- Ensures all work has a strong gender focus in line with Plan International’s Global Strategy.
- Lead on accountability needs assessments coordinating with Plan’s other programmatic areas and country-based AAP and PSEA Working Groups, ensuring assessment findings are documented and disseminated.
- Ensure that the different capacities, vulnerabilities and coping mechanisms of girls and boys are considered and analyzed.
- Provide technical assistance to teams in Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the formulation of Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) program strategies and plans.
- Support preparedness activities across all response locations.
Program Implementation:
- Ensure the effective planning, implementation and coordination of AAP programming that address the key needs for boys and girls.
- Contribute to the development of staffing plans to implement AAP activities and work with the HR team to recruit in line with approved grants.
- Ensure that AAP activities are aligned with sectoral standards, guidelines and tools.
Capacity Building:
- Develop capacity building plans and provide training, coaching and mentorship to program staff and partners.
- Coordinate and/or implement trainings and briefings of Plan staff, partners and other key stakeholders on AAP and related issues such as gender equality and inclusion, amongst others.
- Promote the application of best program practices in AAP.
Monitoring and Evaluation, Reporting and Accountability:
- Work closely with the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) colleagues in Plan International and partner organisations to develop an AAP M&E framework.
- Build capacity of staff and partners to collect quantitative and qualitative data, ensuring all data is disaggregated by sex, age, and disability.
- Document key learning from the AAP activities.
Input to the regular Ukraine Response sitreps.
- Prepare timely reports on AAP activities in compliance with internal and donor requirements.
Coordination and Resource Mobilization:
- Build and maintain relationships with relevant government departments, UN agencies and NGOs.
- Actively contribute to AAP and PSEA Coordination Mechanisms. Support partner organisations take a co-leadership role in the relevant Working Groups as and when requested by partners.
- Establish/maintain new/existing relationships with key donors
- Support Plan’s responses to build a diversified portfolio of funding for AAP.
- Support development and submission of quality proposals in response to identified opportunities.
Influencing:
- Support response teams to develop case studies and reports of innovation in AAP and successes.
- Contribute to relevant global advocacy and policy objectives with documented learning and evidence.
Communication:
- Work with Plan’s communication team to support the dissemination of articles, success stories, presentations and media interviews highlighting Plan’s work in AAP.
General:
- Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility.
- This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
Key Relationships:
Internal:
- Programme technical leads.
- Ukraine Hub
- National Organisations
- Global Hub departments (including humanitarian, finance, legal, funding)
External:
- Civil Society Organisations
- UN Agencies
- Institutional Donors
- Embassies
Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:
- Progressively responsible professional experience in AAP work in a range of humanitarian contexts.
- Good knowledge of and experience with key AAP tools and guidelines.
- Knowledge and understanding of key AAP, RCCE and PSEA issues.
- Experience of conducting needs assessments.
- Experience providing technical support and oversight to AAP programs.
- Experience of capacity building on AAP with a variety of audiences.
- Experience in program design and proposal development and ability to secure funding from public and private funding streams
- Excellent negotiation, representation, skills and the ability to work comfortably with an ethnically diverse staff in a very sensitive environment.
- Fluency in English, written and spoken
Desirable:
- Proficiency in Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, or Moldovan languages.
Plan International’s Values in Practice
We are open and accountable:
- Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
- Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
- Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
- Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
- Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people
We strive for lasting impact:
- Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
- Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
- Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
- Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.
We work well together:
- Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
- Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
- Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
- Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.
We are inclusive and empowering:
- We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
- We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
- We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.
Physical Environment:
- Based remotely, working in a virtual hub. Required to travel to operational locations on a regular basis, sometimes at short notice.
Level of Contact With Children:
- High level: Frequent interaction with children
Method of Application
Interested and qualified? Go to Plan International on jobs.plan-international.org to apply
