The Safeguarding Advisor provides global technical leadership for action across the World Vision Partnership to comply with the World Vision International’s (WVI’s) Safeguarding Standards, in collaboration with the Safeguarding Director and safeguarding focal points in Support, Field, and Regional offices in the Partnership. This role is critical to WVI fulfilling its Board-mandated commitment to be a child safe organization, ensuring that within our efforts to safeguard all beneficiaries, that WV’s focus and expertise on keeping children safe is ensured. This position will provide leadership along with the Safeguarding Director for continuous improvement of safeguarding practices, including how they are pursued, measured and improved across the Partnership, with an emphasis on practical and culturally tailored prevention methods. Areas of responsibility include the Safeguarding Standards, Incident Intake Management system (Ethics Point) for Incident Reporting & Response, Child Protection (CP) Update Reports, GNOD and Audit.
The Advisor will lead efforts to strengthen accountability on safeguarding across the WV Partnership, working with key WV governance and accountability leaders. The Advisor will manage activities related to child and adult beneficiary safeguarding, including building capacity, monitoring compliance, interpreting policy, and managing incident responses. The Advisor will provide strategic safeguarding partnering, consultancy and guidance to Safeguarding Advisors at regional and national levels, as well as strategic collaboration with key business partners, to support the organization in implementing the Safeguarding Standards and addressing safeguarding-related risk. The Advisor will support the Safeguarding Director in developing and implementing strong communications approaches for Safeguarding initiatives, including customised and confidential annual briefings and effective mobilization of global leadership regarding safeguarding risk, plans, responsibilities. The Advisor will also support the Safeguarding Director in strategic and operational issues, including escalation of highest risk situations. Finally, the Advisor will lead reflection processes using learning from the safeguarding system to inform and influence safeguarding improvements.
- Provide technical leadership for Child Safeguarding within the WVI Safeguarding Unit and across the WV Partnership in alignment with the WVI Child Protection Standards.
- Management of Safeguarding Standard and Policy development in particular as they relate to child safeguarding, implementation and monitoring and improvement/updating minimizing organizational risk and strengthening compliance to Safeguarding Standards.
- Advise Support Offices (SO)/ Regional Offices (RO)/ Field Offices (FO) staff to ensure strong child protection incident management in order to mitigate organizational risk in the area of Child Safeguarding.
- Coordinate responses to high profile or high risk child protection incidents, and adult safeguarding incidents as requested.
- Capacity Building and support to key organizational entities in the implementation of Safeguarding Standards.
- Safeguarding Information and Knowledge Management.
- Represent WV on child safeguarding issues internally and externally.
- Other tasks as assigned.
- Proficient in coaching, influencing, facilitation, presentation, communication, analysis and problem solving.
- Expertise in child safeguarding issues, emergency relief, the UN CRC and the field of child protection.
- Excellent analytical, interpersonal, and collaboration skills in a diverse environment. Proven ability to work as an effective team member on cross-cultural teams.
- Experience developing and interpreting complex or challenging policies.
- Two years experience in a developing world environment, 5 years working in an international NGO sector.
- Five years experience in child safeguarding in an international NGO.
- Experience in communicating to and influencing organizational leadership and management decisions.
- Very strong organizational skills; ability to complete a complex variety of tasks in an organized manner and to quickly change and adapt to new priorities.
- Effective in written and verbal communication in English; language skills in Spanish and/or French preferred.
Preferred:
- Critical thinking skills to relate work performed to broader business context.
- Strong computer and knowledge management skills,including ability to learn new platforms quickly.
- Clearly demonstrated strong sense of initiative;independent and creative.
Work Environment:
- The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to 15% of the time.