Safeguarding Specialist

CARE Palestine (West Bank/Gaza) is looking for a committed professional to the values of Transformation, Integrity, Diversity, Equality, and Excellence for a six months contract with possibilities of extension, to fill the following vacancy:

Safeguarding Specialist

he Safeguarding Specialist at CARE Palestine will play a pivotal role in enhancing and enforcing safeguarding standards in accordance with CARE’s Safeguarding Policy and donor guidelines. Primary responsibilities include leading the integration of safeguarding and protection measures against sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, and child abuse (PSHEA-CA) and partnership facets of CARE Palestine. The Specialist will work on the development and implementation of robust safeguarding systems and processes, ensuring they meet operational standards and are effectively embedded within the humanitarian response. This role demands proactive involvement in risk management that includes development of mitigation measures, relevant SoPs and success indicators for MEAL, partners safeguarding capacity assessment, delivering comprehensive trainings, and promoting awareness to uphold and advance CARE’s Safeguarding standards in close collaboration with CARE's Global Safeguarding Team.

In the role of Safeguarding Specialist at CARE Palestine, primary objective is to ensure the thorough integration of CARE’s Safeguarding Policy commitments across Humanitarian Response. This involves leading strategic implementation, enhancing partner capacities, enforcing policy compliance, and spearheading comprehensive training and awareness initiatives. Specialist will focus on establishing and monitoring effective safeguarding activities and providing direct support to the response and country teams.

The Safeguarding Specialist will report to the Humanitarian Response Director and will lead on CARE’s Safeguarding activities in the Gaza/Palestine Humanitarian Response.

Job Responsibility #1: Leading on Safeguarding (prevention and response) within the Humanitarian Response:

1. Conducting ‘Safeguarding Risk Analysis’ including context specific safeguarding assessments and analysis, program risk assessments and needs assessment.
2. Develop Safeguarding Action Plan based on the risk assessment results
3. Ensure that safeguarding-related activities such as risk assessment and proposed mitigation actions are incorporated into new proposals and that an adequate budget is allocated to implement safeguarding activities
4. Knowledge management – ensuring internal communication channels are updated with latest context specific safeguarding-related content, i.e. through CARE’s internal global information management system (CARE Shares) and Emergency Sitreps.
5. Convening regular meetings and information sharing sessions with leadership of country office and emergency response team, and Safeguarding Regional Adviser;
6. Ensuring that Safeguarding is included in project cycle and budget (prioritized for response and if possible, for non-response initiatives) including risk mitigation measures being carried out regularly as part of the MEAL process;
7. Maintain accurate records of all safeguarding-related activities, incidents, investigations, and outcomes. Generate reports for internal and external stakeholders, including donors and regulatory bodies, as required.

Job Responsibility #2: Providing technical expertise on the integration and embedding of Safeguarding into CARE’s programs and with partners

1. Provide technical advice, support, and guidance to the country office on safeguarding prevention and response strategies in close consultation with CUSA Safeguarding Team;
2. Advising on safeguarding in project proposals and in budgets.
3. Ensuring that child safeguarding is integrated within programs, with specific needs, risk, and risk mitigation identified, as and when required.
4. Advising and undertaking safeguarding due diligence with partners;
5. Assess and analyze the effectiveness of current Safeguarding systems at the partner organization Program level, identifying opportunities and areas for improvement and recommending actions.
6. Mapping and strengthening capacity of partners in Safeguarding, Safer Programming, and PSHEA-CA;
7. Preparing risk assessments for projects, working together with program staff and partners to identify safeguarding risks and mitigations, and managing known risks.
8. Revise CO existing feedback and accountability mechanisms, design to fit with humanitarian context and integrate feedback and complaints channels suitable for reporting SHEA-CA and involved project participants (particularly women, girls, boys, and other vulnerable groups) in their design (where this is possible and safe);
9. Revise and align CO reporting procedures for safeguarding incidents, manage and investigate reported cases promptly, ensuring victims/survivors are supported.
10. Creating, awareness raising Information Education Communications (IEC) materials, and supporting staff and partners to socialize and distribute them, including information on expected behaviors from CARE staff and partners, for program participants, staff and partners that are relevant to the context.
11. Ensuring that awareness raising around Safeguarding, expected behaviors of staff, and how to make a report, is conducted with the program participants and communities throughout the lifetime of the humanitarian response and where this is possible;
12. Leading on the delivery of safeguarding training for all staff, partners, and volunteers.
13. Contribute to new proposals’ budget design ensuring feedback and accountability mechanisms are in place in every project of humanitarian response, co-designed where possible with program participants, to ensure that the mechanisms are safe, accessible and appropriate;
14. Where possible, work with communities and partners to map, utilize and support, existing entry points for reporting safeguarding incidents such as health centers, national / local hotlines etc;
15. Supporting partners to operationalize safeguarding standards including training, safer programming, and awareness raising;
16. Provide technical guidance on safeguarding to partners, volunteers, community structures, and other key stakeholders, including consultants;
17. Develop relevant learning products;
18. Develop pilot and revise relevant tools.

Job Responsibility #3: Internal and external collaboration and coordination with Gender in Emergencies, MEAL, and Protection staff to ensure joint prevention and response approaches.

1. Together with MEAL, ensuring that feedback and accountability mechanisms are designed in collaboration with program participants, and are safe and accessible for all persons, including children and other at-risk groups;
2. Leading on training for MEAL colleagues to be able to recognize safeguarding concerns, respond when required, and refer complaints to the country office safeguarding focal point. e.g.
3. Ensure that MEAL and field staff are trained in safeguarding and know the process of referring Safeguarding concerns, should they receive them through the feedback and accountability mechanisms.
4. Coordinate with the MEAL unit to ensure that all MEAL tools incorporate indicators related to safe programming;
5. Ensuring that referral pathways for survivors are mapped and functional in each response area;
6. Supporting GiE colleagues with Safeguarding and PSHEA-CA analysis for Rapid Gender Analysis;
7. Serve as a main contact person in the country-level PHSEA platforms/networks by ensuring active participation and providing regular updates and reports; Participate in relevant forums and alliances on sector-wide Safeguarding: PSHEA-CA initiatives and provide information and guidance to key internal stakeholders;

Job Responsibility #4: Any other tasks as assigned by line manager

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

Job Profile Requirements

• BSc/BA degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, humanities, gender studies, and other relevant disciplines or equivalent combination of education and work experience
• At least 3-5 years of experience in humanitarian programs, including establishing safeguarding practices in an emergency context
• Working experience with NGOs
• Proven knowledge and ability to manage Safeguarding investigations is desirable;
• Knowledge of Core Humanitarian Standards and humanitarian principles
• In-depth understanding of safeguarding principles, policies, and best practices, with the ability to develop and implement safeguarding frameworks tailored to specific contexts.
• Strong analytical skills to assess and identify potential safeguarding risks within the response context and develop effective strategies to mitigate these risks.
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to collaborate with diverse stakeholders, including local authorities, NGOs, and community representatives, data analysis, and report writing skills
• Attention to detail.
• Ability to represent the organization on technical and functional issues according to the established goals and perform senior technical/functional level tasks that are related to own function.
• Ability to work effectively in a team with peers in a multicultural environment and to interrelate in an effective fashion with staff at all levels as well as with external counterparts.
• Proven ability to conduct effective training sessions and build the capacity of staff, partners, and stakeholders on safeguarding-related topics.
• Strong communication and advocacy skills to promote a culture of safeguarding and raise awareness among diverse audiences.
• Cultural awareness and adaptability to navigate complex and diverse contexts, demonstrating sensitivity to cultural nuances while implementing safeguarding measures
• Good command of written and spoken Arabic and English.

Interested applicants are encouraged to send their CV and Cover letter by e- mail to [email protected], to the attention of the HR Department no later than Monday 05/02/2024, indicating the job title the subject line and cover letter. Applications received after this date or that do not meet the qualifications above will not be considered. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

Applications from female candidates are strongly encouraged.

CARE International promotes the principle of Equal Opportunity for all.