The Ugandan Jobline

Job Title:    Project Management Specialist (Child Protection)   

Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: USAID / Uganda, Kampala, Uganda

Salary Range: UGX 219,900,268 to 324,611,127 per annum, equivalent to FSN-12

About US Embassy:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years.  Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda.  The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• Peace Corps

Job Summary:  The USAID Project Management Specialist (Child Protection) is a senior member of the Education, Youth, and Child Development (EYCD) Office. The EYCD office implements USAID/Uganda’s Basic Education, Higher Education, and PEPFAR/Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) funding streams, integrating youth across the portfolio. This position helps lead EYCD collaboration on cross-cutting activities with the Health and HIV Office (OHH), the Economic Growth (EG) Office, Humanitarian Assistance and Transitions Office (HATO) and the Democracy, Rights, and Governance (DRG) Office to ensure coordination of child protection services for children. The Specialist provides technical leadership and guidance to plan, implement, monitor, and adapt child protection activities across the EYCD portfolio. The Specialist has responsibility for ensuring coordination of OVC and child protection programs funded by the USG through a variety of governmental and non-governmental partners at national, district, and community levels. The Specialist serves as an Agreement/Contracting Officer’s Representative (AOR/COR) and provides technical, managerial, and financial oversight to USAID-funded grants, cooperative agreements, and/or contracts. The Specialist is responsible for PEPFAR and non-PEPFAR program activities that strengthen national, district, and community-level capability to support children affected or infected by HIV/AIDS, survivors of all forms of abuse and those at risk of abuse, as well as those with mental health issues. This will require strong relationships with the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development (MGLSD); Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES); and sub-national governmental and community child protection structures and officials, such as Probation and Social Welfare Officers, District Action Committees, and others.

Within USAID, the Specialist is responsible for identifying and building/strengthening linkages with other HIV initiatives and activities, such as pediatric care and treatment, HIV counseling and testing, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, and prevention interventions for youth. Additionally, the Specialist works with non-PEPFAR teams throughout the Mission to ensure integration across programming, especially when EYCD funds are involved. These initiatives include working with education colleagues to reduce violence against children in schools, improving connections with maternal and child health and malaria programming, working with agriculture and OVC teams to design and implement household nutrition and economic strengthening activities, and collaborating with DRG on issues of child justice, child rights, and increasing domestic funding for child protection. Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) is an emerging priority for EYCD, and the Mission and the Specialist shapes this priority into a purposeful approach and strategy and provides technical assistance to teams trying to increase/improve MHPSS in their activities. Just as child protection is a cross-sectoral field that upholds all child rights, this is a cross-sectoral position that will require a case management lens to working within and outside the EYCD and with the U.S. Government interagency, development partners in education and social protection, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Ugandan governmental and quasi-governmental structures. The Specialist reports to the EYCD Office Director or designee.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:  

Program Management – 45 percent of time

The Specialist manages activities related to OVC and child protection through USAID-funded grants, government-to-government agreements, cooperative agreements, and/or contracts. Key program management activities for the Specialist are those included in the AOR/COR Designation letter and include:

Program Planning

• Provides sound technical direction that will strengthen USG programming and policy in OVC and child protection, based on an in-depth knowledge of household economic strengthening, social protection, child protection, child development, family strengthening, and communities that care for vulnerable children. Requires close collaboration and coordination with the Education, Youth, OHH, EG, DRG, and HATO portfolios.
• Develops, in collaboration with office and Mission staff, the strategic direction for the OVC and child protection portfolio within the Mission, sets priorities, goals, and objectives for long-term program implementation.
• Co-leads the budget planning and advocacy efforts within the USAID Mission, the USG interagency, and with the MGLSD and MOES.
• Resolves program-related issues and conflicts.
• Collaborates with other USAID community-based programs to coordinate programs based in the same communities.
• Prepares required authorization documents for signature of the responsible Mission official, and tracks disbursements to program partners.

Technical Oversight

• Contributes to the annual PEPFAR Country Operational Plan (COP) preparation, budget negotiations, and reporting/presenting.
• Uses knowledge of global and local best practices to provide expert technical advice and leadership during USG discussions on improving OVC and child protection programs, as well as with implementing partners (IPs).
• Provides technical advice to local partner organizations on strengthening child protection programming, developing, and executing training sessions, workshops, and learning events, as needed.
• Provides technical guidance to implementing partners in the role of AOR/COR, ensuring that IPs meet objectives and that USAID activities use the most current and technically sound approaches to child protection, OVC, and MHPSS programming.
• Conducts and analyzes program evaluations to adapt current and future programming to respond to changing operating environments and participants’ most pressing needs.
• Participates in Mission review of technical proposals in the area of OVC and child protection by potential grantees, to ensure that proposals are technically sound, realistic, and meet the needs of OVC and communities.
• Improves case management approach within EYCD programming and promote the approach across the Mission portfolio, where appropriate.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, (MEL) and Reporting

• Assists partners in reporting all essential services provided to OVC participants according to Office of Global AIDS Coordination (OGAC) and USAID reporting guidelines.
• Supervises the maintenance of project records and the preparation of periodic reports of activity status, including contributing to annual and ad hoc USAID reporting and reviewing/approving activity reporting documents.
• Evaluates the performance of IP organizations involved in OVC and child protection activities, including working with the Project Management Specialist (Strategic Information/Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (PMS-SI/MEL) to develop innovative approaches to measuring effectiveness of USAID child protection- and MHPSS-related programming.
• Conducts periodic field visits to identify and assess the quality of services and the impact of program inputs, and to ensure regular communication with and between IPs and counterparts at all levels.
• Monitors activity progress, implementation quality, and adherence to budgets.
• Monitors program resources allocated to OVC and child protection activities to ensure that they are being used effectively to achieve program objectives.
• Reports implementation obstacles to the OVC/Child Protection Team Leader and EYCD leadership and make appropriate recommendations to resolve them.

Coordination with USG and Key Stakeholders – 45 percent of time

• Maintains regular contact with mid- and senior-level Ministry officials (e.g., MGLSD, MOES, others as needed/appropriate) in order to help shape policy and guidance documents related to OVC and child protection, and to advocate for USAID policy objectives with government counterparts.
• Maintains close contact with relevant district and local governmental officials, particularly in areas where EYCD implements activities.
• Participates in coordination between USAID, PEPFAR interagency, other USG implementers and key stakeholders involved in improving OVC and child protection services in Uganda.
• Represents USAID in relevant working groups, committees, and task forces, for example, the Social Care and Support Technical Working Group, Social Protection Development Partners Group, and activity steering committees. Presents USAID program objectives, using both diplomacy and technical clarity in discussions related to program concerns and issues in these fora and garners support from counterparts in the Government of Uganda (GOU), other donors, and/or NGOs.
• Guides coordination and collaboration between USAID- and non-USAID-funded programs to better provide holistic OVC and child protection assistance.
• Arranges for and utilizes outside technical assistance to enhance implementation of program activities.
• Briefs EYCD leadership, USAID Mission leadership, the Embassy Front Office, and Washington, DC, on technical issues related to OVC, child protection, and MHPSS, linking these issues to USG foreign policy and development priorities.

Outreach and Communications, Internal and External – 10 percent of time

• Provides technical and strategic leadership in the preparation of key annual and mid-term planning and reporting documents, including the Country Operational Plan, Operational Plan, Congressional Budget Justifications, Technical Notifications, and Quarterly, Semi-Annual, and Annual Progress Reports.
• Drafts talking points and/or speeches for the Office Director, Mission Director, Ambassador, and others, as required.
• Identifies opportunities for site visits for USAID and Embassy leadership, as well as VIP visitors, and prepares briefing papers, presentations, and cables for such.
• In collaboration with the Mission Development Outreach and Communications Unit, maintains current fact sheets about OVC and child protection priorities and activities.
• CCN PSCs may participated in temporary duty (TDY) travel to USAID/Washington and other Missions in order to participate in the Foreign Service National Fellowship Program described in ADS 495maa.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant for the USAID Project Management Specialist (Child Protection) job should hold a Master’s degree in social science, child development, psychology, education, public health, health-related social or behavioral science, or similar fields is required.
• At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in OVC and child protection programming and policy development/implementation is required.
• Strong knowledge of OVC and cross-sectoral child protection activities in Uganda and in other countries (especially in sub-Saharan Africa), including lessons learned that are applicable to Uganda, is required.
• Thorough understanding of the social, economic, and cultural determinants and implications of child protection risks, including the HIV epidemic, on children in Uganda, is required.
• Advanced knowledge of child-focused policies, including PEPFAR/OVC, the Ugandan National Child Policy, and the Ugandan National Policy on Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children, is required.
• Deep understanding of other donor involvement, as well as GOU structures and key figures in OVC, child protection, and MHPSS, is required.
• Strong understanding of community-based care activities carried out in Uganda, including knowledge of critical actors at the district and community levels, is required.
• In-depth knowledge of social protection systems strengthening, and service delivery, is required.
• Knowledge of the nexus between MHPSS and child protection and approaches to integrating both areas across multi-sectoral programs.
• Knowledge of U.S. government and PEPFAR policies, regulations, procedures, and documentation.
• Experience designing, managing, and evaluating OVC and child protection programs, including demonstrated experience working in a cross-sectoral environment.
• Ability to develop and maintain effective mid-level and senior-level contacts working on OVC, child protection, and MHPSS in government and NGOs.
• Experience with policy revision, development, and evaluation related to OVC, child protection, and/or MHPSS.
• Experience with explaining case management to a variety of audiences and applying a case management approach to cross-sectoral programming.
• Experience with persuasively explaining and defending organizational priorities with external counterparts in GOU, other donors, and civil society.
• Ability to work effectively with team and interagency environments, and to train, mentor, and coordinate with others, especially in sensitive situations.
• Ability to interpret regulatory directives and related guidance reliably and correctly.
• Strong management skills, including financial, administrative, and technical skills used to track the performance of implementing partners and activities.
• Ability to present information, analyses, and recommendations in clear written and oral formats to high-level officials.
• Ability to respond professionally and adjust to fluid situations in order to meet deadlines in the face of competing priorities and time pressures.
• Ability to travel within Uganda and potentially abroad up to 25 percent of the time (at least once per quarter
• Language Proficiency: Level IV (fluent proficiency) in English, and in the appropriate host-country business language, both written and spoken, is required. Language competence may be tested.

How to Apply:

Offers must be submitted as detailed in Section IV of the solicitation document and shall include:

• A typed and signed (hand or electronic signature) (around Section 6 – Declaration) DS-174 Employment Application for Locally Employed Staff or Family Member (https://eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds174.pdf; Version Exp. 06/2022).
• Cover letter (addressed to the USAID Supervisory Executive Officer) clearly indicating the position for which you are applying and describing how you meet the minimum requirements.
• Completed curriculum vitae/resume as detailed in the solicitation document.
• Supplemental [separate] document specifically addressing each QRF as outlined in the solicitation.
• Copies of Academic Transcripts

All offers must be e-mailed to: kampalausaidjobs@usaid.gov

Offers should be in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). No other file types will be accepted. All documents should be scanned into one (1) document (one (1) ATTACHMENT) which should not exceed 10MB.

NB: Only electronic submissions will be accepted and only short listed offerors will be contacted.

Deadline: 20^th October 2022

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