Programme Officer (East and North) - Railway Children (Apply by: 10 Oct'14)

JOB DESCRIPTION

Programme Officer- East and North, Railway Children, New Delhi/ Kolkata

1. POSITION VACANT: Programme Officers (POs), East and North, Railway Children, New Delhi/ Kolkata

2. BACKGROUND: Railway Children (RC) is an international non-profit organisation, working since 1995 in United Kingdom, India and East Africa, to create ‘a world where no child should ever have to live alone on the streets’.

In India, RC works through partnerships with NGOs and directly with government on addressing the issues of children at and around, major railway stations. These are children who leave their family where they suffer poverty, violence, abuse and neglect and also include children staying with families at the station. They find themselves living alone because there is nowhere else to go and nobody to turn to. While working in India RC provides support through:

(1) Early intervention at and around the railway station
(2) Protecting and ensuring community/ family care of vulnerable children
(3) Activating government child protection mechanisms.

At present a team of 12 professionals are working with RC in India, including four who are working out of the Country Office in Mumbai and others working from their residences, in different parts of the country.

Please visit www.railwaychildren.org.uk to learn more about RC.

A detailed note on activities undertaken by RC in India is available athttp://sams.co.in/Railway_Children_India_2014.pdf

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reporting to the Partnership Manager, the Programme Officers (POs) for East and North India, respectively, shall work closely with project partners in the areas of planning and monitoring and evaluation, including assessments.

The incumbents shall play a major role in enabling the voices of children to become an integral part of programme as well as policy planning, review and improvement.

The incumbents shall have basic knowledge of macro/micro development issues relating to India and be responsible for developing, strengthening and implementing state intervention strategies in alignment with country strategy, with specific reference to their geographical territories for Eastern and Northern India, respectively.

Key Job Responsibilities:

A) Partnership Management:

(1) Assessing partner proposals, plans and budgets, negotiating what is in the best interests of the children, the contextual need and partner capacities;
(2) Project management in close association with partners covering planning and monitoring and evaluation, including assessments;
(3) Acting as trouble shooter for partner organisations, offering guidance, as appropriate;
(4) Strengthening financial and human resource management, including the development of child protection policies at partner level;
(5) Organizing, conducting or referring trainings for partners, based on identified training needs;
(6) Managing programme budgets and approving expenditures, in coordination with the Partnership Manager;
(7) Ensuring adequate documentation as part of partner support management, with due diligence in making annual reports, audit reports, IT returns, FC returns, partner support visit reports, etc;
(8) Coordinating and analyzing reports on the progress of partners (programme as well as financial).

B) Operations Management:

(1) Formulating annual plans for RC in coordination with the program team;
(2) Strengthening systems and procedures for working with partners, including assessments, planning, monitoring and evaluations, documentation, etc.;
(3) Assessing and making recommendations about potential/new partner organisations and initiatives;
(4) Sharing knowledge and information throughout the organization.

C) Networking and Communication:

(1) Identifying and contributing to external communication opportunities, which may include making presentations at conferences, holding briefings with donors and other stakeholders, participating in networks and contributing to journals;
(2) Developing working relationships with senior officials of State Departments of Women and Child Development;
(3) Strengthening linkages with other national and international agencies;
(4) Accompanying, or making arrangements for RC Trustees and/or other visitors to partner organisations where required;
(5) Managing activities as requested by the line Manager and/or Country Director.

D) Strategy:

(1) Developing state level strategies for RC India;
(2) Assisting with the development of programme strategy for RC India;
(3) Coordinating baseline assessments, processing documentation and reviews on new ideas, developing thematic papers and documents contributing to state strategy, as well as partnership management;
(4) Providing support for networking and linkages with external organizations, by working as a technical expert on key programme priorities at the state level;
(5) Building a hub of external agencies/ individuals, useful for key programme priorities and developing good working relationships, so as to be able to draw upon them, as and when required;
(6) Building alliances with funding organisations for financial sustainability of the programme, including supporting the UK Office with adequate information.

E) Learning and Development:

Increasing the learning and knowledge base and working on areas of development emphasised in appraisals and/or reviews.

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualifications:

Applicants must be post graduates in Social Science, or equivalent.

Experience:

(1) Minimum five years of work experience in the development field;
(2) At least three years experience in the area of partnership management and child rights programming.

Skills and Competencies:

(1) Interpersonal Skills: Highly motivated with positive attitude; High personal and professional integrity; Ability to work under pressure; Attentive to details; Process oriented; Strong analytical skills;
(2) An effective communicator, the applicant must possess strong influencing, networking, planning and organizing skills;
(3) Strong at project management and documentation skills;
(4) Good understanding and knowledge about issues pertaining to children living at risk without proper family care and various responses initiated by Civil Society and Government, in the past as well as in the present, to address the same;
(5) Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Hindi;
(6) Conversant with standard MS Office applications;
(7) Commitment towards working on the cause of children in difficult circumstances;
(8) Ability to provide constructive feedback, as well as openness to receive feedback, with the objective of collective improvement;
(9)  Ability and willingness to undertake travel on a regular basis for a maximum of 10 days in the month;
(10) Ability to work in a team.

5. COMPENSATION OFFERED:

The gross remuneration budgeted for both positions is attractive. Offers shall be commensurate with the qualifications, experience and salary history, of the selected candidates.

6. LOCATION:

Preferably New Delhi for both posts. However, Kolkata based candidates may also apply for PO East India.

7. REFERENCE:  PO-RC

8. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Ms. Jigyasa Tiwari, Assistant Consultant
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phones: 011-2684-2162; 011-4165-3612; 011-4101-1564 and 011-4101-1565
Email: po-rc@sams.co.in 

9. LAST DATE FOR APPLICATIONS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested apply to po-rc@sams.co.in with a cover letter, discussing their interest in and suitability for the position, along with an updated resume, giving details of three references, current cost to organisation and expected compensation, by or before October 10, 2014. For further details please visit our website www.sams.co.in