Family for Every Child - Director of Alliance Programmes

Director of Alliance Programme December 2020

Contents About Family For Every Child

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Our Organisational model

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The Role

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Main Responsibilities

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Person Specification

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How to Apply

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About Oxford HR

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Family for Every Child Director of Alliance Programme

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About Family For Every Child Family for Every Child is dedicated to a vision of a world where every child can grow up in a permanent, safe and caring family, supported by temporary, quality alternative care where needed.

Fundamentally we are driven by three strategic goals: 1. Enabling children to grow up in permanent, safe and caring families, and 2. Ensuring a range of high-quality alternative care choices 3. Taking steps to prevent children from having to live outside of any adult care, without the care of families or other carers, and in the interim protecting these boys and girls We are an Alliance of national member organisations which has grown from a handful of members 4 years ago, to a network of over 43 members in 38 countries around the world.

Although our members all grow independently, they are connected by a shared “root� system, tended to by a small team of Family for Every Child staff (the Secretariat).

This makes each member more effective, and the network as a whole more resilient, because together, we’re more than the sum of our parts.

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Our Organisational model Ours is a “future focused” model that will facilitate growth, change and impact in a sustainable way. It is characterised by: The power of a network As a united Alliance, we harness the power of all of our members. Together, we deliver collaborative projects that deliver impact and change at a larger scale than our members could do separately. These include global campaigns and advocacy, international research and pilot programmes to achieve change in multiple countries – and we share what we learn even more widely.

Locally grown solutions Our members are all deeply rooted where they work, so their models for change grow directly out of the needs of their unique communities. We don’t have a Head Office that develops programmes far away from where they are implemented.

Instead, we celebrate the diversity of ideas that flourishes when each member develops the work they do to the realities they encounter on the ground.

Global impact Our members work in an ever-growing number of countries in every region around the world, giving us an extensive geographical impact that enables us to collectively reach large numbers of children and families. At the same time, knowledge and solutions flow between them, enabling each one to learn from each other, selecting and adapting relevant models so they become stronger and more effective in their own unique contexts.

Diverse leadership Our collective work is led by diverse organisations in every region of the world.

All members can contribute to setting the direction of the Alliance and can vote on decisions. This model reflects our belief that global change needs to be driven by local needs; and ensures that the actions we take reflect the needs of children and families everywhere.

Efficiency and efficacy Because member organisations lead the change, our supporting team that feeds our shared root system is relatively small. We connect online and have no physical offices. This light and agile team exists to accompany and support members to develop their own capacities and grow the Alliance. As a result, we achieve our global impact whilst remaining efficient.

The organisational model continues to evolve, carefully tended and curated by the members themselves, through an international Board, and with the expertise and support of the Secretariat.

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The Role We are a global Secretariat, and we are currently wanting to diversify our Leadership Team to more broadly reflect geographic and cultural diversity.

The Secretariat is currently around 30 FTE staff, based around the world, working in a completely virtual way. The team has three clusters of work: Finance & Corporate Resources: Alliance Programme: Fundraising & Communications and is led by a CEO. The cluster Directors and the CEO form the Leadership team of the Alliance Secretariat.

We are therefore seeking candidates based in India, Kenya, South Africa, or the Middle East. The candidate must be able to work in English and, ideally at least one of our other working languages namely Arabic, French or Spanish.

Location:

India, South Africa, Kenya or Middle East

Contract type:

Permanent, full time with flexibility

Grade:

A

Reporting to:

CEO, acting as deputy on all matters relating to the membership

Line manager for:

6 staff and a wider team of 11

The Director of Alliance Programme will manage a diverse team of individuals, located across the globe. Rather than a ‘top down’ leader, the post holder will need to be more of an enabler’ and critical friend to a team of professionals with a range of experiences. While the Alliance Programme Team covers a range of specialisms, the post holder will encourage an agile approach, helping them to shift their focus as and when needed. While the team is small, they are the engine of our Alliance Programme.

The Alliance Programme portfolio covers our member engagement work, knowledge management and practice exchange, research, programme monitoring, evaluation and learning, and advocacy.

The postholder is a key member of the Secretariat Leadership Team and has collective responsibility for the leadership and delivery of the whole Secretariat.

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Main Responsibilities A. Leading management of the programmatic work through relationships with members • Working with members to help them understand a more focused approach in terms of activities and thematic focus • Building upon our national advocacy work, to develop regional initiatives and take advantage of global opportunities, building on our advocacy capacity and helping key members to become confident ambassadors • Achieving scale by engaging a wider network of organisations and individuals in our practice exchange, research and campaigning; enabling strategic use of resources to achieve the greatest impact across the whole portfolio of work • Collecting and evaluating the pipeline of ideas and issues constantly emerging, assessing and making recommendations against the conceptual framework and strategy • Adjudicating between members and the Secretariat where competing ideas and proposals require prioritisation of resources • Preparing and recommending proposals for new members • Supporting members in emergency response and to consider the Alliance’s role in strengthening local response, recovery and resilience in humanitarian contexts • Being responsible for any onward granting from the Secretariat to members • Building in strong accountability and reporting mechanisms as well as project and grant management across the membership and the team • Embedding perspectives of children and those with lived experience into our work is crucial and where relevant and appropriate, supporting self-advocacy • Ensuring due diligence is conducted and maintained with all members • Upholding the highest standards of safeguarding approaches across all areas of work B. Managing the Alliance Programme Team This role leads two sub-teams: Membership Engagement and Alliance Programme Advisors.

The Membership Engagement Team is responsible for bringing in new members to the Alliance, coordinating the member journey, member communications, supporting our community learning platform and our knowledge sharing series ‘How We Care’. They are also responsible for engaging a wider network of local practitioners and those with lived experience to participate in aspects of the Alliance work. This role will support that work and seek to grow the Alliance in both scale and scope.

The Alliance Programme Advisors are responsible for moderating and supporting our members in documenting their models of practice, undertaking research, taking forward advocacy at national, regional and international levels and campaigns. In addition, this sub-team is responsible for monitoring, evaluation and learning, supporting children’s participation and providing both functional and thematic guidance.

Family for Every Child Director of Alliance Programme

Key to this will be: • Managing the Alliance Programme Team of 11 people across different cultures, countries and time zones, with direct line management responsibility for 6 staff • Carefully allocating workload and priorities, and facilitating cross team working and sharing of knowledge and experience • Supporting, enabling and developing individual team members • Building the effectiveness and satisfaction of the whole team, and fostering the desired culture • Forging strong relationships between the Alliance Programme Team as a whole and individually with other teams in the Secretariat • Brokering relationships and conflicts with other stakeholders as necessary • Assessing, adding and overseeing the management of consultants who add capacity to the team • Delivering reliable, open, transparent internal communications up, down and across the team and wider organisation.

C. Co-Leading the Secretariat Working with colleagues in the Leadership Team to: • Translate the vision and strategy for all members and stakeholders • Grow and develop the wider network of internal and external partners • Manage the work and approach of the Secretariat ensuring effective use of resources to deliver the best results, and monitoring performance of the whole Alliance As part of the Leadership Team this role takes collective responsibility in: • Weaving and coordinating across the Alliance to achieve the impact we want • Drafting and planning implementation of global strategy • Designing and embedding a results framework • Driving financial sustainability and integrity • Enabling strategic use of resources to achieve the greatest impact across the whole portfolio of work • Building systems, processes and capacity across the Alliance to enable delivery • Providing information, analysis and data for the Board to effectively lead the Alliance • Developing and role-modelling the desired culture and ways of working • Acting as ‘confident’ diplomat, being able to negotiate with members who are passionate about the work they are doing and their involvement in the network • Working with members to help them understand a more focused approach in terms of activities and thematic focus • Facilitating and coordinating cross Alliance working and delivery

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Person Specification Knowledge • Post graduate degree level of education or equivalent professional qualification within a relevant discipline • Expert knowledge related to child rights and the care and protection of children across a range of different contexts • Strong experience of supporting research, advocacy, campaigns & policy development • Prior work on children’s participation or those with lived experience • Experience of working for a local civil society organisation, preferably in a resource constrained or politically restrictive environment • Experience of working in a multicultural setting, in more than one language (ideally Arabic, French or Spanish), demonstrating understanding of working internationally - a high level of fluency in English is essential • Budget and financial management experience • Knowledge management experience, ideally digital, facilitating shared learning and practice exchange, using both online and face to face techniques • Experience of planning and running multilingual network meetings (online and face to face, ranging from webinars to small conferences) • Experience of managing remote teams • Expert knowledge of safeguarding initiatives and practical application across a range of approaches Skills • Strategic leader • Strategic thinker with a record of promoting new ways of working and delivering culture, process and behaviour change

Family for Every Child Director of Alliance Programme

• Excellent planning and organisational skills • Experience of planning and running multilingual network meetings (online and face to face, ranging from webinars to small conferences) • Experience of managing remote teams • Interpersonal skills • Builds and strengthens relationships • Engenders trust • Listens first to understand • Strong influencing and communication skills • Facilitator • Finds common ground • Flexible • Enabler • Strong coaching and mentoring skills – acting as a critical friend • Intellectual skills • Creative • Propositional • Future focused • Curious Behaviours • Diplomatic, but challenging of behaviours that are unhelpful • Supportive • Assertive yet respectful • Collaborative and facilitative, seeking engagement and genuine convergence • Willing to do a range of tasks from simple, basic to complex and high level • Consistently seeking to improve how we do things to achieve better • Embracing change and innovation • Demonstrating intercultural competence and sensitivity • Authentic

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How to Apply All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button in the job advert page and complete our online application form.

Please provide a CV and cover letter which should be prepared before applying as they will be requested in the application process.

The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

The document should be saved in MS Word in the following format: Your First NameYour Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyyyy) e.g: Pat-Jones-CV-Family For Every Child-122020.

Timeline Closing date: First Round interviews: Final panel interviews:

5th February 2021 February 18 – 22, 2021 TBC

Equality statement Equality and diversity are at the core of Family For Every Child’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

Selection process All candidates will be notified about the status of their applications. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder. Shortlisted candidates may be required to undertake an additional assessment prior to the final interview.

Safeguarding Statement Family for Every Child has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm, exploitation or abuse of anyone including our staff and stakeholders. Safeguarding forms an intrinsic part of everything that we do. The appointment process for any roles to work with or on behalf of Family will include criminal record checks and the receipt of satisfactory references.

Compliance with all our Safeguarding Policies and Procedures is mandatory.

Queries If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email FamilyForEveryChild-doap@oxfordhr.co.uk in the first instance.

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About Oxford HR Oxford HR operates globally - mainly within the international development and charity sectors.

We carry out retained executive search mandates at board and senior management levels. We also offer human resource and organisational development consultancy.

Oxford HR has many years of experience in search as well as an extensive network of international development, social sector, corporate, public sector, and academic contacts from across the world. We carry out comprehensive and often international searches designed to meet the specific needs of our clients.

Oxford HR’s team members have significant personal experience of working in international development and the social sector as well as the corporate and governmental sectors. We are in a unique position to find and assess talented individuals from a variety of backgrounds.

Family for Every Child Director of Alliance Programme

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