Job Description

TITLE: Head of Climate & Child Poverty Reduction- Somalia Country Office

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Programme Quality and Impact (PDI) Team   

LOCATION: Mogadishu/Hargeisa/Garowe

GRADE: Nat 1

CONTRACT TYPE: National

CONTRACT LENGTH: 2 Years 

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: 

Level 3:  the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The Head of Climate and Child Poverty Reduction will play a pivotal role in shaping and advancing Save the Children International’s strategic ambitions in Somalia. This position sets the direction, growth, and coordination of our work on Climate and Child Poverty, encompassing a diverse portfolio that includes cash transfer programming, social protection and shock-responsive safety nets, economic resilience, disaster risk reduction (DRR), anticipatory action, climate change adaptation and resilience, food security and livelihoods, and youth economic empowerment including TVET.

Aligned with our Country Strategy (2025–2027) and Global Strategy, this role reflects our commitment to sustainability, and context-driven programming. The Head of Climate and Child Poverty Reduction will lead the development and delivery of high-quality, cost-effective programs in both humanitarian and long-term development settings—resulting in immediate and lasting change for children.

In collaboration with the Research and Evaluations team, the Head of Climate Child Poverty Reduction will provide technical leadership in climate and child poverty-focused studies and drive the documentation and dissemination of innovations and good practices to inform project design, implementation, and policy advocacy, in line with the Country Office’s Evidence & Learning Agenda.

The role also involves strategic networking and partnership building with government ministries, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and donors. A key responsibility will be to mobilize resources and expand donor relations to support the sector’s strategic growth and impact.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

Reports to: Senior Director of Programme Quality and Impact

Staff directly reporting to this post: 2 Technical Specialists (1 on Youth Economic Empowerment and 1 on Social Protection)

Budget Responsibilities: None  

Primary Technical area: Head of Climate & Child Poverty

Secondary Technical area: Food Security & Livelihoods/Economic Resilience, Anticipatory Action/DRR, Child Sensitive Social Protection/Shock Responsive Safety Nets, Youth Economic Empowerment  

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Strategic Leadership: 

•       Provide technical inputs into the design, development, monitoring and reporting of the Country Strategic Plan and Annual Plans, including driving the development and realisation of ambitious yet practical Climate and Child Poverty strategies and plans 

•       Provide strategic direction and leadership to the Climate and Child Poverty Reduction team to roll out global initiatives in Somalia aimed at delivering concrete results for the three organisational breakthroughs for children (Survive, Learn, Be Protected)

•       Work with other thematic leads to seek opportunities and linkages, wherever applicable, for programmatic integration with other thematic areas (Child protection, Education, Health, Nutrition, WASH) to increase depth of impact for vulnerable children   

•       Provide thought leadership and technical guidance to the Senior Management Team (SMT), Program

Development & Quality (PDQ) department and Climate and Child Poverty Reduction team to advance Save the Children’s relevance in Climate and Child Poverty Reduction sub-themes in relation to emerging trends and priorities, such as Anticipatory Action, DRR, Social Protection, Climate Resilience, Urbanisation, Localisation, Market System Development, etc.

•       Foster the integration of Climate Resilience and anticipatory action across the Country Programmes including Operations, Education, Health, Nutrition, WASH, Child Protection) to build Save the Children Country leadership position as ‘go to’ organization for Child focused Climate Resilience

Resource Mobilization: 

•       Actively inputs into strategic fundraising to support implementation of the Climate and Child Poverty

•        Strategic Plan, including analysis of donor priorities and positions on issues related to climate, child poverty, and identify synergies and scope for collaboration.

•       Along with the Country Director, Deputy Country Director - PDQ and Head of Program Development, maintain excellent professional relationships with key government stakeholders, existing donors, as well as engaging potential donors, to continuously leverage support and resources for the Child Poverty Reduction portfolio

•       Provide timely and quality technical inputs into project design and proposal development for Climate and Child Poverty funding opportunities by bringing together learnings from programme delivery, global best practices, innovation, and donor interests.

•       Support the utilization of Environmental and Social Safeguards to ensure that our projects and programs are climate risk informed and environmentally aware contributing to financial sustainability and avoid negative environmental or social impacts that could jeopardize programmes.

Technical Assistance: 

•       Lead and work together with the Child Poverty Reduction technical specialists and operations teams to ensure that Climate and Child Poverty Reduction programs are implemented to a high standard of quality, are costeffective, and sustainable, including undertaking regular project monitoring and provision of technical recommendations

•       Lead and work together with the Climate and Child Poverty Reduction technical specialists to provide technical supportive supervision to project teams, including training on appropriate approaches and methodologies; conceptual and practical frameworks; monitoring frameworks, standards and tools for effective and quality delivery of Climate and Child Poverty Reduction programmes

•       Provide technical review, guidance and inputs to donor reports to ensure that the reports are of high technical quality, aligning to Climate and Child Poverty Reduction strategic plans and deliverables in project proposals.

•       Provide oversight and guidance to the programme implementation team to ensure that thematic and cross thematic components are technically sound, implementation methods are consistent with nationa and global strategies, acknowledge good practice including Save the Children’s Climate and Child Poverty Common Approaches are likely to achieve scale and as well as equitable and sustainable results.

Representation and Advocacy:

•       Represent and position Save the Children Somalia programme in high-level and strategic internal and external fora related to climate and child poverty, including influencing key stakeholders in Somalia e.g. donors, Government, UN agencies and NGOs

•       Work closely with the Head of Advocacy and Campaigns to develop and disseminate policy briefs and position papers in Climate and child poverty in line with the Country Strategic Plan and global strategy of Save the Children 

•       Identify and capitalise on key opportunities and events for Save the Children to showcase and position itself as the leading organisation for Climate and child poverty reduction, linked to realising children’s rights in Somalia. 

Learning and Knowledge Management:

•       Work closely with the Research, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning & Monitoring (REALM) team to track progress towards Climate and Child Poverty Reduction programme and global indicators, and utilisation of data to inform decision making and course correction 

•       Lead and foster a culture in the technical and operations teams of the systematic collecting, documenting, sharing and utilising of evidence, learning and best practices in Climate and Child Poverty Reduction to drive quality and impact of programming and advocacy  

•       Provide technical review, guidance and inputs into Climate and Child Poverty Reduction focused research studies and evaluations and facilitate the dissemination and uptake of research findings, learning and best practices documentation in child poverty both internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors 

•       Serve as a technical knowledge, skills and experience hub for the sector in Somalia, and in doing so play a leading role in introducing innovations in Climate and Child Poverty Reduction programmes gained from existing and emerging Save the Children’s global, regional and Somalia knowledge and practices.  

People Management & Development: 

•       Provide leadership to the Climate and Child Poverty Reduction team, including strategic vision and direction, team cohesion and team building

•       Lead, in coordination with HR, the recruitment, professional development and promotion of direct line reports as appropriate, including the identification of development opportunities, such as coaching/training/stretch assignments to build and maintain technical skills and competencies required for leading first class programmes

•       Provide day-to-day direct line management of the Climate and Child Poverty Reduction technical specialists, including: Managing and defining expectations; delegation of roles, responsibilities and tasks among the team; providing technical guidance and support to the team as needed

•       Undertake performance management, including setting of annual goals and quarterly deliverables, undertaking quarterly reviews, and provision of feedback to ensure delivery of results

•       Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.   

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice):

Accountability:

•       Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values

•       Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

•       Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same

Collaboration:

•       Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

•       Builds and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters

•       Values diversity and different people’s perspectives, able to work cross-culturally

Creativity:

•       Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions

•       Cuts away bureaucracy and encourages an entrepreneurial approach

Integrity:

•       Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds trust and confidence

•       Displays consistent excellent judgement.

Experiences and Qualifications

• Master’s degree in social sciences; economics; natural resource management or a related field.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

•       8 years’ experience in developing, overseeing and delivering high quality and cost-effective poverty reduction programmes (experience in social protection or youth economic empowerment or climate change/economic resilience preferable) 

•       Experience in strategic planning, including an ability to prioritize among competing demands and opportunities, and an ability to scan the horizon and manage risks

•       Experience working in Somalia or similar fragile/conflict/humanitarian contexts is desirable

•       Experience of working with local/national governments and capacity building of systems, partners and staff

•       Ability to extensively travel for project monitoring and provide on-site technical support to field teams  

•       Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, including ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner, and experience of being a strategic influencer with relevant stakeholders, building personal networks at senior levels, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organization

•       Experience of building, leading and developing staff in a matrix management and remote management environment 

•       Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures

•       Strong results delivery with the ability to solve complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy-in

•       Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies

•       Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required

•       Commitment to Save the Children values. 

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities 

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures. The post holder must commit to work in an international agency that respects racial diversity and fights racism in all forms; and to model positive behaviours and respect to all colleagues, partners and communities.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff and Adult Safeguarding:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy, all employees are also expected to carry out their duties in accordance with the SCI protection from sexual exploitation abuse policy.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At SCI, we uphold the principle of equal rights and opportunities for all our employees. In our commitment to

fostering a more inclusive workplace and addressing gender gaps, we have implemented additional efforts aimed at

supporting female qualified candidates: -

• Maternity leave (6 months)

• Annual Leave 30 working days

• 10% *gross salary. (female allowance)

• 1.5 flexible working hours for lactating mothers

Skills Required

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