Latest Recruitment at ICS- SP

Location: Kisumu, with responsibility to support ICS SP ECD work across the region

Purpose of function

Serve as the ECD lead for ICS SP and provide technical direction and leadership for the creation and implementation of high-quality ECD programming and content within the region. Specifically, the coordinator will be responsible for the design, day to day implementation and monitoring of a new ECD program aimed at promoting early childhood development and reducing child maltreatment among 0-8 year olds in Kenya.

Key areas of responsibility

• Programme management and implementation
• Serve as the overall project coordinator for the new ECD Programme, ensuring quality implementation in compliance with ICS SP and donor policy
• Design and implement relevant, effective, and sustainable ECD interventions that achieve project goals and objectives in a timely manner
• With staff, review project goals and objectives on a regular basis and develop an annual work plan and oversee work plan implementation.
• Technical advice and capacity building
• Collaborate with programme teams (skilful parenting, child protection, Education, Family economic strengthening ) to come up with innovative strategies for integration of ECD activities across ICS SP programs
• Lead the development and revision of technical tools and learning materials and resources to support strategic areas of intervention in early childhood care and development and guide team members in their use
• Lead the development of new business concept notes and proposals for the continuation and expansion of ECD programming in ICS SP target countries
• Providing technical advice and support internally- Coach, train, and mentor staff with the aim of strengthening their ECD technical capacity
• Providing technical advice and support externally - as required, participate in meetings, forums and working groups with government stakeholders and partners in order to share experiences, knowledge and, when required, advice for the development of ECD programme and policies at National and County level
• Keep abreast of trends in child development regionally and globally, to ensure application of current knowledge and best practices in ICS SP work.
• Monitoring, reporting and learning
• Guide the design of data collection methodologies/tools to facilitate monitoring and evaluation, as well as large research efforts to document effectiveness of ECD interventions
• Regularly visit program sites to monitor and support field staff, implementing partners and communities;
• Ensure the submission of timely, accurate and well written project and reports and other reporting requirements for all ECD programming
• Ensure accurate and timely reporting of program finances and progress status, review actual financial performance against the budget, and explain variances on a regular basis
• Identify, document and share best practice and success stories to facilitate scale up and implementation of ECD projects
• Partnerships and representation
• Build collaborative partnerships with government, CSOs and local implementing partners to facilitate effective implementation and dissemination of ECD materials and activities
• Organize and lead regular ECD meetings with key stakeholders including Government, CSOs and research partners
• As required, represent ICS SP in meetings in matters relating to ECD

Skills and Qualifications

• Passion for the health, welfare and education of children;
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in an NGO and good understanding of the fields of early childhood development, child protection and health;
• University degree in education, social sciences or related fields. Master’s degree preferred
• Proven experience in managing and/or technically supporting early childhood development, education or child protection programs
• Proven excellent interpersonal, mentoring and capacity building skills
• Proven ability to deliver projects in line with proposals, budgets and timelines;
• Ability to make decisions and suggestions based on strong analytical and problem solving skills;
• Ability to travel up to 25% time, required
• Demonstrable budget holding experience
• Previous Staff management experience
• Child safeguarding: The responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people

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Reporting to: Director

Purpose of Function

The Finance and Operations manager will manage the financial resources of the organization in all programme areas and countries of operation in a manner that ensures continuous availability, optimal utilization and safe custody of the same, and effectively manage all administration and operational issues in a manner that ensures organizational activities are adequately supported.

Key roles and responsibilities

• Financial planning and management
  • Formulating strategic and long-term business plans of ICS SP
  • Maintaining the financial health of the organization.
  • Preparation of annual budgets, forecast and projections, periodic cash flow requests and donor proposal budgets
  • Oversee operations of the finance department, set goals and objectives, and design a framework for these to be met.
  • Ensure timely availability of funds from donors to support project and organizational activities
  • Ensure timely disbursement of funds to projects and partners
  • Review financial data and accounts entries for accuracy and completeness and proper account posting within the designated accounting system
  • Analyse financial data and provide relevant financial and managerial information to ICS SP
  • Management Team and its board of directors.
  • Build the capacity of staff and partner organizations in the area of finance , accounting and operations
  • Maintain good relationships within the ICS group to reconcile intercompany transactions and control accounts and to facilitate support to other entities if necessary.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with the local bank(s), auditor, suppliers and other service providers and ensure that ICS SP receives excellent service at all times.
  • Conducting reviews and evaluations for cost-reduction opportunities
• Controls and reporting
  • Implement finance, operations and procurement policies, systems and procedures and ensure quality accounting and timely reporting
  • Managing, reviewing and monitoring the financial performance of projects and operations and ensuring that they are in line with approved budgets.
  • Consolidate financial reports from projects and partners and prepare accurate periodic financial reports that are in line with ICS SP and donor guidelines
  • Check the accuracy and timeliness of statutory returns (tax, payee, VAT and other tax requirements)
  • Prepare and facilitate internal and external audits for ICS and partner organizations
  • Timely submission of annual audited accounts to the relevant authorities in ICS implementation countries
• Human resource coordination and management
  • Analyse and strengthen staff development needs in the area of financial management and operations
  • Coordinate the ICS SP staff payroll and statutory returns such as VAT, PAYE, NSSF, NHIF etc. on a timely basis
  • Ensure that ICS SP HR practices (employee contracts, benefits) are in line with HR policy and with relevant country laws
  • Manage staff benefit packages ( medical insurance, pension, and other benefits)
  • Organize and coordinate meetings on regular basis with line staff to foster positive relationships
  • Manage the finance and operations team across all countries of ICS operations
  • Assist in designing of performance objectives and indicators for line staff and conduct performance reviews and guide staff to meet desired deliverables
  • Asset management
  • Organize inventory of assets and ensure safety of the organization’s assets
  • Organize office and asset insurance and maintenance of organizational assets
  • Manage ICT infrastructure, services , applications and internet service provision services

Skills and Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Financial Manager
• Extensive understanding of financial trends and general market patterns
• Proficient user of finance software
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
• Able to manage, guide and lead employees to ensure appropriate financial processes are being used
• A solid understanding of financial statistics and accounting principles
• Working knowledge of all statutory legislation and regulations
• BS/MA degree in Finance, Accounting or Economics
• Professional qualification such as CFA/CPA

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Purpose of function

A project manager who is capable of switching between operational project management and strategic program management. He/she has a project management educational background and works from specific method and is able to train and support team members in the field on project management skills.

Roles and responsibilities

• In line with our core values and strategic priorities and working with ICS SP staff, He/she will be responsible for;
• Identifying and exploiting new opportunities and working closely with programme teams to develop and hone new programme propositions
• Providing timely intelligence on (new) partners and strategic programs to assist in critical decision making
• Setting strategy and vision for new areas of opportunity
• Actively managing a pipeline of new partnership opportunities and developing partnership roadmaps
• Bringing new partnership opportunities to life by developing proposals, service level agreements, implementation plans and facilitating contractual and legal processes and needs
• Negotiating new programme products and services to achieve a fair and competitive deal for ICS SP
• Conducting risk and compliance due diligence reviews with new partners
• Tracking commitments with key partners and ensuring that contractual commitments are met by all including ICS SP
• Build, manage and sustain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders and broker effective ways forward particularly where there are differing requirements, demands andmeasures of success
• Driving quality and ethics in ICS SP programs, partnerships and relationships
• For West Africa and (other new projects) he/she will also specifically:
• Guide and support the team to develop and implement the project plans
• Monitor the pilot project and develop performance reports
• Plan and coordinate quarterly progress reviews with key Partners
• Develop strategic recommendations through rigorous analysis and evaluation of the landscape and pilot project outcomes, to drive action towards Skilful parenting scale up

Qualifications and skills

We are looking for someone who

• Can operate with assurance at senior levels
• Has project management experience and has successfully completed projects with proven results
• Can co-ordinate and support negotiations within multiple partnerships
• Cut through issues and come up with a ‘win-win’ solution
• Has a high level of influencing/diplomacy skills and the ability to balance competing interests and manage multiple stakeholders with complex and competing objectives
• Prioritizes and plans activities taking account of all relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resource requirements.
• Good knowledge of French (written and oral) is an advantage

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Purpose of function

The programmes administrator is able to provide administrative and programme support to Director, and will closely work with senior management team. The programmes administrator will often act as the Director’s first point of contact with people from both inside and outside the organization.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Programmatic
  • Research and prepare materials on programme development, advocacy and resource mobilization for a wide range of audiences, including target beneficiaries, government stakeholders , implementing partners and donors , staff and others;
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for the office of the director, routing external and internal programme, advocacy, finance , resource mobilization requests as appropriate to the appropriate staff;
  • Assist staff members with special projects as needed, such as coordinating field and donor visits and event planning.
  • Preparation of research papers, briefing notes, reports, policy documents, presentations and proposals for consideration as required.
• Administrative
  • Creation and maintenance of a contact management system, meeting scheduling, event planning and support,
  • Devising and maintaining office systems, including data management and managing electronic and paper based filing systems for projects and donors
  • Manage calendar, scheduling, travel, reservations, and expense reports for the director
  • Attending meetings with the Director to take notes or dictation at meetings and provide general assistance during presentations;
  • Organizing and maintaining Director diaries and making appointments
  • Dealing with incoming email/mails as directed, often corresponding on behalf of the Director as agreed
  • Organizing and attending meetings and working closely with other team members to assure the
  • Director’s preparation for meetings, presentations or other engagements.
  • To assist with budget management and take responsibility for monitoring of income and expenditure

Qualifications and skills

• Degree in business management, development studies or related studies
• Proficiency in MS Office
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Project management experience
• Demonstrated ability to compose correspondence, agendas, minutes, and reports,
• Demonstrated capacity to “present” in meetings and to speak in public will be highly regarded
• Highly developed interpersonal, negotiating and problem solving skills
• Strong organizational skills and a demonstrated capacity to manage multiple project work
• Trustworthy with impeccable moral standards
• Discretion and confidentiality in handling business, personal, and family information with the highest level of confidence.

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Purpose of function

The policy and advocacy officer will lead policy efforts, liaise with policy-makers (including elected officials), inform ICS SP staff and partners of any pertinent policy issues, and expand ICS SP capacity to participate in and successfully intervene with policies that impact children and their families.

Specifically, the officer will support the development and co-ordination of policy knowledge and insights in order to inform and influence government agencies and other stakeholders through policy research, policy evidence, advocacy messaging, stakeholder involvement, networking and environment scanning.

The officer will lead our policy advocacy on assigned priority areas in child health, development and protection.

Key areas of responsibility

• Policy research and environmental scanning
• To undertake environmental scanning to identify opportunities and threats in the child development and protection policy environment.
• To investigate ECD, health and child protection issues which will impact on future on child wellbeing and ICS SP
• To undertake literature reviews and policy evaluation and contribute to the delivery of effective communications, campaigns and marketing strategies.
• In conjunction with program staff and communications unit, closely monitor policy debates and media pertaining to child health, development and protection , ensuring that relevant information is analyzed and disseminated in a timely and effective manner
• Applies policy content knowledge to projects and communicates content to relevant internal and external partners
• Policy influence, support and promotion
• Provide policy expertise to child health, development and protection strategic priorities and initiatives
• Develop detailed, evidence-based positions on child health, development and protection work presenting them in a clear, well-argued and compelling manner.
• To work proactively with colleagues across the organization to ensure consistent policy messages and inform campaigning, influencing and improvement activities through written briefing notes, consultation responses, good practice guides, policy fact sheets, action alerts and related materials.
• Supporting counties and/or national government in strategic planning around early childhood development, child protection and education planning and policy.
• Identify and facilitate opportunities to highlight the learning and policy recommendations generated from ICS SP work
• Stakeholder engagement:
• Engage with the national government and the devolved governments on child health, development and protection agenda and represent ICS SP externally, managing key relationships with a variety of stakeholders.
• Lead or support organization and facilitation of roundtables and other events with key policy makers
• Engage in dialogue with Government and other key external stakeholders to build technical capacity on proven tools and strategies, and share evidence and best practices from ICS SP work and research
• Strategic planning
• To contribute strategic planning across the organization and Support the development of proposals and partnerships to increase resources to support child health, development and child protection programming
• Develop and support relationships with strategic stakeholders, and the private sector.
• Assisting with programme planning: attending strategic meetings, identifying key opportunities to collaborate with partners or influence decision-makers.

Qualifications and skills

• University degree in public policy, law, development studies, or other related field.
• At least six years of professional experience in policy and context analysis, and policy development, as well as crafting and delivering successful advocacy work responding to, and influencing, complex health and development interventions
• Experience in providing policy development and implementation expertise in processes where agendas are being set to drive change in child health, development and protection
• Proven complex problem solving skills and assembling an evidence base.
• Strong skills and experience in communicating complex policy ideas to a diverse array of audiences.
• Sound knowledge of ECD, child health and child protection policy systems and key issues faced.
• Strong coordination skills and demonstrated experience coordinating joint advocacy initiatives, with a demonstrable track record of real impact.
• Demonstrated ability to foster strong collaborative relationships and working rapport with colleagues, partner agencies and other key stakeholders and effectively prioritize.
• Strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written.
• Willingness to travel within the region on a regular basis

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Purpose of function

The Research, Monitoring and Learning Officer will work in coordination with M&E coordinator and will be responsible for implementing and managing the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities according to ICS SP Monitoring and Evaluation protocols including the coordination of externally conducted impact evaluations in order to deliver a high-quality, results-oriented project.

Key areas of responsibility

• Design, implement, and operate project M&E systems from project initiation to closeout stages
• Undertake performance measurement, including indicator selection, target setting, reporting, and developing M&E and/or performance monitoring plans and data collection tools
• Support research design and methodology for project-related research
• Serve as project liaison for externally-managed evaluations
• Translate information from research and M and E activities to support communication and dissemination of research findings and lessons learned
• Monitor the results of the program’s activities; design and implement systematic program learning tools and activities designed to build staff capacity in M and E
• Improve program performance and utilization of learnings for future programs and resource mobilization
• Ensure that development results are demonstrated and communicated in ways that assure that ICS SP value is recognized within the development sector and by the public.
• Contribute extensively to quarterly and annual reports
• Ensure compliance with donor and ICS SP regulations related to child development programming.

Qualifications and skills

• Bachelor’s degree with an advanced certificate in M&E, statistics, research or economics
• Excellent knowledge of holistic child development, home and school factors influencing child outcomes
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in a M&E position responsible for implementing research, monitoring and learning activities of social and child development projects
• Top tier research skills, including research design, instrument development, and data collection procedures and data analysis required
• Knowledge of statistics and psychometrics preferred and familiarity with statistical applications such as SPSS, SAS or STATA
• Excellent writing skills required:
  • technical writing for project reports and publications, including writing about data from large and small data sets, and writing about child development; 
  • persuasive writing for proposals and grants.