MHPSS Senior Officer

TITLE:  Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Senior Officer
TEAM/PROGRAMME: Sponsorship Funded Program. LOCATION: Roving (Based in Minya and roving in Assiut).
GRADE: G3 CONTRACT LENGTH: 12 months, with the possibility of renewal (FTA contract).

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: The post 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 country programs; or are visiting the country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

This position will oversee the MHPSS interventions and implementation mainly in all the program activities. The MHPSS Sr. Officer will ensure that the program interventions contribute successfully towards implementing the program plan. S/he will provide oversight and technical guidance in developing, implementing, monitoring and reporting all MHPSS activities conducted under the program. This includes developing and implementing technical capacity-building plans for Save the Children and partner staff, accountability for quality implementation, and adherence to standard operating procedures. In consultation with the country office MHPSS technical advisor, s/he will be responsible for providing technical oversight on the MHPSS activities implemented through the program including its partners. 

Other key responsibilities include supporting program and local partners to design, pilot and deliver MHPSS activities; designing and supporting training sessions and monitoring tools; and participating in strategic discussions and planning meetings. The MHPSS Sr. Officer will support the CO Technical Advisor to mainstream MHPSS across other sectors and programmes, including livelihoods, education and health interventions, and facilitate knowledge generation and sharing. The MHPSS Sr. Officer will also support the Egypt Country Office to improve its accountability to beneficiaries benefiting from the MHPSS programme. Additionally, s/he will be responsible for leading the coordination, concerning the MHPSS activities, with government officials on the Minya and Assiut levels.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Minya Field Manager

The Sr. Officer will have a dotted line reporting to the Country Office MHPSS Technical Advisor 

Budget Responsibilities: No 

Field Travel: The MHPSS Sr. Officer is expected to be based in Minya, he/she will spend 50% of his/ her time in the field in the governorates of Minya, Assiut.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Program Development, Design and Implementation

• Play a key role in coordinating and monitoring all SCI activities conducted with the national MHPSS service providers.
• Oversee and lead the implementation of the MHPSS activities in the program, while ensuring high-quality deliverables are implemented and fulfil our obligations to stakeholders at all levels.
• Support in the development of program design to ensure that the program achieves concrete, measurable results in MHPSS and gender equality that led to positive changes in the lives of targeted children and adolescents.
• Monitor the MHPSS interventions in different field sites “Minya, Assiut”.
• Lead MHPSS programs’ staff and partner NGOs in terms of vision, implementation, planning, and continuous progress monitoring and evaluation, and lead the team in the preparation of the MHPSS work plans.
• Highlight general MHPSS issues present in the community to the field manager and MHPSS TA to take the proper action.
• Work closely with the partners on the implementation of the activities in the sub-award agreement.
• Provide technical support to the partner NGO on the implementation of the activities.
• Ensure follow-up and monitoring of the progress towards the implementation plan and the quality of the activities.
• Document MHPSS development interventions and lessons learnt.
• Establish and maintain partnerships with government and community stakeholders at the local level.
• Mainstream MHPSS across the different sectors implemented under the program.
• Continuously report to and engage with the TA on all the above responsibilities.

Capacity Building and Learning

· Provide technical capacity-building support to the program team and partners including training, coaching and technical oversight to support the use of structured MHPSS activities, based on agreed intervention packages and curricula (ex. CYRP, PwV, HEART, SEL, PM+, LS4S).

· Develop a platform for cross-learning across the program team based on after-action reviews.

• Develop locally adapted tools and approaches based on fieldwork experience in Egypt, specifically as these relate to assessment and design and monitoring and evaluation in collaboration with the MEAL team.

Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning

• Ensure that lessons learnt from the MHPSS interventions are shared and capitalized on both internally and externally.
• Oversee evaluations of MHPSS programming.
• Work closely with MEAL staff to design and implement needs assessment and program monitoring and evaluations.
• Work closely with the partners and MEAL on monitoring the program activities.
• Use and encourage the use of the Quality Benchmarks in all activities.
• Support the collection of documentation and share information on developing best practices within the PDQ and Operations team, including ongoing programme analysis at the field level.
• Identify, promote and manage opportunities for cross-learning for staff in field offices and partner organisations in key areas of relevance to their development.
• Identify and facilitate staff development opportunities for field office staff in multi-sectoral programming.

External relationships

• Representation of Save the Children with government partners in Minya and Assiut- (Ministry of Social Solidarity, Ministry of Health, General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment “GSMHAT”, Health directorates, Primary health clinics, public hospitals, Minya and Assiut governorates).

Reporting:

• Compile from the MHPSS team and other sectors in the program and partners concise quantitative and qualitative reports, case studies, etc. on a monthly, and quarterly basis that reflect all MHPSS interventions in the program.
• Contribute to the annual reporting process of the MHPSS program activities in Minya and Assiut.
• Contribute to the reporting against MHPSS indicator; Proportion of children, adolescents, family members or caregivers who demonstrate improved mental health and/or psychosocial well-being.

Safe Programming

· Support in the mainstreaming of Save the Children’s safeguarding policy within MHPSS design and implementation; including identifying and addressing risks to children that are caused/exacerbated by program design and intervention.

· Collaborate with the Program Operations teams to ensure that activities are safe for children and adults and that all steps are taken to ensure their meaningful and safe participation.

General:

· Comply with Save the Children policies and practices concerning safeguarding, code of conduct, safety and security, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.

Professional requirements:

· Stay up to date on evidence-based psychological interventions and advances in the field of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

BEHAVIOURS (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, take responsibility for their own personal development and encourage their team to do the same

· Widely shares their vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others

· Future-orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

· Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters

· Values diversity, and sees it as a source of competitive strength

· Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

· Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions

· Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

· Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS

· Bachelor’s degree in psychology or Mental Health, or a related field.

· Advanced degree (ex. Masters, Diploma…etc.) in Psychology, Mental Health, or related field is a plus

· Minimum 5 years’ experience in MHPSS programming in a development program context.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Excellent knowledge of MHPSS programming.
• Good working knowledge of the public Mental Health systems in Egypt.

· Good knowledge of work dynamics in the selected governorates and familiarity with the Mental Health trends in the community.

• Promotes optimum levels of child development: Work with children, families and communities to promote children’s rights to protection and healthy development.
• Proven capacity to train, supervise, and coach staff in MHPSS technical skills and coordination, based on evidence-based approaches and intervention packages.
• Ability to think strategically to solve problems and find effective ways to accomplish goals
• Well-developed communication skills across cultures.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work as a team player and independently
• Experience in program design and proposal development.
• Experience in representation with international bodies, government and funders
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Fluency in Arabic and English (written and spoken).
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver results with tight deadlines.

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 following the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

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:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties following the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

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