Regional MHPS Coordinator at SOS Children’s Villages International

Position title: Regional MHPS Coordinator

Working location: Kenya-Nairobi

Direct Supervisor: Regional care professional, Mental health and psychosocial support program Advisor

Region: Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAF)

Context of the position

Established in 1949, SOS Children’s Villages International (CVI) is a dynamic, international social development organization working globally to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children without parental care and those who are at the risk of losing it.

The Eastern and Southern Africa region of SOS CV International is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and has member associations (MA’s) in Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia/Somaliland, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Angola and Madagascar.

The Global Program Expert Group (GPEG) on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) builds on the Global MHPSS Hub pilot project (2020-21) hosted by SOS CV Italia as a delegated function of the International Officer and it is aiming to expand its outreach within the SOS CVI federation as a way to contribute to the SOS Care Promise and the Child Safeguarding Strengthening Action Plan.

Research and experience demonstrate that children and youth who have lost, or who risk losing, parental care face greater psychosocial vulnerabilities compared to their peers and are more likely to develop mental health disorders that may persist into adulthood. These risks increase for children living in alternative care. Nevertheless, these can be counteracted through MHPSS interventions that foster protective factors, such as resilience. For this reason, the goal of the GPEG on MHPSS is to promote the resilience, as well as psychological wellbeing, of the children and youth SOS works with and for. To achieve this, the GPEG will promote a set of evidence based MHPSS interventions , constituting a MHPSS Minimum Service Package (MSP), targeting not only children and youth, but also caregivers and their communities. Concomitantly, the SOS staff needs will also be a priority.

We are searching for a dynamic, innovative, resilient and experienced candidate to join our organization as a Regional Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Coordinator.

Mission of the position:

The successful candidate will support the supervision, co-ordination and oversight of MHPSS key staff, social workers and community outreach facilitators who will engage in carrying out MHPSS MSP interventions including PM+, caregiver support, trauma informed care, PFA, focused MHPSS support for children, families, and co-workers and Fair start initiatives as well as Play therapy.

He/she will support key staff in documentation, analysis and reporting of MHPSS data collected through the implementation of the MSP initiatives.

The MHPSS Co-ordinator will be based under the Regional Office and provide support to the Regional SOS Care professional, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support programme advisor.

The MHPSS Co-ordinator is recruited and functionally under the responsibility of the Regional office and directly supervised by the RMHPSS and technically reports to the Head of the GH MHPSS and the Global MH Advisor.

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

• Support the RMHPSS advisor in the adaptation and contextualization of MHPSS MSP interventions developed for children, young people, Child and Youth Care Practitioners, families, co-workers, and community.
• Support the planning and rollout of MHPSS training and interventions in the Region
• Assist in developing MHPSS implementation guidelines and tools to facilitate effective delivery of MHPSS services
• Provide MHPSS training and regular in-service coaching to national MHPSS workers in MSP interventions as indicated above
• Support the MHPSS advisor with systematic supervision and oversight of National MHPSS team to ensure implementation of MSP in line with the guidelines and procedures in place
• Develop and implement data collection tools to document implementation process, track results and identify challenges and remedial actions
• Compile, analyses and report on MSP implementation progress to GPEG
• Support the MHPSS Advisor in developing and adaptation of quality assurance tools and rollout to MHPSS teams
• Ensure compliance of MSP interventions to MHPSS minimum standards and best practices in the field
• Support the MHPSS advisor in preparing and sharing the outcome of MSP initiative at different coordination platforms to promote the scale up of the interventions.
• Travel to support in training and monitoring visits for 15 to 20% of your time

Requirements

• Post graduate education in psychology, clinical counselling, global mental health. Social work, public health or related fields may be considered
• At least 2years of working experience in MHPSS programs in the region
• Training and supervision experience (incl. remotely), focusing on MHPSS pyramid level 2 (community and family based MHPSS programs, such as caregiver support, group based MHPSS for children) and level 3 interventions (deep understanding and knowledge of evidence-based focused non-specialized MHPSS interventions such as counselling, PM+, TeamUp)
• In-depth theoretical and practical knowledge of IASC Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergencies and international best practices on the integration of MHPSS into Education, Child Protection, Primary Health Care and community settings would be advantageous
• Demonstrable technical Knowledge in the assessment, design, and delivery of responses to MHPSS needs in humanitarian settings
• Capacity and proven track record in national staff and partner organization training and capacity-building
• Experience in evidence generation, documentation of case studies, success stories, MHPSS research protocol, and piloting MHPSS studies at community level
• Strong experience and background on monitoring and evaluation tools including Means of Verification of MHPSS programs would be advantageous
• Ability to prepare high compliance donor reports and other documents
• Prior experience in the field of MHPSS is required
• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• Strong capacity in documentation and administration tasks such as logistics.
• Ability to reflect and link current work to new opportunities/possibilities
• Enthusiasm, motivation, self-confidence and pro-active approach to problem-solving
• Ability to take individual initiative with limited supervision, meet tight deadlines and deliver quality results
• Affinity with SOS mandate

We offer

• The opportunity to work in one of the largest International Non-Profit Organisations in Social development, Humanitarian action Child and Youth Care, in a position with a varied scope of tasks and responsibilities directly impacting on the development of the organisation in achieving its strategic goals
• To contribute to our meaningful mission: “We build families for children in need, we help them shape their own futures and we share in the development of their communities