Child Protection Officer
ACCOUNTABLE TO General Manager Shared Services and CEO for CP reporting
LINE MANAGEMENT: Nil
LOCATION: Kralanh, Siem Reap
OPEN TO: Cambodian
SALARY: TBC
START DATE: 1st July 2024
The role
The Child Protection Officer is responsible for leading SeeBeyondBorders’ response to child protection and safeguarding of children and vulnerable people, GEDSI. They will work to make sure that we have measures in place to ensure that all those involved in the delivery of our programs do no harm to children or vulnerable people, GEDSI, take action to prevent any wrongdoing, educate community members, and respond appropriately when any incidents do occur.
The Child Protection Officer will work collaboratively with Project Managers to support them to integrate safeguarding and GEDSI practices into their program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This will be achieved through a combination of training, consultation, observations, discussions and constructive feedback.
To support SeeBeyondBorders’ Cambodian staff and particularly the Managing Director, with program management and ensuring that safeguarding, Child Protection, Gender, and Inclusion are an integrated part of our programs and projects.
The Child Protection Officer will be a member of the Leadership Team, the Ethical Decision-Making Committee and will be the voice of safeguarding, child protection and child wellbeing in these forums.
Working at SeeBeyondBorders
The regular working week is 40 hours. Leave entitlements include 18 days’ annual leave, accessible on a pro-rata, pre-approved basis, up to 10 days sick leave, and scheduled Cambodian public holidays. Occasional weekend work may be required with time off in lieu.
SeeBeyondBorders is committed to protecting the rights of children and vulnerable people. The successful candidate will be offered the role subject to a Working with Children Check and acceptable references. You will also be asked to sign our Child and Vulnerable People Protection Policy and our Code of Conduct.
- R1: Manage the SBB response to child protection and safeguarding of vulnerable people to be survivor-centred and compliant with policies and procedures
- Ensuring staff and volunteers adhere to SBB’s policies on safeguarding and child protection;
- Ensuring procedures for identifying and reporting causes for concern for children and vulnerable people are followed by SBB staff and volunteers;
- Maintaining a register of support services for SBB to refer cases to (eg other NGOs, government-led services, hospitals etc);
- Working with SBB staff when a vulnerable child and/or family are identified to enable them to access appropriate services;
- Ensuring the Child Protection and Safeguarding Register is up-to-date and liaising with GMSS on reporting requirements;
- Maintaining confidential case notes of each incident in a secure folder with very limited access rights;
- Escalating any serious incident reports to the Senior Leadership Team immediately and escalating further to regulatory authorities in Australia/ UK/ Ireland, as appropriate;
- Contributing actively to discussions in meetings such as Leadership Team, Ethical Decision Making and Projects, about how to improve the level of protection provided to children in the context of where we work.
- R2: Train and develop the capacity of SBB staff and volunteers in all matters associated with addressing the needs and dignity of vulnerable people
- Developing and delivering annual training for SBB staff and volunteers on child protection, safeguarding and inclusion with real examples (anonymised) to make it relevant to SBB;
- Delivering induction training for new hires that covers Child and Vulnerable People Protection, Safeguarding, and Inclusion and ensure that each new hire understands their responsibilities and how to report any incidents.
- Supporting Program Team staff to integrate safeguarding, child protection and inclusion messaging into teacher and mentor workshops, as well as mentoring sessions;
- Ongoing support to staff and volunteers in identifying and reporting causes for concern;
- Liaising with external agencies to provide training for staff on child protection and safeguarding.
- R3: Build capacity amongst SBB stakeholders for improved policy and practice on child protection and safeguarding of vulnerable people and GEDSI
- Liaise with District and Provincial Offices of Education regarding safeguarding, child protection and child rights; GEDSI
- Maintain key relationships with community groups/organisations (eg CWCC) to ensure any concerns are raised and discussed in confidence between SBB and the communities where we work;
- Map the local and national government structures and procedures regarding reporting causes for concern for children and vulnerable people and regarding support for children with disabilities, and integrate these into our own procedures;
- Take time to understand the national policies and break them down in a way that schools and communities will understand and engage with;
- Work with School Support Committees and Focal Points to increase their confidence in dealing with safeguarding or child protection concerns and to implement simple processes to follow.
- R4: Support programs to integrate safeguarding, child and vulnerable people protection, and inclusion, with a specific focus on awareness raising and practice improvement for all stakeholders
- Support Project Managers to ensure that SBB’s cross cutting themes of child protection, gender and disability are integrated into program design and implementation;
- Develop a project designed to raise awareness amongst and engage with community members on the topics of child protection, safeguarding and inclusion, and lead the implementation and monitoring of this project;
- Regular gender and disability practice assessments twice times per year to identify areas of improvement;
- Carry out SBB’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Practices Assessment twice per year and take appropriate actions after analysing the results;
- Qualifications, skills and experience –ESSENTIAL
- Fluent Khmer and good written and spoken English.
- Experience of working with children.
- Experience of working with communities.
- Experience of delivering training either to colleagues or groups outside your organisation.
- Knowledge of local government structures, particularly child welfare and education.
- Ability to think analytically and problem solve (being able to detect underlying issues that may not be obvious).
- Minimum Bachelor's degree in Rural Development, or equivalent degree plus at least 6 years working experience
- Qualifications, skills and experience – DESIRABLE
- Knowledge of local organisations working in child rights and child welfare
- Knowledge of Cambodian law relating to children and vulnerable people
- Experience of working with people with disabilities.
- Experience of working with programs focused on gender.
- Experience of representing children’s rights to a variety of audiences including to people/groups in a position of authority
- Personal Characteristics:
- Empathetic and approachable by children and other vulnerable people
- Courageous in conflict handling and advocacy for children’s rights
- Strong work ethic and commitment to working in the development sector
- Independent, pro-active, resilient, self-motivated and able to work on own initiative whilst also being a team player
- Willingness to take on new tasks and responsibilities and seek assistance when required
- Honest and reliable and able to work with integrity
- Able to communicate and collaborate with colleagues and partners at all levels and from a variety of ethnic, social and religious backgrounds
- Highly organised and excellent time manager
- Responsibility for Values
- Active commitment to the SeeBeyondBorders Development Philosophy and values;
- Respect | Integrity | Competency | Courage | Changemaker
