Working from offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Agincourt, Mpumalanga, and with nearly one hundred community action teams across the country, Sonke works across Africa to strengthen government, civil society and citizen capacity to promote gender equality and human rights, prevent domestic and sexual violence and reduce the spread and impact of HIV andAIDS.
Applications for the Child Rights and Positive Parenting programme specialist is hereby invited.
About the position
Sonke is looking for an experienced and committed individual within the organisation to serve as the Child Rights and Positive Parenting (CRPP) programme specialist. This position provides technical support to deepen the intersection of gender transformation and work for children’s rights in four countries: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa, and ensures that this happens within the ambit of the MenEngage Africa network. The position is therefore aligned to the Sonke International Programmes and Networkign (IPN) unit. In South Africa, a significant focus of the position will be on coalition building and stakeholder management with the children’s rights and gender transformation sectors of the country. This is a full-time position to be based either in Johannesburg or Cape Town Office. This is a position that has potential for career development and increasing responsibilities.
About the CRPP portfolio in Sonke
Sonke’s Child Rights And Positive Parenting (CRPP) cross-cutting portfolio works with all of Sonke’s units to advance our work to end violence against children and to promote child rights and gender-equitable, non-violent and positive parenting. The main programme within the portfolio is the MenCare Global Fatherhood campaign, which Sonke co-cordinates with Promundo. Various countries in the MenEngage Africa network implement MenCare and MenCare+ activities to respond to children’s rights issues facing many African countries. a regional network of non-governmental organisations and UN agencies that work to engage men and boys to achieve gender equality. Formed in 2006 and comprised of over 15 country networks, MEA works in partnership to promote the engagement of men and boys in achieving gender equality, preventing HIV, promoting human rights and reducing violence at all levels across the continent, including questioning the structural barriers to gender inequalities.
The CRPP portfolio also extends beyond MenCare. Amongst other advocacy goals, in South Africa, together with the Positive Discipline Working Group, Sonke drives a positive discipline campaign and we are working to achieve an amendment to the Children’s Act to establish a full ban on corporal punishment in all settings in early 2015. In the Africa region, we are working with civil society organisations and networks connected to MenEngage Africa to promote children’s rights and especially to prevent violence against children by engaging men and boys.
Key duties and responsibilities
Under the supervision of the CRPP portfolio manager, the incumbent will carry out the following tasks:
1. Coalition building, external representation, networking and partnerships
- Lead in the overall development and coordination of a strategic coalition on the intersection of gender transformation and children’s rights in South Africa.
- Facilitate the development of an advocacy strategy for the coalition, including organising strategy meetings and national seminars for the sharing of good practices;
- Strengthen collaboration with key partners from child rights, women’s rights, and other social justice movements, UN agencies and government at national level, to support joint campaign and advocacy activities in South Africa;
- Ensure the continued development and sustaining of new relationships with stakeholders, potential and existing partners in order to further the work of the strategic coalition.
- Support fundraising initiatives at national and regional level for sustaining this process;
- Monitor, analyse and report on developments in the above-mentioned sectors.
2. Programme coordination
- S/he will be a crucial member of the technical support team within Sonke’s IPN unit. The team implements efforts to strengthen and deepen the impact of work with men and boys for gender equality and child rights across Sub- Saharan Africa through the MenEngage Africa Network. A special focus will be given to partner organizations in South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda.
- Develop and implement a child protection policy and process, based on the Oak Foundation Six Principles and Save the Children’s child safeguarding protocol, within Sonke.
- S/he should also support MEA focus countries to strengthen their community mobilisation work through capacity building and training on MenCare and Oak Foundation Six Principles methodologies.
3. Resource Mobilisation and Donor relations
- Support resource mobilisation strategies to support the continuation and expansion of CRPP and IPN work;
- Support CRPP and IPN colleagues to contribute actively to Sonke’s broader resource mobilization efforts, including submission of regular funding proposals; and ensure timely completion and submission of high quality project and donor reports.
- Support Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) processes within CRPP and the IPN unit and maintain links with the organization’s M&E team.
- Maintain a proper filing system at all times.
4. Qualifications, experience, and Competencies
- Experience as an activist in children’s rights and women’s rights movements is highly preferred.
- Experience in promoting child rights, gender equality, preventing domestic and sexual violence and addressing HIV and AIDS, including work with men and boys, preferably in Southern Africa;
- Exceptional coalition building skills and experience, with a good familiarity of relevant organisations in South Africa.
- Strong people skills with the ability to work under pressure;
- Excellent project planning and management skills with the ability to prioritize time and work effectively;
- Good report writing skills, ability to make presentations coupled with strong problem solving and public speaking skills;
- Pays attention to detail, displays a high level of integrity, able to multi-task and is deadline driven;
- Ability to work independently, as well as in a team;
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work across diverse cultural backgrounds;
- Innovative and creative, able to see new opportunities; is reflective and open to learning.
- Above average competence in the use of computerised packages. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite applications; i.e. Access, Excel, Word, Powerpoint; and
- Willingness to travel within South Africa and internationally.
