Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (MHPSS) Coordinator at Save the Children Nigeria

Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with programs in over 120 countries. We save children’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Save the Children is working in Nigeria because one in five children in Nigeria dies before their fifth birthday. About 40% of children miss out on school and have to work to survive while nearly 2 million children have lost one or both parents to an AIDS-related disease.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (MHPSS) Coordinator

Job No.: 210000D6
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Reporting to: Child Protection Sector Lead
Staff Reporting to this Post: 3
Budget Responsibility: Yes
Employee Status: Fixed Term

Child Safeguarding

• Level 3. The responsibilities of this post may require the post holder to have regular contact with children and young people. In the overseas context, all posts are considered to be level 3.
• As part of these responsibilities, the post holder will support the establishment of child safeguarding systems, promote a culture of keeping children safe, and ensure that potential harm to children (by our own staff and/or as a result of how we do our work) is identified and addressed on an ongoing basis.  The post holder should report and respond to interventions as determined by position related responsibilities identified in the Child Safeguarding Policy.

Company Overview
Save the Children is an International Organization with a dual mandate of humanitarian and development work. It has been working for the rights of Children globally for over 90 years. Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001 and has presence in 20 states. Save the Children launched the humanitarian response in North-East Nigeria in 2014 and since then has drastically expanded its capacity to provide life-saving assistance to people affected by the conflict. Its humanitarian response currently delivers integrated programmes to enhance food security, restore livelihoods, reduce malnutrition, improve psychosocial wellbeing, protect children, and improve access to education and water, sanitation and hygiene services. SC currently works in six LGAs in Borno, Maiduguri (MMC), Kaga, Magumeri, Mafa, Biu, Jere and Konduga, and plans to expand to Gwoza.

Role Purpose

• The purpose of this position is two-fold: 1) to oversee quality improvements in Save the Children’s mental health and psychosocial support interventions for children affected by the conflict in NE Nigeria; and 2) to provide clinical supervision to Save the Children and partners’ child protection staff, as they themselves provide case management and psychosocial support to children.
• Save the Children has been implementing child-friendly spaces and a case management system to support children affected by the conflict in Borno State for over five years. Evaluations of our work have highlighted a need to offer more in-depth, structured psychosocial support interventions to children whose mental health has suffered as a result of their experiences. We are therefore looking for an MHPSS expert to provide guidance on the development of new interventions to provide appropriate levels of support to these children, whilst also offering advice on how to improve the MHPSS content of our existing activities.
•  Through the provision of clinical supervision, the role also has an essential element of capacity building and promotion of professional learning and self-care for child protection staff, who work directly with children and families who have undergone stressful and traumatic experiences. Clinical supervision preliminary aims to help case management staff to receive feedback, reflect upon and learn from casework to build on their professional skills and expertise. It also contributes to mitigate extreme levels of stress and prevent burn-out and vicarious traumatisation by engaging staff in a process that allows them to explore and elaborate emotions, frustrations, concerns and anxieties in a constructive manner. Clinical supervision is required to assist Case Management staff to effectively and positively deal with the demands placed on them, to respond to challenges they face in their daily casework as well to their own well-being and that of the children and families they work with. Effective clinical supervision will also increase staff’s productivity and skills at work, will help them maintain their professionalism and the quality of services offered to children and their families.
• The MHPSS Coordinator is required to travel to field sites regularly.
• In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

Key Areas of Accountability
Clinical Supervision:

• Provide technical and practical guidance to Save the Children and partners’  Child Protection in Emergencies staff on how to support and monitor the work of the caseworkers, facilitators and animators in a structured way, ensuring the quality of the intervention.
• To provide structured feedback and support to caseworkers, facilitators and animators in their role as first-line providers of MHPSS to children affected by the conflict.  Support CPiE staff to learn from experiences and to gain expertise in MHPSS and build on their professional skills in this area.
• Assist and advise on setting-up peer to peer sessions or reflective practices for Case Management teams, and group facilitators and animators.
• Allow  CPiE staff to express and process emotions, challenges, worries and frustrations arising from their work. Impart skills and knowledge on self-care, which empower staff to deal with the stresses inherent in their daily work and help them explore ways of enhancing their personal care and development.

Technical support to MHPSS programming activities to ensure quality and accessible MHPSS services by trained, confident and informed staff:

• Ensure quality delivery of programme activities, for example, monitoring against log frames, budget forecast and reporting and monitoring on the BvA.
• Preparation of timely programme and donor reports for child protection project activities in compliance with internal and external requirements.
• Provide technical support, capacity building and guidance on MHPSS activities (direct and partner implementation), including but not limited to:
  • Ensuring assistance is provided to children affected by the conflict in a  dignified, respectful, equitable and inclusive manner that supports their resilience
  • Ensuring all MHPSS activities are culturally sensitive and appropriate
  • Consultations with beneficiaries and communities on their needs and capacities and build assistance around their suggestions
  • Tools and criteria for the identification of boys and girls who require MHPSS
  • Assisting children in acute distress and alleviating their stress, for instance ensuring that all staff / partners are trained on PFA and feel confident to use it
  • The mainstreaming of inter-agency guidelines (e.g. IASC MHPSS guidelines) and standards (e.g. CPMS) across the different sectors of programme activities delivered by SC and its partners
  • The use of resilience techniques for the body and mind with children and adolescents
  • The use of structured and manualised MHPSS techniques
  • The participation of parents and caregivers in MHPSS activities
  • The quality of the MPHSS activities and monitoring to support this.
  • Ensuring the over all coordination of HEART and PWV implementation across location of intervention.
• Initiate structured MHPSS activities for groups of boys and girls of different age groups, with particular attention to survivors of SGBV, unaccompanied children and other children who present with signs of poor mental health and distress
• Identify MHPSS service providers and agree referral pathways for children with severe mental disorders
• Develop MHPSS guidelines to be used by staff, partners and volunteers.

Proposed Outputs:

• Regular group supervision sessions for CPiE staff to discuss complex cases and feedback sessions in all Local Government Areas where Save the Children’s Child Protection work is implemented..
• Individual counselling sessions with staff (including part staff) where required to discuss complex cases.
• Be available on call/skype if any urgent matters arise that a staff would like to share regarding their casework or his/her personal well being
• Debrief to Child Protection Specialist on overall status of the teams
• Bi -monthly progress reports to the Child Protection Specialist to highlight needs and gaps.
• Development of peer/reflective practises with teams
• Review of current MHPSS practices, reflecting on a cross-sectoral approach, with clear recommendations and a related action plan, including capacity development (clearly budgeted, mapped out in terms of timelines and reflecting resources required).Relevant guidance documents or training materials.
• Structured MHPSS activities for boys and girls, organised in age-appropriate groups with a clear methodology or curriculum to promote mental well-being. Such activities must align with donor commitments in already-funded projects.

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, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal 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, 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

Requirements
Essential:

• MSc/Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
• Minimum 4 years post NYSC experience in clinical supervision and debriefing
• Have a valid and active practice license
• Experience in Psychological First Aid, and other psychosocial support (MHPSS) activities
• Experience working in Child Protection programs, including those with MHPSS components
• Experience of initiating MHPSS activities
• Experience of developing training modules on MHPSS and facilitating training
• Experience capacity building teams/individuals
• Fluent in English
• Working knowledge of Hausa and /or Kanuri
• Excellent attention to detail, organisational skills and discretion with confidential information
• Ability to work independently and proactively

Desirable:

• Experience working in an NGO
• Experience in humanitarian emergencies and/or a refugee/displacement-setting
• Experience of project management, donor reporting and contributing to proposal development.

The Organisation

• We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better health care, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.
• We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:
  • No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
  • All children learn from quality basic education and that,
  • Violence against children is no longer tolerated
• We know that great people make a great organization and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
• Save the Children is committed to ensuring that all our personnel and programmes are absolutely safe for children.
• We undertake rigorous procedures to ensure that only people suitable to work with children are allowed to join our organization and all candidates will, therefore, be subject to this scrutiny.
• We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Application Closing Date
30th January, 2021.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• Applicants are advised that Save the Children International does not require any payment or expense during the entire recruitment process. Any request in this direction should be immediately reported as it is contrary to the values and practices of our organization.
• Due to the volume of applications received, Save the Children may not provide feedback to all applicants. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as applications will be reviewed as received. Save the Children reserves the right to change the closing date, if considered necessary.