Job Description
Job Title: Project Director, 4Children Cambodia
Location: Cambodia/Phnom Penh
BACKGROUND:
Initiated in 2014, Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children) is a five‐year USAID‐funded project implemented by a consortium of organizations led by Catholic Relief Services with partners IntraHealth, Maestral, Pact, Plan and Westat. 4Children is designed to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) affected by HIV and AIDS and other adversities. 4Children's work utilizes global evidence establishing that HIV and other adversities are best prevented and addressed when families and children have access to both high quality health and social welfare services. The project supports systems and structures at country and regional levels to implement evidence-based interventions that protect against risk, interrupt cycles of vulnerability, and build pathways to resilience leading to an AIDS Free Generation and contributing to overall improvements in quality of life and productivity for vulnerable children and their families.
With dedicated funding from the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF), 4Children includes an applied research project called "Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families," (KCHPF) which focuses on strengthening family care among households where there is a high risk of children separating or where children can be reintegrated after having been placed in residential care.
In Cambodia, KCHPF will implement a mixed methods research activity that examines two dimensions of family strengthening. The first is the decision-making strategies that families use when placing (or not placing) their child in alternative care arrangements. The second dimension is an examination of child well-being. In both cases, KCHPF will be exploring these questions within four sub-groups:
- Children currently living in RCIs and their family members;
- Children who have been placed into other care arrangements (e.g., kinship care) and their caregivers;
- Children who have been reunified back into family care and their caregivers;
- Children and caregivers who have not separated.
KCHPF will use a mixed method design that includes an innovative, qualitative approach (SenseMaker) as well as a quantitative Retrospective Causal Comparative Design. Sampling will be taken from MoSVY's five priority provinces (Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang, Kandal and Sihanoukville). The latter will utilize a set of validated data collection instruments that KCHPF has used for similar research in Uganda.
SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Program Quality
- Contribute to research inception through the design of a mixed-method research protocol.
- Support the refinement of household surveys, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) protocols.
- Facilitate the submission of final Research Protocol to local ethics (IRB) review body
- Lead the collection of data through the recruitment and training of enumerators and by supervising field staff;
- Contribute to the analysis of findings related to child well-being and family separation/reintegration decision-making strategies;
- Senior technical advising on family strengthening
- Develop an advisory committee composed of relevant stakeholders to provide input and feedback across the research cycle;
- Lead or contribute to dissemination of research and research findings in relevant academic and policy platforms;
- Participate actively in relevant platforms to ensure that research feeds into stakeholder responses, policy dialogue and relevant interventions.
- Lead quarterly technical review of implementation plans for the project and ensure appropriate actions are taken to meet implementation timelines and commitments.
B. Management
- Ensure staff compliance with all CRS administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as applicable donor regulations.
- Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
- Carry out quarterly financial tracking and reporting system, review the budget comparison report to ensure that spending and program implementation is aligned while analyzing the progress toward program goals and against burn rates.
- Proactively identify and address financial issues and concerns in concert with other staff and partners to ensure adherence to financial guidelines and maintain transparent systems and records.
- Ensure accurate and timely reporting of program finances and progress status, review actual financial performance against the budget and take corrective action to ensure that program expenses match the execution of activity plans and accurate effort reporting.
- Coordinate research activities with a university-based Research Advisory Group
C. Representation and Advocacy
Represents KCHPF and acts as primary program contact to the donor and other local and international stakeholders responsible for addressing all programmatic matters.
- Represents KCHPF and acts as primary program contact to the donor and other local and international stakeholders responsible for addressing all programmatic matters.
- Strengthen linkages with existing and potential partner agencies.
- Ensure that the program communication strategies, including compliance with 4Children and the donor's branding and marking requirements as well as CRS marketing and communication procedures, are followed.
- Seek out opportunities to represent 4Children in international circles and highlight the innovative work under the 4Children project.
- Collaborate effectively and regularly with regional/HQ management and technical advisors, especially with regards to sharing and reviewing important communication with USAID.
For more information, or to apply to this position, please visit the CRS website by clicking the link above.