Mental Health & Psychosocial Support & Protection Head Of Department - IQ Talent Marketplace

Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organisation committed to ending world hunger and recognized as a leader in the fight against malnutrition. Founded in 1979, Action Against Hunger delivers programmes, in over 40 countries while committed to respect humanitarian principles as a non-governmental, non-political, non-religious and, non-profit organisation. Our mission is to save lives through the prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition, especially during and after emergency situations and conflict. Action Against Hunger intervenes in four main areas: Nutrition, Mental Health & Care Practices; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Food Security and Livelihoods; Advocacy and Raising Awareness.

 

Action Against Hunger is looking for Mental Health & Psychosocial Support & Protection Head Of Department based in its office in Erbil.

 

Work place: Erbil with frequent visits to ACF areas of interventions.

 

Type of contract: Initially 12 months Fixed-Term contract with the possibility of extension.

 

Working Hours: Full Time Contract of minimum 40 hours per week up to a maximum of 48 hours per week

 

Monthly Basic Salary:  Action Against Hunger provide competitive salary according to ACF salary grid.

 

Benefits: Monthly Transport Allowance, Medical Insurance and + End of Year Benefit.

 

Purpose of the position:   To guarantee the quality, relevance and appropriateness of mental health and protection programmes at the mission, respecting ACF and international standards and national policies.

 

Specific Objectives:

Mission 1: Define and implement the mental health and protection strategy for the mission

The MHPSS and Protection Head of Department is responsible for:

 

• Continuous and systematic monitoring of the humanitarian and development situation in MHPSS and protection, through secondary data review and initiation of primary assessment
• Analysis of the MHPSS and protection situation, including need for adaptation of existing or definition of new activities to more effectively meet needs
• Definition and quality of mission sectoral strategy document in agreement with the ACF international and national frameworks
• Contribution to the mission strategy and subsequent monitoring of the implementation of the mission strategy, its revision and its accountability
• Coordination and integration of the MHPSS and protection sectors (and its strategy) with the other technical sectors (FSL, NUT, WASH)
• Identification of the sectoral advocacy themes specific to the mission in connection with the Country Director
• Drive research, development and capitalization of best practices from other missions (technical developments, pilot projects, innovative or little-documented approaches, operational approaches which could act as a benchmark for the ACF network, successes/failures, contextual analyses, etc.) to enable innovation in MHPSS and protection at the mission level
• Development of his/her technical skills in line with the sector’s evolution

 

Mission 2: Coordinate identification of needs and formulation of project proposals.

The MHPSS and Protection Head of Department is responsible for:

 

• Continuous analysis of MHPSS and protection needs landscape in project and strategic areas
• Defining, coordinating and managing evaluations of current projects as well as needs assessments in strategic areas to better understand needs and feasibility of MHPSS and protection interventions
• Designing MHPSS and protection interventions (narrative, budgets, logical frameworks, work plans, annexes, etc.) for proposals, concept notes and unsolicited applications, in consultation with field teams to ensure relevance and feasibility, and aligned with donor templates, timelines and strategies
• Coordinating with Finance, Logistics and HR in the preparation/validation of proposal budgets (and associated organograms) to ensure appropriateness and feasibility
• On the request of the Program Quality Coordinator or Country Director, participating in donor engagement on protection and MHPSS issues

 

Mission 3: Guarantee the quality and accountability of the mental health and protection projects

The MHPSS and Protection Head of Department is responsible for:

• Technical conformity of the programmes with the rules, orientations and international technical standards, the framework documents and the technical works/approaches/guidelines of ACF
• Encouraging overall quality of implementation of the projects to maximize their impact
• Guaranteeing respect of the SPHERE, IASC and WHO, national and international standards
• Technical quality of the projects by means of specific ACF monitoring (project quality, field visits, external audits…)
• Issuing and monitoring of technical recommendations
• Alerting the Program Quality and Development Coordinator and Technical Referent regarding any major difficulties or risks of program quality or accountability
• Promoting and upholding Do No Harm in all program approaches
• Working closely with the Field Coordinators, finance and logistics departments, to ensure proper spend down and planning of MHPSS and protection projects in the mission, aligned with program management plans and donor requirements
• Validation of the key steps and design/update of new technical methodologies of projects implemented (SoPs, chronogram, systematic baseline and endline surveys, technical studies, invitations to tender, specifications, community approach, external evaluations….)
• Validation, within the deadlines, of the MHPSS sections of the internal reports and the donor reports, as well as project amendments with the contribution of the teams
• Ensuring the technical appropriateness, relevancy and quality of monitoring and evaluation systems to assess technical implementation and its impact, including the integration of their results to ensure improvement of the projects
• Technical support (direct and remote) for the technical teams with capacity building (training and clinical supervision), sharing of information, coaching or alerts together with the managing Field Coordinator
• Ensuring data confidentiality, ownership of project beneficiaries and ACF
• Guaranteeing the confidentiality of clinical interviews / individual or group counselling with the psychologists in charge

 

Mission 4: Operationalize protection risk analysis to strengthen the mission’s capacity to integrate protection into its programming

The MHPSS and Protection Head of Department is responsible for:

• Planning protection risk analysis activities (including follow up monitoring), procurement and expenditure, and manage available resources to complete protection risk analysis, trainings and “quick win” activities
• Ensuring that all stakeholders – ACF staff, partners, local authorities, target communities, etc. – share a common understanding of the assessment objectives, components and implementation methodologies, including MEAL approaches.
• Consulting regularly with the target communities and ensure their meaningful participation in all stages of the project.
• Coordinating across other risk assessment focal points globally
• Ensuring wide dissemination of the assessment results, recommendations and mainstreaming toolkit once validated by HQ.
• With the support of HQ advisor and referent, contributing to the adaptation of ACF’s capacity building tools, action plan and protection integration strategies
• With the support of HQ advisor and referent, making propositions to strengthen the integration of GBV and child protection components in the MHPSS strategy and programming (related to regular activities, case management, cash transfer, MHPSS and livelihoods/social cohesion)
• Providing capacity building and transfer of knowledge, theory and best practices related to protection; training in the use of the Integrated Protection Toolkit.
• Testing these methodologies and tools in the field and take into account feedback from consulted stakeholders – including affected communities – in order to capitalise on what worked well and what did not, what was very useful and what was less so, etc.

 

Mission 5: Represent ACF externally in technical fora on coordination and partnership management

The MHPSS and Protection Head of Department is responsible for:

• Identification of new potential partnerships that add technical value add (laboratories, universities, research centres, institutions, private sector…)
• Promotion of sectoral partnerships (civil society, NGOs, authorities, private sector…) and the strengthening of their technical capacities
• Representing ACF and building relationships with partners, authorities, agencies of the United Nations and the NGOs working on MHPSS and protection
• Representing ACF on national coordination platforms covering MHPSS and protection (MHPSS TWG, Returns Working Group, Protection Transition Bodies, etc.)
• Technical contribution to various, coordinated and inter-agency action plans (Consolidated Appeal Process, Flash Appeal, Inter-Agency Contingency Plan, national sector strategy, etc.)
• Technical communication (internal and external) over the MHPSS and Protection projects in association with the Program Quality Coordinator/Field Coordinator/Country Director

Mission 6: Coordinate MHPSS and protection teams

The MHPSS and Protection Head of Department is responsible for:

 

• Supporting recruitment of key technical staff (even when not managed directly), through joint revision of JDs, review of tests and participation on interview panels for technical validation
• Operational and/or hierarchical management of his/her team (when applicable)
• Evaluation of the technical performance of all senior MHPSS and protection staff (Programme Manager, Deputy PM, Head of Project)
• Providing MHPSS and protection briefings to key incoming staff
• Providing technical briefings, coaching and capacity building to key MHPSS and protection staff
• Facilitating regular coordination meetings with technical staff across the bases
• Coordinating with HQ technical advisors and referents to ensure harmonization across bases and between bases and HQ / region.

Qualification/Degree	Master degree in psychology or in psychiatry
Professional Expérience	Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience. Preference for a candidate with a successful track record working with INGOs. Ideally with a relevant background in Protection.
Technical/Specialized Skills	Good knowledge of international standards (SPHERE, IASC, WHO) and national strategies and policies in MHPSS and Protection. Strong experience in implementing and coordinating MHPSS services at public health and community-based levels (for population, host-communities, refugees, IDPs). Technical skills and experience in psychological and psychosocial support (individual and groups, adults and children): in clinical/therapeutic and educational approaches; in capacity building (training and supervision) for specialists and non-specialists; in MHPSS as cross-cutting component (within Health, Education, Social Protection etc); in MHPSS specific tools and themes (such as MSP, mhGAP, PM+, CBT, psychotrauma, prevention and treatment, through health system strengthening or humanitarian response etc).   Technical skills and experience in Gender Based Violence, in Child Protection, in Minimum standards for Protection mainstreaming/integration, in Protection risks analysis and mitigation, in women and children friendly spaces.
General Skills	Strong ethics as well as rights-based approach (emphasis on protecting clients as honestly presenting their needs to a wider network) Organized and attentive to detail Passionate about the needs of vulnerable communities Ability to work across teams and coordinate information Professional attitude Ensure confidentiality and trust worthiness Strong communication and writing skills Adherence to process and procedures Work under pressure Good analytical skills
Language Skills	English: Mandatory  (very good speaking, reading and writing:  full proficiency) Arabic: Mandatory  (very good speaking, reading and writing:  full proficiency) Kurdish: Preferred but not required
IT Skills	Good command of MS office (Word, Excel, Outlook) and social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)

Closing Date: Saturday 18^th of February2023

 

Qualified candidates must submit a Cover Letter and a Resume (CV) including to:

 

 [email protected]

 

Please indicate the job reference number: COO/MHPSS/01/012023

Due to the volume of applications we receive, we will only contact short-listed candidates for further screening.

Please note that the final candidates will be subjected to security screening and positive references.

For more information please visit our website: http://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/en