Senior Technical Advisor, Child Protection and Care

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. 

As part of its Vision 2030 agency strategy, CRS is investing in six strategic change platforms to achieve results at scale. One of these key strategic change platforms is Strengthening Families for Thriving Children Strategic Change Platform 5 (SCP5). This Strategic Change Platform is a bold initiative to support vulnerable children to thrive in safe, healthy, and nurturing families, create more resilient and supportive communities, work with our Catholic partners, civil society and governments to establish policies and systems that strengthen families, at scale. SCP5 also aims to influence governments, donors, Catholic actors and other regional and global stakeholders to redirect resources and support to strengthening families.

The platform is implemented across CRS country programs and works around the world to influence other countries, regions and global actors to change practices, policies and resources in support of family strengthening and family care. In addition, Changing the Way We Care℠, the Platform's flagship initiative, amplifies a global movement to prevent children from entering residential care and to place children currently in residential care in safe and nurturing families. To date, the initiative has been active in five demonstration countries (Kenya, Guatemala, Moldova, Haiti and India). 

Job Summary  

As the Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for Child Protection and Care for SCP5, you will provide technical leadership and support in the areas of child protection and care system reform and family strengthening, in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices. CRS is defining the care reform process as the changes to the systems and mechanisms that promote and strengthen the capacity of families and communities to care for their children, address the care and protection needs of vulnerable or at-risk children to prevent separation from their families, decrease reliance on residential care and promote reintegration of children, and ensure appropriate family-based alternative care options are available.[1] You will work in close collaboration with the SCP5 Senior Program Manager and other team members to ensure programming excellence across the platform at the global, regional and country program levels. You will provide thought leadership and representation internally and externally in the areas of child protection and care system reform as well as family strengthening. You will take a lead role in developing strategies and approaches to consolidate SCP5, including, capacity sharing, and establishing a vision for the platform through 2030 and beyond. Finally, you will support resource mobilization efforts throughout the project cycle. Your expertise, leadership, and influence will be key in determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS’ child protection and care reform programming is across the globe.                                                                       

• Lead the development, dissemination, and support the use of child protection and care standards, guidance, tools and other resources that allow country programs and partners to implement quality child protection and care programming focused on children vulnerable to family separation; children in residential care and other forms of alternative care settings such as foster care, supported independent living and kinship care; and residential care providers.
• Support country program teams to develop, plan and implement child protection and care related interventions that effectively engage partners, including government, with a priority focus on children vulnerable to family separation and children in residential care and other forms of alternative care settings such as foster care, supported independent living and kinship care.
  • Ensure an approach that integrates disability inclusion, people with lived experience, gender, protection, and disaster risk reduction/climate change, and other program areas such as health, education and economic strengthening.
  • Support the implementation of best practices across CRS country-level child protection and care system reform programming.
• Liaise and work collaboratively with CRS Regional Technical Advisors and Technical Advisors in other sectors and other Strategic Change Platforms, where there are synergies related to child protection and care programming.
• Liaise and collaborate c