Head of Technical Unit

The Opportunity – Head of Technical Unit (For Nationals and Internationals)

Department of Programme Development, Quality and Impact 

Post location:  Field Office in Gaza

Contract Duration and Level of Effort: 12 months with possibility for extension

 

***Due to the urgency to fill this role, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Kindly note that the position might be filled before the vacancy announcement is closed; therefore, early applications are encouraged.***

***This role will be contingent upon securing available funds, and we might use this vacancy to fill more than one post.***

 

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The Head of Technical Unit is responsible for coordinating the Technical Experts / Thematic Leads based in the Gaza Field Office including MEAL and New Business Development team members to ensure the development of high quality, evidence based, innovative programs for children, in line with Save the Children’s response strategy in Gaza and broader Country Strategic Plan for the occupied Palestinian Territories. The Head of Technical Unit will ensure that humanitarian programmes are delivered to the appropriate scale, scope, quality and accountability expected of Save the Children and incorporate a child focused lens and build the capacity of technical specialists in order to support program quality in line with global standards and key performance indicators. The post holder contributes to representational activities in Gaza including vis-à-vis partners, clusters and feeds into donor engagement and business development efforts to ensure that the country office strategy is adequately resourced.

 

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

Reports to: Gaza Humanitarian Operations Director / Team Lead, Gaza

Staff reporting to this post: MEAL Coordinator, Technical Advisors and Specialists, 

Role Dimensions: As one of the most senior staff in the Gaza Field Office, the Head of Technical must demonstrate the qualities of agile leadership.  S/he plays a key role in defining and pursuing the strategic direction for Save the Children’s programmes in the Gaza Response, ensuring the relevance, coherence, safety and impact of our programs for children in all contexts. This is a challenging role requiring an individual who can work with complexity and multiple tasks at one time.  It demands dedication to demonstrating outcomes for children, experience in integrated child rights programming and a highly motivated leader. S/he has specific oversight for ensuring that programs demonstrate thematic excellence in contributing to Save the Children’s three priority Breakthroughs for children: no child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday; all children learn from a quality basic education; and violence against children is no longer tolerated. 

 

Under the leadership of the Humanitarian Director, and the Director for Programme Development, Quality and Impact, the Head of Technical Unit works with Thematic Specialists and Advisors and in partnership with the programme implementation team, to develop evidence-based programmes and projects, and to support advocacy and campaigning initiatives. S/he takes a lead in establishing systems for program monitoring, quality improvement, accountability, evaluation and learning, and in ensuring that results are captured, shared and used to inform programme design and implementation.

 

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: 

Under the leadership of the PDQ Director, the Head of Technical Unit is accountable for:

 

Strategic planning (15%) – Gaza Response

• Leads coordination of assessments include a specific analysis of children’s needs and coordinates the development of assessment tools appropriate for the local context 
• Leads on designing and reviewing multi-sector response and recovery projects including sectoral log frames and programme master budgets, ensuring the highest technical expertise is represented in the same, and ensuring linkages with existing programmes and strategies, in line with the Country Office Strategy and Gaza response strategy
• Takes overall leadership in prioritising response sectors or funding where this is limited, in line with SCI Global Humanitarian Strategy, and the oPt Humanitarian Response Plan, ensuring maximum integration between sectors where relevant and possible.
• Take overall leadership on ensuring technical staffing needs for emergency programmes are met.

 

Strategic NBD and portfolio planning (20%)

• Ensure new programmes and projects are built on a strong evidence base resulting from learning, drawing on needs assessments and situational analyses that include