Senior Technical Advisor, Child Protection and Care System Reform

As the Senior Technical Advisor (STA) Child Protection and Care System Reform you will provide technical leadership and support in the areas of child protection, care system reform and family strengthening, in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices. You will provide strategic and technical leadership to ensure that child protection and care reform is both a dedicated programmatic focus and a cross-cutting priority across all sectors of the organization’s work. 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 to ensure programming excellence across at the global, regional and country program levels. You will work to ensure that child protection is both a dedicated programmatic focus and a cross-cutting priority across all sectors of the organization’s work. 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 advance CRS’ child protection and care work through capacity sharing and establishing a vision sector for the sector that contributes to CRS’ Vision 2030 and Goal 4: All children reach their full development potential in safe and nurturing families. 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.                           

Technical Leadership

• Lead on the development of strategic plans for how CRS can position itself and maximize opportunities to expand its influence in the child protection and care sector. Plans should leverage CRS experience, articulate CRS’ commitment to safe, nurturing, inclusive family environments and the prevention of harm to children by strengthening local systems, leadership and ownership. Ensure that the plan(s):
  • Promotes both stand-alone child protection programming (prevention and response), care form, and child protection mainstreaming across sectors (e.g., education, livelihoods, health, education, youth, humanitarian response, etc.).
  • Embeds care reform as a central pillar, focusing on the transition from institutional to family-based care, and the strengthening of national and sub-national care systems, in partnership with faith-actors where relevant.
• Provide expert technical assistance to country programs and partners to develop and rollout of tools, guidance, standard operating procedures, training materials for child protection, child protection mainstreaming, care system strengthening and family strengthening (including alternative care, prevention of separation and reintegration).
• Strengthen internal systems for monitoring, evaluation, and learning to track progress and inform continuous improvement and ensure quality implementation.
• Ensure all child protection and care programming are grounded in child-rights principles trauma-informed, inclusive, adaptable to diverse contexts and aligned and informed by with global standards and frameworks e.g., UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, INSPIRE, etc.

Child Protection Prevention and Response 

• Lead the design, implementation, and quality assurance of child protection programs focused on preventing and responding to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence against children.
• Develop and oversee comprehensive child protection interventions, including case management systems, family strengthening, psycho-social support, and community-based child protection mechanisms.
• Provide technical assistance to support the development of strong referral pathways and coordination mechanisms with government and non-governmental actors to ensure timely and effective response services for children at risk.
• Promote child and caregiver participation in program design, implementation, and monitoring to ensure accountability and relevance to local needs.

Child Protection Mainstreaming and Integration

• Collaborate with sectoral teams (e.g., health, education, WASH, livelihoods, youth, gender, etc.) to integr