Changing the Way We Care is a global initiative designed to promote safe, nurturing family care for children reintegrating from residential institutions and children at risk of child-family separation.
CTWWC has three main components:
(1) Governments promote family care through improvement and uptake of policies, investment in social service staff and the systems that serve vulnerable children and families;
(2) Children stay in or return to families through family strengthening; and
(3) Family care is promoted globally, through global, regional and national advocacy to advance policies, best practices and redirection of resources, increasing the demand from other countries to support family care. CTWWC was formally launched in October 2018 by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Maestral International, and Lumos Foundation, using funding from a Global Development Alliance that includes the MacArthur Foundation, USAID, and the GHR Foundation.
Since the mid-2000s and with support from international donors, the Government of Moldova (GoM) has been working on a major program of child protection and care reform coupled with education system reform and decentralization. From 2007 to 2017, the number of children in institutions in Moldova dropped from 11,500 living in 67 institutions to less than 800 in 19 institutions. Many of the children remaining in institutions have complex disabilities, and the services needed to ensure that they can return to families have yet to be fully developed. More work is needed to scale up and adapt new models for complex cases, and to keep more children from entering the system.
There are many expert organizations working in the sector who, alongside the government and international partners, have played a key role in care reform in the country. CTWWC proposes to support a “collectiv e impact” approach to the achievement of shared objectives. “Collective impact” is a systemic approach that has been previously applied in care reform programs. Leveraging that experience, CTWWC included the approach in a request to modify CTWWC’s USAID award. The submission is pending with the donor.
Job Summary
The COP position is a two-year position to design, launch, enable and lead initial implementation of a collective impact approach for care reform in Moldova. The COP will be responsible for creating conditions that allow stakeholders in Moldovan care reform to: develop and share a vison of a child protection and care system with no institutions that supports all children, develop and implement shared standards of success for achieving that vision, engage in mutually reinforcing action, establish a mechanism for ongoing communication and coordination, and support Lumos in its work as the 01C;backbone organization” for the sector. In this way, the COP will make a significant contribution to the protection of Moldova’s most vulnerable children- and, by extension through the global platform, to other countries.
Design, launch and enable initial implementation of the collective impact approach
* Engage a representative stakeholder group – including those with lived experience, residential institution and social service workers, sector organizations, government, and donors – to develop structures, procedures, and terms of reference (TOR) for collective action by a “coordinating mechanism”.
* Build support for collective action, which is critical to its successful functioning.
* Develop and capture a shared vision of the collective, including strong buy in from the Government of Moldova.
* Enable the coordinating mechanism to make shared recommendations about roles, responsibili ties and resource allocations for achieving the collective vision.
* Facilitate connections between implementers and potential donors to collective action.
* Ensure that collective decisions are represented to the government of Moldova and to CTWWC donors.
Ensure the programmatic and operational quality of CTWWC-funded activities under the collective impact approach
* Represent, and commission other CTWWC staff to represent, CTWWC to collective impact partner organizations, to the government of Moldova and to CTWWC donors.
* Guide development of, approve, and advocate for CTWWC/MD activity and resource plans including for the annual submission to donors.
* Approve subawards to fund “SO2” investments recommended by the coordinating mechanism, and by Lumos as the awarding organization, for further approval by global leadership and the applicable donor.
* Bring deviations from plans and/or complian ce standards to the attention of CTWWC management and- in the case of Lumos awardees- Lumos management. Make concrete recommendations on how they should be addressed. Manage all “substantial involvement” provisions and provide/secure necessary approvals.
Required Qualifications
Master’s degree in International Development, International Relations or a relevant technical area. 7+ years’ relevant management and technical experience. Demonstrated experience of designing complex development programs and marketing them to donors; 5 years’ experience managing high-value USAID awards; managing complex, high-value, multi-activity programs; leading awards implemented by consortia. 5 years of staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching senior program staff
Required Languages – Excellen t English required. Excellent Romanian strongly preferred.
Travel - Must be willing and able to travel up to 20% within Moldova and to regional and global events.
Key Working Relationships:
* Internal: Global Director and other members of the CTWWC global team
* External: Lumos/MD and Lumos/UK staff at all levels including those on CTWWC, Directors of potential partner organizations in Moldova, relevant Government of Moldova representatives, relevant USAID and other donor representatives
Disclaimer:
This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.
This vacancy is archived.