Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 29 May 2018
Call for Applications
Position Title : Social Work Expert
Duty Station : Wau, South Sudan
Classification : Professional Staff, Grade UG
Type of Appointment : Special short-term ungraded, Three months with possibility of extension
Estimated Start Date : As soon as possible
Closing Date : 29 May 2018
Established in 1951, IOM is a Related Organization of the United Nations, and as the leading
UN agency in the field of migration, works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and
non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.
Internal and external candidates will be considered for this vacancy. For the purposes of this vacancy, internal candidates are defined as staff members holding a regular, fixed-term or short-term graded or ungraded contract, including Junior Professional Officers (JPOs), staff on Special Leave Without Pay (SLWOP), and staff members on secondment/loan released by the Organization, unless otherwise specified in their contract. Staff members holding a regular, fixed-term or short-term graded contract will not retain their contract type if appointed to an ungraded position.
Context:
Surge of inter-communal violence and insecurity in Wau and its surrounding areas forced thousands of people to flee their homes to seek shelter on the protected sites since June 2016. Insecurity and conflict coupled with continuing economic depression negatively impacted the living conditions and access to basic social services of those people who continued to stay in the host communities as government offices continue to experience “brain drain” phenomenon.
As most of the people in Wau continue to find ways of ensuring daily survival, this does not make the government workers immune to the negative impact of the country’s dire economic situation. A number of civil servants have opted to either take leave without pay and be engaged in other job opportunities like applying to NGOs needing their services or they still continue to be around the offices but refusing to go to the field and those places of their work. This situation leaves some if not most of the government ministry offices almost empty and unable to provide the most basic services to their communities in these challenging times. Further, the civil servants also end up taking jobs unrelated or sometimes “lower” than their expertise or skills set which is an act of desperation to ensure that they earn even a meager amount of money to sustain their family’s needs.
One of the most affected ministries who currently experiences “brain drain” phenomenon is the State Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Social Development. Almost 60% of the listed social workers have been inactive in the service for quite some time because of salary issues and insecurity. This left the ministry paralysed although there is a bigger need for them to respond at these challenging times especially those issues related to Protection. Take for example, there are protected sites within the church grounds (also the collective sites) and also the newly identified potential resettlement site can be accessed by the State Ministry’s Social Workers should there be any case needing their assistance, however, due to the absence of available
social workers, the cases are mostly dealt with at communal level and most of the times left unsettled.
IOM through its MHPSS Program is an active Protection Actor in Wau and works collaboratively with them as the host ministry for Protection Cluster and all it sub-clusters and working groups. IOM recognizes the need to assist the State Ministry through its capacity building strategy and also to reduce and mitigate further risks or harm caused by this “brain drain” phenomenon. There is an advantage also to work collaboratively with the State Ministry specifically in the context of Wau wherein there are still existing key people or drivers who can help in re-activating the basic social services. Currently, the Ministry has been recruiting new social workers and recalling back active Social Workers, but there is a great need in delivering quality capacity building packages to ensure that they learn the expected skill set and to enable them to practice those new knowledge and skills while keeping them motivated. Given this situation in Wau, IOM MHPSS is launching its first attempt to provide a capacity building package to the State Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Social Development, not only as a response mechanism to balance the accessibility issues to basic services but also pre-positioning IOM and the government’s capacity to respond to possible surges of emergencies or transition period to recovery phase if peace and development is defined.
Primarily, this is a response and protective mechanism to ensure that both the host community and the IDP communities have equal access to basic social services to further avoid the competition among communities and to reduce the “pull” factor on the protected sites.
Under the overall supervision of the Wau Head of Sub-Office with MHPSS Program Manager (based in Juba) and the direct supervision of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist, the successful candidate will directly work with social workers to coach, mentor, and develop basic and practical skills needed in social work while integrating MHPSS frontline services. S/he will work collaboratively with ministry staff in shaping clear practice objectives based on our vision for quality practice and delivery of service. S/he will work actively alongside social workers in applying evidence-based techniques to assessment and interventions of casework. S/he will play an integral role in developing quality of practice and delivering core aims and objectives of the ongoing Community-based Psychosocial Support projects.
Core Functions / Responsibilities:
Work collaboratively with IOM MHPSS Team and the Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Social Development to effectively support the MHPSS Host Community Capacity Building Pilot Project in Wau.
Conduct needs and capacity assessments in target areas in Wau host community and identify new program opportunities.
Provide individual coaching and mentoring sessions to practitioners to support the development of their basic social work and psychosocial support practice skills.
Observe practice, provide feedback and actively support the professional development of social workers working with children, youth, adults and families to ensure high quality and consistency of the help provided.
Support practitioners to design and deliver goal based interventions to improve outcomes for children, youth, adults and families, particularly in relation to exposure to violence, displacement, and daily life stressors.
Influence the use of Social Work principles and evidence based interventions in working to reduce risk to children, youth and adults.
Promote evidence-informed methods of teaching and assessing social work practice with
individuals and families. This will draw on the expertise of others in social work and related professions with reference to adult learning.
Continually review the impact of the teaching methods and materials and develop further to enhance learning impact. Actively seek feedback from all stakeholders on the impact of your role.
Set and uphold high quality practice standards, through professional development, instilling a strong sense of accountability in staff for the impact of their work on the lives of vulnerable persons (children, youth and adults).
Continually review and monitor the implementation of basic Social Work principles that can be evidenced in how they work both internally and externally. Recognise challenges and constraints as they arise and take the lead in addressing them.
Work individually and with others to design and deliver context-appropriate training packages which support understanding and application of Social Work model and related community-based psychosocial support approaches.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge in relation to strengths-based approaches in social work.
Undertake other duties commensurate to the grade of the post.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
Education
• Master’s degree in Social work or a related from an accredited academic institution with 2 years of relevant professional experience; or
• University degree in the above fields with four years of relevant professional experience.
Experience
• At least 3 years of previous experiences in Social Work, Protection-related interventions
(GBV, Child Protection, General Protection) in emergencies.
• At least 3 years of previous experiences in providing services to displaced populations, migrants, refugees or conflict affected populations
• Significant experience in implementing Protection (with MHPSS component is an asset)
related projects, providing trainings, supervision, coaching, and mentoring to national staff
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge of UN and international agencies structures
• Experience in capacity building activities and curriculum development is an advantage
• Extensive technical trainings in field of social work and/or protection, GBV, MHPSS, Child
Protection is an asset.
• Previous humanitarian experience in South Sudan is an advantage.
Languages
• Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of Arabic is an advantage.
Desirable Competencies:
Behavioral
• Accountability – takes responsibility for action and manages constructive criticisms
• Client Orientation – works effectively well with client and stakeholders
• Continuous Learning – promotes continuous learning for self and others
• Communication – listens and communicates clearly, adapting delivery to the audience
• Creativity and Initiative – actively seeks new ways of improving programmes or services
• Leadership and Negotiation – develops effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders;
• Performance Management – identify ways and implement actions to improve performance of self and others.
• Planning and Organizing - plans work, anticipates risks, and sets goals within area of responsibility;
• Professionalism - displays mastery of subject matter
• Teamwork – contributes to a collegial team environment; incorporates gender related needs, perspectives, concerns and promotes equal gender participation.
• Technological Awareness - displays awareness of relevant technological solutions;
• Resource Mobilization - works with internal and external stakeholders to meet resource needs of IOM.
Other:
Internationally recruited professional staff are required to be mobile. For this staff category, candidates who are nationals of the duty station’s country cannot be considered eligible.
No late applications will be accepted.
Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this vacancy notice is subject to funding confirmation.
Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements and security clearances.
How to apply:
How to apply:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications via PRISM, IOM e-Recruitment system, by 29 May 2018 at the latest, referring to this advertisement.
For further information, please refer to:
http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/about-iom-1/recruitment/how-to-apply.html
In order for an application to be considered valid, IOM only accepts online profiles duly completed.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. You can track the progress of your application on your personal application page in the IOM e-recruitment system.
Posting period:
From 16.05.2018 to 29.05.2018
Requisition: CFA 2018/21 (P)- Social Work Expert (UG)- Wau, South Sudan (55483156) Released
Posting: Posting NC55483157 (55483157) Released