Company Profile

WUSC is a Canadian non-profit organization working to create a better world for all young people. We bring together a diverse network of students, volunteers, schools, governments, and businesses who share this vision. Together, we develop solutions in education, economic opportunities, and empowerment to overcome inequality and exclusion for youth around the world, particularly young women and young refugees. WUSC currently works in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $40 million. We have over 90 staff in our Canadian office, and over 200 people overseas implementing 16 development projects in collaboration with donors such as Global Affairs Canada, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the MasterCard Foundation, and the African Development Bank.

Job Description

The ACTIVATE Project

The Accelerating Change Through InnoVation in Agricultural TVET (ACTIVATE) project is a 5-year collaborative initiative that will contribute to a stronger, gender-responsive, socially inclusive and market-driven Agriculture Technical, Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) System that facilitates sustainable employment pathways, well-being and resilience of young women and men in Ghana. The ACTIVATE Project encourages innovation with a focus on agriculture TVET, agri-business skills development and transition to employment & economic opportunities for young people.

The project will reduce gender specific barriers, elevate the voice and aspirations of youth and integrate a strong inclusivity lens, with respect to gender and disability while building collaboration and linkages among key stakeholders such as public and private actors, academia, and agriculture value chain actors to create decent work for young people.

ACTIVATE will respond to key challenges facing the agriculture and adjacent sectors including insufficient management capacity of ATVET sector facilitation bodies, non-alignment of new TVET policies and reforms across sector ministries, low quality of ATVET instruction, curriculum and equipment, lack of ATVET engagement with industry, poor business skills among others.

NATURE AND SCOPE

The Safeguarding Officer will provide technical and strategic support to the ACTIVATE program, ensuring the effective integration of Safeguarding principles associated with child and vulnerable adult protection. This role will focus on ensuring gender sensitive programming is implemented in an intersectional approach to reach and empower diverse populations, including women, adolescents, persons with disabilities, refugees, displaced persons, and individuals with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

Specifically, the Safeguarding Officer is responsible for the following:

Policy Implementation and Development of Strategy:

• Support the development of Safeguarding Policies and Procedures: facilitate the development of clear, comprehensive, and context-specific safeguarding policies and procedures that align with international standards, national laws, and the organization's values with project partners.
• Ensuring Policy Awareness and Understanding: Developing and delivering training and awareness-raising activities for project stakeholders and staff on safeguarding policies, procedures, and their responsibilities.
• Monitoring Policy Implementation: Regularly reviewing and monitoring the implementation of safeguarding policies and procedures across all program activities and locations and well as keeping project stakeholders up to date on emerging nuances.
• Contribute to Adapting and Updating Policies: In collaboration with the global HR department, ensuring policies and procedures are regularly reviewed, updated, and adapted based on learning, best practices, and changes in the operational context.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation: Integrating Safeguarding into Program Design Working with program teams to ensure safeguarding considerations are integrated into all stages of the program cycle, from design to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

Promoting a Culture of Safeguarding and Respect: Actively promoting a culture of safeguarding and Respect within the organization and among its partners, emphasizing the importance of preventing harm, promoting duty of care  and responding appropriately to incidents.

Developing and Delivering Safeguarding Training: Designing and delivering tailored safeguarding training for different audiences (staff, volunteers, partners, beneficiaries, community members).

Support  implementation of GESI related interventions

Required Skills or Experience

Education

• Relevant Degree (BA desirable) or equivalent professional experience with a focus on social work, gender equality, inclusion, human rights, SRH/FP;
• Additional qualifications in relevant technical field (desirable)

Experience and Competencies

• Entry level role however demonstrated knowledge and experience of min 2-3 years in providing Safeguarding (child and vulnerable adult) technical advice to improve programming and developing policies and practices
• Experience as an advocate on issues of child and vulnerable adult protection, and inclusion, including lived and community-based experiences
• Adequate knowledge of methodologies and best practices for safeguarding and inclusive safeguarding approaches
• Demonstrated experience in translating strategies and policies into practice
• Experience working with Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and/or Refugees and Displaced Persons (RDP)

Personal Attributes and Skills

• Highly collaborative and an ability to work effectively with a range of stakeholders and at all levels in an empowering way
• Ability to pick and work on emotional intelligence and foster a cultural environment of collaboration
• Ability to synthesize information and analyze its relevance for different functions
• Excellent writing and listening skills and the ability to contribute to project success
• Able to work independently and be self-motivated in defining goals and objectives, while also working collaboratively in a team across disciplines, geographical locations and cultures
• Advanced computers skills (Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe)
• Willingness to learn about Gender Equality and Social Inclusion