Child Protection Programme Officer

Job Title: Child Protection Programme Officer
Reporting to: Head of Programmes
Hours: 40 hours/ week
Principal Location: Buea, Cameroon
Length of Contract: 12 months fixed term contract – with possibility of extension

Organisation Background:

Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to be safe in school and learning. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes and use evidence to drive learning, refine, and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over one million children to go to school and learn and have supported over 25,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.

Our work as Street Child of Cameroon reflects this global ambition. With programming commencing in Cameroon in 2020, we have set out to build a programme that responds to those most in need with integrated education, child protection, and livelihoods activities. With a successful start in child protection, and more recent momentum in education, our objective is to build off of this success and to expand our efforts for children in crisis affected communities.

ROLE PURPOSE:

Street Child of Cameroon seeks to scale up its child protection efforts, ensuring that the most at-risk children in crisis-affected regions are safeguarded. The Child Protection Programme Officer will provide technical guidance on programme development, implementation, and partner collaboration. The role will focus on delivering high-quality child protection interventions, including case management, psychosocial support, and community-based child protection mechanisms. The Programme Officer will work closely with partners to ensure compliance with international child protection standards and to address the protection risks children face in the target regions. The Child Protection Programme Officer will work under the overall responsibility of the Country Director and the direct supervision of the Head of Programmes.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

PROGRAMME DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND REPORTING (60%)

• Support the design and implementation of child protection programmes, ensuring that interventions are appropriate, context-specific, and responsive to the needs of children.
• Oversee the implementation of child protection activities, ensuring that all interventions adhere to CPMS (Child Protection Minimum Standards) and humanitarian standards.
• Identify and collaborate with local actors who can contribute to child protection programming, ensuring a sustainable and community-based approach.
• Ensure that child protection measures are integrated into all programmes, including education and livelihoods.
• Represent Street Child in child protection coordination forums, working groups, and other platforms to ensure our programming aligns with national and international protection efforts.
• Prepare narrative reports for donors and partners, ensuring compliance with Street Child and donor reporting requirements.
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) team to ensure that child protection data is collected, verified, and used to improve programme quality.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING (20%)

• Identify the capacity-building needs of Street Child and partner staff in child protection.
• Develop and implement capacity-building plans to strengthen the delivery of quality child protection programming by staff and partners.
• Collaborate with HQ and advisory teams to contextualize child protection tools for use in Cameroon.
• Lead the development of training materials to improve case management, psychosocial support, and safeguarding practices across all programmes.
• Support the implementation of learning assessments and capacity-building plans, ensuring continuous improvement in child protection interventions.

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION (20%)

• Support in identifying funding opportunities for child protection locally and internationally.
• Lead in the development and submission of proposals in response to child protection funding opportunities, ensuring high-quality and innovative project designs.
• Engage with funders and partners to promote Street Child’s child protection work, building relationships to sustain funding and partnership opportunities.
• Work with the programmes team to design cost-effective and sustainable child protection projects that meet the needs of children in crisis-affected communities.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

• A first degree in the domains of Social Works, Humanitarian Affairs, Educational Psychology, Educational Administration, Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Project Management, International Relations, Sociology, etc.
• Experience and knowledge
• Demonstrable experience in child protection programming, with at least 5 years of experience in a similar role, ideally in crisis-affected regions.
• Experience with case management, psychosocial support, and child protection systems strengthening.
• Strong knowledge of CPMS and other relevant child protection frameworks and tools.
• Familiarity with the child protection context in Cameroon, particularly in the North-West and South-West regions.

Skills and abilities:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive relationships with stakeholders, staff, and communities.
• A self-starter with a passion for child protection, able to work independently and under pressure to meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to provide technical guidance and capacity building to partners and staff.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding principles, including anti-sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse protocols.
• Fluency in English is required; working knowledge of French is desirable.
• Proven ability to develop high-quality reports and proposals.

Desirable:

• Mastery of pidgin English and any other lingua franca used in the crises-affected regions of Cameroon

Others:

• Able and willing to occasionally travel as necessary.
• A ‘can-do’ and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptive thinking.
• Commitment to our vision, mission and values.
• Commitment to protecting the rights of children in all circumstances.
• Commitment to localisation and local action.
• Must possess the right to live and work in Cameroon.

Street Child’s commitment to Safeguarding:

Street Child is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks, including a Criminal Records check. Street Child also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

Street Child of Cameroon is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff.

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks, including a Criminal Records check. Street Child of Cameroon also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

To apply:

Street Child welcomes applications through its jobs portal from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

Application Deadline:

This vacancy announcement shall remain open until filled.