Safeguarding Project Manager
Rising Academies, Kenya
Job Description
The context:
Across the developing world, more children than ever are in school but they are not learning. A recent study estimated that less than 1% of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa attend a school where the teaching meets basic standards of quality. At Rising Academies, we’re changing that, and we want your help. Our mission is to create the best schools and the most powerful teaching and learning tools for the people that need it most. We’re one of the fastest-growing quality-focused education companies in Africa, and a Certified B Corp.
About us:
We own and operate our own great value private schools, partner with governments to improve the quality of public school systems, and use our content and technology to help other education providers. Founded in Sierra Leone in 2014, we provided emergency education to children kept out of school by the Ebola Epidemic before opening our first school in April 2015. Today, we serve more than 250,000 students across more than 900 schools in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and now Rwanda.
Through great curriculum, intensive teacher coaching and actionable data, we help teachers and school leaders bring quality to every classroom. And we get results: independent studies show Rising students make more than twice the progress of their peers in comparable schools.
About the role:
We are seeking an ambitious, motivated and highly organized Safeguarding Project Manager to join our team. At Rising Academies, we believe school should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development and welfare of the individual child. Effective Safeguarding and Child Protection procedures are necessary to ensure this. The Safeguarding Project Manager will maintain a culture of continuous improvement in safeguarding systems, culture and practices here at Rising.
The Safeguarding Project Manager will:
- Maintain a culture of continuous improvement in safeguarding systems, culture and practices.
- maintain adherence to our 6 safeguarding pillars and the commitments made in the ESS.
- Build a near real-time capability to monitor the health of safeguarding systems, culture and practices.
- Project-manage the delivery and implementation of the Enhancing Safeguarding Strategy (ESS) and Action Plan
- Build a high-performing Safeguarding Team in each of Rising’s operating countries.
- Designing and conducting high-quality training across the organisation to build knowledge among all HQ teams and school communities.
- Develop and implement school safety audits.
- Lead with integrity, and ensure Rising’s culture, ‘The Rising Way,’ is embedded into Rising’s safeguarding and child protection practices.
- Proactively identify and communicate potential challenges and propose solutions.
Location and reporting:
This will be a full-time remote role. Role will require periodic travel for training staff. The Safeguarding Project Manager will report to the Chief Impact Officer of Rising.
Application deadline:
The target start-date for this role will be February 2024.
Requirements
Qualifications and Experience:
- University level undergraduate degree.
- Case management experience from youth work, social work, law/law enforcement, health care or other relevant fields.
- 2-5 years of highly relevant experience.
- First hand experience of responding to Child Safety Incidents.
About You:
- You are a strong advocate for children and their rights.
- You are well-versed in child safeguarding procedures.
- You understand the contexts in which we operate and the educational and operational challenges they pose.
- You have a strong ability to deliver effective and engaging training.
- You are a strong communicator, able to motivate, challenge and support your team members and others in the organisation.
- You set high standards for yourself and others, and go the extra mile to get things done.
- You are data-driven, making decisions in a logical way and on the basis of good evidence/reasoning.
- You are very well organized and have an eye for details.
- You have a strong ability to build, monitor, and maintain systems and practices, including databases and confidential files.
- You have strong written communication skills, especially around public-facing materials, publications, and reports.
- You have the ability to learn quickly, are happy to give and receive feedback, and are interested in trying new approaches.
- You understand survivor-centered approaches and communication styles to managing the support of survivors of abuse.
- You hav