ROLE PURPOSE:
The Head of child survival takes overall responsibility for the strategic direction and coordination of Save the
Children International’s work on health, nutrition and WASH in the Somalia/Somaliland programme. As a senior
member of PDQ and ESMT, the Head of Child survival is responsible for leading and overseeing the development
and delivery of high quality, innovative, cost-effective programmes in Health, Nutrition and WASH (HN&W) both in
emergency as well as long-term development, resulting in immediate and lasting change for children. The Head of
H&N is also responsible for initiating and taking technical leadership in H, N&W focused studies, documentation
and dissemination of innovations and good practices by working together with quality programmes team; leading
on policy research and advocacy on HN&W through networking and collaboration with relevant civil society
organisations and other institutions; playing a leading role in establishing, maintaining and expanding donor
relations for the sector. The Head Child survival will use their in-depth contextual understanding, technical and
practical expertise, and relationship building skills to define and deliver our strategic ambition of Child Survival
themes for SC Somalia/Somaliland. The role will involve building high performance team, strategy development
lead and the technical design and implementation of high-quality programmes that deliver change for children and
families and save lives in both emergency and development programming. The role will work closely with other
Heads of Themes (HoTs), operations colleagues and partners including government.
In alignment with our Country Strategy for Somalia (2025–2027) and our global commitment to strengthening
national systems and locally led development, this role represents a strategic opportunity to deepen collaboration
with Somali institutions and technical leadership. It fosters stronger partnerships with government ministries,
enhance national ownership of the health and nutrition agenda, and build institutional capacity for long-term
resilience.
In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role
profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Senior Director, Program Quality & Impact
Staff reporting to this post: Staff reporting to this post: 5 direct reports 2 Health TSS, Senior Nutrition TS and
WASH TS, Health Cluster Co-chair. Also expected to provide coaching and mentoring support to operational
and other technical colleagues and local partners
Budget Responsibilities: None
Context: Humanitarian and development
Primary Technical areas: Health and Nutrition, WASH
Primary Sub technical area: Child Health, Maternal and Newborn Health, WASH
Secondary Technical areas: Social Behavior Change, Sexual and Reproductive Heath
Role Dimensions:
The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and
external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme
Development & Quality team, advocacy colleagues, Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other
organisation, donors etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal technical working groups and
communities of practice.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
Programme Development
• Work closely with new business development colleagues to identify and pursue funding opportunities that
allow for both integration into broader programmes and standalone H&N projects; engage with technical
partners, donors and colleagues across Save the Children
• Lead on development of thematic strategy in HN&W including household health, nutrition and WASH
practices, public health, nutrition and WASH services, in programme and policy designs in line with Save
the Children’s Country Strategic Plan for Somalia/Somaliland programme
• Lead in developing and realising ambitious yet practical HN&W plans as part of the Country Annual Plans
• Work together with quality programmes and operations teams to initiate and design high quality, costeffective, innovative and sustainable project proposals and concept notes for the sector
• Proactively seek information on potential donor sources and share project opportunities in HN&W with
quality programmes and operations teams linking to Country and Area strategies on HN&W
• Seek strategic linkage, wherever applicable, with other thematic areas of Somalia/Somaliland programme
i.e. child protection, education, food security and livelihoods, DRR and CRG for developing integrated
programmes for difficult to reach children in Somalia/Somaliland.
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building
• Lead the development and implementation of relevant and sustainable capacity building strategy for area
teams and partners including consortium partners on HN&W in coordination with the operations teams
• Provide technical guidance and inputs where relevant to the operations and quality programme teams and
consortium partners and do technical review of donor reports to ensure that the reports are of high quality
from a technical point of view as per expectations in the project proposals
• Assist the quality programmes team to enhance the capacity of operations teams (e.g.
programme/project managers) in developing appropriate systems for documenting and storing relevant
information/data needed for donor and member reporting
• Provide elaborations and as required directions and trainings to managers in operations teams involved in
delivering projects focusing on appropriate approaches and methodologies; conceptual and practical
frameworks; standards and tools for effective and quality delivery of HN&W programmes.
Representation and Advocacy
• Represent Somalia/Somaliland programme in relevant internal and external fora including donor meetings
(as appropriate) related to health, nutrition and WASH
• Work closely with quality programmes and operations teams to develop policy research and advocacy
strategy in HN&W in line with the Country Strategic Plan and global strategy of Save the Children
• Leverage donor interest and government policies for the difficult to reach children in
Somalia/Somaliland both in emergency and development situations through targeted advocacy/key
messages
• Identify and capitalise key opportunities and events for Save the Children to position itself as the
leading organisation for child and maternal health and nutrition in Somalia and Somaliland
• Work with consortium members wherever applicable to further Save the Children’s mission for
children.
People Management, Mentoring and Development
• Drive the TE transformation project and ensure TSs/TEs benefit from the TE project by closely
working with SMT TE transformation lead.
• Ensure that all technical staff in HN&W understand and are able to adapt their roles in both
emergency and development contexts
• Manage the HN&W team; define expectations, provide leadership and support as needed, and
evaluate direct reports regularly
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate; ensure availability of and
support appropriate professional development opportunities for staff in HN&W
• Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team
building process
• Oversee that all HN&W staff proactively build and maintain technical skills and competencies
required for leading and/or inputting for first class programmes - both development and
emergency nature
• Manage the performance of all direct reports in HN&W through effective use of the Performance
Management System including the establishment of clear, measurable objectives, ongoing
feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations; coaching, mentoring and other
developmental opportunities; recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance
improvement workplans
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values,
promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity
and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent
customer service for our members and donors.
Programme Quality
• Ensure all Child Survival (CS) Quality benchmarks are up to date and properly rolled out and
actions points from QBMs are followed.
• Assist quality programmes team to ensure that all HN&W projects and components have robust
monitoring plans, baselines, reviews and evaluations in line with project designs and donor
guidelines
• Technically assist quality programmes team in measuring achievement and progress towards
program goals and results through the M&E system
• Lead and work closely with quality programmes team to identify and lead strategic groundbreaking research in HN&W for development of innovative programmes and issue-based
advocacy
• Facilitate appropriate dissemination of research findings and good practices documentations in
the projects internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key
actors strategic for immediate and sustainable development of children in Somalia/Somaliland.
Common Approaches
• Ensure in each Child Survival award, Common Approaches are routinely considered, and are
included at every opportunity
• Where appropriate, opportunities for incorporating Common Approaches into new and existing
awards are pro-actively identified and integrated
• The relevant indicators and Quality Benchmarks from the Common Approach technical package
are included in the project designs and are tracked during implementation
• Common Approaches outputs, outcomes and/ or impact is systematically assessed during
implementation
• Key results, experience, evidence and learnings from the implementation of the Common
Approach are shared and evidence and learnings from Common Approaches are built into
Advocacy and Comms efforts
• Ensure all Child Survival (CS) staff are familiar with all Common Approaches including new
approaches and know how to access more information on OneNet and Workplace related to
Common Approaches and have taken the relevant Bronze and Silver Courses.
Knowledge Management
• Serve as a technical knowledge, skills and experience hub for the sector in Somalia/Somaliland
and in doing so play a leading role in introducing innovations in HN&W programmes (gained from
existing and emerging Save the Children’s global knowledge and practices) and in turn
documenting and sharing best practices and innovations for replication and advocacy together
with quality programme team.
• Work with technical resources among Save the Children members to facilitate sharing and
learning in HN&W good practices and leverage their support for strengthening HN&W related
studies, assessments, innovations, advocacy and capacity building in favour of children in
Somalia/Somaliland.
QUALIFICATIONS
• Master’s degree in health, Nutrition, Public Health , Medical or Public Health
undergraduate or related qualification.
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
Essential
• Recommended a minimum of eight years of relevant technical experience in Health, Nutrition
and WASH including at senior level
• Knowledge of current global and regional public health debates especially with reference to
“child and new-born health” and emergency obstetric care
• Proven experience of developing and managing high quality, innovative and cost-effective
technical HN&W projects in fragile and insecure environments, preferably in Somalia context
and with International NGOs
• Proven experience and skills in research and advocacy and influencing institutional, private
and/or corporate donors and writing up high quality donor reports
• Experience of working with local/national governments and capacity building of systems,
partners and staff
• Ability to extensively travel for project monitoring and provide on-site technical support to field
teams
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and
coaching
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix
management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
SAVE THE CHILDREN
INTERNATIONAL
ROLE PROFILE
6
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and
ensuring buy in
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming
surge teams, in the event of emergencies
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required
• Commitment to Save the Children values.
KEY COMPETENCIES
Technical competencies:
• Drives Quality Health and Nutrition Programming: Trains and mentors others on the application of
relevant health sector standards
• Understanding of Impact of emergencies on health and nutrition programming and health
outcomes:
• Engages in the humanitarian aid architecture, the cluster approach and inter-cluster coordination
of public health information
• Able to build integrated multi-sectoral health and nutrition programmes: Builds the capacity of
othersto design and implement integrated health sensitive and specific programming and
advocacy
• Able to link local to national and global level advocacy efforts, supporting localisation of change
and influencing global policy development.
Generic Competencies
• Being the Voice of Children: Promotes evidence-based policy and public engagement that
includes the voices of children and their communities
• Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do
considersthe most deprived and marginalised children
• Building & Strengthening Partnerships: Promotes working with diverse partners as critical
todelivery
• Child Rights: Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers.
BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role
modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom
to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and
applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own
personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
• Builds and maintains effective relationships Rwith their team, colleagues, Members and external
partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
Additional job responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry
out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.
Equal Opportunities
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and
Diversity policies and procedures. The post holder must commit to work in an international agency that
respects racial diversity and fights racism in all forms; and to model positive behaviors and respect to all
colleagues, partners and communities.
Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects
our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Safeguarding our Staff and Adult Safeguarding:
The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy, all
employees are also expected to carry out their duties in accordance with the SCI protection from sexual
exploitation abuse policy.
Health and Safety
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and
procedures.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
At SCI, we uphold the principle of equal rights and opportunities for all our employees. In our commitment to
fostering a more inclusive workplace and addressing gender gaps, we have implemented additional efforts
aimed at
supporting female qualified candidates: -
• Maternity leave (6 months)
• Annual Leave 30 working days
• 10% *gross salary. (female allowance)
• 1.5 flexible working hours for lactating mothers
Dusmareb,,Galgaduud,,Somalia
