Senior Advisor, Global Safeguarding Prevention

Job Description

The Senior Advisor for Global Safeguarding will lead and manage World Vision’s Global Safeguarding Prevention and Preparedness Team and will oversee WV’s strategic approach to safeguarding prevention, preparedness, risk management and capability building.  They will ensure analytics, industry standards, emerging expertise and survivor advocates inform WV’s strategic safeguarding approach and priorities. 

The Senior Advisor will provide technical leadership to safeguarding guidance, protocols, tools and innovations in collaboration with cross-functional teams. They will ensure that WV continuously improves its safeguarding standards and practices, as well as equips our partners with high-quality, sustainable safeguarding practices.  

The Global Safeguarding Senior Advisor will also contribute to participating meaningfully in and contributing to key inter-agency alliances and coalitions, ensuring that the work WV does in partnership with others is safe and that WV is a leader in mutually sharing and learning from our safeguarding peers.

Strategy and Influence

• Refine and continuously improve WV’s strategic approach to safeguarding prevention, preparedness, risk management and capability building.
• Advance and monitor WV’s survivor-centred, trauma-informed approach to preventing, reporting and responding to safeguarding incidents.
• Harness analytics, field-level insights, and global safeguarding trends to identify and communicate critical safeguarding risks to Leadership for action.
• Support the Senior Director – Safeguarding in strategic thinking, executive reports, and high-level internal and external engagement.

Technical Leadership and System Strengthening

• Provide technical leadership to ensure safeguarding risks are appropriately mitigated and safeguarding systems are strengthened at every level of the Partnership, in alignment with WV’s Child and Adult Safeguarding Policy.
• Equip WV’s global safeguarding network to appropriately identify and mitigate their safeguarding risks with contextually appropriate solutions.
• Advance WV’s safeguarding support, resources and tools for local partners to empower them to establish strong and sustainable safeguarding systems.
• Create or update safeguarding implementation guidance, protocols, tools, and/or capability building resources based upon organisational risk and field needs.
• Safeguarding Update Report process is completed and reviewed by all WV entities annually and Safeguarding Action Plans are created to address areas of weakness.
• Collaborate with the Safeguarding Investigations Team to provide post-incident support.
• Support internal and external audit requests and address findings with appropriate technical support.

Partnership-wide Capacity Building

• Align global safeguarding capacity building with safeguarding risk management efforts – prioritising high-risk issues/offices.
• Ensure every WV entity has a Safeguarding Focal Point or Lead who is continually learning and building the safeguarding capacity of their respective office/region and partners.
• Conceptualise, create and facilitate learning opportunities and capability-building programs for the Partnership’s global safeguarding network, including WV’s Emergency Response Roster for Safeguarding - harnessing adult learning methodologies, WorkDay Learning, redacted incident-based case studies and scenarios, online forums and peer-to-peer collaboration.
• Connect WV’s Global Safeguarding Network to external learning opportunities to enhance the Partnership’s overall safeguarding capacity.

Team Leadership

• Provide day-to-day leadership and management to WV’s Global Safeguarding Prevention and Preparedness Team.
• Sets goals and monitors the performance and well-being of the team, ensuring priorities are clear and the team is connected to needed support and desired growth opportunities.

External Engagement

• Meaningfully participate in and contribute to the safeguarding working groups of inter-agency alliances, coalitions, and UN technical advisory groups.
• Prepare policy, guidance, training materials, and core safeguarding statements with external partners, upon request and in collaboration with Senior Director - Safeguarding.

Other duties as assigned.

Required Professional Experience, Education, training, license, registration, and/or certifications

• 7+ years working in an international NGO: 2 years in a field environment.
• 5 years' experience in safeguarding or related function in an international NGO.
• Master's degree or equivalent in a Legal, Human Resources, International Development, Social Work, or Child Rights-related field, or field/practical experience working with situations of policy formation, guidance and implementation.
• Communicating to and influencing organizational leadership and management decisions.
• Proficient in coaching, influencing, facilitation, presentation, communication, analysis and problem solving.
• Expertise in child and adult safeguarding issues, emergency relief, the UN CRC and field of child protection.
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal and collaboration skills in a diverse environment.
• Proven ability to work as an effective team member on cross-cultural teams.
• Very strong organizational skills; ability to complete a complex variety of tasks in an organized manner and to quickly change and adapt to new priorities.
• Strong sense of initiative; independent and creative.
• Excellent English skills. French or Spanish would be an asset.

Preferred Knowledge and Qualifications

• Strong computer and knowledge management skills, including the ability to learn new platforms quickly
• Critical thinking skills to relate to work performed to broader business contexs.