Background of the FCDO Transforming Education in Ethiopia Project:

In Ethiopia, many children are out of school or at risk of dropping out, in particular girls and other marginalised groups. Progress has been made in expanding education access for children across the country, however, since 2019 progress stalled due to conflict and instability, climate-induced shocks and the impact of Covid-19 and wider macroeconomic challenges around inflation which exacerbated existing inequalities.

In response, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) aims to improve teaching quality and learning outcomes and increase access to education for girls and marginalised children through the ‘Transforming Education in Ethiopia’ project (2024-2028). The project will focus on three key components below:

• Teacher and school leader development:  Improved quality of teaching and learning with a focus on continuous teacher professional development in targeted schools.
• English Language Teaching and Learning: Selected schools provide better teaching and learning in English Language as a subject, and improved use of English across the curriculum.
• Equity, Inclusion and Girls’ Education: Improved access and retention of the most marginalised children, particularly girls.

Employment type: Definite period

Role Purpose:

The Safeguarding Lead will ensure that robust safeguarding measures are integrated across all aspects of the programme. The role will focus on the protection and welfare of children, vulnerable adults, and staff involved in the programme. The Safeguarding Lead will establish, implement, and monitor safeguarding policies and practices, ensuring compliance with donor standards and internal organisational frameworks. They will lead on training, incident management, and coordination with partners to create a safe and supportive environment across the consortium.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of safeguarding risk prevention, mitigation and management strategies across the programme, ensuring alignment with donor safeguarding requirements and organisational policies.
• Develop, update, and enforce safeguarding procedures, ensuring they reflect best practices and the local context.
• Act as the main point of contact for safeguarding issues and manage reporting systems.
• Lead on the effective management of safeguarding incidents, ensuring timely and appropriate responses, including liaising with the Protection and Safeguarding team at head office as necessary.
• Deliver comprehensive safeguarding training and awareness-raising activities for programme team, partners and stakeholders.
• Ensure all programme staff and partners are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and duty to report via the appropriate channels any suspicions or concerns.
• Identify and assess safeguarding risks associated with the programme and implement risk mitigation measures.
• Monitor compliance with safeguarding policies through site visits, providing timely feedback to management.
• Collaborate with monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) colleagues to integrate safeguarding into project evaluations and ensure safeguarding lessons are captured and applied.
• Ensure that any safeguarding concerns are reported promptly internally to Concern Worldwide’s head office, the donor and other relevant authorities as may be necessary.
• Collaborate closely with consortium partners to ensure safeguarding standards are consistently applied across all organisations.
• Liaise with local authorities, community leaders, and other stakeholders to foster a safe environment and ensure alignment with local safeguarding regulations and practices.
• Effectively communicate Safeguarding findings to the Team Lead, programme staff and external stakeholders, including the FCDO, to facilitate informed decision-making.
• Represent the programme at external safeguarding forums and networks to share learnings and remain informed about global safeguarding trends.
• Ensure adherence/compliance with Concern Worldwide’s Code of Conduct & Associated Policies (including Programme Participant Protection, Child & vulnerable adult Safeguarding, Anti-Trafficking policies), Conflict of Interest Policy, Anti-Fraud Policy, and Modern Slavery Transparency Statement.
• Promote and ensure accountability to programme participants and wider communities in line with Concern Worldwide’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and Do No Harm principles and ensure high ethical standards throughout programme implementation.

Emergency response

Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively in order to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and the Ethiopia Programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organization.

Gender Equality

• Demonstrate understanding of Concern Ethiopia’s Gender Equality Strategy
• Contribute to ensuring that Concern Ethiopia is a place where men and women are treated equally and with  dignity and respect 
• Demonstrate gender equality awareness and gender sensitivity and an ability to integrate a gender equality perspective into tasks and activities.

Accountability

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS): 

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E); 
• work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed; 
• Work with relevant colleagues to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behavior is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Safeguarding

• Able to seek appropriate advice and report concerns, and feel confident that they have been understood.
• Understands local safeguarding structures and arrangements.
• Practice in a manner that seeks to reduce the risk of abuse, harm or neglect.
• Identifies and refers to appropriate services any other associated persons including carers, family members and children at risk.
• Able to document safeguarding concerns, and maintain appropriate record keeping, recording the wishes and views of the adult or child at risk, differentiating between fact and opinion.