
SCOPE OF WORK EXTERNAL COLLABORATOR FIELD OFFICER FOR ACEH/CENTRAL SULAWESI/SOUTHEAST SULAWESI
Background
Mars and Save the Children Indonesia (SCIDN) have cultivated a longstanding partnership since 2013, beginning with the Mars Wrigley Foundation’s Healthier Smiles program and, over the past five years, working closely with cocoa supply chain communities. Through this collaboration—and across more than a decade of smallholder agriculture programs—we have demonstrated that Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are far more than financial platforms. They serve as catalysts for household income growth, women’s empowerment, and community resilience. Evidence from cocoa communities and other smallholder initiatives shows that VSLAs not only improve financial literacy and access to capital but also foster equity in household decision-making and amplify women’s voices in community forums. The Mars Impact Fund (MIF) presents a unique opportunity to scale these successes. By leveraging Mars’ Village Cluster projects—which currently focus on productivity and agroforestry—the MIF can replicate VSLAs in new villages and elevate existing communities toward the Graduated Village Model. This model integrates economic empowerment and social resilience as the foundation for sustainable cocoa communities, with VSLAs serving as the central entry point for change. Importantly, this initiative will also build the capacity of local civil society organizations (CSOs) and community champions, enabling them to lead and replicate these approaches independently, ensuring sustainability and scale beyond the life of the project. The goal of project is Cocoa-farming communities are economically empowered, socially cohesive, and climate resilient, with women and youth actively leading and participating in community decision-making. Communities promote children’s well-being and protection, diversify income sources, and collaborate with multiple stakeholders including the private sector to sustain collective progress and adapt to environmental challenges. Save the Children’s program approach focuses on building community resilience and empowerment in cocoa-growing areas through: (1) strengthening household and community capacity for resilience, income diversification, and child protection; (2) improving local governance and multi-stakeholder coordination to sustain inclusive, child-centered development, and (3) Graduated Village Model Established, Consolidated, and Replicated. The approach is designed to enable communities, especially women, youth, and vulnerable households to adapt to climate, economic, and social challenges while ensuring that children grow up safe, healthy, and supported.
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Save the Children
Save the Children is the world's leading independent organisation for children. We work in around 120 countries. Our vision is to live in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.
Last year Save the Children's programmes and campaigns reached more than 55 million children directly around the world, through our and our partners' work.
We work to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Across all of our work, we pursue several core values: accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity and integrity.