Job Description

Program Officer - Child Protection

Country/Region: Uganda

Location: Kasese

Organization: Save the Children International

Join us to lead sustainable change for children:

• Be part of a GLOBAL and DIVERSE technical community
• Get EXPOSURE in many different contexts
• Test and scale up INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
• Influence policies that affect MILLIONS OF CHILDREN

Are you passionate about being an advocate for children? Do you want to use your expertise to bring about lasting change for children and be a part of an inspiring, dynamic global movement?

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Program officer (PO) provides ongoing, implementation, monitoring & evaluation and reporting in regard to the execution of Child Protection activities. The job holder will be responsible for planning, coordinating and implementing child protection activities in line with the project objectives, national child protection frameworks, and organisational policies. The role will ensure uninterrupted programme delivery, quality assurance, coordination with partners and government stakeholders, and effective reporting during the maternity leave period on specific activities that will be tagged/assigned to the person.

Sounds interesting? Read more below

THE ROLE

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

• Coordinate and support situation and needs assessments in the project sites to help determine the required interventions and planning within the context of our operations.
• Ensure children harmed or at risk of being harmed are identified and receive individual case management support with the support of the PSWOs, SWOs and PSWs.
• Work with the SWOs, PSWOs and PSWs to support and oversee child protection case management processes in line with national case management guidelines and procedures.
• Support to coordinate case management referrals and liaise with statutory duty bearers such as Social Welfare Officers, Community Development Officers, Probation officers, and Police Child and Family Protection Units and other services providers.
• Adequately coordinate and implement child protection activities under the assigned project(s) and locations considering the detailed implementation plan.
• Ensure weekly planning and implementation of activities, including preparation of assigned budget expenditure. Account for activities and budget expenditure within the provided time frame.
• Provide a clear and consistent follow up on activities and use monitoring results for reporting, consistently using the project indicators.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date Child protection and beneficiaries’ databases including other SCI operational systems like PRIME etc.
• Monitor and provide day-to-day direct technical support and coaching to community and other stakeholders as well as the partners that we work with.
• Ensure regular data collection and submission of monitoring reports to Line Manager.
• In liaison with the Local Government technical and political leads, UN agencies, community support structures, and other partner organizations spear head child protection related service provision monitoring across different facilities including the remand home, identify service delivery gaps, and provide recommendations for improvement through a comprehensive report.
• Maintain an updated and clean database of all profiled beneficiaries including vulnerable and marginalised children, and children at risk of being abused supported by the response program. With support of the SWO and PSWs, support the identification of children with child protection concerns, document and refer them to service providers for individual case management support.
• Organize and coordinate child protection, GBV, child wellbeing committee (CWC) and alternative care panel (ACP) meetings to discuss prevalent child protection related concerns, develop strategies including a costed local action plan to respond and mitigate further occurrence of similar concerns, and advocate for budgetary/financial resource allocation to address those issues.
• Provide high quality and adequate reports on activity implementation and corrective measures taken.
• Document best practices, lessons learnt and unique experiences including success stories, case studies for sharing and learning.
• Represent Save the Children in working groups and other events as assigned by the line manager.
• Ensure effective coordination with other responding (I)NGOs, with consortium partners, local government, UN agencies, and other CSOs etc.
• Support the donor report writing processes by timely compiling the required data.

To be a strong supporter and advocate for children in this role you will need to have:

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential

• At least a bachelor’s degree in social works and social administration, Development Studies, Psychology, Child Development, Child Psychology, Community Psychology or any equivalent accrued working experience in a related position.
• At least three years relevant experience implementing, supervising, monitoring and evaluating field-based child protection or education projects with an NGO, particularly focusing on children’s rights, preferably in an emergency setting.
• Ability to train, mentor and coach SWOs, PSWs, Safe families mentors and facilitators on child protection common approaches including case management, safe families, child protection legal and policy frameworks, etc.
• Good understanding of child rights issues and child rights instruments.
• Specific familiarity with child rights issues in the NGO world or work.
• Ability to interact with communities; children and adults as well as other stakeholders at sub-county and district levels.
• At least 1 years’ experience in financial, planning and budget management.
• Effective interpersonal skills – oral and written communication skills.
• Facilitation and presentation skills.
• Strong documentation and reporting skills.
• Experience in riding motorcycle and a valid riding permit.

Application Information:

Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at https://hcri.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1

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.

Application closes on May 22, 2026, midnight Uganda time.

Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to employ and assign the best qualified talent, persons with disabilities and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Disclaimer: Save the Children International does not charge any kind of fee at whichever stage of the recruitment process and does not act through recruitment agents.

OUR DIVERSITY BELIEF

Save the Children International is committed to create a truly inclusive, effective and representative organisational culture, encouraging equity and diversity among its employees and eliminating unlawful discrimination. We want our people to be truly representative of all sections of society. Having a diverse profile of employees, different age groups, backgrounds, cultures, & disabilities etc. We are guided by our values in everything we do and recognise that being a diverse and inclusive employer helps us fulfil our responsibility to make a difference for children around the world.