🇸🇱 Job Vacancy @ Restless Development – People & Safeguarding Coordinator

Apply by Friday 22nd March, 2024 (women and young leaders are encouraged to apply)

About Restless Development

Restless Development is a global non profit agency. We support the collective power of young leaders to create a better world. We are independently registered and governed in nine countries (India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe) bound together by our vision for youth power. We run youth-led programmes to tackle the issues that young people care about the most –  We also run the Youth Collective – a growing network of over 4000 local youth civil society groups and organizations in 185 countries. We are committed to creating an agency that walks the talk on power shifting, using the power shifting checklist, both internally and externally.

Our approach to safeguarding

Restless Development considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults to be an organizational imperative with primacy over the success of programmes or strategic objectives. We recognize that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and we expect all of our staff, volunteers and partners to ensure we protect the communities in which we operate from harm and abide by our Safeguarding Policy.

About the role

We are seeking a dynamic and talented individual to lead our work on people, performance and safeguarding at Restless Development Sierra Leone. The People and Safeguarding Coordinator will work closely with the Hub Director to strengthen the systems, tools and procedures for overseeing people (human resources), organizational performance (quality assurance) and safeguarding at the Hub. Working primarily through other staff and performance managers across the Hub, the work of the People and Safeguarding Coordinator will ultimately impact significantly on the quality of experience of hundreds of young leaders (volunteers) across Sierra Leone working on Restless Development’s programmes, as well as over 50 staff across the Hub’s Freetown, Moyamba and Bombali offices. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to help shape the direction of the organization through Restless Development Sierra Leone’s People Plan and by excelling against Key Performance Indicators, as well as by contributing to the overall management of the agency in Sierra Leone.

To excel in this exciting role, the successful candidate will have proven experience in human resources, exceptional people skills, safeguarding and some previous knowledge and experience of strengthening performance systems and safeguarding. They will be particularly passionate about youth-led development and seeing Restless Development’s values brought to life. They will bring energy and dynamism to whatever they do, and will be excited about getting stuck into an organization-wide role that is as flexible as it is demanding.

Key Responsibilities

People (Human Resources)

• Lead on the development and implementation of a People Plan for Restless Development Sierra Leone, ensuring that all Hub staff are recruited, inducted, trained, developed, and share the agency’s culture and Values in line with the agency’s policies and procedures;
• Manage and oversee all recruitment at the Hub;
• Be responsible for all data held in Sierra Leone Hub Human Resource Information System (HRIS) Bamboo HR and ensure relevant capacity exists to make the most of this investment and its reporting capabilities.
• Build the capacity of performance managers across the Hub to ensure that all staff are receiving regular, high quality performance management;
• Ensure that there are strong channels for all-staff communication and interaction, including regular all-staff meetings, quarterly workshops and training sessions;
• Ensure that Restless Development Sierra Leone complies with all Sierra Leone labour laws, and position the Hub as a progressive employer demonstrating best practice within the NGO sector.
• Support the Hub to actively involve young people in its governance, programmes, and decision-making, and to act openly and in a transparent manner in everything it does, bringing to life the agency’s principle of “dynamic accountability”.
• Lead work within the Hub to better monitor and improve the journey of our young changemakers (volunteers), including by strengthening our alumni engagement.

Performance

• Lead the Hub’s Quality Assurance work, aimed at improving Hub-wide performance
• Report regularly to the global agency on the Hub’s performance against Key Performance Indicators.
• Support the annual international Internal Audit visit, and drive progress against the Internal Audit action plan
• Maintain oversight of Restless Development Sierra Leone’s national policies and procedures, including the nationalized Employee Handbook and people policies.

Management

• Produce regular updates of the for the Senior Leadership Team and the national Board
• Serve as a role model at all times, embodying Restless Development’s values and ensuring staff adherence to policy and procedure across the organization;
• Development and review of Nationalized safeguarding policy, child Protection policy, Women’s Empowerment Policy, Code of Conduct, Nationalized Employee Handbook and other relevant policies.

Powershifting, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Work with the Hub Director to help improve progress against priorities identified through our internal audit processes, and other reporting mechanisms on powershifting.
• Ensure inclusive approaches are embedded across our work, and ensure hub teams are aligned to our agency wide DEI commitments.

Safeguarding

• Ensuring that staff and volunteers are inducted and trained regularly on all aspects of safeguarding, child protection and gender;
• Ensuring that Restless Development Sierra Leone’s Board members are trained regularly in safeguarding and their specific governance responsibilities;
• Building the capacity of downstream partners and contractors/suppliers to comply with and implement aspects of Restless Development’s safeguarding policy;
• Ensure all policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and updated in line with our safeguarding and gender best practice;
• Map out and regularly update the services and referral pathways provided to survivors of safeguarding incidents in Sierra Leone;
• Design appropriate and innovative safeguarding tools and mechanisms, including in local languages and that are easily accessible.
• Carry out regular spot checks in the field and with volunteers, downstream partners and contractors to ensure that Restless Development’s safeguarding policies and procedures are being upheld;
• Ensure our safeguarding and incident management working group leads are confident and able to respond to incidents that arise though day to day agency wide activities.

Other

• Other duties as required, as agreed with the Line Manager.

Job title: People & Safeguarding Coordinator

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Salary: SLL  73,057 (Gross 6 months) (@ band 0)

Preferred start date: 1st May 2024

Length of contract: 6-month initial contract – renewed annually dependent on funding .

Reports to: Hub Director

Direct Reports: None

Expected travel: national travels to operational areas

About you

We are looking for people with the right competencies and skills for the role, and who

demonstrate the personal qualities consistent with our values.

Our value: HEART – We are who we serve. We are brave.

Embeds a values-led culture within their team; both recognizing and rewarding behavior which upholds the Restless Values and professionally challenging behaviors which do not. Fosters a climate of innovation and continual improvement across their team. Considers external best practices when adapting plans; acts positively and quickly to assess and resolve issues.

Our value: HEAD – Delivers Quality. We are 100% professional.

Takes full accountability for performance and value-for-money within their team. Ensures team capacity to deliver quality against strategic priorities, and guides their team to develop solutions for anticipated problems. Takes full accountability for managing a budget and/or programme and/or incidents. Considers the organizational vision, Restless Values, external influences, and long-term impact when making decisions. Supports more junior staff with difficult decisions.

Our value: VOICE – We generate leaders.

We are proud to carry the banner for youth-led development. Plays a key role in strategy development. Taking accountability for team performance and creating a compelling leadership vision for their team. Inspires and supports others to take on a leadership role. Drives their personal development, committing to new challenges which build capacity for the organization. Supports team members to fulfil their potential through effective performance management, mentoring and other growth opportunities.

Our value: HANDS – We are in it together.

We listen and learn. Builds consensus and commitment amongst staff and national partners, using effective communication to navigate difficult topics. Coaches others to communicate effectively. Utilizes their internal and external relationships to enable others to expand their network; creating opportunities for others to broaden their awareness of other parts of the organization and/or current issues. Cultivates national partnerships.

Restless Development is an Equal Opportunities Employer and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community. Restless Development will ensure that no applicant or staff member receives less favorable treatment on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, social status, caste, race, ethnic origin, religious belief, age, HIV status, disability, or any other factor that cannot be shown to be relevant to performance.

Skills and experience

Essential

• Graduate-Level Degree or equivalent work experience in Human Resources, preferably within international NGOs
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience working in a senior Human Resource role
• Have thorough knowledge of Sierra Leone’s human resources practices and labour laws.
• Experience in staff performance management systems
• Experience and knowledge of organizational key performance indicators
• Strong Knowledge of safeguarding
• Strong people skills to build strong working relationships with stakeholders at all levels of seniority
• Excellent administration and organisation skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Some experience in delivering training
• Impeccable attention to detail
• Flexible and adaptable with an ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines
• High competence in MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Desirable

• Experience managing grievance, disciplinary or misconduct cases
• Ability to work with limited supervision, to make decisions, and work on own initiative
• Ability to demonstrate strong IT skills, including the use of in-house databases, Microsoft Office applications, and Human resource information systems.
• Effective communication skills, in order to deal tactfully and sensitively with people at all levels.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal), fluency in written and spoken English
• Excellent listening skills
• Good organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with a wide range of people.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Ability to operate within tight deadlines and manage a number of work activities at any one time.

Remuneration

We are proud to commit to a transparent global salary scale, ensuring a fair and comparable

system of pay across all global locations. In addition to salary, we offer pension contributions (NASSIT) and other benefits following the local Hub.

Values and Culture.

At Restless Development, we’re proud that the strength and integrity of our Values have been recognized by staff, young people, donors and others who we work with. Beyond this, we have a culture of recognizing and celebrating both our Values and our global achievements with an annual Values Day.

Work-life Balance.

We work hard at Restless Development. We also recognize the importance of helping staff to maintain a positive work-life balance by offering:

• 24 days annual leave (in addition to public holidays and with an extra day of annual leave given for each full year of service, up to a maximum of 28 days).
• Birthday Leave
• Access to flexible working.
• Generous study leave, maternity, paternity or adoption leave, and other leave allowances.

Professional Development

Restless Development is proud to be an employer that recognizes potential and invests in the development of its staff.  We are committed to the professional development of our staff through:

• Empowering opportunities to work on significant projects which stretch and inspire staff – allowing them to develop on the job.
• Regular performance management.
• Training and development opportunities, including supporting our staff to identify mentors both within and outside of the agency.
• Quarterly Staff Workshops for all staff to give and receive agency updates, receive training, and socialize.

Travel and Medical Insurance

When travelling abroad for work, all staff will be covered by Restless Development’s travel

and medical insurance.

To Apply

Please submit your CV and a cover letter that provides tangible examples of how your skills, knowledge and experience will support your ability to perform the key priorities outlined in the above job description (using no more than 750 words).