Director of Impact & Influencing

JOB ADVERTISEMENT – Director of Impact & Influencing

SCI employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3:  The role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; ore because they are responsible for implementing the police c hecking/vetting process staff.
 

ROLE PURPOSE: 

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Türkiye, The Director of Impact & Influencing shares the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office (CO). The I&I Director plays a key role driving the country office program strategy and creating a culture of impact. The Director is accountable to the Country Director and responsible for driving the country office strategic plan in influencing stakeholders to amplify the impact in delivering immediate and lasting change for children whilst contributing to Save the Children’s global breakthroughs: Learn, Survive, Be Protected. The Director of I&I ensures that programme principles and standards are upheld, and a robust monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) system is in place, and that reliable data is used for decision-making.   One of the key aspects of the role is ensuring capacity building, mentoring, and coaching of direct reports in order to build a strong I&I department. The I&I Director will develop strategic partnerships that contribute to organisational commitments to localisation. The I&I Director supports the donor engagement and business development to ensure that the country office strategy and humanitarian response plans can be delivered.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Country Director 

Staff directly reporting to this post: Head of New Business Development (NBD), Head of MEAL, Head of Advocacy Campaign, Communications and Media (ACCM), Technical Advisors/Specialists (TE). These positions will vary depending on the thematic programmes.

Role Dimensions:

Since 2013, Save the Children has been a pivotal force in Türkiye, supporting vulnerable populations, particularly refugees and asylum seekers. Our comprehensive programs encompass child protection, mental health and psychosocial support, early childhood care and development, non-formal education, and livelihoods. Following the 2023 earthquakes in Southeast Türkiye, we have significantly expanded our efforts to address the urgent humanitarian needs of both refugee and host communities in the hardest-hit provinces. In collaboration with the Government of Türkiye and our partners, we are delivering critical assistance to thousands of earthquake-affected children and their families, while also contributing to long-term recovery efforts.

The Director I&I leads the NBD, MEAL, ACCM and thematic specialists and advisors, and in partnership with the programme implementation team, to develop evidence-based strategies, programs and projects, and to spearhead/support advocacy and campaigning initiatives. They take a lead in establishing systems for program monitoring, quality improvement, accountability, evaluation and learning, and in ensuring that results are captured, shared and used to inform programme design and implementation. The Director leads the Country Office in developing and carrying out its partnership strategy with national NGOs and other strategic partners. As a senior leader in the country office they  play a representational role with the government, donors, partners, peer agencies, SC Members and others. The I&I Director has the responsibility to build the capacity of, mentor and coach SC teams and individual staff in areas related to I&I, ensuring the development of a strong national team.  They lead the ACCM and NBD team and ensures the development of high-quality design for funding proposals.

The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme Operations, Government Relations (GRSS), Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other organisation, donors etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal and external technical working groups and communities of practice.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Lead the Delivery of Save the Children’s Impact Agenda in Türkiye

• Contribute to a culture of impact in the Country Office (CO) and impact leadership operating models, under the leadership of the Country Director (CD), by positioning SC as a go-to Child Rights Leader internally and externally by leading child rights thought leadership and driving the uptake of our child rights programming framework.
• Take overall leadership on designing multi-sector response and recovery strategies, programme plans including sectoral log frames and programme master budgets, ensuring the highest technical expertise is represented across these, and ensuring linkages with existing programmes and strategies.
• Takes overall leadership in prioritising response sectors, in line with SCI Global Humanitarian Strategy, ensuring maximum integration between sectors where relevant and possible.
• Lead the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) and annual planning processes, including contributing to the Humanitarian Plan (SCHP), Advocacy strategies, KPIS and other programme reporting. Ensure that it’s of high programmatic quality and evidence based, reflecting SC’s global themes, Common Approaches and Theory of Change
• Support ownership and commitments to the Country Office strategy, and contribute to the funding strategy and country office leadership budgeting decisions
• Facilitate the development and pursuit of thematic, cross-cutting strategic priorities and Gender Equality Policy to guide current and future SC programming.
• Support development of cross-team coordination mechanisms to ensure effective collaboration and integration across key programs (e.g. program operations, advocacy) and related departments (e.g. awards,)
• Managing risk related to Programme Quality

Programme design, Strategic New Business Development and portfolio planning   

• Ensure that the country office has high quality, cost-effective and evidence based multi-sector programs reflecting SC’s global initiatives and theory of change
• Ensure new programmes and projects are built on a strong evidence base, programme principles and best practice (including common approaches), resulting from learning and situational analyses that include the participation of children and other stakeholders.
• Ensure new programmes and projects are designed through a strategic lens, driving our impact and influencing agenda
• Lead design discussions for high-valued/high-complexity/multi-sectoral proposals and strategy
• Align go/no go decisions and programme design to agreed CO priorities on the CSP
• Manage the needs/requests of SC members, donors and external partners to ensure quality results in programming
• Drive quality at scale in new programmes/proposals
• Upskill and empower TEs to lead on strong project design into funding proposals and engagement with donors and partners
• Support emergency response preparedness planning, ensuring that the CO is ready to respond swiftly and effectively to humanitarian crises
• Leads on fundraising for priority sectors where funding is limited in Humanitarian responses
• Introduce innovative approaches to secure flexible funding and turn ineffective programmes into effective programmes with a focus on improving programme quality
• Shared responsibility with the operations team for quality in implementation and adherence to programme principles
• Conduct regular field visits to support staff on quality and impact issues
• Accountable to ensure program quality standards are established throughout the project cycle and across the portfolio in close collaboration with implementation team, including operational research to inform programme improvements and works closely with Director of Programme Operations

Research, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning, Monitoring (REALM) and Knowledge management

• Oversee the development of a monitoring system that provides timely and accurate project results by embedding MEAL across programme implementation
• Ensure the development and implementation of quality Research, Evidence and Learning plans, ensuring outcomes and impacts are captured, documented, reported and inform decision making
• Ensure plans to promote accountability to affected populations (AAP) and child participation are high quality and inform programming
• Ensure regular data collection and meaningful analyses, establishment of accountability and learning mechanisms, with regular dissemination of strategic information to SMT and other relevant staff to drive learning and improve program quality
• Ensure effective collaboration between MEAL staff, Technical advisors and Thematic specialists in the development of sector log frames, indicators, implementation plans, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks and related tools
• Support the Head of MEAL to capacity develop MEAL staff, maximizing their role as trainers and facilitators of quality standards in project design, monitoring and evaluation for the country office and hold team accountable for development and use of quality benchmarks
• Participate in project kick-offs and close-outs for significant awards to ensure effective strategic direction, establishment of quality standards and dissemination of learning

Thematic Expertise, capacity building and quality assurance

• Monitor and advance technical and operational quality of field programmes across all themes and accountable for results and sustainability of programme outcomes
• Ensure relevant technical support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with humanitarian principles and standards during emergencies. 
• Ensure the development of regular thematic working groups, and facilitate cross-thematic learning
• Support capacity building and progressional development of thematic advisors, maximizing their role as Technical Leads for project design and technical support providers to field teams and local project partners
• Support capacity building and professional development of NBD staff, ensuring they are engaged with regional and global communities of practice and able to expand their NBD skills and experience
• Ensure that Technical Specialists engage in larger communities of practice to link with the most relevant and evidence-based approaches and conduct timely and useful review of project reports to support quality reporting for Members and donors
• Integrate and mainstream SC programmes from different country offices to develop a holistic approach in achieving SC breakthroughs

Influencing -Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications & Media (ACCM):

• Represent Save the Children and strategically network with government authorities, donors, partners and other stakeholders to promote SC objectives and build relationships to facilitate success of our projects
• Support the CO SM
• T to articulate their top priority advocacy or communications objectives in line with the Country Strategic Plan.
• Provide overall leadership, vision, strategic direction, and management of advocacy towards national and international stakeholders, support the development and delivery of policy change, and advocacy strategies towards international stakeholders, and ensure that advocacy is an integral part of Save the Children’s Theory of Change and strategic planning.
• Lead advocacy initiatives that engage national government, civil society and political leaders, child rights and localisation networks and peer agencies with the goal of influencing policy and legislation in the best interests of children
• Ensure that learning from the field contributes to development and implementation of national programs and advocacy initiatives and programs scaled-up by the government to widen reach
• Act as one of the country office spokespersons and support the media engagement in the country, with the region and members as relevant to the context
• Ensure development of the CO communications strategy, towards donors
• Ensure clear links and mutual reinforcement between programmatic approaches and CO communications, linking external advocacy strategies where appropriate.
• Oversee the strategic development of an integrated campaigns plan aligned with the country’s strategic plan.
• In collaboration with CD, ACCM lead, and Director of Programme Operations, identify and manage potential risks associated with Save the Children’s public positions and design strategies to mitigate the risks that have been identified

Senior leadership function

• Demonstrate behaviours aligned with Save the Children’s Mission, Vision, and Values, fostering these principles across the office and ensuring they are embraced by all staff.
• Provide leadership, strategic vision, coherence and direction to the country program as a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT)
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects SC’s full spectrum mandate and values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a cross -team culture of learning, creativity and innovation in a productive work environment, and frees up people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent service for our members and donors
• Ensure Country Office complies with the SC Quality Framework Essential Standards and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS)
• Interface with Members to effectively execute strategy and build effective donor relationships

Strategic partnership development  

• Support the Country Office in the proper analysis of potential partners using documented selection methods, to ensure compliance with Save the Children standards and donor requirements and regulations

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development

• Support strategic workforce planning and professional development of TCO’s ACCM, PDQ, NBD, MEAL, and Technical Experts, building a high-performing, skilled team aligned with the organization's goals and prepared to lead impactful interventions within the Türkiye context.
• Manage I&I team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, evaluate reports regularly
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff is appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff. Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process. 
• Work closely with the Human Resources team, provide recommendations on key technical competencies and related capacity building support and training for program staff as appropriate

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:      

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Master degree in relevant social science, human rights, development studies, NGO management or equivalent field
• Extensive experience, leading country-specific and multi-country programs in humanitarian and development sectors, with a strong ability to analyse Türkiye and regional socio-political, funding, and policy contexts to guide strategic actions.
• Experience in more than one of Save the Children's thematic sectors: education, child protection, child rights governance, health and nutrition, child poverty, emergencies
• Skilled in applying child rights and gender-transformative approaches across policy, advocacy, and programming to achieve sustainable, large-scale change for and with children.
• Experience of lobbying, influencing and representing an organisation at all levels and across diverse sectors
• Expertise in building strategic partnerships with donors, government stakeholders, and local organizations, supporting a localization agenda aligned with Save the Children’s goals.
• Strong skills and proven experience in new business development, project design, and donor proposal design with corporates, foundations and institutional donors
• Strong skills and proven experience in leading strategic planning, change management and program management processes; also from the knowledge and learning perspective
• Developing and managing monitoring, evaluation and learning systems
• Excellent listening, inter-personal, communication and networking skills; and the ability to work with diversified populations
• Excellent writing and presentation skills in English and Turkish
• Skilled at delivering and facilitating training and capacity building interventions, e.g. coaching, mentorship.
• High level of self-awareness and self-development with the maturity to deal with constructive feedback the willingness and ability to adapt leadership and management style as appropriate
• Experience of conducting research, drafting and presenting reports to varied audiences.
• Extensive working knowledge and experience in Türkiye context is an high advantage for this role

Position holder will be based in Istanbul with regular travel to field locations, therefore legal right to work in Türkiye is necessary at the time of application.