Job Details

The role 
We are currently looking for Director of Strategy, Program Quality and Impact (SPQI) based in Vientiane Capital 
Role Purpose
The Director of Strategy, Program Quality and Impact (SPQI) is a newly created role in the Laos Country Office with the primary purpose of leading the establishment and oversight of new functions in the country office, including research and evaluation, innovation, policy and dedicated technical expertise functions, with the overall aim of promoting quality strategy development, evidence generation, influencing policy-level change, driving continuous improvement in program quality and scaling innovative approaches to enabling children to access their rights.
The SPQI Director will lead the establishment of a newly-developed Research, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning and Monitoring (REALM) function, including a robust research and evaluation unit with the capability to generate strategic evidence linked to the policy, business development and programming priorities captured in the 2024-2027 Country Strategic Plan (CSP).  The SPQI Director will also lead the development of a CO MEAL Framework, boost the impact of the MEAL team and ensure accountability systems accessible to children are in place across all programs. 
The SPQI Director will also oversee a new policy, campaigns and communications function and seek opportunities to increase Save the Children’s influence, capability to support Government of Laos develop and implement high quality policies and boost visibility and profile, both nationally and internationally. 
The SPQI Director also oversees technical experts (TE), including Education, Social protection and Climate Change TE. The SPQI Director will work with the SMT to grow the technical expertise function and clarify ways of working between TE, program operations and new business development functions. 
Lastly, the SPQI Director will play a key role in building the leadership, technical capability and communications skills of their team, program staff and the Extended Senior Management Team (ESMT), including working with Human Resources to establish coaching and mentoring mechanisms for TE and ensure technical, REALM and program staff access relevant learning and development opportunities. 
KEY AREA OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Research, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning and Monitoring (30%) 

• Provide through leadership, coaching, mentoring and leadership support the Head of REALM to build an effective research and evaluation unit with clear linkages to the Asia Regional Office (ARO) Research and Evaluation Unit 
• Support the Head of REALM by leveraging the resources and support of the SCI movement and ARO develop a clear research agenda linked with policy, business development, partnership and programming priorities laid out in the Country Strategic Plan 
• Input intro proposal development and budgeting processes to ensure resources are ringfenced for strategic evidence generation 
• Produce robust child rights situational analysis, climate vulnerability assessments and GEDSI analysis to inform proposal development
• Support the Head of REALM develop and implement a CO MEAL Framework and ensure this is implemented to quality standards 
• Hold the REALM team to account for meeting CO KPIs relevant to their functions
• Drive increased use of data and digital in our programming
• Promote a culture of learning, reflection and continuous improvement and supports the MEAL team and TE in ensuring there are specific learning agendas and effective forums of learning across the CO and leadership to ensure their uptake and roll out across SC in Vietnam. 
• Support MEAL in establishing and rolling out Country Office knowledge management strategy and systems, with special attention to storing and sharing program experience, data, learning and results 
• Ensure the delivery of internal and external program/project evaluations as per the Evaluations Essential Standard and donor requirement, and execution of baseline, and periodic research in coordination with Director of Program Implementation
• Ensure our work is accountable to children and other stakeholders through the establishment and management of effective accountability mechanisms and processes

 
Technical Assistance and Innovation (20%)

• Build a cohort of high quality local technical expertise housed in the PSQI function across all technical areas, with linkages to regional and global counterparts 
• Facilitate quality technical inputs into new proposal development and ensure this informed by data and evidence under programs and generated by the REALM function 
• Ensure active engagement and participation in national dialogues, working groups and with thematic stakeholders and partners.
• Ensure all projects are designed through a climate resilience and GEDSI lens
• Establish and manage an innovation hub using flexible funding to solicit ideas, trial these ideas and bring them to scale
• Create a culture of innovation in the program teams and calculated, evidence-informed risk-taking in program teams 
• Drive increased uptake of common approaches across the portfolio and deliver improvement in program quality KPIs 
• Support the Head of Policy, Campaigns and Communication to develop a country influencing strategy, supported by campaigning and communications plans 
• Provide quality assurance over the production of high-quality policy briefing papers, statements, external communications products and case studies to influence target audiences
• Ensure influencing and policy priorities are integrated into all proposal designs and that adequate resourcing is allocated towards policy and influencing priorities 
• Ensure the Laos country office is playing a leading role in climate activism both national and regionally 
• Build capability and capacity to do more child-led policy work in Laos, including creating child forums and supporting child-led campaigning
• Advise communications team on media channels and overall media strategy and to make optimal use of national and international media to influence key targets and public opinion
• Represent Save the Children externally as part of advocacy and networking, including with high level government officials, donors, civil society actors, partners, and other stakeholders to build relationships to facilitate achievement of CSP strategic goals and success of our projects for children.

Policy, Campaigns, Communications and Media (20%)

• Provide overall leadership, vision, strategic direction and management of the Save the Children’s influencing and campaign work across thematic areas and in line with relevant regional and global campaigns
• Hold the policy, campaigns communications and media team and program teams to account for meeting CO KPIs relevant to their functions 

Strategy and reporting (10%)

• Provide leadership, strategic vision and direction to the development of the Country Strategy Plan (CSP) that is in line with the global strategy, Ambition 2030, with child rights at the core of all programming and advocacy work.
• Lead the development/updating of the Child Rights Situation Analysis, including analysis of country context and considering child rights principles, ensuring participation and buy-in from all relevant staff, partners and other stakeholders as necessary
• Provide leadership on development of the Country Office Self-Assessment and completion of accurate, on-time Country Annual Report of outcomes and impact for children, aligned with the Global Results Framework.

Leadership, team management, technical coaching and learning and development  (20%)

• Establish and maintain a culture of teamwork, participation, and accountability for excellence.
• Put in place appropriate management systems, including regular team and individual meetings, mechanisms for cross department coordination and collaboration, and norms and practices that are results driven.
• Build the capacity of, mentor and coach SC teams and individual staff, ensuring the development of a strong team and supporting a clear career professional trajectory for key staff.
• Manage the performance of all staff through effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measurable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations; Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ work plans. 

Qualifications
• Masters degree or its equivalent in years of experience in a technical area relevant to Save the Children’s work, including health and nutrition, education and/or research and evaluation.
Experience and Skills 
Essential 

• Minimum of seven years progressive senior technical leadership and/ or development experience, ideally in a South East Asian context
• Minimum of five years senior management experience, managing diverse teams made up of people from different disciplinary backgrounds 
• Experience leading strategic planning, and programme design 
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Experience in research and evaluation 
• Strong understanding of different methodologies of monitoring and evaluation and operational research and experience in developing integrated MEAL systems
• Demonstrated skills in designing and carrying out qualitative and quantitative research and using research to inform program design and advocacy. 
• Strong understanding of different methodologies of monitoring and evaluation and operational research and experience in developing integrated MEAL systems
• Ability to effectively establish a learning culture within an organization
• Experience in successfully establishing and managing collaborative relationships and partnerships with donors and government counterparts.
• Strong representation and influencing skills
• Experience of management of diverse workforce including effective performance management and utilization of capacity building, coaching, and mentoring skills
• Excellent problem solving, attention to detail and strategic thinking skills.
• Excellent in written and spoken English

Desirable 

• Thai or Laos written and spoken language capability highly desirable 
• Demonstrated capacity to design innovative and high impact programs, and leveraging project results towards broader systemic impact.
• Excellent analytical skills. 
• Effective negotiator, with the ability to positively influence cross departmental and cross sector work

Contract length: Fixed term
The Organisation
We 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. 
Application Information:
Interested candidates please submit a full application using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document including contact details of three professional referees (current and last line managers and HR department). Please also include details of your salary expectations and a copy of your ID card. Please note that we will require a copy of your Criminal Records (ໃບແຈ້ງໂທດ) later. 
Save the Children International is a child-rights based organization. Safe recruitment is central to the safeguarding of children and young people that we come into contact with, and support through our programmes.
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.
Save the children is an equal opportunities employer, qualified females, persons with disability and candidates from diverse cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.