Project Senior Officer - Assiut

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: the post 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 country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Senior Project Officer (SPO) supports day‑to‑day delivery of Roots for Growth, a multi‑year, results‑based financed (RBF) livelihoods program that empowers household‑led microenterprises and strengthens child well‑being in Upper Egypt. The SPO coordinates implementation across partners (incubator, CBOs, private sector), ensures activity quality and compliance, tracks delivery against payment‑linked results, and drives adaptive management cycles (learning workshops, corrective actions). The role embeds gender‑responsive and child‑sensitive approaches across all components.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

Brief Project Scope:

Roots For Growth Phase One is a 27-month project designed to achieve sustainable economic

empowerment and strengthened resilience among vulnerable households with children in Upper Egypt,

particularly in Assiut, with the goal of increasing investments in children’s development and well-being.

The project targets 800 household-led microenterprises across four cohorts (200 per cohort), providing initial entrepreneurship and business development training (role out through business incubator) within pre-selected value chains. From these,

630 micro-enterprises will be selected to receive a comprehensive package (delivered by two partner CBOs) comprising seed funding, tailored technical training, business coaching through household coaches, market linkages, and individualized support for business growth.
Grounded in a theory of change that emphasizes gender-responsive, tailored capacity building; sector-specific technical development; mentorship; inclusive market access; and early-stage growth capital, the program aims to strengthen microenterprise performance and

promote improved financial planning, saving practices, and child-sensitive household financial

management. By addressing discriminatory gender norms and ensuring equitable participation and benefits for women and youth, the project seeks to enable households to grow their enterprises sustainably, generate predictable income, and reinvest in their children’s education, health, and overall well-being. Ultimately contributing to long-term resilience and sustainable economic empowerment.

Implementation will be delivered through local incubator to deliver all business mentorship and capacity building aspects and community-based organizations (CBOs) which will serve as hubs for coaching and market linkage support. These partners will provide continuous hands-on guidance to households and help embed project practices within existing community systems. Leveraging their local networks and contextual knowledge will ensure outreach to the most vulnerable yet viable groups and promote long-

term sustainability beyond the project’s duration.

The project will also pilot a Results-Based Financing (RBF) model to strengthen and build on SCI Egypt expertise and adapt our implementation approach so that it becomes technically and institutionally fit for future RBF programming. Through this pilot, the PM, the team, and livelihoods TA will refine operational processes, reporting mechanisms, and partner engagement models to align with RBF requirements and ensure readiness for broader scale-up. RBF is a financing approach in which payments are partially or fully tied to the achievement of measurable and pre-defined results, aiming to improve performance, enhance accountability, and ensure that resources directly drive high-quality outcomes.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Roots for Growth Project Manager – Dotted to Livelihoods Technical Advisor

Staff reporting to this post: None

The position is based in Assiut Governorate.

Budget Responsibilities: No

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

1. Work Plan and Delivery.

• Translate the approved Results Framework and DIP into detailed weekly/monthly micro‑plans aligned with payment milestones; maintain trackers and action logs.

• Coordinate cohort scheduling, and partner roles (incubator master trainers/mentors; CBO household coaches; private sector technical mentors) to deliver the capacity‑building package and follow‑up coaching cycles.

• Facilitate quarterly learning sessions in close coordination with the MEAL Sr. officer; propose course‑corrections using evidence from MEAL dashboards and field feedback.

• Lead the partners to announce a comprehensive outreach and mobilization strategy to reach the targeted communities and targeted household micro enterprises

• Lead the selection committee to review and identify the final selected micro-enterprises list per each cohort.

• Supervise the implementation of all capacity-building packages

• Supervise and participate in the Seed Grants/forgivable Loans committee to select the final 630 microbusinesses to be granted.

• Supervise the coaching and market-linkage intervention, ensuring collaboration between partner CBOs and the business incubator.

• Review the supervision reports submitted by incubator business mentors, identify at-risk microenterprises, and provide timely corrective actions with support of the PM and TA.

• Build new partnerships with the private sector/vocational centers/service providers in close coordination with the incubator and market linkage consultant.

• Support and recruit capacity building consultants to provide TOTs to the partner CBOs to roll out the social complementarity package (improved financial planning, saving practices through VSLA, and child-sensitive household financial

Management)

2. Partner Coordination

• Convene monthly field consortium meetings (incubator, CBOs, SMEs) to align workplans, resolve bottlenecks, and strengthen market linkages (networking events, exposure visits, fairs).

• Support partners' capacity strengthening (planning, reporting, safeguarding, gender/inclusion, data quality), leveraging SCI PMM standards.

3. Budget Execution, Procurement and Compliance

• Support accurate forecasting and burn rates; ensure spend is linked to results delivery and payment milestones.

• Prepare, submit, and follow up procurement requests for venues, event supplies, IEC, and training consumables; uphold SCI SOPs and VfM.

• Keep auditable files (workplans, agendas, attendance, PR/PO/GRN, invoices, photos/consents).

4. MEAL and Performance Management (under RBF)

• Follow the implementation of the MEAL plan with the MEAL team; ensure timely, verifiable data for payment metrics and routine indicators (IPTT, PIRS, DQA).

• Support the MEAL team for the household coaches/enumerators on Kobo tools, ethical standards, and data traceability; monitor data completeness/quality.

• Feed real‑time insights into adaptive management and quarterly learning workshops; contribute to internal/external reporting

5. Safeguarding, PSEAH, Gender and Inclusion

• Embed Child Safeguarding, PSEAH, and do‑no‑harm standards in all activities (safe venues/hours, informed consent, safe referrals).

• Promote gender‑responsive delivery (timing, childcare options, safe participation for women and girls; men’s engagement); monitor risks and mitigations from the risk register.

6. Child Safeguarding:

• Support the implementation of child safeguarding policy within the project cycle; including identifying and addressing risks to children that are caused/exacerbated by project design and intervention.

• Ensure that project activities are safe for children and that all steps are taken to ensure their meaningful and safe participation.

• Provide leadership and guidance in the implementation of the child safeguarding policy and the code of conduct within the project.

7. Reporting and Documentation

• Submit timely weekly/bi‑weekly updates, monthly progress notes, and inputs for semi‑annual operations reports; contribute to donor reporting packages.

• Document case studies, lessons learned, good practices, and market‑linkage outcomes for scale‑up.

• Support visibility and communication products in collaboration with CO Communications team.

8. General:

• Contribute to the development of communications products, in collaboration with the CO Communications team;

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures;

• Ensure the security, health and well-being of staff and that staff management and other processes and policies and systems reflect SC 's principles of equity and fairness.

• Embed counter-fraud and ethical controls in all operational processes, ensuring compliance with donor and legal requirements, while collaborating with Finance and Counter-Fraud teams to mitigate risks and conduct assessments for high-value programs.
  

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 their team to do the same

• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others

• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

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; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
  

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Business, Social Sciences, Development Studies or related field.

• 5–7 years of progressive experience delivering livelihoods/economic‑empowerment programming in Upper Egypt or similar contexts; strong partner coordination and field operations.

• Experiencing in VSLA is prefared

• Proven ability to plan and deliver cohort‑based training, coaching cycles, and market‑linkage activities with incubators/CBOs/private sector.

• Solid skills in BVA/forecasting, procurement coordination, and compliance documentation.

• Experience working closely with MEAL teams on indicator tracking and data quality (Kobo, Excel/Power BI).

• Excellent Arabic and English; strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.

• Familiarity with Results‑Based Financing/payment metrics or performance‑based reporting.

• Knowledge of value‑chain development and market systems in Upper Egypt (e.g., livestock, sewing/textiles, aromatic plants).

• Project DPro/PMD Pro certification (or equivalent).

• Experience working through/with sub grants and partners is a requirement.

• Experience with capacity building of local partners and communities.

• Fluency in English with strong written and oral communication skills.

• The capacity and willingness to be flexible and accommodating in difficult working circumstances.

• Commitment to the aims and principles of SC. In particular, a good understanding of the SC mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support.

• Professional expertise in one of the Save the Children program areas is preferable.
  

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

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.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.