Project Specialist – Prevention (Child Safeguarding)

The Project Specialist will support the planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting of prevention activities under the ISF/BBA Plusz project focusing on child safeguarding and prevention of human trafficking victims. The role involves technical leadership on child safeguarding, stakeholder coordination, awareness raising, training, and ensuring safe and age-appropriate engagement with children and adolescents.

Responsibilities

• Support the planning, coordination, implementation and monitoring of ISF/BBA Plusz project activities related to prevention, child safeguarding, awareness raising, regional coordination mechanisms and stakeholder trainings, in line with the project workplan, donor requirements and IOM rules and procedures.
• Act as the project-level technical lead on child safeguarding for all project activities involving direct or indirect contact with children and adolescents, including activities implemented by IOM, the consortium partner, cooperating partners, vendors and external service providers.
• Review and provide technical input to prevention methodologies, session plans, presentations, group activities, training materials, campaign content and other tools involving minors, ensuring that they are age-appropriate, trauma-informed, inclusive, non-stigmatizing and aligned with child safeguarding and protection principles.
• Support safeguarding risk identification and mitigation for activities involving minors, including practical arrangements for informed participation, safe facilitation, supervision, referral pathways, confidentiality, documentation, communications and safe behaviour by staff, partners, facilitators and vendors.
• Contribute directly to prevention activities by preparing, delivering or co-facilitating presentations, group activities, awareness-raising sessions and structured engagements with children, adolescents, caregivers, frontline professionals and community stakeholders.
• Coordinate with the consortium partner, cooperating partners, service providers and vendors involved in prevention activities, including the Escape Truck and other direct engagement activities, to support safe planning, implementation, follow-up, monitoring and documentation.
• Support the development and implementation of the media and awareness-raising campaign by reviewing messages and materials from a child safeguarding, protection, survivor-sensitive and non-stigmatizing communication perspective.
• Support the establishment and functioning of Regional Counter-Trafficking Coordination Mechanisms in selected counties, including stakeholder mapping, outreach, meeting preparation, facilitation support, follow-up, and contribution to local referral and cooperation pathways.
• Design, adapt and deliver trainings and capacity-building activities for a wide range of stakeholders, including child protection actors, social workers, educators, health professionals, labour inspectors, law enforcement, justice-sector actors, consular staff, NGOs, local authorities and other relevant service providers.
• Contribute to research, needs assessment and technical analysis relevant to prevention and child safeguarding, including the identification of locations, target groups, risks, referral needs and lessons learned, while ensuring respect for data protection and ethical considerations.
• Support monitoring, evaluation, accountability and reporting by collecting and consolidating activity data, attendance sheets, training evaluations, feedback, safeguarding-related observations, campaign evidence, meeting notes and other documentation required for donor and internal reporting.
• Identify operational challenges, safeguarding risks, delivery shortfalls and implementation bottlenecks; bring them to the supervisor’s attention in a timely manner and propose practical corrective measures.
• Draft correspondence, meeting minutes, briefing notes, technical inputs, activity reports, training summaries, donor-reporting inputs and other project documentation related to prevention, child safeguarding and stakeholder coordination.
• Perform any other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma/certificate with four years of relevant experience OR Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Psychology, Education, Child Protection, Human Rights, Social Sciences, International Relations, Migration Studies, Law, Criminology, Public Policy or a related field from an accredited academic institution with two years of relevant professional experience.
• Minimum two years of relevant professional experience in child protection, child safeguarding, education, youth work, protection, counter-trafficking, prevention programming, social services, community outreach, victim assistance or related fields.
• Experience contributing to prevention, awareness raising, training, community engagement, stakeholder coordination or similar project activities.
• Experience working directly or indirectly with children, adolescents, young people, families, vulnerable groups or frontline professionals.
• Experience supporting or facilitating workshops, presentations, group discussions, trainings or community-based activities.
• Experience liaising with governmental authorities, local institutions, civil society organizations, child protection actors, education stakeholders, law enforcement, service providers or other relevant stakeholders.
• Experience supporting project documentation, activity reporting, meeting notes, training materials, briefing notes or monitoring evidence.
• Experience in child safeguarding, child protection referral pathways, trauma-informed programming or safe engagement with minors is a strong advantage.
• Experience in counter-trafficking, victim protection, migration, social inclusion, youth empowerment, community safety or work with state-provided childcare institutions is an advantage.
• Experience working with intergovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies, NGOs, governmental institutions or donor-funded projects is an advantage.
• Experience working in a multicultural environment is an advantage.
• Good understanding of child safeguarding, child protection, “do no harm”, confidentiality and referral principles.
• Ability to communicate appropriately and safely with children, adolescents and diverse stakeholder groups.
• Ability to facilitate presentations, group activities, trainings and awareness-raising sessions in a clear, respectful and age-appropriate manner.
• Strong organizational and coordination skills, including the ability to support several activities, partners and service providers in parallel.
• Good analytical and drafting skills, including the ability to summarize risks, lessons learned and implementation progress.
• Ability to identify safeguarding concerns and escalate them appropriately through agreed internal channels.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills, with ability to relate to governmental, civil society, education, child protection, law enforcement, justice-sector and community stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team, work under pressure, meet deadlines and deliver quality outputs.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel, and cloud solutions, including SharePoint.
• Knowledge of human trafficking, victim protection, prevention programming or migration issues is an advantage.
• Fluency in English and Hungarian (oral and written) is required.

Skills

• Child Protection
• Child Safeguarding
• Preventive Programming
• Community Engagement
• Stakeholder Coordination
• Training Facilitation
• Workshop Facilitation
• Project Documentation
• Activity Reporting
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Child Protection Referral Pathways
• Trauma-Informed Programming
• Safe Engagement with Minors
• Counter Trafficking
• Victim Protection
• Social Inclusion
• Youth Empowerment
• Organizational Coordination
• Analytical Skills
• Microsoft Office Suite
• SharePoint Development

Languages

English, Hungarian