Child Protection Coordinator

Position: Child Protection Coordinator (National Applicants Only)

Reports to: Country Director

Duty station: Maputo

Travel: Up to 75%

Duration and type of contract: 1 year (with possibility of extension based on performance and availability of funds)

Background:

Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to go to school and learn. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes, using evidence to drive learning and the refinement and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children at the lowest cost.

We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over 250,000 children to go to school and learn and supported over 25,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.

All STREET CHILD employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: Flexibility, pragmatism, braveness, sustainability, uncompromising and integrity. These attitudes and beliefs shall guide our actions and relationships.

Our Approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: STREET CHILD recognise that every person is an individual and we value diversity across all levels of the organisation. We aim to hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes our organisation stronger.

We are committed to providing a safe and positive working environment free from any form of discrimination or prejudice in which staff and affiliates are able to realise their full potential. Street Child is committed to programming that addresses discrimination and promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in the communities where we work and support.

1. Role and responsibilities

The Child Protection Coordinator is responsible for providing technical leadership for Street Child’s Child Protection programming in Maputo. The position will ensure the quality of child protection interventions, strengthen case management systems, supervise technical staff, and build the capacity of partners and government counterparts. The Coordinator will work closely with country teams to ensure an integrated approach to supporting vulnerable children and strengthening community-based child protection systems

General responsibilities

• Lead the implementation of Street Child’s Child Protection strategy and interventions in Maputo.
• Provide technical oversight to all child protection activities, ensuring compliance with national legislation, donor requirements, and international standards, including the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.
• Strengthen and oversee individual case management systems, ensuring children receive safe, timely, and appropriate services.
• Support the establishment and strengthening of referral pathways linking children to social welfare, education, health, justice, and specialized protection services.
• Provide technical guidance on safeguarding, child protection risk mitigation, and prevention of violence against children.
• Ensure child protection approaches are integrated across education, digital learning, livelihoods, and emergency programming.
• Lead child protection assessments and contribute to programme design using evidence generated from assessments and monitoring data.
• Support implementation of child-friendly and community-based protection activities.

Capacity Building

• Develop and deliver training for Street Child staff, government counterparts, community facilitators, teachers, and local partners on child protection, safeguarding, case management, and referral systems.
• Mentor Child Protection Officers, Social Workers, and Case Workers to improve the quality of case management and child protection programming.
• Support partners to strengthen child protection systems and institutional capacity.

Coordination and Representation

• Represent Street Child in Child Protection Working Groups and relevant coordination forums.
• Maintain strong relationships with government ministries, district authorities, social welfare services, education authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, and community leaders.
• Support coordination between education, MHPSS, and child protection programming to provide holistic services for vulnerable children.

Monitoring, Learning and Quality Assurance

• Conduct regular field monitoring visits to ensure programme quality and adherence to child protection standards.
• Monitor case management quality, documentation, confidentiality, and referral processes.
• Support the collection and analysis of programme data to inform adaptive management and learning.
• Contribute to donor reporting and documentation of lessons learned and best practices.

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, STREET CHILD means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Strategy and project planning: Country Director,
• Area operations: M&E and Information Officer
• Staff capacity building: Project support staff
• Implementation, M&E Information Management Officer, SC support staff

2. Competencies

Essential qualifications, experience and skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Social work, Child Protection, Psychology, Sociology, Social Sciences, Law, Community Development, or another relevant field. Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience implementing Child Protection programmes within humanitarian or development settings.
• Strong professional background in social work and case management, including working directly with vulnerable children and families.
• Strong knowledge of the child protection context in Mozambique.
• Demonstrated experience supporting children affected by conflict, displacement, violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, or other protection risks.
• Proven experience developing referral pathways and coordinating with government social welfare systems.
• Experience supervising Social Workers or Case Workers.
• Experience designing and delivering technical training and mentoring staff and partners.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding, child rights, and international child protection standards.
• Experience working with government institutions and community-based child protection structures.
• Experience in education programming or livelihoods, particularly where child protection and education are integrated.
• Fluency in Portuguese is required
• Fluency in English is preferred.
• Knowledge of local languages.

Essential competencies and attributes:

• Strong leadership and coordination skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in complex settings.
• Excellent report writing and documentation skills.
• Ability to build strong relationships with government, partners, and communities.
• High level of integrity, professionalism, and commitment to safeguarding.
• Experience working in conflict-affected and climate-vulnerable contexts.

FEMALE CANDIDATES AND PwDs ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY

3. Performance Management

The intern will be accountable for the responsibilities and competencies outlined in this Job Description and will receive regular supervision and mentoring throughout the internship.

Performance will be reviewed based on:

• Job Description
• Individual Work Plan
• Regular One-to-One Meetings
• Mid-Term Performance Review
• Final Internship Performance Evaluation

4. Street Child's Commitment to Safeguarding

Street Child is committed to safeguarding and protecting our communities, partners and staff. All internship offers are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks where applicable.

Street Child participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, which involves requesting information from previous employers regarding incidents of sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment and other forms of misconduct. We are committed to maintaining a safe working environment and protecting the children and communities we serve.

To apply: Street Child welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age. Please email your Cover letter and CV with the Subject line: Administration and Communications Intern, Street Child to ivelise.mabjaia@street-child.org with dione.peart@street-child.org in CC by 24 August 2026