South Sudan: Psychosocial Staff Care Consultant

Organization: Save the Children
Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 17 Nov 2015

Purpose: Due to the nature and location of their work, Save the Children staff members in South Sudan (SC SSD) are frequently exposed to high levels of day to day, cumulative stress, including those stressors related to their workload as well as the demands related to living and working in multicultural, often unstable and insecure environments. Staff are frequently exposed to incidents of trauma and there is a high level of GBV. All these stressors pose a significant risk to the staff health, operational effectiveness in delivering quality programmes and to our beneficiaries, the children. For resilience, stress and trauma management you need a multi-layered approach and the starting point should always be a peer support network which needs to be consistent and sustainable, organic to the country programme. This methodology supports the existing Save the Children mechanisms that are in place i.e. a confidential phone line and professional support if required.

Under the supervision of the Country Director and the Human Resources Director the consultant will design and deliver a stress and trauma management, resilience, integrated with sexual assault training for SC SSD staff in Juba and all field locations. The objective of the programme is to contribute to the well-being of staff; to raise awareness about trauma and stress management; to train on coping mechanism therefore building resilience, to train staff focal point members, one male and one female per field office and a lead coordinator in Juba on how to provide peer to peer assistance to staff experiencing stress and/or personal problems; to facilitate the provision of immediate support following a traumatic incident and signpost to professional help if required. For staff confidentiality and career interest reasoning the focal point should not be in HR or a line manager. An ideal candidate would be a Health Officer or Child Protection Officer, given the scope of exposure they may have had to PSS or mental health awareness. Where this is not possible a final decision will be made in consultation with the Country Director.

Recent research demonstrates humanitarians face numerous mental health and psychosocial challenges, including increased risk for depression, anxiety and burnout. Although historically most staff care services have focused on intervention for acute stressors, i.e. in the aftermath of direct exposure to potentially traumatic events such as massacres, bombing or sexual assault, in recent years it has become clear that chronic stress, often a result of environmental stressors, can be just as debilitating. Humanitarian agencies are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of staff stress on effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery. In the last decade widely supported guidelines for providing mental health and psychosocial support for humanitarian staff have been developed.

The Consultant will be tasked with providing trauma/stress management and peer support workshops, policy and procedure development, backstop support, and evidenced based learning.

Responsibilities

The Consultant will conduct the following activities:

Trauma and Stress Management Training: for both International and National staff based in Juba and all field locations.
Sexual Assault Peer Support Training: Training to include an element of sexual assault peer support and how to administer PEP kits.
Develop a clear Policy Document: Development of a policy and procedures that are taught and used as reference. This should be evidence based and developed through a constant learning approach.
Review existing documentations (policy and procedures, practices ): aligning the consultancy work with relevant SCI policy and procedures
Identify Focal Points: Support the country office to identify suitable focal points in each field office and Juba; one male one female and train a coordinator to be based in Juba. The focal points where possible should be outside of line management and HR as this could deter the staff member from approaching the support especially if the person is their line manager. Although HR will be involved at the Director level in Juba
Peer Support and Capacity Building: The consultant will provide professional training for international and national staff on peer support management and signposting. Be prepared to provide additional training and support as required
Operational Research: Facilitate conducting of an operational research for assessing the impact of providing trauma/stress management and peer support facility on the psychological wellbeing of staff. This will require a baseline assessment and periodic impact analysis.
Framework Development: Develop a framework for evidence based tracking of “the improvement brought about in psychological wellbeing of staff” through provision of” trauma/stress management and peer support”. The framework should include the following key components:

a. Development of SMART indicators for assessing the impact of X on Y; whereby, X (Independent variable) = Availability of a trauma/stress management and peer support facility to staff. Y (dependent variable) = Psychological wellbeing of staff members. Agree on a methodology and frequency of assessing the relationship between X and Y in a non-stigmatizing manner for the staff

Capture of Protocols: Develop protocols to capture the findings of the assessment and broader dissemination for institutional learning
Develop a Confidential Log Book: A confidential log book for case management and follow up is required to be developed
Design and Procure IEC Material: Design and develop IEC material regarding stress/trauma management to be displayed in each field office and Juba which clearly indicates their relevant focal points and contact numbers. This will help with sensitisation and the development of a culture to use a peer support network that is available
Resilience training: Resilience training to all staff in the field and Juba on self-awareness and resilience coping mechanisms. Sensitise all staff to the role of focal points and an introduction to the theory of trauma and stress.
Report and Formulation of Recommendations:At the end of his/her assignment, the consultant will prepare a written report in English on the outcome of training and capture of all the lessons learnt, referencing the output and impact based using the developed indicators, for further development of the skill in country and potentially replicable in other Save the Children country offices
Backstop Support: The consultant should be able to provide backstop support for both the coordinator and if needed the focal points themselves
Job Description Amendments: The successful focal point candidates will have their job descriptions adjusted to include these duties and the consultant is to assist in the revisions, there is no plan for financial compensation for this extra duty

Requirements:

Demonstrated understanding of the work proposed in the TOR
Known reliability in delivery of timely and quality services

· Relevant sector specific technical experience and qualifications/professional affiliation in psychology, trauma, stress and licenced psychotherapist

· Experience in counselling GBV or domestic violence

· 5 years of work experience in humanitarian mental health psychosocial support (MH PSS) programming, MHPSS and Staff Wellness Program Creation, Assessment, Evaluation and Delivery, Stress Management - Technical Advisement

· Cross-cultural working experience in the field of staff care psychosocial support preferably in South Sudan

· Demonstrated extensive work experience in the humanitarian NGO sector

· Knowledge and experience implementing peer support and team building workshops

· Languages: Proficiency in English

· Computer skills: Proficiency in current office software applications.

Competencies:

· Strong interpersonal and communication skills in a multi-cultural setting;

· Flexibility;

· Team player;

· Ability to work effectively with minimal supervision;

· Good analytical skills;

· Ability to complete tasks within a set time frame;