Disability Inclusion Technical Advisor

Job Description

Overview

Sightsavers is looking for a Disability Inclusion Technical Advisor – to provide disability inclusion technical assistance as part of the WISH2 programme and oversee the design and implementation of activities in Senegal.

• Salary: Local terms and conditions apply
• Location/s: Dakar, Senegal
• Contract: One-year fixed-term contract – with possibility of renewal
• Hours: This is a full-time role with some flexibility around hours worked and some home working

Sightsavers is a leading expert in disability inclusive development. Sightsavers works in more than 30 countries globally to eliminate avoidable blindness and empower people with disabilities to participate equally in society. We create effective and innovative solutions to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in health, education, employment and governance programmes. We enable access to quality health and education, lead the elimination of debilitating diseases, and fight for disability rights.

Sightsavers is one of the consortium partners of the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health 2 programme (WISH2), a large sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) programme funded by UK Aid. In West and Central Africa, WISH2 operates through a consortium led by MSI Reproductive Choices across the following francophone countries: Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, as well as Senegal. The primary clients of this work are women and girls seeking comprehensive contraceptive counselling and voluntary family planning across sub-Saharan Africa. This programme aims to improve access to services by strengthening mainstream public and low-cost private SRHR services in a sustainable way and promoting national ownership, national stewardship and strengthening of national institutions and systems.

Sightsavers is responsible for providing technical assistance on disability inclusion to the consortium partners. In Senegal and Mali (where Sightsavers has country offices), Sightsavers is also responsible for leading on and conducting project interventions for WISH2 as well as providing support to consortium partners in other countries under the programme in ensuring their activities are inclusive and accessible.

Responsibilities

We are looking for a Disability Inclusion Technical Advisor to provide disability inclusion technical assistance as part of the WISH2 programme and oversee the design and implementation of activities in Senegal. The post holder will be expected to support with managing the delivery of Sightsavers’ scope of work and enabling the programme to provide equitable access to services for persons with disabilities. The post holder will also be required to provide targeted regional technical assistance to partners across Chad, DRC, Mauritania and Niger to promote disability inclusion in SRHR services and systems – coordinating closely with the Inclusive SRHR Technical Advisor.

Key duties will include

• Providing technical guidance to the WISH2 programme
• Overseeing and coordinate effective delivery of technical input and guidance on disability inclusion from Sightsavers to the leading agency and other partners in Senegal.
• Coordinate the roll out of capacity building and training for staff and other relevant participants (such as public healthcare providers and government officials from the Ministry of Health) on a variety of technical topics related to disability inclusion – including, but not limited to, access to SRHR for women and girls with disabilities
• Building the capacity of consortium partners and key stakeholders to work with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in Senegal.
• Providing technical support with conducting accessibility audits within selected public sexual reproductive healthcare facilities and supporting with producing accessibility audit reports
• Regional technical assistance
• Programme management

Skills and Experience

To succeed in this role you will need:

• A postgraduate qualification and equivalent practical experience in a relevant field (social work/social inclusion, disability studies, public health, international development etc.)
• Proven experience in disability inclusive programming in low-resource settings
• Prior experience of working in family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes is desirable
• Strong understanding and proven technical knowledge in accessibility, disability mainstreaming, gender equity and intersectionality
• Experience in developing approaches aimed at reaching the most marginalised groups of people with disabilities is desirable
• Experience in developing and adapting programme guidance tools and other resource materials
• Experience in collating, synthesising and disseminating best practice guidance, research and programme learning
• Good knowledge of the key networks and organisations working on social inclusion and disability in the context of Senegal
• Willing to travel to other West and Central African countries to support WISH2 project activities/partners
• Experience of working with OPDs and/or local governmental and non-governmental structures is essential
• Oral and written fluency in English and French.
• Ability to build strong working relationships across different stakeholders and work collaboratively as a member of a diverse team
• Well organised, able to plan own scope of work and meet project deadlines and milestones.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team.
• Creative problem-solving abilities
• Able to travel frequently to project locations and to travel regionally up to 4 times a year
• This is an involved role, please read the full job description Description d’Emploi for further details

Next Steps

To apply for this exciting opportunity, please complete an application via our recruitment portal. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. We are particularly interested in learning of your motivations for applying. We anticipate that remote interviews will take place w/c 2 December 2024 and the evaluation process will include a written submission to be completed by shortlisted candidates in advance of this. Ideally we would like the successful candidate to be in post in January 2025.

As an equal opportunity employer, we actively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Sightsavers is a Disability Confident Leader and qualified people with a disability are particularly encouraged to apply.

Sightsavers is an employer that does not tolerate any form of harassment and has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse. All potential candidates will be subjected to rigorous background checks and controls.