KEY INFORMATION
Job Title: National Social Protection Lead, Philippines
Sector: Social Protection, Project Management
Position Type: Full-Time
Duration/Level of Effort: Long-Term
Position Location: Manila, Philippines
 
SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT
 
The DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) Social Protection, Inclusion and Gender equality (SPRING) program is Australia's flagship investment of support to the Philippine Government on Social Protection, Gender Equality, Disability, Social Inclusion and Indigenous Inclusion. It is an AUD 40 million investment over 5 years that will support the joint Development Partnership Plan (DPP 2024-2029) between the Government of Australia and the Philippine Government. The investment is DFAT's primary avenue in the Philippines for supporting poverty reduction and bilateral funding on gender equality and social inclusion at the national level and with some select Local Government Units (LGUs). SPRING supports efforts under Australia's new International Development Policy and DFAT's forthcoming new strategies on gender equality, disability equity and rights, and translates these into implementation in the Philippines.
 
SPRING contributes to the goal that the social and economic transformation in the Philippines reduces poverty and provides equal opportunities to all Filipinos in line with the Philippines Development Plan.
 
The objective of SPRING is that Australia works in partnership with the Philippine Government to improve systems and structures that reduce poverty and inequality and advance gender equality and the rights of people with disabilities.
 
SPRING has four mutually reinforcing End of Program Outcomes (EOPOs):
 

1. Philippine Government social protection plans, policies and programs increasingly close gaps in the social protection floor.
2. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and select LGU systems increasingly deliver quality social protection that is inclusive, gender and shock-responsive, and climate-sensitive.
3. The Philippine Government increasingly invests in gender responsive policies, plans, programs and systems.
4. The Philippine Government improves data, systems and targeting to enable people with disability and Indigenous Peoples improved access to targeted services.

SUMMARY OF THE POSITION
 
Based in Manila, Philippines, the Social Protection National Lead will provide technical assistance to DSWD and select LGUs in collaboration with the SPRING team.
 
In this full-time role, the Social Protection National Lead will work with other key SPRING team members to ensure that the project delivers against its identified outcomes and outputs, efficiently and effectively by contributing to and delivering against an agreed work plan and reporting to the Team Leader. He or she will build strong working relationships with DSWD senior management involved in the design, management, and monitoring of social protection policy and strategy. The objective is to ensure that all activities conducted under SPRING are informed by an appropriate governance and institutional perspective. It is expected that effectiveness in this role will lead to the wider impact of effective governance of the implementation of Government of Philippine's and DFAT's Development Partnership Plan (DPP).
 
The scope of this role is to strengthen the governance and delivery of services of the social protection sector, including capacity to plan and implement social protection programs. This may include, but is not limited to, the following:
 

• Coherence of sector vision, policy, strategy, and leadership.
• Institutional arrangements for the social protection sector.
• Processes of decision-making and challenge.
• Strengthening accountability arrangements in sector management.
• Improving responsiveness to evidence.
• Institutionalization of learning in strategy implementation.
• Building sector coordination.
• Assessing and
• strengthening implementation arrangements for the DSWD and selected LGUs.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
 
Technical
 

• Lead SPRING's technical engagement on evidence-based inclusive social protection approaches aligned with the government's SP Plan and SPRING's EOPOs.
• Enhance stakeholder engagement with government counterparts on comprehensive, life cycle-based social protection systems that address the needs of vulnerable populations across all stages of life, highlighting their role in strengthening individual and community resilience through the integration of key messages into stakeholder engagement processes.
• Contribute detailed technical inputs to the development of the annual plans, ensuring activities are aligned to government priorities and contributing to achieving SPRING objectives.
• Provide technical input and coordination with government partners necessary to ensure coordinated and effective implementation of SPRING annual workplans.
• Ensure that SP related activities are well-designed with clear objectives, deliverables, and technical assistance to be provided.
• Ensure technical input into project management, monitoring, and evaluation, ensuring SP workstreams are aligned with program objectives and quality standards.
• Work with the Program Specialist and MEL Lead to ensure SP-related activities are tracked, reviewed and adapted as needed.
• Represent SPRING in technical discussions with DSWD and other partner NGAs, ensuring inputs are responsive, evidence-based and aligned adhering to program protocols before pursuing external engagements.
• Serve as SPRING's focal point to the SP TWG, coordinating technical inputs, preparing agendas, and ensuring follow through on decisions.
• Contribute analysis, interpretation, insight and prepare advice for social protection decision makers in DSWD. This will involve providing regular, up-to-date evidence-based analysis to support advice aligned with SPRING's approach and outputs for the key decision makers including other Government agencies and their respective teams.
• Strengthen SPRING's engagement with SP policy makers and senior managers. Identify opportunities for the program to contribute to understanding of policy makers and tastemakers within the sector, on inclusive social protection in an international context, including what works and what does not.
• Develop analysis and technical advice on the governance and institutional aspects of inclusive social protection interventions, working with SP decision makers in DSWD.
• This will include support to programs of reform, strategy for influencing key stakeholders, institutional arrangements, governance arrangements.
• Conduct strategic analysis, write, and contribute to think pieces which contribute to the strengthening of the social protection sector in the Philippines and effective implementation of the Social Protection- Sector Strategic Plan SP-SSP and policy.
• Work closely with SPRING advisers and specialists to ensure all activities and engagements include consideration of GEDSI, MERL and Communications.
• Develop analysis to support the Sector Working Group, sub-committees, and secretariat in the areas of governance and institutional issues to include structures, systems, leadership, transparency, accountability, evidence-based planning and budgeting, and other aspects as required.
• Serve as the technical lead for the Social Protection Technical Working Group (TWG), responsible for preparing inputs, facilitating coordination, and ensuring that TWG discussions and agreements are reflected in activity design and implementation.

Operational
 

• Maintain strong working relationships with key social protection strategic partners, including DFAT and the Government of the Philippines counterparts.
• Facilitate discussions with government counterparts to shape social protection activities aligned with program outcomes and priorities, ensuring consistency with SPRING's scope and approach.
• Coordinate design inputs from technical teams, partners, and government to ensure activities are feasible and aligned with SPRING methodologies.
• Coordinate with DFAT on planned delivery and technical assistance and participate in discussions to provide ongoing technical advice and input.
• Provide technical leadership during activity implementation, guiding consultants/partners, and ensuring outputs and deliverables are consistent with approved designs and quality standards.
• Develop and manage strong relationships with other development partners to build relationships, support, and consensus on management of coordination and issues and engagement with SPRING.
• Support other actors including donor coordination with other development partners, with social protection mandates in strengthening coordination on SP. This can be done through the identification, analysis and resolution of governance and institutional issues and challenges, in agreement with DSWD and DFAT.
• Work with international and local SP specialists and specialist organisations to build a network of contacts to support governance and institutional work for the social protection sector.
• Monitor progress and review activity deliverables, ensuring alignment with program objectives, government priorities, risk management requirements, and donor reporting standards before submission. This includes management of consultants and activities as needed, including work scoping, contract management, quality assurance of deliverables, and ensuring MERL, GEDSI and communication requirements are met.
• Ensure activities generate evidence, learning, and policy-relevant outputs that contribute to SPRING's broader policy dialogue and systems strengthening agenda.
• Contribute to annual work plans, participating in strategic teamwork planning sessions and writing relevant sections of the work plan as necessary.
• Contribute to donor reporting, including quarterly and annual reports, annual reviews, and ad hoc requests for information, as required.
• Collaborate closely with the Subnational Activity Lead to ensure a joined-up approach to national and subnational activities that will strengthen the chain of service delivery from the centre to the frontline, supporting information and feedback mechanisms between these levels of service delivery.
• Supervise and manage the SP officer.
• Compliance to DFAT policies on fraud control, financing terrorism, child protection and other social safeguards.

• Perform other duties as requested by the Team Leader.

   

JOB REQUIREMENTS
 
Education
A Master's degree in Social Work, Social Development, Public Administration, Development Economics, or other relevant social sciences.

Minimum Experience
 

• 10-15 years of progressive professional experience in social development program management and implementation, with a focus on policy development, capacity building, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Demonstrated experience in working with the Philippine government such as DSWD, DILG, and LGUs on social protection, social welfare and development programs and policies and of donor-funded programs, particularly DFAT-funded, would be an advantage.
• Proven experience in implementing programs on gender equality, disability and social inclusion particularly promoting inclusion of women, PWDs and IPs in programs, would be an advantage.

Key Abilities
 

• Demonstrated technical expertise in social protection policy reform and service delivery, gender equality and social inclusion, women's economic empowerment, public financial management, local governance, or related field, including experience working with indigenous communities in the Philippines will be added advantage.
• Demonstrated success working with the Government of Philippines, preferably the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and LGUs will be an added advantage.
• Proven ability to assess complex social protection issues and inform strategic decision-making through analytical and critical thinking.
• Highly developed cross-cultural, interpersonal, and communication skills, including the ability to build collaborative networks, influence outcomes, and convey concepts clearly and concisely. Ability to work flexibly as required (SPRING is an adaptive program that responds to the needs of partner governments).
• Demonstrated commitment to and understanding of GEDSI principles, with knowledge or experience in promoting gender equality, disability, and social inclusion, especially within adaptive programs like SPRING.
• High level policy and analytical skills.
• Demonstrated experience managing support staff.
• Strong proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint) and other relevant software tools.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in written and oral English and Filipino.

 
APPLICATION PROCESS
 
This is a rolling recruitment. Applications will be reviewed and vetted sequentially as they are received. We encourage interested individuals to apply as early as possible.
For your application to be considered, please name your documents as follows: Candidate Last Name, First Name, date, Title of the Position.
 
Please send your cover letter addressing the position selection criteria and CV with name and contact details (phone and email) of three professional referees to hr@springphilippines.org, mentioning the position you are
applying for in the subject line "SPRING SP Lead" or apply online.
 
Women, persons with a disability and Indigenous Peoples are highly encouraged to apply.
 
Cowater International is an equal opportunity employer, basing employment on merit and qualifications as they relate to professional experience and position expectations. Cowater does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, disability, age, or any other basis protected by law.
 
We thank all applicants, however only those shortlisted will be contacted.
 
ABOUT US
 
Founded in 1985, Cowater International is a leading global development consulting company. Headquartered in Ottawa and with corporate hubs in Auckland, Berlin, Brussels, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Manila, Nairobi, Singapore and Stockholm, Cowater International has successfully delivered a portfolio of over 2500 projects and assignments in more than 95 countries. We work with governments, private sector actors and communities implementing projects that support socio-economic development, institutional strengthening, environmental improvements and advance equal opportunities for all. We are a diverse and experienced team committed to building a better tomorrow for the people we serve. Our adaptive approach to management has led to our yearly award-winning work and recognition as one of Canada's Best Managed Companies since 2017.
 
We thank you for your interest in building a better tomorrow.