Chief Program Officer

About SOS Children’s Villages International

Founded in 1949, SOS Children’s Villages International is the world’s largest non-governmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it. Child neglect, abuse and abandonment is everywhere. Families are at risk of separation. Locally led, SOS Children’s Villages International (CVI) works in more than 130 countries and territories to strengthen families who are under pressure so they can stay together. When this is not in a child or young person’s best interests, SOS Children’s Villages Iinternational provides quality care according to their unique needs. Together with partners, donors, communities, children, young people and families, SOS Children’s Villages International enables children to grow up with the bonds they need to develop and become their strongest selves. The organisation speaks up for each child’s rights and advocates for change so all children can grow up in a supportive environment.

SOS Children’s Villages International is structured as a decentralized federation of independent national member associations, working together towards reaching the federation’s strategic goals, and sharing resources and expertise. Each SOS Children’s Villages association is committed to applying the federation’s statutes, programme standards, and stringent safeguarding, financial and administrative practices.

SOS Children’s Villages International’s General Secretariat, with offices in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America provides services to member associations, develops and monitors federation quality standards, and represents the federation in international communications and forums.

The Umbrella Organization, SOS Children’s Villages International (CVI)

SOS Children’s Villages International (CVI) operates global support functions for the Federation through two key units: the Federation Secretariat Unit (FSC) and the International Development Support Unit (IDS). Both units are funded via different funding streams:

Federation Secretariat Unit (FSC)

The FSC drives impact, fosters trust, and ensures alignment by providing standardized governance and organizational support to uphold and manage the Federation. Given the nature of its work, the FSC is fully funded by Membership Fees.

International Development Support Unit (IDS)

The IDS facilitates the development and sharing of evidence, innovation, and standards to help Members enhance the impact and scale of their national programs while strengthening their organizational capacity and self-sufficiency. It also delivers programs in CVI-managed countries and at the supranational level. As a result, IDS activities are primarily funded through project-based funding.

The Executive Board of SOS Children’s Villages International

The CEO / FSC lead, and the CPO / IDS lead jointly constitute the Executive Board (EB) of SOS Children’s Villages International and work together to deliver the responsibilities of Children’s Villages International. The EB co-chairs the (soon-to-be-formed) International Management Team (“IMT”), which is a mix of top senior leaders convening for decision making purpose.

The CPO’s / IDS lead’s primary responsibility is to lead the IDS unit to achieve its functional mission. This includes supporting Members and program operations of SOS Children’s Villages International to adopt innovative programming for scale, build their capabilities and increase their income. It also has primary accountability for closely accompanying dependent programs operations which are organized as foreign branch operations of Children’s Villages International in countries where no Member is active (“CVI-Run Operations”), by supporting their transition to independence and coordinating the Federation’s humanitarian response activities.

The CPO/IDS lead builds strategic programs through a process of innovation and research, driving scale whilst ensuring adequate processes for Members and CVI-Run Operations to reach and maintain an independent, self-sufficient status.

As the CPO / IDS lead is responsible for enabling increase of SOS Children’s Villages International’s global impact through Members and Children’s Villages International’s run operations, as well as use of research, monitoring, evaluation, learning and accountability to improve program quality and policy development, the new person should have senior experience in international development with a strong track record in large and quality programmes, policy and membership development.

As the CEO / FSC lead and CPO / IDS lead are jointly the Executive Board of SOS Children’s Villages International, it requires extremely good collegial and complementary leadership. Together they co-chair the soon-to-be-formed International Management Team (“IMT”), which is a mix of top senior leaders convening for decision making purpose.

Skills, experience and a strong track record with managing country and global programmes, budgets, donor relations, staff, and members at this level would be a requirement for SOS Children’s Villages International’s new CPO.

Responsibilities of the Position

Main duties and responsibilities including key accountabilities:

Increasing Federation Impact from “Ideas to Scale”

• Responsibility for enabling the Federation to increase its global impact through Members and Children’s Villages International-run Operations taking up and scaling innovative programming, use of research, learning and application of high-quality program policy.
• At the request of Members, facilitate and co-ordinate strategic international programs/ multi country programming including advocacy programming, that groups of independent Member Associations and Children’s Village International’ Run countries request and opt in to deliver.

Sustainable Income Development Support

• Lead and drive sustainable income development in the organization, Supporting Member Associations to raise sustainable income through support to Grant/ Institutional income development, delivery of multi member systems & processes such as those enabling Child Sponsorship, digital fundraising, and CRM systems support.

Member Support Services

• Responsible for provision of “on-demand” support and digital services to Member Associations. This includes capacity & capability building to risk and growth Members in program and operations areas. Provision of other on demand support services to Promoting and Supporting Members (“PSAs”), Sustainable Members, and Risk & Growth Members.
• Include contracting staff and maintaining a contract structure ensuring the stable and sustainable funding of Member focused support projects via PSAs.
• Overall maintain Member focused support structures to Members to achieve and maintain self-sufficient Member maturity status.

Children’s Villages International Run Country Operations & Transition Countries:

• Overall responsibility for ensuring that Children’s Villages International-Run Operations are run for maximum program impact, quality and are compliant with policies and standards. Program funding for Children’s Villages International-Run Operations is not part of Children’s Villages International’s budget responsibility. It is the responsibility of the Children’s Villages International-Run Operation in close alignment with the respective location PSAs, who financially support those Children’s Villages International-Run Operations to ensure the respective budgets are available and are disposed accordingly.
• IDS has the overall responsibility for ensuring that selected Children’s Villages International managed countries transition to independent Member Associations.

Humanitarian Action

• Responsibility for development of the Federation’s Humanitarian Strategy and supporting Members and Children’s Villages International- Run Operations to implement in their country (e.g., advice, capability building, development of policy).
• Responsible for coordination of Humanitarian response to rapid onset emergencies and for leading those which necessitate the use of international capacities.
• Lead and strengthen overall Member and Children’s Villages International-Run Operations capacity to respond to global emergency situations

Finance

• Joint responsibility as Executive Board member for the financial results and global finance processes in the federation.
• Joint responsibility with the CEO for the total overall budget of the IDS and FSC, including funding of additional global projects. Individual primary responsibility for the IDS budget.

People and Culture

• SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our staff, the children and young people and the communities that they work for. The organization prohibits harassment, exploitation and abuses by or of any employee, supervisor, manager, child, young people, community, contractor, applicant, or other individual with whom SOS Children’s Villages employees come into contact by virtue of their work. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our prevention and protection against Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse policy.
• Promote organizational culture across the federation to support the achievement of the mission.

Safeguarding

• The CPO champions safeguarding, child rights, and human right-based approaches across the federation, modelling values-based leadership.
• Promotes awareness of safeguarding policies to protect all programme participants, partners, and staff from harm, including abuse, exploitation, and discrimination.
• Embed safeguarding in all operations, strategy, and governance, with a focus on transparency, ethics, and survivor-centred approaches.

Risk

• Assess federation-wide opportunities and risks, and collaborate with governance bodies and member associations to develop, and, when appropriate, lead mitigation strategies and response plans.

• General Assembly (via the International Board) and its committees
• International Board and its committees
• IDS Advisory Board, FSC Advisory Board
• National Directors of Members and dependent Program Operations
• IMT (International Management Team) to be established
• IDS Leadership Team
• INGO interagency bodies + other INGO Global Leads

Functional Competences

• Authentic commitment to the Vision, Mission and Values of the SOS Federation in its work for children
• Extensive experience in international cooperation and development, research, MEAL or alternatively in humanitarian and emergency contexts
• Experience in an equivalent position (top level) within an international organization or a decentralized, member-based federation of comparable size and complexity.
• Track record in the sector, ideally INGO background
• Experience in managing a P&L of equivalent size, 440 employees, 40 million Euro budget (excluding variable project budgets) in a federation of 137 member associations (with an overall turnover of over one billion)
• Experience in child protection, alternative care or youth empowerment is a strong asset.
• Strong understanding of member association needs, ideally gained through experience managing country offices in unstable or crisis contexts.
• Professional expertise in driving the vision, strategy development, prioritization and implementation of complex and innovative projects
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, ability to collaborate, engage and build trust amongst stakeholders, in a decentralized and complex networked global system, able to influence without direct authority, fostering collaboration across units and members.
• Leadership skills to manage teams in diverse locations, foster cultural environment development and the ability to build team capacity
• Strong negotiation, customer relationship management and presentation skills.
• Ability to establish efficient organizational structures and lead high-performing teams, with a focus on continuously adapting the workforce and services to evolving needs.
• High level of resilience, adaptability and flexibility.
• Proven experience in managing organizational transformation and change with authenticity, empathy, and courage. Skilled in driving strategic change initiatives, inspiring a long-term vision and direction, and leading effectively through crises and ambiguity.
• Strong decision-taking competency in fast-changing and uncertain environments, grounded in available evidence and risk-analysis. Leading with a results-based mindset.
• Experience and interest in innovation and digital readiness: driving digital transformation, enabling data-informed decision-making and ethical use of technology. Fostering innovation, agility and continuous improvement.
• Experience in establishing clear accountability mechanisms and performance metrics to drive results and ensure transparency. A structured approach to performance and impact measurement, including safe programming.
• Proven ability to develop and scale innovative programs, particularly in youth-focused and crisis-affected areas.
• Good understanding of the rapidly evolving donor ecosystem, including comprehensive knowledge of fund development and resource mobilization.
• Good understanding of safeguarding
• Service-oriented leadership combined with a business mindset and focus on creating value for internal stakeholders. Experience in establishing and managing a service center is a strong asset.

Value-Based Core Competencies

• Kindness
• Continuous learning
• Inclusiveness
• Initiative
• Result-orientation

Value-Based Leadership Competences

• Integrity, empathy, humility, and authenticity
• Visionary and strategic thinking
• Resilience, patience, and adaptability
• People-centered and inclusive leadership
• Ethical, impartial, and non-political leadership
• Foster a growth oriented, positive, empowering and encouraging environment, with a strong commitment to psychological safety, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); while keeping employees and management accountable
• Promote participatory leadership and constructively manage dissent
• Create an atmosphere of collaboration and mutual trust
• Motivate, inspire and lead a multicultural senior leadership team while coaching and mentoring direct reports through role modelling and empowerment
• Role model a values-based leadership to motivate and empower staff

Education Qualification

• Advanced academic degree
• A minimum of 15 to 20 years progressive and relevant experience including working in a leadership position (at least 10 years at senior management level) in the international context

Experience

• A minimum of 15-20 years leadership experience in overseeing work in multiple geographic locations, in various functional areas or in the international development context
• Multicultural work experience in a relevant leadership role
• Experience in the non – profit environment is a distinct advantage including experience at the grass-root level

Language Skills

• Essential: English
• Desirable: French, Spanish or Arabic (SOS Children’s Villages International languages)

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