National Ombuds

Introduction

SOS Children’s Villages Malawi (SOS CV Malawi), a member of SOS Children’s Villages International is a non-governmental child protection and development organization established in Malawi in 1991. Our vision is that every child belongs to a family and grows up with love, respect and security. Our mission is to build families for children in need, we help them shape their own futures, and we share in the development of their communities. In pursuit of the vision and mission, we work in collaboration with the Government of Malawi and other partners to implement various projects focusing on child protection and development; entrepreneurship and vocational skills training for young people; livelihood improvement for vulnerable households, child and youth education, as well as advocacy in the areas of child rights and protection. Malawi programme coverage is country-wide, operating from Chikwawa, Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzimba and Mzuzu.

SOS Children’s Villages Malawi is seeking to recruit a National Ombuds in accordance with the International Ombudsman Association’s Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics to support the SOS Ombuds office. This position will be on full time, fixed term contracts for the period of 20 months renewable upon funding availability and performance.

National Ombuds Malawi

Limited full time contract

Mission of the functional area

The National Ombuds and the rest of the Ombuds Office (i.e., other National Ombuds, Regional Ombuds, Global Ombuds and Ombuds Administrator) work independently from SOS Children’s Villages. s National Ombuds position is contracted by the Malawi SOS Children’s Villages Malawi

The National Ombuds in Malawi, as designated neutral professionals, will build awareness, promote prevention, nurture child participation, and enable children and young people to be safe in all SOS Children’s Villages Malawi programs. The Ombuds Office is based on a rights-based approach in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). Developed with input from children and young people, the Ombuds Office functions on the principles of independence, impartiality, confidentiality and informality. Honouring these principles is critical to the success of the Ombuds Office.

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

Strategic obligations

• The National Ombuds serves as a designated independent practitioner providing informal and confidential conflict resolution support to children, young people, care leavers, their families, and staff at the SOS country levels.
• The National Ombuds promotes fairness of process and supports the safe expression of concerns by listening carefully, taking all concerns seriously, explaining options in child friendly ways, and supporting resolutions of issues that have not been addressed to the satisfaction of the inquirer through existing mechanisms. conflict resolution within SOS Children’s Villages Member Associations through the SOS Ombuds Office’s fundamental principles.
• Serve as a vehicle for historical and current children, young people, care leavers, families and staff to make safeguarding or HR inquiries about issues that have not been dealt with to their satisfaction by SOS

Receiving and Addressing Concerns

• receive and address concerns in a timely manner, ensuring that no concern is dismissed or ignored
• Listen actively and respectfully to concerns without discrimination, judgement, intimidation or bias
• Discuss an agreed action plan with inquirers and provide ongoing follow up and support

Guidance and Referrals

• Help Inquirers understand SOS processes and navigate between SOS structures and community or statutory systems.
• Refer cases, where appropriate, to relevant SOS departments, child protection authorities, legal services, or community resources.
• Active listening

Child-Friendly Engagement

• Engage directly with children and young people in calm, respectful, non-threatening, and age-appropriate ways.
• Communicate directly with children who have experienced harm, ensuring sensitivity, dignity, and emotional support.
• Ensure accessibility through child-preferred communication channels, including face-to-face meetings, phone calls, and child-safe digital platforms.

Collaboration and Feedback

• Collaborate with children, young people and staff representatives to strengthen and safeguard and Ombuds processes
• Support the sharing of children’s views and feedback to
• Communication and support methods
• Advise senior management on any changes needed within the MA
• Feedback loop

Documentation and Learning

• Develop and maintain a secure confidential database that tracks concerns until they are resolution.
• Identify national trends within SOS program and services while maintaining confidentiality
• Recommend changes to the Malawi Board, Regional Ombuds, and Global Ombuds to strengthen safeguarding and child participation.
• Confidential database

Challenging working environment and efforts required

• Working in-country with, but independent of, SOS while working remotely with colleagues in the Ombuds Office requires wisdom and maturity – to build a community of practice, uphold Ombuds principles, and minimise isolation.
• Number and complexity of inquiries the Ombuds may receive.
• Responding to various local and national cultures and laws as well as regional and international conventions, principles, and standards
• Responding to historical cases, which may have limited documentation
• Participating in a pilot innovation project, learning for scale up, and supporting scale up.

Competencies and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant area such as law, social work, psychology, child rights, sociology, youth work or psychosocial wellbeing. Thise with Master’s degree will have added advantage.
• Minimum 5 years demonstrated experience in one of the following fields: ombudsperson, mediation, child safeguarding, child protection, or child rights;
• Minimum 3 years demonstrated experience in working with children and youths;
• Experience in working in communities;
• Ability to speak Chichewa, and Tumbuka Desirable: Ability to speak and work in at least two regional languages and English
• The National Ombuds will be important in ensuring that safeguarding concerns are addressed appropriately within the Member Associations.
• Honest and transparent with an understanding of children and young people’s developmental stages and needs
• Knowledge of children’s rights, best interests of the child, safeguarding, and related issues
• Excellent listening and consultation skills
• Facilitation/training skills with participatory methods
• Ability to work using child-centered principles, with children and young people
• Excellent problem-solving and mediation skills; comfortable with innovation.
• Ability to keep information confidential
• Nurturing nature
• You have the legal right to live and work in Malawi;

How to apply

Interested persons should submit their applications and detailed Curriculum Vitae with three traceable referees via this organisation system.

Please ensure that you include your full contact details including telephone numbers.

Closing date for receiving applications is on 28^th February 2026. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

* To protect the independence of the Ombuds Office, this position is not open to SOS Children’s Villages employees or those who have been employed by SOS Children’s Villages within the last 2 years, or for those who have relatives working for SOS Children’s Villages.

*  * “SOS Children´s Villages Malawi has zero-tolerance neither on sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse nor fraud and corruption, amongst other safeguarding aspects. SOS Children’s Villages Malawi also provide equal employment opportunities to all employees & qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or class. The successful candidate will be required to complete safer recruitment checks including police and reference checks to help verify their suitability to work for SOS Children’s Villages Malawi.”

SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES MALAWI IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER; ALL QUALIFIED CANDIDATES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.