MOROCCAN CHILDRENS TRUST: In-Country Project Coordinator

MOROCCAN CHILDRENS TRUST: In-Country Project Coordinator

Moroccan Children’s Trust

The Moroccan Children’s Trust is a small UK-registered charity, with a board of directors drawn from the UK and Morocco. It aims to offer support and assistance to poor families across southern Morocco, based on community projects that empower local people to change their lives for the better.

Taroudannt Street Children Project

MCT coordinates a project which supports street-connected children and their families in and around the town of Taroudannt, in southern Morocco. The project currently employs three social workers, two teachers, a monitoring officer and a sports officer, and supports the children and their families through relational social work, case-work in important areas such as securing ID papers and access to healthcare, drop in educational support sessions based at the project’s office in central Taroudannt, a pre-school class and sports activities.

In-country project coordinator: main responsibilities

1. Support the in-country team
2. Facilitate communication between the MCT teams in London and Taroudannt
3. Support and develop drop-in education sessions for street-connected children
4. Support MCT research projects
5. Coordinate the women’s project in collaboration with Moroccan lead

1. The project team comprises three social workers, a teacher and a secretary. All have busy schedules working with the families. The project coordinator will coordinate a weekly staff meeting at which the team will discuss practical issues and make a plan for their week’s work. The project coordinator will also spend at least one half-day each week accompanying one of the team, so as better to understand their work and its pressures.
2. The project coordinator will also be the main link between the in-country team and the MCT team based in the London office. The project coordinator will meet at least weekly via skype with the London team to discuss the progress of the project and how it is being managed.
3. The project coordinator will spend two sessions a week with the project’s teacher, helping to lead the drop-in education work. The coordinator will work with the teacher to help develop the sessions and maximise the educational benefit for the children, as well as working on how best to collect information to improve the sessions further. The will also lead some of the education sessions (at least three sessions a week).
4. A sound knowledge base is crucial to the delivery and development of the project. The project coordinator will oversee how data is recorded by the project secretary. The coordinator will also support MCT’s different research initiatives through data collection and analysis.
5. The project coordinator will be the in-country lead for the MCT women’s project. The coordinator will attend the weekly meetings, help to assess the project’s progress, and help to develop it further, in consultation with the MCT UK women’s project working group.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

• English speaker
• Arabic speaker (any dialect)
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent organisational skills
• Good communication skills
• Able to use initiative and take on responsibility
• Team player
• Strong interest in social justice
• Experience of working with children and young people
• Drive, commitment and a positive attitude
• Dedication - able to work outside normal working hours when necessary

Desirable

• French speaker
• Experience/knowledge of Arabo-Islamic culture (sensitive and respectful of norms and values)
• Teaching experience (primary or high-school age)
• Creative and imaginative (ideas for activities, development of programmes, lesson plans)
• Administrative and reporting skills
• Understanding and experience of research methodologies in the social sciences

Hours: Full time - 4.5 days per week; 6 month post