Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Technical Advisor

The MHPSS Technical Advisor provides overall technical leadership for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support programming across the Syria Country Office, ensuring high quality, evidence-informed, and systematically integrated MHPSS programmes aligned with Save the Children and international standards. The role includes leading programme design, quality assurance, capacity strengthening, coordination, and representation in relevant forums.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall technical leadership and strategic direction for MHPSS programming across the Syria Country Office, ensuring alignment with Save the Children standards, IASC guidance, the MHPSS Minimum Service Package and relevant evidence-based approaches.
• Lead on developing country strategy for MHPSS as part of CSP process.
• Formulate and continuously improve the SCO MHPSS strategic approach, ensuring alignment with SC’s overarching strategic priorities and coherence across projects, field locations and implementing partners.
• Advise SCO senior management, Programme Development and Quality, Operations and Area Offices on MHPSS priorities, technical risks, emerging needs and strategic opportunities.
• Lead and support ongoing analysis of MHPSS needs, service gaps and contextual developments to inform strategy, programme priorities, proposals and technical decision-making.
• Promote appropriate integration of MHPSS across Child Protection, Education, Health, Nutrition, FSL and other relevant sectors.
• Support selection, contextualisation and institutionalisation of scalable, replicable and contextually appropriate MHPSS models for children, adolescents, caregivers and other priority groups including IDPs and returnees.
• Establish and maintain minimum technical standards for MHPSS programming across SCO-supported projects and partners.
• Provide technical oversight and quality assurance for MHPSS interventions, including review and approval of technical approaches, implementation tools, guidance materials and intervention adaptations.
• Ensure MHPSS activities are implemented in line with approved technical models, safeguarding requirements and relevant international standards.
• Lead harmonisation of MHPSS approaches, tools and implementation standards across field locations and partners to strengthen consistency and quality.
• Support Area Offices and programme teams to identify implementation gaps and introduce appropriate corrective actions, adaptations or additional technical support.
• Facilitate documentation of learning, good practice and technical lessons to support continuous programme improvement across the SCO.
• Lead assessment of MHPSS technical capacity needs among SCO staff, implementing partners and relevant frontline personnel.
• Develop and oversee structured capacity-strengthening plans, including training, coaching, mentoring, technical supervision and follow-up support.
• Support development and adaptation of MHPSS training packages, implementation tools, facilitator materials and technical guidance for staff and partners.
• Support establishment or continuation of a technical supervision and coaching structure for all staff engaged in providing MHPS supports to children and caregivers; provide technical supervision and coaching for MHPSS officers and focal points.
• Strengthen competency-based approaches to MHPSS capacity development, moving beyond training attendance toward demonstrated knowledge, skills, safe practice and appropriate use of supervision.
• Work with Area Offices and partners to identify performance or quality gaps and determine causes.
• Promote sustainable partner capacity and progressively strengthen local ownership of high-quality MHPSS programming.
• Provide technical leadership and inputs to design of new MHPSS programmes, concept notes, proposals, budgets and donor submissions.
• Ensure programme design is informed by needs assessments, contextual analysis, evidence, participant perspectives and recognised MHPSS standards.
• Work closely with MEAL team to harmonise MHPSS indicators, monitoring frameworks, quality-assurance tools and appropriate outcome measures.
• Strengthen monitoring of intervention quality, fidelity, reach, inclusion, referral completion and participant outcomes.
• Support design and technical review of assessments, evaluations, learning exercises and research related to MHPSS.
• Promote systematic use of programme evidence and learning to adapt interventions, inform future design and strengthen technical decision-making.
• Ensure MHPSS evidence and learning are captured and translated into practical recommendations, technical guidance and programme improvements.
• Serve as SCO technical focal point for MHPSS and represent Save the Children in relevant national, sub-national and inter-agency MHPSS coordination mechanisms, technical working groups and task forces.
• Represent SCO in relevant donor, partner and technical discussions on MHPSS.
• Build and maintain strong technical relationships with national and local partners, UN agencies, NGOs, government counterparts and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate closely with SCO Technical Advisers, Programme Development and Quality, Operations, Area Offices, regional and global MHPSS colleagues to ensure coherent technical support and integrated programming.
• Identify and develop strategic partnerships that strengthen quality, reach and sustainability of child- and family-focused MHPSS programming.
• Contribute technical perspectives to advocacy, coordination and resource-mobilisation discussions relevant to MHPSS.
• Promote learning and exchange across SCO field locations and external partners, ensuring emerging good practice and technical challenges are shared and addressed collectively.
• Ensure full compliance of Child Safeguarding Policy at field level and especially with SC engaged personnel.
• Respond to all Child Safeguarding Policy concerns appropriately and effectively.
• Encourage and facilitate quality assurance of MHPSS tools and approaches in close collaboration with the CPI.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in psychology, mental health, or relevant field.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in MHPSS.
• Significant professional experience providing technical leadership for MHPSS programming in humanitarian, protracted-crisis or fragile settings, preferably including the Syria or wider Middle East context.
• Strong technical knowledge of community-based MHPSS, child and adolescent MHPSS, scalable psychological and psychosocial interventions, and relevant global standards, including the IASC MHPSS Guidelines and MHPSS Minimum Service Package.
• Demonstrated experience in programme quality assurance, including development/adaptation of technical guidance and tools, monitoring implementation quality, technical supervision and strengthening staff and partner competency.
• Strong experience in programme design and proposal development, including translating assessed MHPSS needs into technically sound approaches, activities, indicators, budgets and donor proposals.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate MHPSS across sectors, particularly Child Protection, Education, Health and Nutrition, while maintaining appropriate technical standards, roles and referral pathways.
• Proven experience in capacity strengthening of national and local partners, including capacity assessment, training, coaching, technical supervision and longer-term organisational strengthening.
• Experience working with MEAL teams on MHPSS assessments, indicators, monitoring frameworks, learning and evidence generation, and using findings to improve programme quality.
• Strong coordination, communication and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively with field teams, technical colleagues, partners, UN agencies, donors and relevant authorities across complex and sensitive operating environments.
• Strong analytical and writing skills, including the ability to produce high-quality technical guidance, assessments, proposals, reports and strategic recommendations.
• Fluency in Arabic and English, written and spoken.
• Direct experience working in Syria and strong understanding of the operational, cultural and MHPSS service environment across different areas of the country (desirable).
• Experience supporting localisation and transition of technical capacity to national and local organisations and systems (desirable).
• Experience representing an organisation in MHPSS coordination mechanisms, technical working groups and donor discussions (desirable).
• Knowledge of Kurdish or other languages relevant to the Syria context is an asset (desirable).

Skills

• Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
• MHPSS Programming
• Community-based MHPSS
• Child and Adolescent MHPSS
• Psychological Interventions
• Psychosocial Interventions
• IASC MHPSS Guidelines
• MHPSS Minimum Service Package
• Programme Quality Assurance
• Technical Guidance
• Monitoring Implementation Quality
• Technical Supervision
• Staff Capacity Strengthening
• Partner Capacity Building
• Programme Design
• Proposal Development
• Needs Assessment
• Indicator Development
• Budgeting
• Donor Proposals
• Cross-sectoral integration
• Child Protection
• Education Sector Integration
• Health Sector Integration
• Nutrition Sector Integration
• Referral Pathways Development
• Capacity Assessments
• Training and Coaching
• Organisational Strengthening
• MEAL for MHPSS
• MHPSS Assessments
• Monitoring Frameworks
• Evidence Generation
• Programme Quality Improvement
• Coordination Skills
• Technical Representation
• Strategic Report Writing
• Technical Recommendations
• Arabic Language
• English Language

Languages

Arabic, English