Safeguarding Manager - Kenya

About Inkomoko

Inkomoko works with entrepreneurs to help them expand their businesses, strengthen livelihoods, create employment, and support stronger communities. Established in 2012, the organization has supported more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, including many refugee entrepreneurs, through training, consulting, access to finance, and systems-level market support. It is a major investor in refugee entrepreneurs across Africa and operates 850+ staff across 50 offices in Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Sudan.

In 2026, the Financial Times ranked Inkomoko as Africa’s 5th fastest-growing company. Through its 2030 strategy, the organization plans to enter 3 more countries, support over 550,000 entrepreneurs, and grow its $30M loan fund to affect 7M lives.

Organizational Values

• Purpose: focus on practical solutions, high standards, and leadership.
• Achievement: stretch beyond current limits and aim higher.
• Improvement: welcome feedback and keep learning with humility.
• Bravery: take thoughtful risks, create safety for others, and act with compassion and inclusion.
• We Eat Goat: celebrate wins together and stand by one another during difficult times in the spirit of turikumwe, tuko pamoja, abren nen, urang babarengan.

Inkomoko is an equal opportunity employer and uses affirmative action. Refugees, women, and people from the communities served are encouraged to apply.

Role Summary

The Safeguarding Manager will help create and sustain a workplace and program environment that protects the dignity, safety, and well-being of clients, staff, and partners. The role ensures safeguarding standards are implemented, tracked, and enforced according to international humanitarian good practice. It works closely with security, HR, program, and regional safeguarding teams to prevent, identify, and address concerns.

The position also leads training, supports local teams across program sites, and serves as a key point of coordination when safeguarding or protection issues arise.

Safeguarding Leadership and Prevention

• Work with leadership to build safeguarding into daily operations, decision-making, and performance expectations.
• Deliver awareness and capacity-building sessions for staff, partners, and clients on the Code of Conduct, safeguarding rules, reporting options, and individual rights and duties.
• Carry out recurring safeguarding risk reviews for programs, work sites, field activities, partnerships, and expansion areas, and help teams design practical mitigation measures.
• Make sure reporting and complaint channels are easy to use, inclusive, confidential, and responsive, especially for refugees and other vulnerable groups.
• Partner with the regional safeguarding team to keep policies, standards, and risk-management practices aligned across the organization.

Safeguarding Response and Case Coordination

• Coordinate fast, survivor-centered responses to safeguarding concerns, ensuring matters are triaged quickly and handled confidentially, fairly, and within policy timelines.
• Oversee case management and investigations, keep records accurate, track progress, and ensure cases are escalated and resolved appropriately.
• Connect survivors to legal, medical, psychosocial, and protection support through established referral routes, while preserving dignity, choice, and confidentiality.
• Work with leadership, the regional safeguarding team, and outside protection actors such as government authorities, UNHCR, and other partners as appropriate.
• Contribute to reporting, trend analysis, and organizational learning that improve prevention and response systems.

Compliance, Monitoring, and External Engagement

• Track adherence to safeguarding policies, procedures, donor expectations, and minimum standards across country operations.
• Conduct field visits and safeguarding reviews of offices, program locations, activities, partnerships, and new sites to identify risks and support improvement.
• Lead safe-partnering work, including partner due diligence, capacity building, and monitoring to confirm partners meet Inkomoko standards.
• Represent Inkomoko in safeguarding coordination meetings, clusters, communities of practice, and other external networks, contributing to sector learning and collaboration.
• Prepare regular safeguarding updates for country and regional leadership on risks, incidents, compliance, and performance trends.

Capacity Building, Learning, and Continuous Improvement

• Embed safeguarding considerations into recruitment, onboarding, program design, implementation, monitoring, partnerships, and organizational planning with support from People & Culture and program teams.
• Facilitate communities of practice, learning sessions, and knowledge-sharing activities that strengthen safeguarding across country operations.
• Identify emerging safeguarding risks, document lessons learned, and support the adoption of effective practice across teams.
• Help teams strengthen safeguarding systems, safe programming, gender equality, disability inclusion, and protection mainstreaming.

Culture of Safeguarding and Abuse Prevention

• Support country leadership in maintaining a consistent commitment to safeguarding across all offices.
• Contribute to country-level safeguarding management briefs.
• Work with other departments during the KPI process so that safeguarding objectives are included across teams.
• Reinforce safeguarding through Inkomoko’s values and culture.
• Deliver safeguarding training so staff understand how to protect one another and clients understand their rights when working with Inkomoko.
• Provide targeted learning sessions for different program areas.
• Help refugee communities understand the Code of Conduct, their right to protection, and how to raise a concern.
• Ensure complaint mechanisms remain accessible to all clients, with particular attention to refugee clients.

Active Response, Case Management, and Reporting

• Provide survivor support that is respectful, culturally appropriate, and centered on the needs of the person affected.
• Work with legal, medical, and psychosocial service providers and keep referral information accurate and available.
• Manage safeguarding concerns and cases from a client-centered perspective, ensuring timely response and appropriate guidance to leadership.
• Engage external partners such as police, CNARR, DPHR, and UNHCR where reporting or action is required.
• Help establish and maintain a survivor-centered referral pathway.

Compliance and Monitoring

• Support the creation, roll-out, and monitoring of a framework to assess country-level safeguarding effectiveness.
• Perform regular site visits to verify safeguarding practice across locations.
• Participate in the network of safeguarding champions across offices to help maintain standards.
• Prepare and submit periodic reports on safeguarding activities, patterns, and incidents.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead safe partnering work, including reviewing partnerships for safeguarding risks and compliance and training partners on expectations.
• Ensure partners understand and follow Inkomoko safeguarding standards.
• Collaborate with local communities, partners, cultural advocates, protection partners, and other stakeholders to strengthen awareness and practice.
• Liaise with UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations to stay updated on best practices and coordinate safeguarding efforts.
• Represent Inkomoko in safeguarding forums, workshops, and meetings.

Capacity Building and Learning

• Support the integration of safeguarding into program design, implementation, and partnerships.
• Guide conversations on emerging risks, trends, and best practice.
• Design and facilitate learning events, trainings, and knowledge-sharing spaces within the community of practice.
• Help members identify gaps and strengthen frameworks in areas such as gender, disability inclusion, and safe programming.
• Promote alignment with organizational policies, donor expectations, and global standards.
• Act as a convener and coordinator for the community of practice, encouraging active participation and collaboration.

Candidate Profile

The organization is looking for a person who can work effectively in fast-moving, resource-limited settings and brings enthusiasm, patience, a sense of humor, and imagination.

Applicants should have at least 4 years of relevant work experience, including 2–3 years in safeguarding, protection, or PSEA, plus experience dealing with safeguarding cases and investigations in humanitarian or development contexts. A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is required.

Key Experience Needed

• Hands-on experience managing safeguarding incidents and case processes.
• Ability to conduct or support investigations.
• Exposure to work with vulnerable groups such as refugees, women, and children.

Technical Strengths

• Strong understanding of safeguarding systems such as PSEA, child protection, and GBV.
• Knowledge of survivor-centered practice.
• Experience with case management and referral pathways.
• Ability to assess and reduce safeguarding risks.
• Familiarity with reporting systems such as hotlines and complaints channels.
• Experience designing and delivering training.
• Knowledge of policy development and SOP implementation.

General Competencies

• Team leadership with the ability to align people around shared goals and recognize contributions.
• Trust-building through accountability, clear responsibility-setting, follow-through, and care for others.
• Relationship management with stakeholders, partners, and community leaders while balancing multiple priorities.

Benefits

This is a role within a fast-growing, mission-driven social enterprise. The package includes meaningful work that contributes to livelihoods and job creation across East and Central Africa, a competitive salary with potential performance-based bonus, a strong learning-oriented culture, a diverse regional team, and policies that support equity and inclusion.

Additional benefits include health insurance for the employee and family, staff savings and provident fund, negotiated bank rates for long-term employees, and generous annual leave, parental leave, and sabbatical options.

Application Process and Conditions

Interested candidates should submit their application through the jobs portal by Wednesday, 8 July 2026. The organization strongly encourages refugees and women to apply and applies fair-treatment policies throughout the hiring process. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted, and employment depends on successful background checks and other verification as needed.