Head - Emergency Case Response

Job Objectives

Oversee a comprehensive emergency response system for cases of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children, ensuring immediate intervention and coordination with relevant entities to protect vulnerable children effectively.

Responsibilities and Leadership Duties

Strategic Affairs

• Develop short- and medium-term operational plans for the emergency response department, aligning them with management and sector plans.
• Establish policies and procedures for departmental operations and ensure their implementation across all transactions.

Financial Affairs

• Prepare the annual budget for the emergency response department, securing necessary approvals, and monitoring budget execution to ensure optimal use in line with financial policies.

Development

• Instill leadership spirit, manage and motivate staff, set goals for them, review employee performance, recommend appropriate training programs, and provide advice on resource management for emergency response staff to achieve the overall objectives of the administration and authority.

Operational Responsibilities

• Participate in designing a comprehensive framework for the quality of protection services and developing a service standards manual that includes response times, quality of intervention, confidentiality of information, and client experience, ensuring compliance with local legislation and best local and international practices.
• Supervise the reception of reports and manage immediate response through monitoring reporting channels (such as call centers or electronic systems), activating intervention teams upon report registration according to specific protocols to ensure rapid response to cases and reduce initial response time.
• Lead rapid response teams around the clock by managing field teams operating on a shift system, directing them to respond immediately to emergency cases based on priority levels to provide continuous and effective field response and ensure operational readiness.
• Establish criteria for evaluating and classifying cases based on the application of approved risk assessment tools, reviewing evaluation results to ensure accuracy, determining the level of risk, and taking appropriate action for each case while ensuring the provision of child protection services according to the highest standards of quality and professional competence.
• Monitor the implementation of procedures such as removing children from hazardous environments, organizing temporary shelter, and issuing protection orders in coordination with relevant entities, ensuring the immediate safety and well-being of children and reviewing final reports from social workers.
• Oversee the management of child protection cases and facilitate transfers to appropriate organizational units within the authority or external entities based on case details, ensuring the continuity of service provision in an integrated manner.
• Communicate directly and collaborate with security and judicial entities in emergency and exceptional cases to facilitate information exchange according to legal frameworks and expedite legal procedures, ensuring integration in response efforts.
• Monitor the achievement of indicators through monitoring response times and conducting internal operational audits and quality reviews of cases, analyzing compliance with procedures and established protocols, and enhancing team readiness while ensuring adherence to service levels and achieving operational efficiency.
• Manage risks and make immediate decisions based on case studies and analyses provided by social workers regarding critical cases, making urgent decisions in coordination with relevant entities, and working to mitigate risks and ensure the safety of children.
• Ensure the delivery of cases to the monitoring department and supervise the organized and integrated transfer of cases with all necessary documents and reports to ensure continuity of care and monitoring without interruption.
• Supervise analytical studies to identify gaps in response and review recommendations for improving response time measurements and analyzing challenges, preparing reports on operational gaps to enhance the efficiency of the emergency response system.
• Develop the response system by creating models and procedures for emergency response according to best global practices and proposing simulation scenarios to test team readiness.
• Support awareness campaigns related to early reporting of cases of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children and disseminate community awareness about mechanisms for seeking assistance in emergency situations in coordination with marketing and corporate communication management.
• Prepare statistical reports and analyze periodic data, updating indicator dashboards to enhance data-driven decision-making.
• Coordinate with strategic partners involved in the child protection system at the level of Dubai Emirate to develop procedures to ensure the protection of children.
• Ensure the accuracy and speed of data entry for cases and monitor the updating of the database, ensuring its completeness and accuracy to support investigation and data collection while providing a reliable database for decision-making support.
• Adhere to the information security policies and procedures established by the authority and work to comply with the regulations to ensure the confidentiality of information.
• Any other tasks and responsibilities within the scope of the job responsibilities.

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, or equivalent.
• Proficiency in both Arabic and English (speaking and writing).

Experience Requirements

• Years of experience: 10 or more in a related field, including 3 years of supervisory experience.
• 8 years or more if holding advanced degrees such as a Master's or Doctorate or relevant professional certifications.