Background:
With headquarters in Kinshasa and field offices in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Katanga the IRC is one of the largest development actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The IRC aims to save lives, to strengthen Congolese institutions and to reinforce social cohesion through carefully designed and professionally implemented programs. The IRC has been working in the DRC since 1996, and currently operates in five core programming areas - primary health care, community-driven reconstruction & local governance, the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence, education, and emergency preparedness and response. In the context of a DFID funded 5 years USD 25 million project entitled Improved Governance and Accountability in the Education Sector in the DRC, the IRC is currently seeking a dynamic and experienced x to be based in Kinshasa.
Scope of Work:
The project aims to increase the quality of public service in education by supporting the Government of DRC's efforts to improve governance and accountability in the sector. This initiative is part of a joint USAID / DFID education programme that is expected to contribute to improved educational outcomes for girls and boys in select education provinces of the DRC. The DFID project will specifically focus on the following results:
1 Increasing community and civil society oversight and accountability at national and provincial levels; 2 Strengthening effective resource allocation and execution in the education sector; 3 Strengthening systems and capacity at the national, provincial, and school levels.
The Voice and Accountability Lead Adviser will be part of the senior management team of the project and placed under the supervision of the Deputy Chief of Party. She or He will be specifically responsible for producing relevant program materials and tools, providing technical advice, planning and supporting project activities that will work toward ensuring citizens and civil society organizations have a greater voice and that all service providers and the government are more accountable for delivering quality education services. This will notably involve working closely with the government and service providers on those issues. The project will be implemented across four provinces and will involve regular travel to field sites.
The IRC is requesting applications from candidates with significant experience in voice and accountability and civil society development. The selected candidate will also have experience in providing technical advice to large-scale governance and education programs in fragile states and in francophone sub-Saharan Africa in particular.
Main Responsibilities:
- Provide leadership in the development or adaptation of programming models which allow for greater participation of communities in decision-making, greater responsiveness to their needs, priorities and demands, and stronger accountability within the education system;
- Responsible for developing a methodology to identify and strengthen civil society organizations that can relay the voices of communities in an education context from local to national levels;
- Develop close relationships with government officials from the Ministry of Education (MoE) as well as officials from confessional education networks around voice and accountability issues;
- Responsible for developing the strategy and work plan for the implementation of the Voice & Accountability component of the project in collaboration with other project advisers, MoE and confessional network officials;
- Ensures that activities are implemented according to a well-defined set of program protocols and tools which balance the need for timely achievement of objectives with the importance of quality processes and methodological rigor;
- Oversees the quality of programming at central, provincial and local levels around voice and accountability and ensure that implementation strategies reflect the latest available evidence and best practices;
- Support monitoring and evaluation activities and help design research initiatives to learn and generate evidence around project activities;
- Identify priorities for support from the IRC's Governance & Rights Technical Unit and other project partners;
- Work in close collaboration with other technical advisors to ensure integrated programming.
Job Qualifications:
- Post graduate degree in international development studies, social sciences, economics, public administration or other relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience required;
- Five years of professional experience providing technical advice and implementing large scale governance and / or education projects in developing countries and fragile states;
- Specific expertize and track record around voice and accountability initiatives as well as civil society development;
- Strong personnel leadership skills, as well as mentoring and training skills;
- Strong computer skills in MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, Outlook);
- Ability to communicate and write well in both English and French is essential;
- Ability to work under pressure;
- Previous work experience in DRC or francophone Sub-Saharan Africa highly desirable.
HOW TO APPLY:
Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=c2dyYW50LjUwMTUwLjM4MzBAaXJjLmFwbGl0cmFrLm...
