Reference:
VR/NEC/SL
Country:
Sierra Leone
Job Title:
National Education Coordinator
Date requested: 8th June 2016
Contract Grade: B
Contract Length: 2 years
Date Needed By: 1st September 2016
New Post or Replacement: Replacement
Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Unaccompanied
Exact Job Location: Magburaka, Tonkolili District with frequent travel to the areas of operation and to Freetown. The post holder will spend at least 70% of her/his time in Tonkolili District.
Reports To: Programmes Director (PD)
Responsible For: (Staff): Line Management of Education Project Managers (3), Technical education related support provided to ASRH and protection programmes
Liaises With:
- Country Director, Systems Director, Area Coordinator, Programme Coordinators (FIM, Health and Monitoring and Evaluation), Project Managers, Human Resources, Systems and Finance departments
- Desk Officer, Education Adviser and other staff in Concern Headquarters as may be relevant.
-Implementing partner Pikin-To-Pikin
- Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MEST) and Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA) at national and district levels, District authorities, Other INGOs and NGOs,
- Education Consortium members- IRC, IBIS, World Vision, CRS and Save the Children, and other Education Development Partners
- Other stakeholders as required by the programme
Job Purpose:
To lead the strategic development, financial management and implementation of the education programme, ensuring coherence with other sector programmes in Tonkolili District and effective links and engagement at local, district and national level. This involves the direct management of the three education programme managers, as well as supporting their management of the wider education team and ensuring that robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) information is used to inform quality programming. Technical support is to be provided to all other sectors in relation to education activities (Adult and Non-Formal Education).
Main Duties & Responsibilities:
General Responsibilities:
· Promote accountability and ensure compliance with Concern’s Programme Participants Protection Policy, Anti- Fraud Policy and Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) standards, including the complaint and response mechanism (CRM), to ensure maximum protection of programme participants and the efficient and transparent use of Concern’s resources.
· Promote equality, especially gender, within the organisation and across programmes, in line with Concern’s Equality Policy and, ensure targeting and project implementation is informed by How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty (HCUEP).
· Promote and protect the reputation of Concern in external settings, ensuring that the organisation’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, and that we are looked upon as a professional organisation, guided by organisational policies and Concern’s Code of Conduct
Specific Responsibilities:
Human Resource Management:
· Directly manage three project managers;
· Assist in the recruitment, management and support of education programme staff to ensure that staff have the required skill sets and competencies;
· Assist in identifying training needs for staff and provide (or coordinate) the training necessary for the delivery of a high quality education programme. In particular, build the capacity of staff involved in the programme through the provision of technical support, training and advice;
· Support the development of objectives for team members and develop job descriptions for newly joining team members as appropriate;
· Conduct performance reviews on a regular basis and as per Concern National and International Staff Manuals;
· Ensure that staff are properly monitored and supervised and that necessary action is provided when staff are found to be under performing (capacity building or disciplinary action as appropriate);
· Support staff with regular visits to the field to complement the information garnered through reports and discussions.
Programme Management:
· Lead the strategic development and implementation of the education programme in line with Concern’s organisational policy framework;
· Actively seek future funding opportunities and develop strong project proposals in line with the country and sector strategic plan;
· Ensure linkages, synergy and complementary with other Concern sector programmes through joint planning, monitoring and evaluation with the coordinators and teams of other sector programmes;
· Take the lead role in implementing the ‘Safe Learning Model’ research project aimed at improving school safety and the protection of children.;
· Maintain positive relationships with partners (Pikin to Pikin, District Education Officer (DEO) and the Northern Polytechnic teacher training institute) with a focus on continuously improving the quality of the interventions;
· Develop and implement capacity building strategies (for partner and Concern staff) to ensure effective partner support;
· Ensure that issues of gender, equality, safe learning (with a focus on school-related-gender-based-violence), accountability, risk and vulnerability are addressed and monitored;
· Ensure our teams have strong community facilitation and coaching skills, and have a good understanding of participatory and child centred learning methodologies;
· Support the management and development of research and advocacy interventions related to the programme, specifically in relation to improving learning outcomes by addressing SRGBV ;
· As the budget holder for the education projects, oversee and support the budgeting (submission of budget revisions), expenditure tracking and all aspects of financial management of the programme;
· Ensure finance management capacity of programme managers is built, particularly budget, forecast and expenditure management;
· Participate in all budget planning, projections, monitoring and financial reporting exercises with regular liaison with the Country Financial Controller; and where necessary with the Area Coordinator;
· Produce high quality programme reports
Networking
· Represent (or coordinate representation of) Concern at district and national education meetings, while coordinating with NGOs and other organisations to ensure Concern’s work is linked into the bigger national picture;
· Provide technical support to Ministry led working groups at national and district levels;
· Link with the government at the district and national levels to ensure that programming is jointly planned and that the sustainability of the interventions is maximised;
· Lead research and advocacy interventions related to the programme (especially with regard to SRGBV and wider Safe Learning Model project) at national and international level, using data from school-level interventions to advocate for national-level policy development/implementation;
· Ensure positive linkages with other agencies within the Education Consortium to maximise coordination and learning. Ensure Concern’s policy and strategy framework are represented within the Education Consortium programme;
· Link with national and international organisations (IRC, IBIS, Plan, Action Aid, Save the Children, World Vision, CRS, Pikin to Pikin, EFA coalition, UNICEF, World Bank, TALLE-RSL etc.) working in the area of education, specifically those focused on reading interventions, safe learning and support to Chiefdom Education Committees and School Management Committees;
· Enhance programme integration and efficiency in targeting the poorest, through liaising and planning with coordinators of the other Concern Sierra Leone sector programmes;
· Disseminate learning internally, nationally and internationally from our Education programme
Programme Planning Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)
· Strengthen the monitoring and evaluation systems for the Education Programme; ensuring the programme M&E plans are implemented and revised as necessary, all staff and partners understand their roles related to M&E, and all programme documentation is based on robust data;
· Ensure that Concern’s Programme Cycle Management System (PCMS) and M&E guidelines are followed throughout programme development and implementation;
· Ensure programme data is used for programme learning and revision, where applicable;
· Ensure effective monitoring and evaluation is in line with Concern policies, and uses standard and approved tools to measure impact and ensure efficiency against programme indicators;
· Support the team and partners to analyse data collected and to use the information to inform programming;
· Support the development, implementation and analysis of EGRAs in both English and Mother Tongue
· Ensure M&E is incorporated into all education programme plans;
· Ensure that Concern’s accountability and HAP commitments are reflected in programme design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation;
· Support the development of downward accountability mechanisms as an integrated part of the planning and evaluation cycles.
Coordination with other sectors
· Provide technical assistance to all Area and Programme Coordinators on issues of education, particularly for adult literacy and non-formal education activities including Life Skills and ASRH.
· Ensure work related to addressing School Related Gender Based Violence is implemented in a holistic manner, in collaboration with Health team (particularly related to PHU support), and wider integrated programme and other actors.
· Support the sourcing of funding to integrate adult education throughout the Tonkolili Integrated Programme, and lead on the development and design of adult education;
· Support the targeting of the Tonkolili Integrated Programme’s Village Savings and Loans initiatives to include families of out of school children or those at risk of early school leaving;
· Ensure that the following development and cross cutting approaches are incorporated into targeting and programme implementation: How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty (HCUEP) especially equality (with a special focus on gender equality and Engaging Men and Boys) and risk (including HIV&AIDS) and DRR;
Other
· Undertake any other duties as may be reasonably assigned by the PD
· Ensure team members are aware of core Concern policies and procedures relevant to their work, and with the support of others, carry out regular briefings on these policies, including the P4, security management, accountability. Contribute to the implementation of these policies.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Experience Required:
- Minimum 3 yrs experience working overseas in education related development programmes, particularly in a coordinator/advisor role.
- Experience working with local NGOs and partners in the implementation of programmes and support in institutional development.
- Experience in results based management and M&E (including quantitative and qualitative methodologies)
- Technical understanding related to early grade reading assessments and interventions, including Mother Tongue Literacy and SRGBV;
- Experience in designing and undertaking research in the field of education.
- Technical knowledge and experience in relevant areas of education programming – e.g. literacy interventions, safe learning environment & protection.
- Understanding and ideally experience of working on inequality, especially gender inequality (either within education field or other area of work/experience).
- Strong understanding of community development principles and practice
- Experience of managing, coaching, training and building the capacity of international and national staff
- Experience in budget management
Desirable:
- Experience of undertaking research on Safe Learning Model
- Experience managing research and advocacy
- Experience working in West Africa and/or Sierra Leone
- Experience working in partnership with other organisations – e.g. within large consortia
Education & Qualifications Required:
Essential:
- Essential: Third level qualification in Education.
Desirable:
- MA/Diploma in Education, development studies, social sciences or other related discipline
Special Skills, Aptitude or Personality Requirements
· Highly computer literate with extensive knowledge of Word and Excel
- Very strong technical knowledge of education programming and recent developments in child protection, community involvement in education, teacher professional development interventions and Mother Tongue Literacy.
- Ability to translate monitoring and evaluation into practical evidence that can be used to inform lobbying and advocacy messages
- Training and facilitation skills; ability to motivate and develop skills of others
- Flexible, reliable and with the ability/willingness to frequently spend prolonged periods of time in isolated project sites with field staff
- Initiative and ability to work with minimal supervision
- Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity.
- Ability to work both as part of a team and independently
- Empathy with organisational Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives
- Positive thinking and attitude
- Strong report-writing skills in English
Any Other Special Requirements:
- n/a
All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date…. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.
All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline OR Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.
Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.
Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.
Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.
Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.
