Education Specialist

Job Description

Background/IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The IRC’s vision is to lead the humanitarian field by implementing high-impact, cost-effective programs for people affected by crisis and by using our learning and experience to shape policy and practice. To achieve that vision, the IRC’s Technical Excellence (TE) provides technical assistance to IRC’s country program staff and shares what we learn to influence policy and practice.

The Education Specialist will be responsible for supporting a 36-month AFD-funded grant titled Feminist Solidarity Fund for Girls’ Education (FSF). Through this project, FSF Consortium will support a range of feminist CSOs and WROs working in our 7 target countries and/or at a regional level to accelerate gender equality in and through education. These include:

• CSOs providing direct support to girls and their families to remove individual-, family- and community-level social norm barriers to education.

• CSOs working directly with schools and other sub-national institutions to improve the quality of support for adolescent girls in school

• And, CSOs conducting research and/or advocacy to advance the rights of girls, including access to education

Priority will be given to CSOs working with the most marginalized, vulnerable or under-served subgroups of adolescent girls such as those that have experienced violence, those living through multiple crises, those that are marginalized because of their gender identity and sexual orientation.

The Specialist will guide the program design, provide direct technical support, and build technical capacity to implement, measure and continuously improve the proposed project in in close collaboration with the Women’s Protection and Empowerment Specialist.

This is a primarily a field-facing position with the central responsibility focused on program quality.

The remaining 0-20% of their time is spent on influence, advocacy, research and internal initiatives at the discretion of their supervisors.

Major Responsibilities:

• Provide targeted technical support to program design, innovation, influence, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning for the FSF project;

• Support consortium partners to identify and analyze social norm barriers to girls participation in education opportunities; and support the development of behavior change strategies;

• Support consortium partner staff to undertake FSF activities, ensuring that they are aligned with the project strategies which include contextualizing education outcomes and including interventions chosen based on best available evidence;

• Provide support to ensure proposed activities are responsive to client needs and preferences based on sound context and gender analysis;

• Document and share cross-context learning internally (with country program staff) and with support from the Project Director, externally (in relevant meetings, conferences, etc. in national, regional, and global fora);

• Regular communication and coordination with the Project Manager and key home office staff as well as other regional Technical Advisors on technical and project management issues;

• Give technical input to relevant communication materials such as fact sheets, briefs, papers, and presentations that can be disseminated and used for influence at the national and global level;

• Produce technical inputs to internal and external reports, as needed;

• Act as lead technical focal point for education in emergencies technical questions with the donor.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Director of Education (Country Support) located in Washington, DC

Job Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s/ undergraduate degree in education or relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience is required. Master’s/post graduate degree preferred.

Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of implementing and/or managing large education programs and teams is required, within a humanitarian or international development setting. 1—2 years acting in an advisory capacity on education programming is preferred. Experience in strategies and programs to shift attitudes and behaviors that impede girls’ access to education is required. Technical tools and materials development, monitoring and evaluation, innovation, and M&E in relation to education is highly desired. Expertise in one more technical areas of focus within education preferred (e.g. reading, math, edtech, inclusive education, etc) is desirable. Experience in strategy development and working across sectors or disciplines is highly desired.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies: Demonstrated expertise in program design, monitoring and evaluation, with the ability to turn concepts and strategy into measurable action. Strong verbal and written communication skills. Demonstrated commitment to renewing and maintaining currency with best practices.

Language Skills: Fluency in English and French required.

Working Environment: Up to 40% travel may be required.

All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies.

Qualifications