Education Specialist (Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá)

Contract

This is a Professional contract (NRC) contract. More about Professional contract (NRC) contracts.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across more than 31 countries, providing emergencies and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. We stand up for people forced to flee, advocating their rights. NORCAP, our global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.

Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks.

NRC is an equal opportunities employer and aims to have staffing diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality and physical ability.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is looking for a dynamic Education Specialist to lead our education programs across Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. This critical role involves setting strategic direction, ensuring quality assurance, and spearheading the development of our education portfolio in these countries.

Qualifications

What you will bring:

• Minimum 4 years of experience within technical expertise area in a humanitarian/ recovery context
• Advanced academic qualification (MSc.) in a relevant field (e.g. Education, Pedagogy, etc.)
• A clear understanding of Education issues, legal frameworks and professional standards in humanitarian and displacement contexts (e.g. Education in Emergencies, Sphere Standards, etc.).
• Expertise in Education (e.g. including in non-formal education, formal education and technical and vocational education)
• Experience is staff capacity building
• Teaching experience is a plusExperience from working in complex and volatile humanitarian contexts
• Experience in implementing/overseeing specialised Education service delivery.
• Experience in implementation of educational programmes across international organisations and/or NGOs.
• Strong capacity in leading/supporting proposal development
• Fluency in English and Spanish, both written and verbal
• Knowledge and experience of humanitarian context in Colombia, Ecuador and Panamá.
• Experience in partnership and capacity building
• Knowledge of relevant legal and policy frameworks, international and domestic, with focus on International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights and Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts
• Excellent analytical skills and communication skills in writing and speech.
• Experience with facilitating and leading internal organisational processes.

What we offer

• Duty station**: Bogotá, Colombia**
• Contract: national 12 months, extendable
• Travel: 40% including locations in Colombia, Ecuador and Panama
• Salary/benefits: grade 9 on NRC’s salary scale.
• NRC is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to diversity without distinction to age, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, and physical ability.

• We think outside the box, encourage ideas, and give responsibility to all employees at all levels. You will have many opportunities to be heard and take the initiative.

  Find out more about the benefits of working for NRC

Important information about the application process

• Internal candidates only: please click on the suitcase icon labelled “I am an employee” to be redirected to NRC’s internal careers site.
• When creating your profile, include your full name as given on your passport. Complete all the system-required fields for experience, employment history and education.
• Submit your application and CV in English, taking care to attach your latest CV.
• Applications that do not meet the minimum standards in terms of experience or qualifications will generally not be considered. Unsolicited applications not related to this specific job advertisement will not be considered.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. We receive many applicants for each vacant position.
• If you have any questions about this role, please email aela.recruitment@nrc.no with the job title as the subject line.

Why NRC?

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organization helping people forced to flee. Our 15,000 staff work in crises across 40 countries, providing life-saving and long-term assistance to millions of people every year.

Watch this short video to see NRC in action.

The Latin American (LA) region faces multiple complex emergencies, including the internal and regional impact of the crisis in Venezuela, the humanitarian consequences of the armed conflict in Colombia, and the pervasive high levels of generalised violence in the North of Central America and in Mexico. These conditions produce some of the highest forced displacement numbers in the world. According to UNHCR, there are over 15 million displacement-affected people, including some 7,4 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across NRC country programme coverage in Latin America. The LA region also witnesses record numbers of transcontinental population movements generating significant protection risks as people are obliged to cross borders often through routes where conditions are dramatic. Restrictive asylum and migration policies also create flows of deportees and returnees, who struggle to re-integrate in their communities and often face violence, retaliation, discrimination, and exclusion. Those phenomena are accelerating across the region.

NRC has been operating in Latin America in a total of 8 countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico with an overall regional budget of approximately 60 million USD and 1,100 dedicated colleagues across the continent. Given the increasing number of displaced people in need of humanitarian assistance in the region, NRC decided to establish a Regional Office in Latin America from early 2024 to oversee the country programmes in the region, and provides strategic guidance and oversight across core programme, advocacy, and support functions.

We are looking for people who are passionate about helping refugees and people forced to flee. Are you one of those people? If you are, NRC offers you the opportunity to:

• do demanding and professional work, often in challenging contexts.
• join a work culture that empowers every employee to share ideas and take responsibility.
• be part of a welcoming and supportive community committed to human dignity.

Learn more about NRC

Responsibilities

What you will do:

• Responsible for the high-quality implementation of the Education programme and initiatives appropriate to the Colombia/Ecuador/Panama contexts by supporting field education teams (through field visits and development of technical tools/documents/guidelines), while ensuring that the Education Strategy and quality standards are met in the implementation of education activities.
• Lead the identification of country-wide priorities in education, gaps and opportunities as well as support new needs Education assessments and response analyses, and advise the Country Programme in appropriate and relevant actions required.
• Support the development and review of high-quality project proposals and timely reports in order to ensure the technical quality and adherence to the Education Strategy and NRC Programme Policy.
• Lead the revision of the Education Core Competency Strategy as part of the broader Country Strategy development process in Colombia, Ecuador and Panama (including leading the harmonization process of certain Education interventions/programmes and development of the psychosocial support and youth programming components).
• Ensure representation of NRC and the Education programme in Colombia/Ecuador/Panama with relevant stakeholders and coordination fora, especially with the Ministry of Education and other education authorities.
• Build capacity to operationalize quality, timely and comprehensive Education programming and ensure harmonization and consistency in the various areas of operation, including the development of SOPs/procedures, technical guidance notes, associated tools and overview monitoring plans in collaboration with other members of the team and M&E team.
• Contribute to the collaboration and coordination with other NRC’s Core Competencies, ensuring synergies and engagement in cross-cutting initiatives.
• Lead the strengthening of Education safe and inclusive programming standards (including the NRC’s flagship Better Learning Programme), and support cross-cutting initiatives to ensure Do-No-Harm and improve inclusion, accountability, community engagement, etc. in the wider NRC’s programme in Colombia, Ecuador and Panama.
• Lead the harmonization and strengthening of Education monitoring and evaluation tools and systems, in collaboration with the M&E team, while supporting the Education Project Managers for ensuring a quality reporting of project participants in the NRC’s Global Output and Outcome Reporting System (GORS).
• Solicit, develop, promote and share ideas for improvement, innovation and necessary changes in project approaches and activities related education.

We encourage you to read the detailed Job Description to know more about the role.