Head of Education

Programme & Policy

The Organization We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

· No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday · All children learn from a quality basic education and that, · Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information: Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/jobs We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

TITLE: Head of Education TEAM/PROGRAMME: Programme Development & Quality LOCATION: Abuja, Nigeria Country Office (travel to field offices) GRADE: 2 CONTRACT LENGTH: 2 years CHILD SAFEGUARDING: (select only one)

Level 3: The post holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work;

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Head of Education will use their in-depth contextual understanding, technical expertise, and relationship building skills to define and deliver our strategic ambition for education. The role will lead strategy development and the technical design and implementation of high-quality programmes that deliver change for children in both emergency and development programming. The role supports national advocacy and influencing, while driving strategic partnerships for new business development. It supports the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to demonstrate impact, while sharing learning across our programmes, teams and partners. The role will work closely operations colleagues and with partners in Nigeria CO, building their capacity and building ownership and agency of local organisations. This role includes a focus on external representation on priority issues including: early childhood care and development: foundational learning and uninterrupted learning (education in emergencies) to ensure all children have access to education leading to learning and wellbeing outcomes. In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Director Programme Quality & Development

Staff reporting to this post: Education Technical Expert, Education Coordinator, and provide coaching and mentoring support to operational and other technical colleagues and local partners.

Budget Responsibilities: None

Role Dimensions: The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme Development & Quality team, advocacy colleagues, Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other organisation, donors, academia etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal technical working groups and communities of practice.

Context: Humanitarian and development

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Technical Leadership:

1. Provide technical leadership for education or the Country Office and set the strategic approach in relation to the wider country strategy.
2. Build capacity of education staff and partners in key technical approaches related to education.
3. Ensure safeguarding is embedded in all education programmes, and Core Operational Safeguarding Activities (COSA) are implemented and requisite standards met.

Ensuring Programme Quality (Design & Implementation):

1. Support New Business Development colleagues through technical inputs on funding strategies, donor engagement, capture planning, partnering and forming consortia, and opportunity preparation.
2. Lead high quality technical education programme design; work with cross-functional colleagues across the movement and with local partners to deliver technical programme designs that are evidence based and in line with our programme quality principles, international standards, and donor requirements.
3. Work to ensure that a rights based approach is reflected in our programme design and implementation (in line with our child rights programming approach), with a strong focus on child participation
4. Promote an Education Systems Strengthening approach as the overarching framework, that supports working in collaboration and partnership with governments and regional bodies, local partners and working towards impact, scale and sustainability.
5. Provide oversight and guidance to the programme implementation teams to ensure that thematic programme components are technically sound, implementation methods are consistent with national and global strategies, acknowledged good practice (e.g. Save the Children Common Approaches); and are likely to achieve scale, as well as equitable and sustainable results.
6. Promote and monitor integrated programming in a way that increases overall impact of education programmes at the community level.
7. Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) teams to carry out gender and power analysis, and conduct quality monitoring against international standards through participatory methodologies that promote gender equality and social justice (including child-friendly and gender sensitive/transformative methodologies);.
8. Contribute towards the creation of an organisational learning culture that promotes the use of disaggregated data, evidence and analysis (including gender and power analysis) and understands its link to quality and accountable programming; Contribute to strengthening the use of equality-focused programme principles and good practice across themes and sectors.
9. Undertake field visits to project sites; work with implementation teams to understand impacts, operational challenges, and continuously identify opportunities for learning and improvement.
10. Contribute to organisational learning on education, ensuring that learning from our programmes is shared across the Country Office and our partners, as well as with colleagues in the wider regional and global education community in Save the Children including relevant technical working groups.
11. Monitor trends in order to ensure early action; and lead technical design and implementation and technical coordination of humanitarian responses. Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans, and conduct sectoral assessments (including gender analysis and disability situation analysis, using SC assessment processes and tools) and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes.

Networking & External Engagement:

1. In alignment with Country Office strategy and leadership, engage in strategic positioning with donors, partners and government in-country, and ensure that Save the Children is a partner of choice in education.
2. Ensure that Save the Children is influencing and learning from others through national technical coordination and networking bodies such as clusters and working groups recognising Save the Children and UNICEF are global co-leads for the education cluster.
3. Strengthen civil society engagement in national dialogues and policy processes through working closely with advocacy and child rights governance colleagues. Ensure that the diverse voices of children, girls and boys are equitably heard and represented in our education work.
4. Represent the program to National and Local government representatives, donors, partner agencies, etc. as required.
5. Ensure the quality, clarity and consistency of technical components of internal and external reports (e.g. programme reports, sit-reps, internal updates), working closely with awards, programme implementation and communications colleagues as needed.
6. Leverage and liaise with technical colleagues from across Save the Children, including technical working groups and centres of excellence, ensuring that learning from the Country Office is shared with others and global lessons brought back.

People Management:

1. Support implementation of the Save the Children performance management system, by supporting, coaching, supervising and reviewing performance of the Education staff.
2. Create and maintain a cooperative and positive working environment where staff have clear roles and responsibilities, participate in decision-making and are supported in progressing towards their objectives.

Working together with the Education Teams to identify learning and development needs of the Education Officers and develop specific plans to address the learning needs.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• holds their team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in accordance with the context, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• widely shares Save the Children’s vision, and engages and motivates others future orientated, thinks strategically and on a national and global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength.
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

The post holder must commit to work in an international agency that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion and fights racism, gender inequality and discrimination in all forms; and to model positive behaviours that demonstrate a commitment to equality and respect to all colleagues, partners and communities.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Master’s degree in education
• At least 7 years’ experience of leading the design and implementation of humanitarian and development programmes in education.
• Understanding of the education sector in Nigeria
• Familiar with education systems (humanitarian/cluster systems as needed) for ex. the INEE Minimum Standards, the key issues related to Sustainable Development Goal 4 – to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
• Track record in successful business development/fundraising such as Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, EU, FCDO, USAID, World Bank
• Demonstrated program design, monitoring and evaluation skills, including designing pathways to sustainable impact at scale.
• Experience of strategy development and planning
• Experience of context, capacity and policy analysis, and influencing and advocacy at regional/international level in order to hold duty bearers to account to realise children’s rights.
• Skilled at networking, representation and partnership development in order promote learning, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources.
• Able to generate and use data and evidence to innovate, deliver, learn and share what works and what doesn’t work for children
• Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one cross-cutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; child rights; disability; migration and displacement.
• Experience of supporting humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery
• Significant experience in training, capacity building, and mentoring

• Fluent in English and high level of English writing skills.

  KEY COMPETENCIES

Technical competencies:

• Ensures all children’s access to quality education
• Ensures all children’s wellbeing
• Supports all children’s learning and development

Generic Competencies

• Being the Voice of Children: Promotes evidence-based policy and public engagement that includes the voices of children and their communities
• Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalised children
• Building & Strengthening Partnerships: Promotes working with diverse partners as critical to delivery

• Child Rights: Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers

  Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI’s global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Gender Equality Policies, supported by relevant procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Apply now

Added 3 hours ago - Updated 3 hours ago - Source: savethechildren.net