Regional Inclusive Education Specialist - based in Syria

Overview

Support inclusive education initiatives in emergencies in Syria and the region.

You have:

• Minimum 5 years' experience in international development, in emergency and post crisis environments, in technical positions Experience in Syria or Middle East is an asset
• Experience in complex environments as well as in collaboration with national education actors at all levels (from services to central level), including in emergency and humanitarian context
• Previous experience in a regional position
• Master's degree in Inclusive or special needs services in education, education in emergency
• Expertise in primary/secondary education, early childhood, education and international development, planning, curriculum, pedagogy, psychology of education or equivalent), Teaching degree
• Excellent knowledge of education in emergencies minimum standards (INEE, 2024)
• Very good knowledge of Disability definition, frameworks, main international guidance and tools
• Facilitating technical workshops, consultations, trainings, and coordination forums with senior stakeholders.
• Representing organizations in clusters, technical working groups, or coordination platforms.

Description

• Place: Damascus - Syria
• Starting date: August 10th 2026
• Duration of contract: 12 months
• Closing date for applications: 18 June 2026

Humanity & Inclusion is an independent and impartial aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. The organisation works alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.

Since its creation in 1982, HI has run development programmes in more than 60 countries and responded to numerous emergencies. Today, we have a budget of approximately 255 million euros, with 4794 employees worldwide.

At Handicap International-Humanity & Inclusion, we truly believe in the importance of inclusion and diversity within our organisation. This is why we are engaged to a disability policy to encourage the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities. Please indicate if you require any special accommodation, even at the first interview. For more information about the organisation: Handicap International - Humanity & Inclusion | HI

JOB CONTEXT:

HI’s Regional Programme (Mashriq) coordinates missions in 4 different countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria). The programme is covering the full mandate of HI – emergency, mine action and development with a strong focus on continuum and resilience. The program has a total volume expected for 2026 of 12M Euros with 300 staff.

The main sectors of intervention are integrated physical and functional rehabilitation and MHPSS, inclusive education, Economic inclusion including basic needs and economic recovery), Humanitarian mines actions and Inclusive Humanitarian Actions/Inclusive governance.

Education is one of the core sector of intervention in most of the countries within the region. HI currently implements inclusive education projects in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, while seeking to develop interventions in Egypt.

In Syria, HI is supporting Education in Emergencies (EiE) partners (international INGOs and local NGOs) to make their EiE intervention inclusive of children with disabilities, through a mix approach of technical capacity building to partners and direct operational support to children with disabilities and their caregivers.

Based on the evolution of the context in the region, the Regional Inclusive Education Specialist will have to support the development of the Operational strategy and the revision of the sectorial strategy developed in the previous years to be adapted to the evolution of the context, especially in Lebanon.

In Syria, Security is stable in the Damascus, where amenities, hospitals, and basic commodities are available. Lebanon is volatile while stable in Egypt. Security conditions are very stable throughout Jordan. The position will require the postholder to travel between the countries of the region.

YOUR MISSION:

For most of the first 12 months, the Regional IE Specialist will be based in Syria and focus on supporting HI Education in Emergency (EiE) intervention and strategy in Syria, with in addition wider support to the region as needed. The main objectives are:

Syria:

• Support the implementation of the EiE component of ECHO project
• Develop HI strategy for EiE and IE in formal education in Syria
• Support the development of partnership in education sector and the networking
• Develop collaboration with the Ministry of Education and establish MoU
• Represent HI in relevant coordination mechanism

Jordan:

• Strong focus in Jordan to support the ongoing GIZ project until the end of September 2026, and the additional Chalhoub project ( end of October) and Altrad (June 2027).
• Support the linkages and relations with Ministries of Education and other relevant ministries especially in relation to the referral pathway
• Support business development opportunities in Jordan to capitalise on the ongoing IE project

Lebanon: Map any IE or EIE opportunities in Lebanon, especially with the previous donor UNICEF or ECW as they focus on the new CORE programme.

Egypt: Sector to be developed

Reporting to the Mashriq Regional Technical Head of Programs and under the technical supervision of the Global Inclusive Education Specialist, the Regional IE Specialist will have 3 main responsabilities:

Responsibility 1: Technical Expertise

• Leads sector strategy and contributes to regional and global strategic thinking
• Provides sector-specific technical input to the regional operational strategy (StratOp) in line with the global technical strategy (StraTech)
• Leads the development and monitoring of the regional sector strategy in their sector and ensures its implementation in the various countries where it is applied
• Contributes to synergies and promotes integrated programming approaches with other sectors, based on strategic and operational priorities and standard projects

• Supports HI's technical assistance (TA) strategy to help development actors, as well as public and private service providers, become more competent

• Provides technical support to projects in accordance with global technical standards and frameworks in its area of expertise

• Develops and contextualizes technical guidance and specific tools related to its area of expertise (including contextual analysis, needs assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, etc.)
• Provides advice and technical support to a portfolio of projects in development, emergency and protracted crisis contexts
• Supports programmes in designing strategies aligned with a Nexus approach and prepares for emergency responses

• Integrates and promotes HI's cross-cutting approaches: disability-generation-age (DGA) marker, conflict sensitivity and protection integration in its interventions

• Ensures technical quality control and monitoring.

• Carries out technical monitoring missions in the field to support teams and partners through training assessments, internal audits, team coaching, etc.
• Applies and adapts quality control tools and frameworks (project reviews, checklists, dashboards) defined by headquarters, alerts the THOP or TUM and reports any problems or needs for adaptation of the technical reference framework in terms of quality.
• Provides technical support to national teams during key phases of the project cycle (design, implementation, evaluation).
• Recommends programme adjustments in response to possible contextual changes (e.g. humanitarian crises).

Responsibility 2: Business Development

• Provides strategic technical monitoring
• Monitors regional dynamics and multi-stakeholder initiatives in order to anticipate opportunities for collaboration and tracks trends in their area of expertise in relation to national and regional contextual developments
• Analyses internal strengths and weaknesses, taking into account the institutional ecosystem, and ensures that proposals are aligned with strategic frameworks and donor requirements

• Contributes to the strategic monitoring of relevant calls for proposals at the regional level

• Develops strategic partnerships

• Identifies opportunities for partnerships and/or consortia with development and humanitarian actors, research institutes and multilateral organisations within the overall framework of Stratech

• Supports teams in developing strategic partnerships with local, national and international organisations according to needs and technical complementarities, and within the framework of HI's strengthened commitment to localizing aid

• Supports the development and drafting of new project proposals

• Provides technical support to national teams in drafting concept notes and proposals, ensuring the technical quality of intervention logics, results frameworks and budgets
• Leads or contributes to the drafting of concept notes and proposals

• Supports and/or develops technical assistance (TA) offers to support and strengthen the capacities of partners and development actors

• Represents HI in external coordination and advocacy forums

• Actively participates in relevant regional sectoral groups (clusters, alliances, inter-institutional groups)

• In collaboration with the Institutional Funding Division (IFD), identifies potential donors (private and institutional), networks, partners, NGOs and advocacy groups in line with HI's technical and strategic vision, and ensures the development of technical and strategic links

• Contributes to technical visibility and external communication

• Supports the organisation's technical visibility through presentations, publications and participation in regional and national events or workshops, with the aim of strengthening HI's recognition and credibility within its sector

• Produces content (capacity statements, project sheets, thematic fact sheets) to promote HI's approaches and positioning within its sector to an external audience

  Responsibility 3: Knowledge management/ Lessons learned

• Coordinates a knowledge management system and promotes research and innovation initiatives

• Designs participatory tools and processes to document field experiences (case studies, lessons learned, innovations) and identifies lessons learned through recommendations from evaluations
• Leads transnational learning workshops and actively participates in global communities of practice (CoP)
• Contributes to the drafting of analytical reports, technical notes and capitalization documents, and ensures their internal and external dissemination

• Facilitates reflection and the development of innovative thematic outcomes, ensuring that issues related to gender, disability, climate change adaptation and digital transformation are meaningfully integrated into programming

• Supports and ensures capacity building for technical and non-technical staff (managers, technical officers, etc.) in accordance with the framework defined at the global level

• Participates in the recruitment ("R" for technical test and technical interview) and validation of technical positions within projects
• Ensures the integration of new employees so that they become familiar with sector priorities and objectives
• Conducts training needs assessments in collaboration with field teams
• Contributes to staff capacity development through the implementation and monitoring of a capacity building plan, including training and coaching mechanisms, to promote continuous learning in line with HI's professional competency frameworks

Benefits

At HI, the conditions offered are up to your commitment and adapted to the context of your mission.

• 12 months contract starting from 10th, August 2026; (extendable upon fundings)
• The international contract provides social cover adapted to your situation:
• Unemployment insurance benefits for EU nationals;
• Pension scheme;
• Medical coverage with 50% of employee contribution;

• Repatriation insurance paid by HI;

• Salary from 2757€ gross/month upon experience;

• Per diem: 533€ net/month - paid in the field
• Hardship: 250 € net/month paid with your salary;
• Paid leaves: 25 days per year;
• R&R: according to the level of the mission : 5 days every 12 weeks
• Position: Unaccompanied:
• Payment for travel costs (air ticket & visa) and transport of your personal effects;

• Mission of more than 12 months: a child allowance of 100€ per month, per child from the second child paid in the field;

• Housing: Collective, taken in charge by HI;

Applications will be processed on an ongoing basis, don’t wait for applying!

Only successful candidates will be contacted.

Requirements

Experience & Qualification

• Minimum 5 years' experience in international development, in emergency and post crisis environments, in technical positions Experience in Syria or Middle East is an asset
• Experience in complex environments as well as in collaboration with national education actors at all levels (from services to central level), including in emergency and humanitarian context
• Previous experience in a regional position
• Master's degree in Inclusive or special needs services in education, education in emergency

Skills

• Expertise in primary/secondary education, early childhood, education and international development, planning, curriculum, pedagogy, psychology of education or equivalent), Teaching degree
• Excellent knowledge of education in emergencies minimum standards (INEE, 2024)
• Very good knowledge of Disability definition, frameworks, main international guidance and tools
• Facilitating technical workshops, consultations, trainings, and coordination forums with senior stakeholders.
• Representing organizations in clusters, technical working groups, or coordination platforms.

Language:

• Fluent in written and spoken English is required.
• Fluency in Arabic is an asset.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 5 hours ago - Updated 4 hours ago - Source: hi.org