Regional PSS in Education Manager CEE

Contract

This is a Professional contract, Grade 8 (NRC) contract. More about Professional contract, Grade 8 (NRC) contracts.

Background

The Norwegian Refugee Council has been present in Ukraine since 2014, helping more than 700,000 people with food, shelter, water, sanitation, and legal assistance. Following the escalation of conflict since 24 February 2022, NRC is scaling up its efforts inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries Poland, Moldova and Romania to provide aid to tens of thousands people forced to flee. NRC is responding majority through local partners and to a lesser extent with direct implementation, by applying an integrated approach combining our sectoral areas of expertise such as legal aid (ICLA), protection from violence, education, livelihoods and food security, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, with a large part of delivered through cash modality.

To support the regional response in the best way, NRC has established the Central and Eastern Europe Regional Office (CEERO), based in Warsaw, Poland. This ensures a centralised structure in proximity to the crisis and will provide coordinated support, management, advice and oversight to the country operations. The regional office is responsible for the strategic development of NRC programming in the region by maximizing the support to Country Offices (COs) as well as by exploring and creating synergies among COs. The Regional Programme Department is focused on research, policies, guidance & procedures, evidence and learning, capacity building, programme quality and donor relations.

Please review the detailed Job Description for complete information about the role.

What you will do:

Roles and responsibilities

On BLP: NRC’s Better Learning Programme (BLP) is a psychosocial support (PSS) programme implemented within education programming. It is NRC's flagship classroom-based PSS intervention for children in crisis-affected communities. The programme is a holistic approach to supporting children’s recovery and improving their conditions for learning. The BLP consists of three components of programme intervention. The first – the BLP-1 – is a general, classroom-based PSS approach targeting all children and young people. The second – the BLP-2 – is a small group intervention to support resilience amongst a more specific target group of academic under-achievers. The third – the BLP-3 – is a specialized PSS approach to address nightmares, which many children experience as a chronic symptom of traumatic stress.

To support roll out in all COs, NRC has developed the “BLP Guidance Kit”, the “BLP Capacity Development Toolkit”, and the “BLP Monitoring & Research Toolkit”. Building on the success of the BLP, NRC has also developed a BLP for Youth programme. Reinforcing the BLP, NRC has also developed a framework and tools for understanding teacher wellbeing.

Specific responsibilities

1. Assess and map PSS and BLP capacities, gaps and opportunities across CEE CO education programming, across the project cycle;
2. Assume the role of regional BLP focal point for coordination of activities across the region and with the Global BLP Unit (GBU) in NRC Head Office, including participation in existing internal BLP platforms and groups;
3. Support the in-country BLP focal points to implement, monitor and measure the impacts of BLP activities, and top build sufficient skill to conduct these activities independently in future, using NRC global BLP tools and guidelines;
4. Develop/revise regional level technical guidance for PSS and BLP programme development and implementation, and contribute to global level guidance development and processes;
5. Provide support to global/regional BLP projects, including managing information and data flow between COs, RO and HO, and contributing to reporting requirements;
6. Support COs to best target children and young people most in need of protection, explore and asses new and better ways to assist;
7. Engage in RO and CO PSS and BLP M&E and research activities, where required, and compile and disseminate best practices, lessons learnt, recommendations, and case studies across the region;
8. With the Regional Education Adviser, support communications and advocacy initiatives relevant to PSS and BLP across the region;

9. Represent NRC in regional and country level PSS events, as agreed with relevant focal points.

   What you will bring:

• Minimum 5 years work experience in PSS delivery within education programming;
• Minimum 5 years work experience in PSS training, coaching and capacity development, preferably within education programming;
• Master or Bachelor degree in Education or Pedagogy or Mental Health or other relevant subject;
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities;
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile;
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal;
• Fluency in one or more of the following languages: Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, Romanian;
• The following are considered an asset:
  • Work experience in humanitarian/recovery context;
  • Previous experience implementing NRC’s Better Learning Programme (BLP).

Required skills, knowledge and experience:

• Good communication, interpersonal skills and diplomacy;
• Strong organisational and team working skills;
• Good cultural awareness and sensitivity;
• Self-starter, can-do attitude.

What we offer:

• Type of contract and Duration : 12 months, National Contract
• Salary/benefits: According to NRC salary scale grade 8, terms and conditions.
• Duty station: Primary duty station is Warsaw, Poland. Candidates from Ukraine and Moldova will be based in their home countries on a national contract. All other nationalities will be based in Poland on a Polish national contract.
• Travel: 50% (Central and Eastern Europe Country Offices)

Nationals from Central & Eastern Europe are highly encouraged to apply.