Organisation Development Volunteer Job Vacancy in Rwanda (12 months)

Skills Requirements
• Appreciation of different aspects of work in an organisation or business (planning, basic finances, problem-solving, sales, etc.)
• Computing skills (use of Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Rwanda has been developing rapidly over the past 10 years and is regarded as having a strong government that promotes a peaceful society, sustainable economic growth and infrastructural development. All of this is being achieved despite the genocide – just 17 years ago – in which an estimated 1 million people were killed, and Rwanda today is a stable and peaceful country. However, Rwanda remains one of the poorest countries in the world and continues to face massive challenges to its development from a high population density, a rapidly increasing population (high fertility rate), few natural resources, a generally low level of education in the population, and the vast majority of the population working as subsistence farmers or poorly paid casual manual labourers.

Children’s Care and Protection in Rwanda (CCPRWA) is a small local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) set up in Rwanda in 1998 by a group of friends who grew up together in an orphanage in Uganda and returned to Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. CCPRWA’s Head Office is in the town of Rwamagana in the Eastern Province of Rwanda.

CCPRWA runs two educational projects: Nsinda Vocational Training Centre and Ikirezi Pre-School. Both schools are based in a rural area around 7km from Rwamagana.
CCPRWA’s Vision is to “eradicate poverty and hunger in Rwanda through the provision of education and skills to create job opportunities”.

CCPRWA’s Mission is to “provide education for people in the whole of Rwanda but especially Eastern Province: to people who never had a chance to continue with secondary education; to give people skills so they can earn a living; and to help children whose families are not capable of sending them to kindergarten because they are too poor, to give them a head start”.

Access to post-primary education, including vocational training, is required in Rwanda to reduce poverty and provide economic growth. In particular, vocational training is valuable to young people who have dropped out of the education system after primary education due to lack of academic ability, lack of money to pay secondary school fees, or other reasons. Nsinda Vocational Training Centre trains young people over 1-2 years allowing them to then start work to earn money for themselves and their families; without this training, these young people have few prospects in life. NVTC charges a school fee for each student each term, and this is normally paid by a sponsor such as an international NGO, a private sponsor, or a parent. NVTC has been operating for 10 years and has capacity for 80 students.

Ikirezi Pre-School was established in 2007 to provide free nursery education, childcare and nutritious food for children aged 3-6 years in the poor rural community of Nsinda, near to Rwamagana. There are no government-funded pre-schools (nursery schools) in Rwanda. In poor rural areas the provision of free pre-school education is a valuable service for the community, allowing parents to focus on their work (often as casual farm labourers or subsistence farmers on their own small piece of land) to earn money or grow food to support their family. Pre-schools also give these young children a head start in education, reducing the chance that they will have to repeat an academic year once they start primary school. As well as providing education and childcare, Ikirezi Pre-School provides nutritious food to its pupils every day; this has helped to reduce child malnutrition in the local community. Ikirezi Pre-School relies on income generation and private donations to pay its operating costs.

The two schools share a management team of a Head Teacher and Assistant Head Teacher who are responsible for the delivery of education and the day-to-day running of the schools. CCPRWA is the parent organisation that oversees the schools and has responsibility for:
• Financial management (budgeting, accounting, payment of salaries, taxes, etc.)
• Marketing of the schools
• Recruitment of student sponsors and new students
• Fundraising and income generation
• Liaison with sponsors, donors and government (local and national)
• Asset management

CCPRWA is run by two main staff members – the Managing Director, Innocent, and the Finance Director,
Joseph.

VOLUNTEER ROLE
A volunteer is required to build on the work of volunteers between 2009 and 2011 who helped CCPRWA to develop simple and reliable ways of working so that the most important tasks may be completed.
The volunteer will normally work with the two Directors of CCPRWA in the Head Office in Rwamagana, but will also spend some time working with the school management team. The Directors and the school management all speak good English.

The primary responsibilities of the volunteer will be to:
• Coach and assist CCPRWA Directors in the running of the organisation, including the use of established ways of working (processes). This will include aspects of planning, basic finances, sales & marketing, small project management, report/proposal writing, decision making, staff management, liaison with external parties (such as sponsors, board members or government), and office management (filing etc.).
• Work with CCPRWA to improve ways of working, and develop new ways of working in some areas.
• Coach and assist CCPRWA in running and improving a short-term volunteer programme associated with the Pre-School; the programme was set up in 2010 and the first volunteers will arrive in spring 2011.
• Identify areas in which staff would benefit from training; plan and deliver basic training to CCPRWA staff. Training areas may include basic computer skills (use of Word, Excel, etc.) and simple business skills (planning, decision making, report writing, basic finances, etc.).
• Help CCPRWA to review and update future development plans.
• Encourage professionalism in the organisation through regular reviews and feedback.

The volunteer placement will be for a period of 12 months and will help make CCPRWA more sustainable in terms of capability and finances.

How to apply
E-mail ccprwanda@gmail.com and we can communicate further!