Save the Children,Senior Education and Child Development Specialist Jobs Vacancy

POSITION
ANNOUNCEMENT

Rwanda
Country Programme, Kigali Rwanda

BACKGROUND:

Save
the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. We
work in 120 countries. We work together, with partners, to inspire
breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and
lasting change in their lives. Save the Children works in thirteen districts in
Rwanda with a current staff complement of approximately 183 staff.

SC
Rwanda Country Office seeks to hire qualified, committed and experienced National
to fill the following position:

Position:
Senior
Education and Child Development Specialist

Place of Work:	Kigali with field visits
Reports to: Staff directly reporting with this post: Time frame: Tentative start date:	Programme Development and Quality Director None Open

CHILD
SAFEGUARDING:

Level
3 – the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either
frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in
one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are
visiting country programs; ore because they are responsible for implementing
the police checking/vetting process staff.

PURPOSE
OF POSITION:

The
Senior Education and Child Development Specialist is an important member of the
PDQ team. Under the general direction and guidance of the Programme Development
and Quality Director, the Senior Education and Child Development Specialist
will ensure that all early childhood development (ECD) and basic education
interventions are of a high technical quality and attract significant donor
funding which contribute to Save the Children’s strategic objectives; that
monitoring processes are in place, and that programme quality and relevance is
continually assessed and solutions quickly put in place to reflect changing
contexts.

The
Senior Education and Child Development Specialist is expected to strengthen the
capacity of the existing ECD and basic education team, conduct training and
provide technical advice and support to project staff, with frequent visits to
the field to support high quality programme implementation and ensure
programming objectives are successfully achieved. The position technically
supports the ECD and education program in both development and humanitarian
contexts. The Senior Education and Child Development Specialist is also
expected to provide technical advice and support to ECD and basic education
implementing partners.

Save
the Children in Rwanda is currently running a programme titled ‘Advancing the
Right to Read’ whose goal is to ensure that all children leave school able to
read. It achieves this goal by working with children, their families and schools
from birth through early primary, focusing on improving learning outcomes and
early grade literacy. Advancing the Right to Read seeks to support the
Government of Rwanda to bring together parents, communities and schools to
achieve this goal and achieve systemic change. The Senior Education and Child
Development Specialist will be responsible for leading on advocacy, technical
support and resource mobilisation work.

Current
thematic priorities include:

In
ECD: Emergent literacy and maths for children aged 4-6 and parenting
education for children aged 0-3
In
Basic Education: Literacy Boost for primary school aged children 7-9 which
includes both engagement with and support for in-class learning as well as
community based support and reading clubs.

Literacy
sector: Supporting the development of a rich literacy environment though
continued support for the development of the Kinyarwanda language book sector.

SCOPE
OF ROLE:

Reports
to: Programme
Development and Quality Director

Number
of direct reports: None

Important
colleagues: ECD
and Basic Education Program Managers, Program Implementation Director, Head of
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL), Senior Child
Protection Specialist and Business Development Manager, Senior Education MEAL Specialist

KEY
AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

General
management

Demonstrate
behaviours that are consistent with Save the Children’s Mission, Vision
and Values and ensure their broader application by staff across the
programme.
Contribute
to a conducive and productive work environment.
Contribute
to the wider country programme agenda.
Participate
actively in PDQ meetings, planning and review activities, providing
enhanced insight into child protection and child rights governance
programming.
Participate
in any Donor visit to project(s) within the country office portfolio, as
required.
Carry
out the responsibilities of the role in a way which reflects Save the
Children’s commitment to safeguarding children, in accordance with our
Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding Policy.
Comply
with and promote Save the Children policies and practice with respect to
child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities
and other relevant policies and procedures.

Programme
Quality

Overall
responsible to ensure the programme quality of Save the Children’s ECD and
basic education programming;
Provide,
or obtain from members/external sources, appropriate high level technical
support on methods and practices to be rolled out within basic education
and child development programming;
Lead
the continuous assessment of ECD and basic education needs and ensure that
these are appropriately reflected in sector strategy and program;
Work
collaboratively with other sectors on ways to integrate child development
and education with other programs, in order to maximize impact for
children and families;
Conduct
regular visits (30% of time) to the education and child development
programs;
With
the ECD and Education Program Managers and the MEAL team, collaborate on
the development of tools to monitor and improve the quality of education
and child development work. Where necessary provide technical
training for staff and partners as required (assessment tools, programme
quality tools, case management, etc.);
Lead
the process of lessons learning to ensure high quality programming, with
support from the MEAL Specialist, coordinating the collection of
documentation across all the programme areas;
Improve/strengthen
the coordination of Save the Children’s work with the relevant ministries
on education and child development;
With
the Program Managers and Awards Manager, ensure reports to donors are of
the highest quality, that there is alignment between the narrative and
financial, and that they are submitted in a timely fashion;
Ensure
recognized international best practices and Save the Children policies are
applied in the work with children;
Ensure
program products and learning are maintained within the Save the Children
country program.
Provide
technical support to the ongoing humanitarian program.

Programme
development

Update
the education and child development strategy, including the advocacy
component, ensuring consistency with the Rwanda Country Office Strategic
Plan 2016-18, Global Initiatives, and with Save the Children’s theory of
change;
Ensure
that the education and child development advocacy plan is implemented in
timely manner and in line with the general Country Office advocacy
strategy;
Support
country strategic planning and annual reporting processes;

Lead
programme development for ECD and basic education in close coordination
with the Program Managers and field managers, awards, finance and
operations staff;
Grow
Save the Children’s ECD and basic education portfolio sustainably and
strategically, consistent with the Country Strategy;
Ensure
updated and accurate needs information for use in program development;
Lead
on technical visioning of new programs and proposals;
Identifying
opportunities and contributing to proposals for donors
Work
with colleagues from other sectors to coordinate on and integrate
programing to ensure children’s needs are met.

External
Relations

Maintain
strategic links with key duty bearers and stakeholders such as
governmental bodies, UN agencies, INGOs and other local NGOs and community
organizations, identify opportunities and ensure Save the Children’s
participation in key activities at the national and local level;
Represent
and advocate for Save the Children in all ECD and Basic Education working
groups and other interagency fora to ensure Save the Children is seen as
the lead international agency in terms of innovation and quality of
implementation in basic education and early childhood development;

Help
to clearly articulate the ECD and basic education advocacy messages for
the Rwanda Country Office;
Work
with the Communication Manager, ECD and Education Program Managers to
develop the communication plan, package communication messages and ensure
that the program visibility is compliant with Save the Children standards.

Monitoring
and Evaluation

In
collaboration with the Senior Education Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability
and Learning (MEAL) Specialist:

Oversee
knowledge sharing across the ECD and basic education teams, and in
coordination with other sectors, and ensure that monitoring and evaluation
results are understood and used to improve programmes;
Review
reports, lessons learned and extract for internal and external use;
Develop
programme quality assurance tools, such as needs assessment tools, programme
level indicators, quality checklists for use in spot checks, complaints
and response mechanisms, internal review and programme evaluation work
plans, and others;
Work
with the MEAL team to ensure clear plans in place for monitoring and
evaluating project activities in relation to the objectives and that
lessons learnt are shared and capitalized on;
Ensure
that projects are monitored regularly, and that data is collected on a
weekly, monthly and quarterly basis;
Regularly
visit project sites to ensure that teams are appropriately supported.

Capacity
building, team work

Work
with program implementation department to ensure adequate capacity
building and technical support to the field;
Support
the recruitment, training and promotion of ECD and education staff as
appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional
development opportunities for staff.

SKILLS
AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Accountability:

Holds
self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently,
achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
Holds
the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities –
giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, 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 others to
do the same
Widely
shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates
others
Future
orientated, thinks strategically

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

QUALIFICATIONS
AND EXPERIENCE:

A
child development or education professional with a Master’s degree in
education, child development or relevant field;
At
least 5 years professional experience in education and/or ECD, including
experience working at a senior management or technical level in child
development or education for NGOs;
Excellent
understanding of the ECD and education sector, particularly issues related
to literacy, holistic child development, pedagogy, teacher training,
curriculum development, child protection and child rights either in
development and humanitarian context;
Clear
understanding of the intersection of ECD and education with other thematic
areas
Proven
representation skills;
Strong
commitment to capacity building of national staff and partners with
willingness to adopt participatory and consultative approaches;
Experience
writing donor funding proposals;
Ability
to compile narrative sections and thematic budgets for proposals; ability
to edit/write narrative reports, with reference to financial reporting;
Highly
developed oral and written communication skills including influencing,
negotiation and coaching;
Strong
results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind-sets;
Ability
to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner;

Fluency
in English and Kinyarwanda, verbal and written, required;
Commitment
to Save the Children values, including willingness to abide by and enforce
the Child Safeguarding policy.

CHILD
SAFEGUARING POLICY:

Any
employee, consultant, contractor or the supplier undertaking an activity on
behalf of SCI must sign the Child Safeguarding – Declaration of
Acceptance Form] and comply with the SCIs Child Safeguarding
Policy which is a statement of SCI’s commitment to preventing abuse and
protecting children with whom it comes into contact.

This
extends not only to children with whom SCI and its partners work directly,
but also includes children whom staff are responsible for. SCI
believes that the situation of children must be improved through the
promotion of their rights supported and demonstrated by all members of
staff. Save the Children International’s Code of Conduct sets out the
standards which all staff members must adhere to.

Interested
candidates should send an application letter plus updated Curriculum Vitae in
English, including 3 names of professional referees to HR-Rwanda@savethechildren.org. The deadline for
receiving applications is 23rd Oct 2017.

Please
mention Senior Education and Child Development Specialist as subject of
your mail.

*Note that only
shortlisted candidates will be contacted.