Contract Type Fixed Term Contract – 1 year with the possibility of extension

Reporting to Soddo Field Office Manager

ABOUT LINK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Link Community Development Ethiopia (LCDE) is part of Link Education International (LEI), a family of not for profit organizations working together to transform education for children and communities across impoverished areas of Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda. Since our foundation in 1995 we have worked in 3,000 schools and improved the lives of over 2,000,000 children through unique and effective school improvement models. We guide governments and educators to adopt low-cost solutions to improve learning and support for children, with a focus on literacy, numeracy and inclusion for the most marginalized children. Through a partnership delivery model which embeds piloting and learning within local systems, we influence changes to policy, practice and accountability on a national scale, and our interventions are regularly adapted and replicated by governments and NGOs in new countries and contexts. LEI, based in Edinburgh – Scotland, supports all project, M&E, fundraising, finance and governance activities in our four sub-Saharan partner countries.

JOB PURPOSE

The Education Specialist will be responsible to deliver the education component of the UK Aid funded Supporting Transition of Adolescent Girls through Enhanced Systems (STAGES)—which focuses on improved learning and transition of 61,345 girls in four woredas of Wolaita Zone (Kindo Koisha, Damot Woide, Damot Pulasa and Damot Sore) in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR)—with focus on:

• numeracy and language/literacy expertise linked to the Ethiopian curriculum at both primary and secondary level. 
• continuous professional development for teachers, and ability to lead on capacity development for teachers, school leaders and supervisors
• adapting expertise in situations of emergency, where project areas, schools and learners face unexpected shocks or events which pose a risk to students accessing quality education.
• safe programming that reaches the most excluded and marginalized children

The Education Specialist will ensure that all STAGES education interventions are designed, implemented and completed on time and within designated budget, and is responsible for high quality delivery of project interventions, as well as proper implementation of project works in the field and management of organizational properties.

INDICATIVE AREAS OF KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Be a champion of girls’ education and inclusion of all children in education at all times
• Deliver trainings to trainers, and to teachers and school leaders in project schools, as well as to school supervisors and woreda experts who support them
• Lead on project activities which contribute to improved school management and governance, and accountability (including capacity development of school leaders, school performance appraisal, and capacity development of school management bodies)
• Work closely with the project M&E team, and the cross-cutting Gender, Inclusion and Safeguarding (GESI) team in all aspects of project delivery.
• Frequently travel to field sites and provide supportive supervisions to staff and partners.
• Lead as relevant in Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) Review and Adaptation Meetings, and project self-assessments.
• Research current education programming trends and changes in the areas of implementation, including liaising with other GEC projects in Ethiopia, distance learning approaches, programming for climate change in education content including education for sustainable development, and education in emergencies.
• Contribute to all quarterly and annual reports to a high standard
• Coordinate and collaborate daily with LEI Technical Advisor—as well as with ad-hoc consultants supporting specific pieces of work in the STAGES project— by following her advice and guidance while feeding her with project’s insights.
• Develop and maintain strategic and positive partnerships with local stakeholders and government offices, with an emphasis on sustainability of project interventions.
• Be an ambassador for LCDE: make high level presentations as relevant at GEC, national and international level meetings and conferences while organizing, attending, and participating in relevant stakeholders’ meetings
• Actively contribute to Link education program in Ethiopia by evaluating its progress, suggesting adjustments of strategies, budget and action plan and recommending possible interaction with other relevant stakeholders
• Maintain own and team’s technical knowledge by attending educational workshops/trainings, reading professional publications and participating in professional forums.
• Adhere strictly to LCDE’s Safeguarding policies and procedures in all areas of work and life, and ensure that line-managed staff and/or partner organizations and/or contractors adhere to LCDE’s safeguarding policy and procedure.
• Ensure all education program activities are delivered with the highest adherence to safeguarding requirements

Job Requirements

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• A postgraduate degree in a relevant field (e.g. Development Studies, Project Management, Education Management or other related disciplines)
• 10 + years of relevant work experience, preferable working with an international NGO in a similar assignment
• Ability to engage community, parents and a wide range of education stakeholders in school improvement and accountability
• Demonstrable expertise in language and literacy, and numeracy as these pertain to the Ethiopian primary and secondary curriculum and continuous professional development for teachers.
• Strong experience of delivering training to teachers on both literacy and language (grades 1-4 mother tongue, grades 5 upwards English) and numeracy, using a variety of methodologies which help teachers to reach the diverse needs of students in the classroom.
• Be able to work closely with, lead and facilitate training for school leaders and supervisors on instructional and pedagogical leadership, in support of improved teaching quality and improved student learning.
• Experience in developing training materials which develop teacher professional development capacity, linked to existing continuous professional development policy and practice in Ethiopia.
• Excellent understanding of the specific challenges that children may face in accessing, participating and learning in school (gender, disability, language and other), and ability to support schools (supervisors, leaders, teachers, communities) to respond to these.
• Be familiar with the school improvement planning (SIP) framework in Ethiopia, and able to work with project partners, including the school community, to strengthen the SIP process with a focus on gender and inclusion, and safeguarding.
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of projects, and how M&E teams and Program teams work together to continuously improve literacy and numeracy.
• Have experience of applying and adapting approaches described above in emergency contexts. These may include the COVID-19 pandemic, or other national/local shocks and emergencies that school communities face.
• Have a good working knowledge of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and how SEL approaches can be mainstreamed through teacher and school leader professional development.
• Excellent written and spoken English and Amharic
• Sympathy with the aims and objectives of Link
• Commitment to humanitarian principles and action
• Commitment to Link’s Safeguarding and gender policies.
• Be an individual with high standards of integrity, with excellent negotiating skills and ability to manage external relationships.

Desirable

• Knowledge of Wolaytatto language
• Experience in pre-primary, primary and secondary education levels
• Familiarity with INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies as they pertain and are useful to the project and context

How to Apply

Please fill in Link’s Application Form which you can find on Link Education International’s website here and submit it to: nicolo@linkeducation.org.uk

copying: sandra@linkeducation.org.ukwith the subject line "Education Specialist – Job Application"

The closing date for applications is Thursday, June 24 2021

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview. Unsuccessful applicants will not be notified.  

Female candidates and persons with disability are strongly encouraged to apply!