About Geneva Global

Geneva Global is an international philanthropy advising company that provides strategic advice, independent research, active program and grant management, and impact measurement to individuals, foundations, companies, and other organizations. The company is a subsidiary of Global Impact, a trusted advisor, intermediary, and implementing partner in the international development sphere supporting organizations across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors.

Geneva Global has nearly 20 years of experience working in various countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. On behalf of clients, we have managed over US $120 million in grants, working with government, civil society organizations, and other development actors to improve the lives of over 38 million people in the region. We have partnered with over 650 local organizations to implement innovative, effective interventions across 14 sectors, including community health, anti-human trafficking, literacy, infant and maternal health, disaster relief, water and sanitation, and education.

Geneva Global has operated in Ethiopia since 2007, where we are officially registered and operate as Geneva Global Ethiopia. Since 2011, Geneva Global Ethiopia has implemented the Speed School program, an accelerated education initiative that has brought over 200,000 formerly out-of-school children aged 9 to 14 back into the government school system, where they routinely succeed. The program allows the students to cover the first three years of primary education in one year, using highly effective instructional methods. These combine with assistance to the students’ mothers to enable them to support their children’s continued schooling both economically and with social and household interventions. The program operates in close partnership with the Ministry of Education, the Regional Education Bureaus and the decentralized education structures of Addis Ababa City and Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Sidama, Somali, SNNP, and (previously) Tigray regions. Implementation falls to both regional government and local civil society partners.

Drawn to the strong evidence of the program’s success, the regions and Addis Ababa are now working closely with Geneva Global Ethiopia and the Ministry of Education to incorporate the Speed School model and methods officially into their formal plans and programs, aiming to scale and sustain the model. In addition, the program has attracted the interest and resources of new funding partners, including most notably UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait. With these partners, Geneva Global Ethiopia and a group of consortium partners will deliver high quality primary and pre-primary schooling in both accelerated Speed School and conventional primary classrooms with children from returned internally displaced populations (IDP) and their host communities in emergency-affected woredas of, Afar, Oromia, and Somali.

One of these projects, the Multi-Year Resilience Project (MYRP), will operate in a group of highly emergency affected woredas of Oromia. Implementation will fall to a Consortium of three operating partners and three technical collaborating partners. Geneva Global Ethiopia will lead the Consortium and play the lead technical role for the education quality, training, and community participation elements of MYRP. Geneva Global Ethiopia is now recruiting a Project Director to oversee, guide, and support the successful implementation of the Education Cannot Wait funded component of this new work with IDP communities, called the Multi-Year Resilience Program (MYRP). The goal is to identify someone to begin performing this role starting 3 January 2022. 

Job Overview

Awarded and supervised by UNICEF on behalf of Education Cannot Wait, MYRP is a three-year project with the goal of “Improving learning through equitable access to resilient and quality education for emergency affected children in Ethiopia.” Specifically, the project aims to bring back to school, or into school for the first time, nearly 24,000 IDP and host community children. The project combines three major outcomes to achieve this result:

1. The provision of secure, functional, equitably accessible school infrastructure along with interventions linked to psychosocial support and removing physical and regulatory barriers;
2. Innovation, training, monitoring, and support to ensure the delivery of high quality, relevant instruction for all pre-primary and primary school-aged children and positive support for learning at home and in the broader community; and
3. School and community-supported initiatives to achieve high retention and transition for all preprimary and primary school-aged children, including especially girls and children with disabilities.

The Project Director will have two full-time staff to help guide the management, coordination, and quality performance of the Consortium partners. Support will also come from the full Geneva Global Ethiopia team and from colleagues at Geneva Global’s headquarters in Paoli, Pennsylvania, USA. The Project Director will report to the Geneva Global Country Director, with whom he will share responsibility for reporting on the project to UNICEF as well as to the broader national Education Cluster. As part of the full Geneva Global Team, the Project Director will contribute to the overall successful implementation and growth of Geneva Global Ethiopia’s work in education.

Major Responsibilities

• Provide overall supervision, guidance, and support to the Consortium’s operational and technical partner organizations in their implementation of MYRP, ensuring their successful, transparent, efficient performance of their contractual commitments.
• Ensure efficient and effective coordination and collaboration between the same partners, concerned equally by their planning, interactions with key government actors, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and other communications, adherence to financial management standards, and other programmatic aspects
• Prepare and submit to the Country Director the annual MYRP plan and budget, ensuring the substantive contributions of the operational and technical partners, close coordination across their respective plan components, and significant input from the REB and the concerned zone and woreda education offices.
• Ensure the close, judicious adherence to MYRP’s annual plan and budget by Geneva Global Ethiopia and all the Consortium partners, tracking activities, results, spending, reporting, and more, and propose revisions to the plan and budget to react to conditions on the ground.
• Prepare annual and quarterly reports about the implementation and progress of MYRP to submit to the Country Director for presentation to UNICEF and the Oromia REB.
• Represent MYRP to the Consortium partners, key government authorities (particularly at the Ministry and REB), UNICEF, and the Education Cluster, among others and in consultation with the Country Director, as relevant.
• Support the MYRP Project Manager in coordinating with local education authorities and other relevant development stakeholders to (i) secure their consistent support of the implementation of MYRP, and (ii) to ensure that MYRP contributes effectively to the achievement of their plans and programs that relate to the same emergency-affected communities.
• Support the MYRP Project Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation Director, and Finance and Administration Director to secure the full and effective cooperation, coordination, and compliance of the Consortium’s operational and technical partners in all aspects of the project’s implementation, including planning, operations, coordination, quality assurance, data collection, financial and programmatic reporting, etc.
• Oversee and support the MYRP Project Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation Director, and Finance and Administration Director in the satisfactory completion of their full sets of duties, consulting with the Geneva Global Ethiopia Country Director, Deputy Director, and Finance and Administration Manager as appropriate to secure their logistical needs, personnel needs, technical performance, and coordination with the fuller Geneva Global Ethiopia team. 
• Consult and coordinate with Geneva Global Headquarters staff, as relevant.
• Collaborate with other program staff of Geneva Global to mobilize their contributions to the successful implementation of MYRP and to ensure the realization of overall program objectives.
• Gather feedback through formal and informal discussions about the program from Consortium partners and line government offices.
• Oversee the overall analysis and reporting, to Consortium and government partners, to Geneva Global leadership, to UNICEF, and to other relevant parties. 

Job Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in education, international development, or related field.
• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in education or international development sector.
• Previous experience or extensive training in education in emergency and conflict situations.
• Experience managing a portfolio of large programs, preferably related to education. Work history with international non-government organizations desired.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively network with key stakeholders and government officials
• Experience managing teams with robust leadership and team building capacity
• Good political judgment with the ability to negotiate at the decision-making level
• Excellent knowledge of English and Amharic, both written and oral is required, fluency in Afan Oromo is desired
• Ability to manage strict timelines and adhere to deadlines, strong organizational skills

Requirements

The MYRP Project Director will:

• Comport himself or herself consistently with dignity, professionalism, and respect for all individuals associated with MYRP, from funders and top-level authorities to teachers, parents, and students, promoting equality and equity for all and enforcing the same behaviors and attitudes among the Geneva Global Ethiopia MYRP team and all members of our Consortium partners who work on MYRP.
• Adhere fully to Geneva Global Ethiopia’s Personnel Manual and the organization’s overall standard operating procedures and ensure the same of the rest of the MYRP team.
• Sign and adhere fully to Geneva Global’s Child Protection Policy and monitor and actively enforce the same adherence by the MYRP staff, the Consortium partners, and all other actors working directly on MYRP (including teachers).
• Conduct official project-related written communications in English, unless agreed to specifically with the Geneva Global Ethiopia Country Director or the Geneva Global Headquarters Senior Program Director.

How to Apply

Please submit your resume and cover letter via the online application system by 13 December 2021 at this link address: CLICK HERE