Education Programme Manager

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

Plan International Sierra Leone is seeking to recruit a top-notch professional to fulfil the position of Education Programme Manager based at the Country Office to deliver the tasks outlined below:

Working in over 70 developing countries globally, Plan International strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We actively unite children, communities, and other organizations who share our drive to realize our ambition ‘All Girls Standing Strong.

We support children, particularly girls to gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to claim their rights to a fulfilling life, today and in the future. We place a specific focus on girls and women, who are most often left behind.

Inclusive Quality Education is one of Plan International’s six thematic areas of intervention. Our IQE takes a gender transformative approach to address education inequalities affecting girls and other vulnerable groups in formal and nonformal education at all levels.

DIMENSIONS OF ROLE

The post holder is the thematic lead for Plan International Sierra Leone Inclusive Quality Education and supports the thematic development, implementation, and monitoring of the Country Strategy, Influencing Strategy, and Sponsorship Programme Strategy. The post holder will support proposal development and other key strategic documents in line with Plan International’s Global Policies and Sierra Leone’s key education policies. The Education Specialist reports to the Head of Programme Development and Quality.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Provide a contextual background that aids in the development of sectoral and country strategy.
• Provide country-level direction for education gender transformative approach by transforming strategies/guidelines to address harmful gender norms and developing structures and services to develop education inequalities in the school and education system.
• Represent PISL in all national-level education sector forums/working groups and meetings hosted or coordinated by line ministries and educator actors.
• Provide technical support to education Project Managers, Coordinators, and team members with insight on education policies, strategies, research, and other resources to improve project quality.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback via regular coordination meetings and learning events.
• Ensure timely submission of high-quality narrative and financial reports donor and programme influencing activities (monthly, quarterly annual, and final)
• provide technical support to all education-related projects including sponsorship education programme.

  Overall Strategic Leadership

  • Stay up to date with key sectoral trends on gender and inclusive education in Sierra Leone and ensure that the project remains in line with best practices and innovative approaches are reflected in the project.
  • Provide capacity building of staff and partners on gender-responsive pedagogy, budgeting strategies, and policies.
  • Development of strategies, guidelines, concept notes, and proposals with other sectors and with local partners
  • Supporting partners with capacity-strengthening training and co-learning opportunities
  • Collaborating with Plan International’s teams in the Region, National Offices, and Global Hub technical lead to ensure feedback is coordinated and reflected at CO-level interventions.
  • Supporting the development of Plan International’s regional response plan
  • Providing support to policy and influencing activities at the national, regional, and global levels in close collaboration with Plan International and in-country teams

    Representation, Coordination, and Communication

    • Scoping education partners, tracking meetings, keeping detailed notes, and working closely with partnership teams to secure national partnerships
    • Engage closely with MBSSE, TSC, MHTE other and relevant actors in the education sphere in Sierra Leone.
    • Hold regular coordination meetings with project/programme teams, including identifying ways to improve coordination and project delivery
    • Maintain awareness of Plan International Sierra Leone’s education portfolio and identify areas of collaboration.
    • Developing links with multilateral organizations at the country level.

      Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning

      • Work with the MERL team to ensure IQE indicators are standard and informed by PISL results guidelines.
      • Follow up evaluation and reflection as well as audit processes and ensure their proper integration and response in the project cycle for program quality improvement and development.
      • Disseminate education-related research/best practice and identify core themes, key technical areas that need to be incorporated in the progress against the log frame, as well as lessons learned.
      • Support the production of monitoring reports, success stories, and learning pieces, where required.
      • Supporting needs assessment (joint or multi-sectoral) as required

        Support to delivery teams

        • Technically line-manage education Project Managers and support them to ensure the smooth implementation of project activities
        • Support Plan staff to deliver high-quality project implementation that advances girls’ and children with disabilities access to education.

          Capacity Building

          • Provide technical support and/or capacity building to education staff and partners on gender-responsive pedagogy, budgeting strategies, and policies.
          • Organise and lead training, develop training materials, and provide ongoing support throughout the project to ensure good practice and project adaptations are fully cascaded to school-level staff and government partners.

            Key Relationship

            Internal:

            • Education Project Managers/ Coordinators
            • Head of Programme Implementation