Education Specialist Iraq-Re-advertisement At Norwegian Refugee Council

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NRC in Iraq

Since the Government of Iraq declared that combat operations against the Islamic State Group (IS) had ended in 2017, Iraq has been recovering from the significant damage and destruction caused by the armed conflict. Of the more than six million Iraqis who fled their homes since 2014, 4.78 million Iraqis have returned to their area of origin and 1.28 million remain internally displaced. Many Iraqis have returned to areas that lack basic infrastructure, services and livelihood opportunities, or where explosive devices have not been cleared. Other challenges returnees and secondarily displaced people face include the lack of security, community acceptance, housing, property and civil documentation issues as well as critical educational and health service gaps. Throughout this, Iraq continues to host over a quarter of a million Syrian refugees.

The UN estimates that more than 4.1 million Iraqis will have needed assistance in 2020, 1.77 million of them in acute need. With military operations against IS group having ended, the Iraqi government faces new challenges to ensure an inclusive reconstruction and reconciliation that will sustain peace.

Since 2010, NRC Iraq has been assisting internally displaced Iraqis, Syrian refugees, returnees, and host communities in Ninewa, Dohuk, Erbil, Kirkuk, Basra, Salahdeen and Anbar Governorates. We focus on assisting the newly displaced, those experiencing protracted displacement in camps, people moving to new areas of Iraq and resettling, and people returning to and living in hard-to-reach places by improving their chance of obtaining a durable solution. NRC runs integrated programmes across Iraq to respond to people in need through our shelter and settlements, education, camp management, legal assistance, livelihoods, cash activities, and partnerships.

Despite the end of the armed conflict with ISIS in end 2017, large numbers of Iraqi’s impacted by the conflict are trying to rebuild their lives. Many still face danger or are stuck in a protracted displacement situation. A large proportion of the displaced have returned to their area of origin. NRC Iraq works with all the populations in need including IDPs in and out of camps, returnees and host communities. In addition, NRC supports Syrian refugees in Iraq as well as populations impacted by climate-change induced displacement.

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

Duties and responsibilities

Generic responsibilities:

Develop CC strategy, technical guidance and Macro LFAs that are aligned with regional and global strategies and priorities
Compliance with and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures
Contribute to fundraising, develop and revise funding proposal, budgets and donor reports
Identify trends technical standards and donor priorities
Follow up on compliance with contractual commitments within CC, ensure high technical quality and synergies in project implementation
Provide technical direction and project implementation support
Ensure that key learnings are extracted from CC implementation, and incorporate them in CC and staff development processes
Provide systematic training and build capacity of technical staff, in approaches including cash-based interventions and market based programme
Represent NRC in relevant forums/clusters, including with national authorities and donors
Promote the rights of IDPs/returnees in line with the advocacy strategy

Specific responsibilities:

Contribute to the development of youth strategy and programming in cooperation with the livelihood CC and externally with relevant Ministries.
Provide strategic leadership on the development of programming that recognizes the challenges faced by conflict and trauma-affected adolescents and youth
Ensure the learning and development of all staff on the Better Learning Program (BLP) model; devise clear guidelines for mainstreaming BLP into all Education programming
Ensure the learning and development of office and incentive staff on all relevant intervention curriculums as appropriate, including Teachers in Crisis Contexts pack and INEE Conflict-Sensitive Education
Ensure out-of-camp interventions provide a significant social cohesion component to ensure positive relations between IDPs, returnees, host communities and refugee
Liaise with relevant government Ministries and Authorities at national level to ensure smooth programmatic implementation; develop significant relationships with national Ministries and Directorate of Education key staff
Represent NRC at the Education Cluster, ensure Sub-National Cluster co-lead roles are carried out in line with the ToR; regularly attend and contribute to Cluster activities, and build relationships with key UN and NGO partners
Create strong linkages between Child Protection actors and NRC projects; devise clear referral pathways
Contribute to the development of integrated programming approaches, including adherence to Safe and Inclusive programming, synergies with livelihood and ICLA CCs, and integrated school construction and rehabilitation in cooperation with the WASH and Shelter teams
Develop SOPs, technical guidance notes and overview monitoring plans in collaboration with other members of the team, develop an overall advocacy plan for the education programme; harmonise education approaches across Area Offices
Develop modalities for education programme, which includes local partnerships, remote management, and collaboration with other agencies, research etc.
Ensure education team members are trained on Child Safeguarding and Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and are aware of relevant reporting mechanisms
Devise exit strategies as relevant and expansion plans in new geographies, leading on needs assessment processes

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

Programme development: Core Competencies section (MERO, HO), Head of Program Support, Grants Manager, Education and Youth CC Advisers (HO), Head of Programs
Proposal development: Area Managers, Project Managers, Head of Program Support and Head of Programmes
Quality control/ support: Area Managers, Project Managers, Head of Program Support, Head of Programmes
Capacity development: Project staff, Area Managers, CC Specialists and Advisers
Programme implementation: Programme staff, Area Managers and Support staff

Scale and scope of position

Staff – Matrix management of AO PMs. Line management of Education Advisor
Stakeholders – Line Ministries, Education Clusters, Consortia partners, etc.
Budgets – N/A

Competencies

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

Required Professional Competencies:

Minimum 4 years of experience within technical expertise area in a humanitarian/ recovery context
Experience from working in complex and fragile contexts
Core competency expertise
Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities
Knowledge and skills in market analysis, cash-based interventions and market based programmes
Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile
Fluency in English, both written and verbal. Arabic is an added advantage

Required Behavioural Competencies:

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies and the following are essential for this position:

Handling insecure environments
Strategic thinking
Empowering and building trust
Influencing
Initiate action and change
Analysing

Context/ Specific Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

Technical excellence in Education (Master’s Degree in relevant field)
Relevant project management skills
Proven experience in developing and overseeing delivery of strategies, SoPs and technical guidance notes with the ability to link into operational programming
Prior experience in capacity building and training of staff and partners with different capacities
Thorough experience with and knowledge of principles and current approaches to Education and Youth program in relief and development programs,
Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring and other formal and non-formal methods
Experience in facilitating the capacity building efforts of diverse colleagues, including local partner agencies
Experience in Education Cluster coordination and representation, with ability to network and liaise with wide range of stakeholders
Strong analytical skills with the ability to prioritise and not lose sight of strategic objective.
Proven ability in proposal and report writing, with good presentation and communications skills
Ability to prioritize needs and to work with limited supervision
Culturally sensitive with familiarity with Middle East context. Preferable to have Arabic spoken skills.
Highly approachable, trustworthy and confidential
Analytic and computer skills, including MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access)
Knowledge of UN system, experience with field level coordination with UN organisations, INGOs, donors and authorities

Performance Management

The employee will be accountable for and evaluated on the responsibilities and the competencies, based on NRC’s Performance Management Framework. The following documents will be used for performance reviews: