The Solomon Islands Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) provides the strategic direction and implementation arrangements for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) combined investment to support the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) to implement its Education Strategic Framework 2016–2030 (ESF), the National Education Action Plan 2016-2020 (NEAP) and its successor.

The Program positions the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) as the central partner, adopts MEHRD’s ESF and NEAP as the guiding frameworks for all investment, promotes strengthened sector-wide donor coordination and provides the majority of Program funding through sector budget support. Funding is also available to support targeted capacity development and activities implemented by non-governmental organisations.

ESSP is managed under the Australia-Solomon Islands Program Support (ASIPS) Facility by DT Global.

About the Role

The Solomon Islands Education Sector is undergoing widespread change with the new Education Bill currently before Parliament. Passing of this Bill will significantly impact the responsibilities and functions of MEHRD and Education Providers.

This role will support the MEHRD Asset Management Division (AMD) and Solomon Island Education Providers to efficiently and effectively manage MEHRD infrastructure assets.

This role will support MEHRD to implement the infrastructure plan, enhancing the capabilities and skills of AMD staff in project management, strategic planning and reliably capturing the necessary data to manage MEHRD infrastructure and other assets.

The Adviser will be remunerated based on the candidate’s skills and experience.

Expected outcomes

AMD is supported to:

• update MEHRD infrastructure and asset management policy and project management procedures to align with legislation and ensure they support efficient and effective asset management.
• plan and implement changes to processes and systems to align infrastructure planning with the responsibilities defined in the new legislation and develop capacity of Provincial Education Boards to operationalise their asset management responsibilities.
• manage education infrastructure projects, including procurement and management to ensure projects are completed within agreed timeframe, on budget and to achieve best infrastructure outcomes from available government and development partner budget allocations.
• establish a structured approach to disaster management preparedness and risk mitigation in the planning and management for education infrastructure.
• establish an agreed approach to recording and maintaining education asset data to provide reliable and timely information which supports evidence-based asset management planning.
• build partnerships with stakeholders to improve infrastructure development in the education sector.

Roles and responsibilities

1. Capacity Building

The adviser will support the Asset Management Division, Education Providers, Provincial Education Boards and Provincial Education Coordination Offices to:

1. Develop and implement annual and multi-year infrastructure plans based on agreed criteria, priorities, and available funding and raise stakeholder awareness about annual/multi-year infrastructure and asset management planning goals and requirements.
2. Plan, procure and manage infrastructure projects to improve learning facilities in agreed locations and undertake research to address issues associated with the large number of milestone payments in infrastructure contracts to determine if this could be reduced and improve project completion.
3. Update MEHRD infrastructure and asset management policies and associated procedures, ensuring these clarify asset management responsibilities of all parties after the legislative reform.
4. Address issues regarding unfinished projects to ensure contract management procedures are implemented to terminate contracts and agree and implement strategies to complete the projects.
5. Establish a MEHRD Risk Management Plan for Infrastructure and Asset Management and implement a risk management approach to identifying and addressing issues impacting sustainability of education infrastructure, including but not limited to climate change and termite and pest damage.
6. Progress the Safe Schools strategy by developing a proposal which includes funding and resource implications for MEHRD, Education Authorities and other Government agencies.
7. Improve technical management of infrastructure including understanding engineering building designs, sustainability, environmental and site-specific requirements (e.g., drainage), climate change and disaster resilience, electricity, WASH and furniture.
8. Develop an efficient system for collecting asset information to ensure that all MEHRD assets and their condition are recorded in an asset register with whole of life mechanism including costings to monitor maintenance, disposal and replacement according to international standards and the MEHRD Annual Infrastructure/Assets Plan.
9. Monitor and evaluate processes, including co-developing intermediate and longer-term indicators of capacity development to report on progress.
10. Other duties as required related to the terms of reference.

B. Technical Support

The adviser will provide requisite technical expertise to:

1. Assist with the development and finalisation of the existing Draft Minimum Infrastructure Standards for Schools and review compliance of standard school drawings and documents to the draft Solomon Islands National Building Code 2022.
2. Identify an effective process/system to stocktake all the assets for the education sector and maintain a database to continually monitor and keep up to date.

Deliverables

Reporting to ESSP Team Leader will include:

• Work plan: Outline how and when the LTA will support capacity development and deliver key outputs aligning these to the ESSP workplan. This will include agreed mutual accountability for ‘outputs’ from the adviser and the counterpart at MEHRD.
• Monthly progress reports: Report progress updates of all infrastructure projects and summarise progress against agreed work plan activities and program outcomes, in the agreed format.
• Quarterly reporting: Provide input for the ESSP quarterly progress report including achievements, challenges, and barriers to progressing or achieving activities agreed in the ESSP workplan.
• Exception reports: as required.
• Exit report: Submitted to Team Leader at leastone week prior to completion date: This report should provide an assessment of progress and achievements against the terms of reference and the agreed work plan.