Education Coordinator – Niger At Concern Worldwide

About the role:

This is a 6-month (renewable) role with accompanied terms based in Niamey, Niger with frequent travel to programme areas in Tahoua, Diffa and Tillabery (currently inaccessible as of August 2024) and a salary of Grade 4 €45,457 to € 50,509.

You will report to the Programme Director (PD) and will line manage Education Project Managers or Coordinators, an Education Program Support Officer (PSO) and WASH/Infrastructure Officer(s). In addition, you will liaise closely with the Grants and Communication Officer, the MEAL specialist, human resources, systems and finance departments, the Ministry of Education at national and regional level and all other education sector external stakeholders.

You will be responsible for coordinating all of Concern Niger’s education activities and you will liaise with the Dublin-based Education Technical Advisor.

We would like you to start in September 2024.

Your purpose:

The purpose of this position is to provide coordination and technical support to all of Concern’s current and future education projects in Niger. This includes the provision of strategic oversight for the education sector, while building systems and capacities across the sector. The Education Coordinator will also play an active role in supporting the implementation of a five-year AFD (Agence Francaise de Developpement) funded project in Tillabery and Tahoua, an ECHO funded project in Diffa and others new upcoming projects. The Education Coordinator will increase Concern’s profile in education forums and platforms and reinforce our collaboration with key education actors, NGOs, UN and local partners. They will also represent Concern in the education cluster and any relevant meetings related to education, including coordinating closely with AFD, ECHO and local and national authorities.

Key elements of this position will include working to improve programme quality particularly literacy and numeracy, continuous teacher professional development and assessment in primary schools, safe schools, gender sensitive pedagogy, emergency programming with Internally Displaced Persons.

You will be responsible for:

Programme Leadership and Coordination:

• Lead the strategic development and implementation of the education programme in line with Concern’s organisational policy, organisational strategy, the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) and the Education Strategy of Concern Niger;
• Oversee the planning of activities including the elaboration and validation of quarterly project Implementation Plans.
• Support procurement procedures as necessary, analysing technical and financial offers in line with Concern’s procurement guidelines;
• As the budget holder for the education sector programme, oversee and support effective budgeting, expenditure tracking and all aspects of financial management of the programme, continuously developing the capacity of project coordinators and managers in this regard;
• Support the project managers/coordinators to produce regular high quality programme reports both for internal and external use;
• Support in actively seek future funding opportunities and develop, in collaboration with the PD and the Grants and Communication Officer, strong project proposals in line with the country and sector strategic plan;
• Ensure linkages, synergy and complementarity with other Concern sector programmes in Niger through joint planning, monitoring and evaluation with the coordinators and teams of other sector programmes;
• Coordinate with local implementing partners in order to ensure quality implementation of Concern approaches and ensure activities are consistent with project objectives and results.

Strategic and Technical Management:

• Review and strengthen wellbeing component of education programming in development and emergency contexts including initiatives related to School-Related Gender-Based Violence prevention and response, social and emotional learning and non-specialised psychosocial support;
• Provide technical guidance and support to strengthen Concern’s current education programmes and activities in Niger and to position for future education programming and donor funding. This includes effective technical support to the design, planning, implementation, monitoring & evaluation, and reinforce management capacities of the education project managers.
• Implement education technical approaches and methods that assist in reaching programme targets;
• Support the teams to continuously review the education programme strategy and approaches to ensure it appropriately addresses and accommodates shifting and/or emerging field contexts. Propose innovative education approaches relevant to the context of Niger;
• Review and strengthen continuous teacher professional development and training approaches related to literacy and numeracy for formal and non-formal education settings including piloting a radio education initiative. This includes building the capacity of the Concern education and partner staff to implement new literacy and numeracy initiatives;
• Support the PD in the identification of strategic partners in education and in the building of capacities of these local partners once identified.

Staff management:

• Directly manage two to three project coordinators/managers, one PSO and one Infrastructure and WASH Officer;
• Assist and lead as necessary in the recruitment, management and support of education programme staff to ensure that staff have the required skill sets and competencies;
• Assist in identifying training needs for staff and provide (or coordinate) the technical support, training and advice to staff necessary for the delivery of a high quality education programme;
• Promote the development of staff within the education sector programme and continually support staff to grow and develop their skills and experience;
• Conduct performance reviews on a regular basis and as per Concern National and International Staff Manuals;
• Ensure that staff are properly monitored and supervised and that necessary action is taken when staff are found to be under performing (capacity building or disciplinary action as appropriate);
• Promote equality, especially gender, within the education sector, across programmes and throughout the organisation in Niger in line with Concern’s Equality Policy and, ensure targeting and project implementation fully complies with How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty (HCUEP), especially equality (with a special focus on gender equality and Engaging Men and Boys) and risk (including HIV&AIDS) and DRR.

External Representation and Networking:

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with strategic partners at national and regional levels with a focus on continuously improving the quality of Concern’s education interventions;
• Participate actively in the Education Cluster at national level, Education Sector Coordination and other relevant sectoral meetings, and engage with UN agencies, the Ministries of Education and other key actors within the sector building on existing and developing networks;
• Develop / update strategies and plans that contribute to raising the profile of Concern as an expert organisation in education in general;
• Promote consultations and interactions with Concern’s head office Education Advisors as well as with Education Managers/Advisors from other organisations in Niger on emerging sectoral trends and best practices.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning:

• Work closely with the MEAL Coordinator/specialist to create technically sound monitoring and evaluation guidelines, frameworks and indicators for the education projects, in line with donor-approved documents;
• Provide technical support to education ministries in order to embed MEAL and accountability in the design, planning and implementation of education projects;
• Work closely with Concern’s education staff to develop and maintain clear monitoring frameworks that inform programme reporting and design in collaboration with the MEAL team;
• Collaborate with the MEAL Coordinator/specialist to support the review, re-design, training and application of the annual Early Grade Reading Assessment, and lead on data analysis and write-up of findings;
• Conduct monitoring support visits to programme areas where security permits to assess performance against agreed programme objectives and indicators;
• Work with the education team and the Grants and Communication Officer to identify and document programme learning, success cases, good practices and disseminate learning for both internal and external audiences as required.

Advocacy, Communications and Visibility:

• Coordinate advocacy, communication and visibility activities of Concern’s education projects in Niger, in line with relevant donors’ communication and visibility guidelines;
• Collaborate with the Grants and Communication Officer to produce briefing papers and other publications, coordinate approval with the appropriate stakeholders, and ensure wider dissemination to influence practice and policy and promote the work of Concern.

Accountability

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E);
• work with relevant colleagues to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed;
• work with relevant colleagues to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Other:

• Together with the Concern Niger education team, ensure protection as well as inequality, risk and vulnerability are analysed, mitigated against and responded to during the overall planning, implementation and management of the education programme;
• Participate in emergency response programmes if required
• Support the development and implementation of the CSP and in the context of the education sector priorities and needs;
• Any other ad hoc duties as may be assigned by your line manager or the CD that are consistent with the nature of Concern operations.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential

• Appropriate qualification at Master’s degree level or above, in education, or development administration or a relevant social science.
• Proven experience (at least 3-5 years) in senior programme management and leadership positions within the education sector, working with national governments, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, other civil society groups.
• Experience with coordination mechanisms such as the cluster
• Experience of managing/ or engaging with large grants from major international donors.
• Solid experience with early grade reading, literacy and/or phonics and numeracy teaching and support
• Ability to design and deliver training courses for staff and teachers
• Excellent written and spoken French language skills.
• Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills.
• Strong coordination skills, both internal across programming sectors and support teams, and externally with implementing partners.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, INGO and Government structures and to represent the organisation at national or international level fora
• Thorough understanding of gender, equality and protection issues.
• Strong experience of financial management and donor compliance processes.
• Knowledge of the key tools used by donor agencies, such as logical frame works, results chains, theories of change, results-based management and financial administration systems.

Desirable

• An understanding of accountability as applied within humanitarian and development programming; familiarity with the Core Humanitarian Standard and its application.
• An understanding of programme participant protection policies and international humanitarian standards.
• Experience with Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait funding.
• Experience of working in Sahel.