Project Technical Director at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is positioning to tender for the FCDO funded Girls Learning and Disability Inclusion (GLaDI) Programme in Sierra Leone. We are seeking a Project Director to drive this strategic opportunity, with an estimated value of £30 million GBP.

Background and objective of the GLaDI programme

The GLaDI programme is a 5 year intervention with a potential budget of £30 million. The overall aim of the programme is to provide inclusive post primary education for a growing school-aged population, as well as to work alongside FCDO’s health and governance programming to deliver twin UK objectives – quality education for girls and better sexual and reproductive health information and services.

The expected outcomes of GLaDI are to improve access to education, learning, and sexual and reproductive health information for over 800,000 adolescent girls and children with disability over the life of the programme and lead to:

• A reduction in the number of adolescent girls out of school disaggregated by primary and secondary;
• An improvement in the learning conditions in schools leading to more girls passing the end of secondary school examinations;
• An increase in the number of girls, and children with disability, enrolled and progressing through school or provided with out of school learning opportunities; and
• A reduction in the rate of 15-19 year old adolescents who have begun childbearing.

The programme approach is likely to focus on strengthening education systems (including improving teaching and learning, reducing violence in schools, improving management of public finances, and improved use of data for monitoring and decisions), developing education policies (including support to curriculum reform, improving pre-service teacher training, reducing children’s travel distance to schools, and helping to respond to shocks such as Ebola), and engaging with communities (including challenging cultural attitudes towards keeping girls and children with disability in school and healthy, holding evaluation and health service providers to account, and to connect adolescent girls with SRHR services).

Scope of Work

The Technical Director will have primary responsibility for overseeing, supporting and mentoring Technical Leads for Education, Women’s Protection and Empowerment, Disability and Inclusion, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), Child Protection, Economic Recovery and Development, across the programme to achieve stated goals at country level programming. The Technical Director will bring exceptional experience, expertise and commitment to girls’ education and empowerment in Western Africa. The Technical Director is expected to have strong skills in programme design and development, advocacy and networking with international and national institutions and development agencies which promote girls’ education and empowerment, with a particular focus on disability inclusion. Broad technical knowledge of gender programming and its intersection with disability, including women and girls’ economic empowerment, gender and poverty-related barriers, gender-based violence, education and livelihoods will be essential.

This is a senior position which requires outstanding leadership, strategic thinking, and organisational, team-building and representational skills. The Technical Director role is envisaged to be full-time and will be based in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Major Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and implementation of the programme’s framework in coordination with partners and advisors to drive towards the programme’s objectives.

• Ability to perform at a senior management level including managing staff in a matrixed system with a focus on adaptive management.

• Design and oversee implementation of annual content advisories.

• Lead the alignment of curricula, content, and intended programme outcome to support iterative programmatic improvements.

• Manage a team to produce and lead content, programme design, programmatic direction, and new development responsibilities.

• Monitor, in collaboration with partners, that interventions are implemented per design.

• Lead response and course-correction for programmatic challenges, applying collaborative, flexible, and practical thinking.

• Support the development of the monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan and ensure linkages between evidence generation, global dialogue, and country actions while supporting global leadership.

• Oversee and review technical writing products and deliverables.

• Oversee on-going quality assurance and quality improvement for technical activities.

• Identify issues and risks related to programme implementation in a timely manner and ensures appropriate programme adjustments.

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as required.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (or equivalent experience) in Education, Gender, disability and inclusion, or related field with at least 10 years working in international development in adolescent girls and empowerment.

• At least 10 years’ experience in leading the management of large and/or complex donor funded (FCDO, USAID, etc.) programmes, and managing a diverse team of professionals and consortium partners. Experience with multi-country programmes and delivery at scale will be an advantage.

• Extensive experience working in Western Africa, ideally in Sierra Leone.

• Experience and ability to provide leadership and direction in harnessing the multi-disciplinary skills of the technical personnel and consortium partner within complex and high-risk environments.

• Familiarity with current debates about girls’ education and empowerment including FCDO’s thinking and emerging priorities.

• Experience in programming for adolescent girls’ education, and ideally adolescent girls’ empowerment and inclusion.

• Experience working with children and adolescents and an ability to apply safeguarding, ethics, and ‘do no harm’ principles.

• Excellent analytical, communication and writing skills and ability to articulate arguments and positions backed with evidence in order to promote causes and ideas.

• The Technical Director will be expected to align to and assure adherence to IRC’s internal policies, guidelines and ethics as well as FCDO’s code of conduct and compliance requirements.

• Fluency in English required.

• Preference for qualified candidates from the priority countries listed for this opportunity.

Please note that the JD is high level and indicative only at this stage and may be subject to change once the Terms of Reference for the programme is released and as the opportunity develops. This position will be contingent on the outcome of the bid.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.