Technical Director – FCDO Foundational Learning for Girls Programme (FLAG) At International Rescue Committee

The IRC established programming in Uganda in 1998 to address the needs of South Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda. Concurrently, programming was scaled up in response to the estimated 1.8 million Ugandans, who had been forced to flee their homes because of the conflict in Northern Uganda. Today, IRC maintains a presence in six geographic locations; Kampala, Karamoja, West Nile, Acholi and more recently Isingrio and Kyegegwea districts in the southwest of the country, serving conflict-affected and underserved Ugandan communities and offering lifesaving and recovery services to refugees.

Background and objectives of FLAG

FLAG will:

• Support improved foundational skills (literacy and numeracy), for both:

 In-school children who are at risk of dropping out and to keep them in school; and

 Out-of-school children, with the aim of them returning to school.

• Deliver directly training, equipping and paying facilitators to deliver lessons, using a TaRL (Teaching at the Right Level) and structured lesson plan approach.

• This builds on a Community Led Learning (CLL) approach currently being delivered under SESIL reaching about 100,000 children currently enrolled.

• Will also seek to generate evidence to encourage Government of Uganda (GoU) and others to scale up effective approaches to catch-up and remedial learning.

Scope of Work

The Technical Director will have primary responsibility for overseeing, supporting and mentoring Technical Leads for Education, Gender and Inclusion, School Planning & Management and Volunteers Teachers’ Development etc. to achieve the stated goals of the Project. The Technical Director will bring exceptional experience, expertise and commitment to girls’ education and empowerment in Uganda. 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. Broad technical knowledge of gender programming, including women and girls’ economic empowerment, gender and poverty-related barriers 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 Kampala, Uganda.

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 8 years’ experience in leading the management of complex donor funded (FCDO, USAID, etc.) programmes, and managing a diverse team of professionals and consortium partners.

• Extensive experience working with provincial governments in Uganda or East Africa region will be preferred.

• 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.

• Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

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.

Safety & Security Situation: All staff must comply with all IRC Uganda by security policies and procedures.

Standards for Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Equality, Service, 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.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.