Program Officer Education & Child Protection Save the Children International

ROLE PURPOSE:
The job holder is primarily responsible for planning and ensuring quality and timely implementation of Catch Up Clubs (CuC) core program within the designated district/ Sub-Counties. He/she will assist the Project Coordinator in managing the CuC interventions. He or she is expected to implement the CuC program in a manner that promotes integrated programming with other projects and cross cutting themes such as gender, inclusion, child protection and rights programming. The Job Holder is also expected to liaise with implementing partners, provide input into basic CuC programme design, monitoring implementation progress; write reports, facilitate project implementation meetings and workshops and maintain relationships with key education and program stakeholders in the district/settlement. He/she should implement the CuC project in a manner that fosters networking and collaboration with local government education officials, Sub County stakeholders (i.e Community Development Officer, Centre Coordinating Tutors, DEO, DIS), local capacity strengthening (i.e Head Teachers, School Management Committees, Parent Teacher Association), meaningful active participation of children, accountability (internal and external to Save the Children). The post holder may be called upon as and when necessary to support the emergency team in cases of humanitarian crisis.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
The following will be the areas of support and contribution;
Planning and Implementation of Education Programmes:
Ensure that all planned interventions are implemented on time, within budget and meet the set Quality bench marks.
• Support orientation of the Head teachers, CCTs, SMCs, PTAs and children on the Save the children Quality Learning Environment (QLE) framework and Common Approaches.
Liaise with the Office of the DEO, CCT and the other stakeholders to develop an annual plan for BE interventions in the Save the Children – supported schools.
• Support the implementation of the Save the Children Common Approaches of Teaching at the Right Level (TarL) among other approaches for SCI Programs in the supported primary schools and communities.
Technical Assistance and Capacity building
• Provide technical advice and expertise to teachers and Community Volunteers to effectively deliver key project outcomes
• Play an active role in identifying, documenting and disseminating best practices
• Monitor the performance of the education interventions and participate in monitoring and review activities
• Maintain accurate and up to-date activity data
• Report on activity progress and project outcomes
Partnerships (Networking and collaboration):
• Represent Save the Children in various interagency and stakeholder forums with knowledge and expertise of Save the children’s thematic areas of works.
• Facilitate or participate in dialogue meetings, workshops and seminars focused on CuC.
• Build and maintain linkages with other agencies undertaking education interventions in the impact area or Save the children supported schools.
• Create and sustain positive working relationships internally with other technical staff; externally with the District Local Government, CSO partners and other stakeholders, and also maintain an up to date understanding of key development trends in the Programme area.
• Ensure coordination with the government activities and structures in the implementation of the CuC project
Community Capacity Strengthening:
• Mobilize the local community to participate in the CuC core project and other SCI Program activities.
• Support the formation, functionality and capacity building of the Core groups including PTAs, SMCs in all the Primary Schools
• Support the participation of the children, community and partners in the process of planning, monitoring and implementation of basic education core Programme.
Monitoring, Reporting and Documentation:
• Monthly reports are prepared and submitted by every 27th day of the month.
• Participate in preparation of Semi – annual and annual and other project progress reports.
• Ensure that activity reports are prepared and filed for every completed activity
• Undertake documentation of best practices and a synthesis of lessons learned from CuC interventions.
• Undertake regular monitoring visits to the Schools supported by the Programme to understand the ground situation and take necessary actions for improvement in quality of programmes for the children.
• Contribute to data collection, analysis and reporting on key programme indicators.
• Ensure that the funds requested for the programme activities are spent and accounted for, in line with the SCI financial management procedures and policies.
Child Safeguarding and Child Participation:
• Take responsibility to review, understand and declare commitment to observe and implement child safeguarding policy.
• Closely work with supervisors and or, Child Safeguarding Focal persons to ensure all child abuse or potential risks to children are recorded, reported and filed
• Observe confidentiality of all child information that may come to your possession either by virtue of your position as a SCI Representative or unintentionally
• Support meaningful and age-appropriate participation of the children in the Basic Education activities; including planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programmes.
• Work with the Sponsor servicing department to ensure that enrolled children are targeted and benefit from the programme intervention among other children.
• Implement the complaints response mechanism in line with the SC accountability framework to ensure that the voices of the children are captured.

Academic Background, Experience and Person Specifications:
• Minimum of a degree in Education or related fields. An additional qualification such as a Diploma in Teacher Education is an added advantage.
• At least 2 years of progressive working experience in planning and implementing Education programmes with INGOs.
• Having at least two years of teaching experience in primary schools or as a Tutor in Primary Teachers’ College is an added advantage.
• Must be willing to be based in the field; with a direct field time presence of 80% of working time.
• Experience of working with the Local Government, and local partners with focus on improving the learning environments is an added advantage.
• Strong analytical skills and strategic planning abilities.
• Ability to establish and maintain conducive collegial relations and perform effectively as a member of a team.
• Willingness to travel and work in hard-to-reach areas, occasionally under strenuous conditions.
• Computer literacy and excellent documentation skills are a must.
• Ability to ride Motorcycle and in possession of a valid Class A riding license.
• Availability and willingness to work extra hours during times of humanitarian responses.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Ability to intervene with crisis management or troubleshooting as necessary.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Excellent time management and planning capacity.
• Availability and willingness to work extra hours during times of humanitarian responses.