Education Specialist at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Ref. nr.: 4113203890
Location: Maiduguri, Borno

Background

• Since 2009, violent attacks on civilians by the armed group Boko Haram have left widespread devastation in northeast Nigeria. At least 17,000 people have been killed and approximately two million people are displaced within Nigeria. More than 14 million people in northeast Nigeria today are affected by the crisis caused by Boko Haram. Out of these, seven million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Around 92 per cent of displaced people reside in either informal settlements or with low-income host communities, creating a strain on already limited resources. The remaining 8 per cent live in more formalised camps. NRC has been in Nigeria since 2015.

Role and Responsibilities

• The Education Specialist will provide technical oversight and strategic direction to Country and Area offices to further the development of the Education Core Competency (CC)
• The Specialist will provide quality assurance for all projects, develop a collaborative country strategy, capacity build staff through mentoring and training to increase the technical capacity of the staff, and develop a donor strategy to further grow the program.

Generic Responsibilities:

• Develop Education CC strategy, technical guidance and Macro LFAs
• Compliance with and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures
• Contribute to fundraising, develop and revise funding proposal, budgets and donor reports
• Identify trends technical standards and donor priorities
• Follow up on compliance with contractual commitments within CC, ensure high technical quality and synergies in project implementation
• Provide technical direction and project implementation support to the implementation team
• Ensure that key learnings are extracted from CC implementation, and incorporate them in CC and staff development processes
• Provide systematic training and build capacity of Education staff
• Represent NRC in relevant forums/clusters, including with national authorities and donors
• Promote the rights of IDPs/returnees in line with the advocacy strategy

Specific Responsibilities:

• Responsible for technical innovative development and quality of CC in country, holistic programming (with other CCs) and to ensure harmonisation and consistency across CC projects in line with NRC Programme Policy
• Lead the process on proposals, budgets, modifications, project reviews and reporting and ensure high technical quality
• Take the lead on quality project deliverables to ensure high technical outputs
• Provide strategic leadership on the development of programming that recognizes the challenges faced by conflict-affected youth
• Support programmatic M&E and indicator tracking in conjunction with project teams and M&E department
• Ensure work plans and spending plans in line with donor budgets are developed and maintained by supporting Project Coordinators, Managers and Area Managers
• Lead on the transition of program teams regarding the split of Area Officer and the transition from leadership by a PDM to technical supervision by a Specialist in compliance with co-op
• Develop and lead on conducting needs assessments (in collaboration with Area Program teams, Protection team and M&E team), baseline, mid-and end-evaluations
• Represent NRC with relevant donors, government ministries, and in relevant humanitarian coordination meetings in country
• Create strong linkages with other Education and Child Protection actors, and ensure strong referral pathways are in place
• Actively promote and operationalize synergies between Education and other NRC programmes to move toward integrated programming (focus on WASH and ICLA)
• Provide support and input to the recruitment processes for all Education staff
• Accountable for organisational learning from programme implementation, sharing of best practice and capacity building

Critical Interfaces
By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Programme development: Core Competencies section (HO Oslo, Region, in-country), Country Program Department, Area Programme teams
• Proposal development: Area Managers, Project Managers and Coordinators, Program Department
• Quality control/ support: Area Managers, Project Managers and Coordinators
• Capacity development: Education staff

Scale and Scope of the Position:

• No direct management of staff but technical supervision and close support and capacity building of Education team
• Stakeholders: UN agencies (focus on UNICEF), Protection Sector and Working Groups, INGOs, local NGOs, civil society, governmental bodies
• Budget: Not a budget holder, but oversight and support of the Education team financial management and budgeting within new grants development
• Information: Information resources the post holder is responsible for include GORS, Agresso, Intranet
• Legal or compliance: Legal or compliance responsibility for donors’ contractual obligations, beneficiary personal data, GDPR, SSD

Required Generic Professional Competencies for this Position

• Minimum: 4 years of experience within a humanitarian/recovery context
• Experience working in complex and volatile contexts
• Minimum: 2 years of Education expertise (as Specialist/TA or Project Manager)
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal

Required Context/Specific Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Knowledge of the Lake Chad Basin region and north-eastern Nigeria context specifically
• Experience with start-up or expansion of new programmes
• Experience in team capacity building
• Advanced computer skills, especially in Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook
• Experience with youth/adolescent programming, particularly vocational training is desired
• Experience with alternative education in a humanitarian context an asset
• Understanding of SPHERE and INEE Minimum Standards is required
• Candidates with an advanced degree preferred; significant experience in the field of Education, PSS or Child Protection considered in lieu.

We Offer

• Contract: 1 year fixed term contract (12 months extendable/renewable provided positive performance and funding)
• Salary: Grade 9 according to NRC's salary grid and compensation and benefits policy
• Duty Station: Maiduguri, Nigeria
• Designation of duty station: Non-Family duty station
• Designation of position: Non accompanied position
• Travels: up to 40% of travels within country and eventually outside country to be expected