Budget Planning and Policy Reform Specialist at Creative Associates International

Program Description

• Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and in close partnership with federal partners and select Nigeria States (designated as legacy [Bauchi and Sokoto], launching and technical assistance), the five-year Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN) project will support sustainable improvements in reading outcomes for first and second grade pupils.
• The goal of LEARN is to strengthen and scale early grade reading (EGR) best practice by ensuring that standards-based, context-appropriate assessment, materials, training, and administrative supports needed to improve literacy skills for P1-2 pupils are embedded within the federal policy, funding, and monitoring frameworks, and state and local authorities have the implementation protocols, capacity, and resources to carry out and sustain standards-based, data-driven EGR reform.
• Project objective is to instill ownership in and build capacity of school-community, local, state, and federal systems to establish a base for adequate, consistent data-driven funding, monitoring and performance that increase the equity, inclusion, and wellbeing necessary to achieve sustained EGR gains.
• LEARN will therefore be building on lessons learned from prior Nigeria reading programs to introduce a flexible, cost- efficient EGR intervention model that can be tailored to state contexts.

Position Summary

• Work with state governments and other stakeholders to map and review existing education policy frameworks, especially focused on primary schooling access, instruction quality, and management.

Primary Responsibilities

• Work with government agencies to provide systems and procedures to implement and improve existing educational budgeting initiatives.
• Support development and implementation of budgeting systems, particularly in the areas of educational operations and administration, school quality and support, and monitoring and accountability.
• Support budget review meetings focused on system capacity and develop tools to assess impact.
• Support budget transparency and accountability initiatives, and opportunities for bottom-up feedback at all levels.
• Support monitoring and studies into the budget systems and tracking.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Undergraduate Degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or related field preferred. Master's Degree preferred.
• At least four years’ experience relevant to this position required, with at least two years in a leadership position responsible for developing budgets and financial frameworks, preferably in the field of education.
• At least one year of supervisory experience required if supervising staff.
• Demonstrated experience working with government agencies, actors, and stakeholders at the federal and state levels.
• Demonstrated expertise in federal and state system planning and budgeting.
• Demonstrated expertise in systems development and roll-out.
• Demonstrated capacity to lead workshops, trainings, and strategic planning sessions.
• Experience in developing and using monitoring and accountability systems.
• Knowledge in data management, analysis and report writing.
• Fluency in written and spoken English highly desired, advanced proficiency required.
• Proficiency in Hausa, Igbo, or Yoruba fluency preferred.

Preferred Experience & Skills:

• Previous experience in similar role.
• Proven experience directly and indirectly supervising and managing staff and teams.
• Experience with a USAID-funded or other international organization implementing a program operating in insecure areas is desired.
• Strong ability to deploy and use various forms of tracking tools.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills are required.
• Excellent record keeping, and documentation skills are required.