Education Consultant - EU at Save The Children

ROLE PURPOSE: 

• The Education Programme consultant will provide operational and technical support to the team under the leadership of the Education Programme Coordinator to implement all Education activities for the project. This includes, supporting in the development of the Detailed Implementation Plan, participating in stakeholders’ meetings, and contribute to narrative reporting in line with donor requirement. The job holder will also be working closely with community leaders, religious leaders as well as community member.
• Under the guidance Education Programme Coordinator, he/she will ensure that the EU-INTPA project is implemented in a coordinated, harmonized and aligned manner, in line with donor requirements and commitments.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Project Coordination & Management:

• Support the coordination and implementation of the EU-INTPA Project in Kano and Jigawa State, Nigeria in line with the design of the project and donor requirements.
• Participate in community mapping and identification of schools/learning centres and ABEP facilitators for the implementation of the ABEP programme in collaboration with stakeholders in line with the project design.
• Support the Education Programme Coordinator to establish, maintain, and strengthen linkages in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation on the project. As well as contribute to assessments (baseline, needs, market).
• Ensure accurate project documentation, including collection of monitoring data and tracking of progress on output indicators; utilize data to contribute to reports as required.
• Facilitate relationships with communities and community leaders to ensure buy-in and Do No Harm
• Create and sustain positive working relationships with the partners, government officials and other key stakeholders.
• Support in planning and coordinating State and LGAs level engagement with partners, local government education authorities and other key stakeholders. 
• Contribute to ensuring timely and quality reports are submitted as per the reporting requirements to the consortium lead.
• Working closely with Education Programme Coordinator to ensure quality programme design, delivery, documentation and reporting of education activities in the respective State.

Operational Planning and implementation

• Work closely with Education Programme Coordinator to provide support to ensure design, planning, monitor project detail implementation plan, procurement plan, phased budget, MEAL Plan with documentation and reporting for all Education interventions in the State.
• Recommend technical solutions to speed up the implementation and budget performance in line with the project plan and budget.
• Effectively support the education projects staff and partners in developing annual plans, in line with best practices, for education project design and Save the Children International planning guidelines and ensure compliance with the agreed work plans and that programme objectives and targets are being achieved in line with the funding proposal.
• Work with the Education Programme Coordinator to ensure integration of other sectors like Youth, Green Jobs and Vocational Training into Education activities.
• Maintain high standard of transparency and accountability during programme design and support in expediting implementation while ensuring integrity and timeliness of project duration and meeting programme objectives, compliance with donors & Save the Children policies.
• Support in providing regular operations and implementation updates to the Education Coordinator on project progress and challenges to allow for timely interventions and corrective actions by the management.
• Ensure the timely reviews and adjustments for the project operational and implementation plan and budget as may be required from time to time. 

Finance and Budget Management

• Support project monitoring, suggest necessary revisions and prepare draft reports for corrective actions. 
• Support the Education Programme Coordinator in ensuring that the budget variance analysis (BVA) is monitored and reported as per in time and with accurate information.
• Program/Project Narrative and Financial Reporting.
• Support the review and preparation of timely and high-quality progress and end of project narrative and financial reports which are in accordance with the donor reporting schedule and formats.
• Participate in reviewing all programme financial reports ensuring that donor guidelines have been followed and high standard met. 
• Participate in progress review meetings to address key performance issues from the reports.
• Safeguarding
• Ensure safe programming in the planning, implementation, monitoring, training of teachers and construction/rehabilitation of classroom environment across the project period.
• Adhere to the Do no Harm principles across the entire steps of the project within the Programme Management Cycle.
• Internal and external engagements
• Ensuring that the program experience is represented and given recognition at stakeholder meetings, workshops, donor, networks and any other engagements. 
• Develop and maintain regular channels of communication with partners and key stakeholders at all levels (LGA, State and National).
• MEAL
• Effectively support teams in MEAL aspects, which include assessments, baseline, and evaluation studies, putting in place a functional Activity Tracking Table.
• Ensure that the projects’ quality benchmarks are followed up and implemented in project interventions.
• Collecting and managing complaints and feedback in close coordination with MEAL team and Education Team.
• Ensure regular monitoring of projects results, documentation of projects case studies, lessons learnt, significant changes and best practices and coordinating learning and reflection meetings/sessions. 
• Ensure an effective programs/ projects monitoring, and evaluation systems is in place.
• Monitor programs/ projects activities to ensure quality, timeliness and adherence to both Country Office and Save the Children policies and procedures.

Human Resources Management and Development:

• Working together with the Education Programme Coordinator to identify learning needs and develop specific plans to address the learning needs. 
• Participate in monthly/weekly project management meetings to enable adequate staff support.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

Essential

• At least 3 years of accrued working experience in program implementation with an International NGO and those applying partnership approaches is desirable. 
• Experience in strategic thinking and planning skills, be able to set priorities, prepare manageable plans and to evaluate progress.
• Experience of working on ABEP, Teacher Professional Development and with Out of School Children (OOSC) with local partners and Local Government and State Authorities in the Northwest Nigeria is an added advantage.
• Should have a thorough understanding of local community trends and the socio-cultural context of Kano State.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fluent English language skills (written and verbal) and Local language skills (Hausa)