Innovation Specialist - USAID / OTL at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Requisition ID: req23508
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Education
Employment Category: Regular
Open to Expatriates: No
Position Reports to: Program Lead

Job Description

• The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives.
• Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.
• At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from Harm to Home.

IRC Nigeria Program

• The IRC has been present in Nigeria since 2012 when the organization responded to flooding in Kogi state.
• In February 2014, the IRC moved into Adamawa State in Northeast Nigeria to provide humanitarian interventions through a multi-sectoral, integrated approach for conflict affected populations. IRC Nigeria now operates a country office in Abuja and field offices in Mubi and Yola of Adamawa State, Maiduguri and Monguno of Borno state and Damatru of Yobe State.
• The IRC is responding at scale to the humanitarian situation across sectors including Education, Child Protection, Health, Nutrition, Women Protection and Empowerment, Environmental Health, Economic Recovery and Development, Protection and Rule of Law, and Governance. In 2015, IRC Nigeria developed a five-year long-term Strategy Action Plan (SAP): The plan has Health, Education and Economic Wellbeing as high priority program areas.

Job Overview / Summary

• The International Rescue Committee (IRC), in partnership with Plan International, the American University in Nigeria (AUN), Inclusive Development Partners (IDP), and Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI) is implementing a five-year USAID-funded education programme called ‘Opportunities to Learn’ in Borno and Yobe States between October 2021 and October 2026.
• The Programme intends to ensure more than 193,854 OOSC and youth in Borno and Yobe States are safely able to gain foundational literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning (SEL) skills to progress to higher levels of education, training, and or engagement in the workforce.
• The Innovation Specialist, based in Maiduguri, will oversee OTL’s EdTech and innovative pilots in coordination with the OTL team and IRC Airbel Research & Innovation team and the Education Technical Unit (TU).

Primary Responsibilities

• Ensure innovations and education solutions identified have global relevance and opportunities for replication and scale.
• Support further understanding of localized student and teacher needs for education, preferably in humanitarian contexts.
• Build and maintain a network of innovation process and education solution partners who can support the development of new educational products and services.
• Work with local innovators in Nigeria, the Airbel team and other key internal & external stakeholders.
• Manage delivery across several projects with multi-disciplinary teams that include education, technology, design, innovation, implementation and research expertise.
• Oversee program budget and ensure targets are being met within the team.
• Actively participate in continuous improvement activities
• Clear monitoring and reporting (monthly, quarterly and annually) against program level deliverables and KPIs.
• Support business development through scoping proposals prior to inception.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Education, International Development, or related field.
• Five (5) years of experience delivering projects and programs ideally in NGO or social enterprise settings.
• Experience of working with cross functional digital teams.
• Experience of delivering projects (ideally education technology and innovation ones) end-to-end, on time, on budget and to a high quality.
• Good understanding of, and experience with, project planning software and a range of cloud-based technologies (esp Asana, Mavenlink, Hubspot & Excel)
• Enjoys collaborative working, flexible structures and working with a geographically dispersed team.
• Ability to multi-task and move quickly between projects through effective prioritization.
• Organized and with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to apply a diversity and inclusion lens and approach to work.
• Fluency in English and Hausa or Kanuri
• Cares about the mission and goals of the IRC.