Job Openings at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The Community and Youth Engagement Officer, based in Yola, will be responsible for the overall implementation of OTL Community and Youth engagement Activities in Adamawa State. S/he will ensure that Community and Youth Engagement activities are delivered per the Project's Detailed Implementation Plan, contribute to the strategic objectives of the program, and meet global and IRC technical standards for education in emergencies.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Project planning & Implementation

• Implement and monitor community mobilization strategy in line with IRC/OTL community engagement strategy ensuring effective participation of community members especially vulnerable groups (OOSC, girls and people with disability)
• Develop and update clear mapping of relevant community stakeholders and community actors.
• Develop TORs and budgets for planned youth and community engagement activities.
• Ensure the effective implementation of designed plan in the areas of intervention with the support of program manager and technical leads.
• Mobilize and support existing community groups for active participation in OTL program activities.
• Mobilize and facilitate the engagements of stakeholders during planning and development meetings, workshops, and seminars.
• Participate in planning and preparation of work plans, implementation of planned activities and reporting of progress.
• Facilitate community engagement meetings, Mappings, and workshops.

Youth and Community Engagement.

• Undertake information dissemination in a timely and understandable manner to all stakeholders (community, LGA and state).
• Coordinate sensitization/ awareness campaigns and trainings for the community stakeholders tailored towards the enrolment and retention of OOSC in NFLCs
• Participate in the development of toolkits and guidelines for community mobilization; and how to conduct mass information campaigns, participatory activities, focus group discussions etc
• Participate and support in the capacity building of Community Based Organizations to advocate for accountability in education programming
• Facilitate active participation of the communities in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of OTL ABEP Learning Centers
• Monitor the implementation of planned activities and community level engagements.
• Build the capacity of the community to collectively engage local leaders on identified issues.
• Working together with activists and youth movements, committed to expanding access to quality education.
• Develop modalities for strengthening meaningful and representative youth engagement through training, networking, exchanges, and building stronger linkages between young people’s participation in community led initiatives including ABEP.
• Support the development and implementation of innovative Youth led initiatives.
• Serve as a focal person for effective communication between community groups /leaders/volunteers and IRC/OTL Program team.
• Coordinate and establish network for the social mobilization when required and as deemed necessary with other humanitarian actors, local leaders and organizations (e.g. CBO, faith-based organization) operating in the same field.
• Support the design of communication materials based on community mobilization strategy.
• Support the collection and documentation of impact and success stories on quarterly basis.
• Participate and provide updates in IRC/OTL Meetings
• Provide weekly, Monthly, and quarterly update reports on activities Implemented.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (education, social work, community development, etc.).
• Proven experience in community engagement and youth development initiatives.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse groups and individuals.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Knowledge of local community dynamics and educational challenges
• At least three years of relevant professional experience with an international or civil society organization, including direct implementation of education programming.
• Excellent spoken and technical writing ability in English, including report writing.
• Excellent computer skills in programs including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
• Ability to work under pressure in challenging working and living conditions
• Willingness to travel extensively in northeast Nigeria, including to remote and/or insecure locations

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Job Overview

Violence Prevention and Response (VPR) West Africa Regional Lead provides coherence and direction to the provision of technical support for Women’s Protection and Empowerment, Child Protection, and Protection - Rule of Law in West Africa. As a member of both the regional team and the technical unit senior management team, the VPR West Africa Regional Lead has accountability for technical quality and responsibility for assuring the advice from Technical Advisors is taken into appropriate action by the country office.

The VPR West Africa Regional Lead will lead a highly effective, strategic violence prevention and response regional team to ensure the West Africa Region has high quality, sound technical support needed to deliver on global program goals and effectively serve our clients. The role will serve as a functional leader, advisor, and a thought partner to both TU leadership and Regional leadership, with a particular focus on leading the operationalization of the Safety strategy in West Africa, multi-sector and sub-sector program integration, mainstreaming of Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion across programming, evidence-based design, business development, and quality assurance for high-impact and scale strategic projects. The VPR West Africa Regional Lead will coordinate across individuals and projects, ensuring clear priorities are set and communicated, and navigating the challenges inherent in being an advisory function. They will be an excellent people manager, with great team building/animation skills, able to help technical staff succeed and grow in their careers. The VPR West Africa Regional Lead will invest deeply in understanding the context and dynamics of the country and regional teams and the challenges they face. They will ensure coherent ways of working within and across the regional technical team, as well as within the wider VPRU, to align high quality technical support with the operational realities of the country offices. The Regional Lead will champion technical external representation in regional fora for promoting learning, advocacy and showcasing IRC's programming as well as engage with regional colleagues on donor facing engagement. By doing so, the Regional Lead will ensure high quality programming across the Child Protection, Protection – Rule of Law, and Women’s Protection and Empowerment practice areas in West Africa, high quality coordination and partnership with regional teams, effective team performance, and efficiency and impact of technical excellence service offering to the West Africa region and country programs.

Major Responsibilities

Functional Leadership, Coordination and Implementation Support:

• Provide technical leadership across the region, including by contextualizing the Safety Strategy at the regional level in partnership with Technical Advisors, DRD, + Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) and in line with Country Program Strategic Action Plans
• Promote programming coherence and strategic direction of the VPR programming portfolio including identifying opportunities for intra and cross-sectoral integration
• Closely coordinate with Global Practice Leads and HQ functions to facilitate translation of global standards to the region and of country-generated innovation and learning to global practice
• Support regional Technical Advisors to address implementation bottlenecks and critical quality concerns in the region’s programming portfolio, in partnership with the Deputy Regional Director (DRD)
• Increase quality of technical collaboration across the region by fostering cross-regional dialogue with other regional technical teams
• Provide technical oversight of regional strategic projects in collaboration with the Global Practice Leads as appropriate and/or budgeted, escalating quality assurance challenges as needed
• Foster relationships with a wide range of both internal and external stakeholders to make strategic connections and identify opportunities
• Provide stop-gap direct implementation support as/if appropriate and budgeted on CP-grants

Staff management, learning, and development

• Lead and line manage a high performing team of VPR Technical Advisors and GEDI in Programs staff to design and support VPR programming across the region, and generate evidence and learning for local and global strategies
• Accountable for ensuring TAs maintain core knowledge and expertise and apply global best practices to their work across health sub-sectors
• Work closely with Regional and CRRD HQ People & Culture colleagues to devise strategies of attracting, onboarding, developing, and nurturing diverse regional technical staff at the Advisor and Coordinator levels, and ensuring an inclusive work environment.  In collaboration with the DRD, Regional and CRRD HQ P&C, and Global Practice Leads, plan and implement professional development for staff ensuring targeted learning.

Program Design and Business Development

• Provide technical leadership and oversight to region-led (multi-country) business development, as well as particularly large single-country opportunities, together with the Technical Advisors, Global Practice Leads and others as relevant.
• Support and promote technical and programmatic innovation in the region, based on technically-sound and contextually-grounded creativity and/or insights
• Collaborate with other technical area Regional Leads and Technical Advisors to promote regional uptake of solutions that are proven to increase scale and deepen impact, with close attention to where integrated programming would multiply efficacy and efficiency
• Work with DRD, Director of Awards Management and DDPs for country programs to understand the region’s donors for the protection sectors, the donors’ priorities in the region, and the regional funding priorities of Country Programs for the Safety Outcomes
• Support regional donor engagement to deepen donor understanding of IRC’s work the region, strategically foster and develop new donor relationships in close coordination with the regional team, and support the development of regional business development opportunities
• Support the development and growth of strategic partnerships with mission-aligned organizations at the regional level who share commitments towards scale and impact and have complementary areas of expertise for collaboration towards delivering better outcomes for clients
• Accountable for coordinating across expert staff to better integrate cross-cutting issues into VPR programs (e.g., gender equality, diversity and inclusion, climate adaptation, etc.).

Knowledge Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

• Lift up program learning for sharing across the region and to inform global strategic direction of (relevant) Global Practice Areas
• Facilitate interpretation and use of sector data in regional learning routines and put in place routines and accountability mechanisms to encourage uptake of data-driven recommendations made by TAs
• Collaborate with Regional Measurement Advisors to ensure that Regional Technical Advisors support good MEAL practice for VPR programming in West Africa, including the use of high-quality indicators, the use of IRC standard data tools, and the inclusion of MEAL activities in project plans

External Influence and Representation

• Engage in regional sector coordination groups and bilateral relationships as appropriate, to represent IRC, and support priority policy and practice shifts
• Support regions in addressing policy & practice shifts needed to enable program impact and scale
• In close collaboration and partnership with the DRD, regional Awards Management and Advocacy focal points, ensure effective networking and representation in relation to Child Protection, Protection – Rule of Law, and Women’s Protection and Empowerment, through mobilizing input from global practice leads.

Desired Experience and Skills

• Highly seasoned professional with at least 8+ years of progressive technical and management experience leading and managing technical teams
• Established technical expertise in at least one of the VPR Global Practice Areas relevant to West Africa. Professional and/or lived experience in West Africa context and sound understanding of the region is a huge advantage.
• Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management
• Strong track record of leading multi-location technical programs
• Strong track record of driving uptake of evidence-based practice
• Experience managing multiple projects with multi-disciplinary collaborators
• Demonstrated ability to influence across a wide range of diverse stakeholders internally and externally
• Strong track record of identifying and converting business development opportunities (when leading and managing the leader)
• Knowledge and understanding of the respective regional context
• Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills required
• Superb inter-personal, written and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments
• Fluency in English and French required
• Ability to travel regionally and globally up to 35% of the time, occasionally on short notice

Education: 

• Masters’ degree in Social Sciences, International Law and/or related fields or an equivalent professional experience background is required. Sound training on the use of data and research evidence for programmatic decisions and rigorous analytic skills are an advantage.

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 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 program called ‘Opportunities to Learn (OtL) in Borno Adamawa and Yobe States between October 2021 and October 2026. The Program intends to ensure more than 193,854 OOSC and youths in Borno, Adamawa, 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 Education Program Manager, based in Yola, will be responsible for the overall management of OTL Activities in Adamawa State. S/he will ensure that project activities are delivered per the Project's Detailed Implementation Plan, contribute to the strategic objectives of the program, and meet global and IRC technical standards for education in emergencies. The Education Program Manager will supervise a team of officers, providing supervision and guidance in line with agreed performance objectives. This position reports to the Program Lead.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program design, delivery, and management

• Manage and supervise daily operations of Opportunities to Learn (OTL) Activity in Adamawa State, ensuring strict compliance with the annual work plan and monitoring progress against detailed Implementation Plans.
• Provide comprehensive coordination of OTL activities, offering technical support to officers for timely and high-quality setup, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adaptation.
• Direct the implementation of OTL Activity in Adamawa with support from the Program Lead, ensuring evidence-based programs aligned with IRC strategies, international education standards, and national policies.
• Ensure effective delivery of program activities while promoting inclusivity, diversity, transparency, accountability, and integrity.
• Collaborate with OTL Intermediate Result (IR) Leads and Specialists to ensure smooth and timely implementation of OTL Activity aligned with program objectives and donor requirements.
• Identify, communicate, and manage updates and risks for timely interventions and corrective actions, ensuring program success.
• Engage regularly with beneficiaries and community representatives for feedback, Supervise the training, coaching, and ongoing support of educators/learning facilitators to enhance instructional practices in literacy, numeracy, social-emotional skills, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL).
• Stay informed about education trends, integrate innovative approaches, and collaborate with external experts and institutions.
• Focus on expanding education access for over-age, out-of-school children through the setup and management of ABEP learning opportunities.
• Prepare and submit timely compelling reports (weekly, monthly, and quarterly) on project activities to the Program Lead as per the agreed schedule., providing accurate information on program achievements, challenges, and Mitigation Measures
• Collaborate with the OTL MEAL team to establish and execute robust data collection systems ensuring that OTL activities are data-driven and that programmatic decisions are evidence-based. This involves assessing program effectiveness, identifying areas for enhancement, and implementing required changes.
• Work closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team to ensure proper filing/documentation processes in line with agreed project targets and standards for effective internal and external communications, accountability, audits, evaluation purposes, and reporting.
• Monitor project progress, objectives, and outputs using routine data, spot checks, observation, and other methodologies.

Capacity building and technical support

• Enhance the Education Officers’ capacity through ongoing coaching and support.
• Maintain regular communication with the Program Lead and seek technical guidance as needed.
• Work with OTL people and culture team to conduct assessments of staff training needs and tailor capacity-building activities accordingly.
• Facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions, design, and implement initiatives to enhance staff skills in education program implementation.

Representation and coordination.

• Develop and maintain professional relationships with key stakeholders, coordinating USAID Special Objective (SPO) Activities in Adamawa State and providing regular reports on SPO activities.
• Collaborate with other USAID Implementing Partners in Adamawa for a multi-sectoral implementation approach of OTL Activity in the state.
• Actively participate in and represent OTL at education-related coordination meetings, disseminating information and fostering effective relationships with IRC staff, partners, community structures, donors, and government institutions.

Sustainability.

• Establish and nurture robust partnerships with local communities, schools, and government authorities to fortify the long-term viability of OTL Activity.
• Contribute to the formulation and execution of advocacy strategies aimed at fostering the adoption and enduring success of the Accelerated Basic Education Curriculum in Adamawa State.
• Assist in the creation and execution of plans to ensure the transition of 65% (20% in year 3, 20% in year 4, and 25% in year 5) of OTL ABEP Learning Centers to the Adamawa State Government.
• Convene regular meetings with government officials, community leaders, and other pertinent stakeholders to cultivate resilient collaborations.
• Collaborate with the Program Lead to engage with local educational institutions in Adamawa State, facilitating the integration of ABE programs into the existing education system.

Qualifications

• University degree in education; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 4 years of relevant professional experience with an international or civil society organization, including direct implementation of education programming.
• At least one year of experience in a managerial position with demonstrated capacity in team leadership and capacity building.
• Demonstrated experience in managing the Accelerated Basic Education Program (ABEP) is a must.
• Strong verbal communication skills and effective in representation and liaison with external actors.
• Lead integrated state technical working groups and steering coordination meetings.
• Excellent spoken and technical writing ability in English, including report writing.
• Excellent computer skills in programs including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Ability to work under pressure in challenging working and living conditions.
• Strong knowledge of ABEP implementation guidelines, Teaching at the Right Level methodology, Universal Design for Learning, and Social Emotional Learning (Dabaru skills are a must).
• Ability to collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience in coordinating and training on Teacher Professional Development opportunities for teachers in person and online.
• Experience in managing and mentoring staff, exemplifying good leadership and supervisory skills, team building, and ensuring clear roles and responsibilities within the team.
• Experience contextualizing and adapting program models and tools to the context.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies and evidence-based practices to support the learning and well-being OTL ABEP Learners.
• Experience in effectively dealing with government officials, community structures, and other NGOs; ability to work with a broad spectrum of people, including partners, education sector leaders, and government staff.
• Analytical skills, including the ability to analyze program data, make data-driven decisions, and communicate technical matters effectively.
• Willingness to travel to different field sites for project monitoring and other related activities.
• Demonstrated dedication to a Do No Harm approach, gender equality, and inclusion.

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Job Overview

Health Unit West Africa Regional Lead provides coherence and direction to the provision of technical support for Health Unit in the West Africa Region. As a member of both the regional team and the technical unit Leadership team, the Regional Lead has accountability for technical quality and responsibility for assuring the advice from Technical Advisors is taken into appropriate action by the country office.

The Health Unit Regional Lead (RL) will lead a highly effective, strategic Health Unit regional team to ensure the West Africa Region has high quality, sound technical support needed to deliver on global program goals and effectively serve our clients. The role will serve as a functional leader, advisor, and a thought partner to both TU leadership and Regional leadership, with a particular focus on leading the operationalization of outcome strategies in West Africa region, multi-sector and sub-sector program integration, evidence-based design, business development, and quality assurance for high-impact and scale strategic projects. The Regional Lead will coordinate across individuals and projects, ensuring clear priorities are set and communicated, and navigating the challenges inherent in being an advisory function. They will be an excellent people manager, with great team building/animation skills, able to help technical staff succeed and grow in their careers. The Regional Lead will invest deeply in understanding the context and dynamics of the country and regional teams and the challenges they face. They will ensure coherent ways of working within and across the regional technical team, as well as within the wider Health Unit, to align high quality technical support with the operational realities of the country offices. By doing so, the Regional Lead will ensure high quality programming across the Health practice areas in West Africa region, high quality coordination and partnership with regional teams, effective team performance, and efficiency and impact of technical excellence service offering to the West Africa region and country programs.

Major Responsibilities

Functional Leadership, Coordination, and Implementation Support:

• Provide technical leadership across the region, including by contextualizing the Health Outcome Strategy at the regional level in partnership with Technical Advisors, DRDs, + DDPs and in line with Country Program Strategic Action Plans
• Promote programming coherence and strategic direction of the Health programming portfolio including identifying opportunities for intra and cross-sectoral integration
• Closely coordinate with Global Practice Leads and HQ functions to facilitate translation of global standards to the region and of country-generated innovation and learning to global practice.
• Support regional Technical Advisors to address implementation bottlenecks and critical quality concerns in the region’s programming portfolio, in partnership with the Deputy Regional Director
• Increase quality of technical collaboration across the region by fostering cross-regional dialogue with other regional technical teams
• Provide technical oversight of regional strategic projects as appropriate and/or budgeted, escalating quality assurance challenges as needed.
• Foster relationships with a wide range of both internal and external stakeholders to make strategic connections and identify opportunities.
• Provide stop-gap direct implementation support as/if appropriate and budgeted on CP-grants.

Staff management, learning, and development

• Lead and line manage a high performing team of Health regional Technical Advisors, to design and support Health programming across the region, and generate evidence and learning for local and global strategies
• Accountable for ensuring TAs maintain core knowledge and expertise and apply global best practices to their work across health sub-sectors
• Work closely with Regional and CRRD HQ People & Culture colleagues to devise strategies of attracting, onboarding, developing, and nurturing diverse regional technical staff at the Advisor and Coordinator levels, and ensuring an inclusive work environment.  In collaboration with the DRD, Regional and CRRD HQ P&C, and Global Practice Leads, plan and implement professional development for staff ensuring targeted learning.

Program Design and Business Development

• Provide technical leadership and oversight to region-led (multi-country) business development, as well as particularly large single-country opportunities, together with the Technical Advisors, Global Practice Leads and others as relevant.
• Support and promote technical and programmatic innovation in the region, based on technically-sound and contextually-grounded creativity and/or insights
• Collaborate with other technical area Regional Leads and Technical Advisors to promote regional uptake of solutions that are proven to increase scale and deepen impact, with close attention to where integrated programming would multiply efficacy and efficiency.
• Work with Deputy Regional Directors, Directors of Awards Management and Deputy Directors of Programs for country programs to understand the region’s donors for the Health sector, the donors’ priorities in the region, and the regional funding priorities of Country Programs for Health Outcome area
• Support regional donor engagement to deepen donor understanding of IRC’s work the region, strategically foster and develop new donor relationships in close coordination with the regional team and support the development of regional business development opportunities.
• Support the development and growth of strategic partnerships with mission-aligned organizations at the regional level who share commitments towards scale and impact and have complementary areas of expertise for collaboration towards delivering better outcomes for clients.
• Accountable for coordinating across expert staff to better integrate cross-cutting issues into [sector] programs (e.g., gender equality, diversity and inclusion, climate adaptation, etc.).

Knowledge Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

• Lift up program learning for sharing across the region and to inform global strategic direction of (relevant) Global Practice Areas
• Facilitate interpretation and use of sector data in regional learning routines and put in place routines and accountability mechanisms to encourage uptake of data-driven recommendations made by TAs.
• Collaborate with Regional Measurement Advisors to ensure that Regional Technical Advisors support good MEAL practice for Health programming in West Africa including the use of high-quality indicators, the use of IRC standard data tools, and the inclusion of MEAL activities in project plans.

External Influence and Representation

• Engage in regional sector coordination groups and bilateral relationships as appropriate, to represent IRC and support priority policy and practice shifts.
• Support regions in addressing policy & practice shifts needed to enable program impact and scale.
• In close collaboration and partnership with the Deputy Regional Director, regional AMU, and Advocacy focal points, ensure effective networking and representation in relation to the [Technical Unit] practice areas, through mobilizing input from global practice leads.

Qualifications

Desired Experience and Skills

• Highly seasoned professional with at least 8+ years of progressive technical and management experience leading and managing technical teams.
• Established technical expertise in at least one of the Health Global Practice Areas relevant to West Africa. Professional and/or lived experience in West Africa context and sound understanding of the region is a huge advantage.
• Strong track record of leading multi-location technical programs with excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management
• Strong track record of driving uptake of evidence-based practice
• Experience managing multiple projects with multi-disciplinary collaborators
• Demonstrated ability to influence across a wide range of diverse stakeholders internally and externally
• Strong track record of identifying and converting business development opportunities (when leading and managing the leader)
• Knowledge and understanding of the respective regional context
• Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills required
• Superb inter-personal, written and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments
• Fluency in English required; any other regional language is a huge advantage
• Ability to travel regionally and globally up to 35% of the time, occasionally on short notice

Education:

•  Masters’ degree in Public Health, and/or related fields or an equivalent professional experience background is required. Sound training on the use of data and research evidence for programmatic decisions and rigorous analytic skills are an advantage.