Career Openings at Save the Children

The project aims to improve children’s holistic learning and wellbeing through strengthening of the quality and equity of the teacher professional development system in refugee hosting counties in Kenya, while also being responsive to learning environments, especially catering to teachers’ and children’s needs as shocks and stressors arise.

Contract Duration: 5years

Location: Nairobi 50% & Dadaab 50%

Reports to: The Technical Steering Committee

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Technical assistance and capacity building

• Provide overall technical leadership of the programme, setting priorities in designing and overseeing the implementation of the project’s activities in collaboration with the technical and operations team
• Facilitating the Technical Steering Group consisting of the technical staff that aims to ensure smooth coordination and technical coherence across the programme
• Working with the technical staff across the partners, ensuring shared, harmonised, and integrated technical learning approaches across the partners as well as capacity development for the local partners
• Review and analyze data for performance monitoring and utilize the data to take corrective actions.
• Ensure that adaptive learning is embedded in all technical aspects of the programme, and that programmes are able to adapt quickly to changes in context and build on continuous lessons learned.

Oversight and Management Project Operations 

Responsible for overall coordination, line management and support of the Project, and ensure that:

• Project teams receive appropriate and timely support from technical advisers and programme quality teams for program technical design and strategy, MEAL, and advocacy.
• Principles of child safeguarding and ‘do no harm’ are embedded in all project planning, implementation and reporting and that staff receive regular, up to date training on it.
• Inclusion and gender are adequately mainstreamed within the programme and staff receive regular training.
• Ensure transparency in targeting beneficiaries, delivery of services and participation of beneficiaries and partners in planning and monitoring of process is reflected in programme delivery

Oversight of Grants and Finance Management:

• In close coordination with Award and Finance team, ensure that all project programmatic reporting requirements including donor reports have strong technical coherence and are completed within time, budget, and quality.

Representation and advocacy

• Represent the project in relevant internal and external fora including donor meetings (as appropriate)
• In coordination with the Project Director, support stakeholder engagement with communities, local partners, national and county Governments and foster strong relationships and collaboration of other key stakeholder groups
• Work with consortium members and relevant stakeholders to further the project’s vision.

People management, mentoring and development

• Ensure and manage appropriate staffing within the project
• Manage the team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support, and evaluate direct reports regularly
• Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process.  Establish result based system and follow up
• Manage the performance of  his direct line reports through:
  • Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measureable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations;
  • Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
  • Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
  • Effective and timely management of poor performance
• Ensure appropriate gender and ethnic diversity within the Project programme teams;

Assessment, monitoring, evaluation, and documentation

• Ensure technical and administrative compliance with donor requirements
• Oversee technical narrative and financial reports for donor(s), ensuring these are of a high quality and submitted for review in a timely manner
• Monitor technical results and work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research team to ensure that results are documented and reported accurately and in a timely manner
• Work with the monitoring, evaluation and research, and wider programme team to analyse programme data and identify and implement real-time iterations to programme design, including support to teachers and key stakeholders
• Facilitate appropriate documentation and dissemination of learnings, analyses, and good practices documentations in the project internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.

• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Bachelor’s / post graduate degree or PHD in education, public administration, development studies or any relevant qualification
• Recommend a minimum of 10 years of relevant technical experience in education, teacher professional development, refugee education, and primary/junior secondary education in Kenya including working with the Ministry of Education, Teacher Service Commission, and a strong understanding of Kenya’s Competency Based Curriculum, gender and inclusion, play based learning, WASH, humanitarian response, and MHPSS/SEL.
• Recommend a minimum of 10 years of expertise managing large and complex grants (ideally LEGO), managing multiple partners, and working in consortia
• Excellent experience in external representation with donors, local/national governments, communities, and partners
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, adapting and innovating where necessary, and defining a clear way forward and ensuring buy in, as well as working on agile programme management
• Ability to extensively travel for on-site technical support to field teams 
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching
• Highly developed cultural and political awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required
• Commitment to Save the Children values
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values

go to method of application »

Role Purpose:

The role holder will belong to the Award Management team and work in close collaboration with the Strategic Portfolio, and the Global Sponsorship Operations (GSO) unit in the International Programs Operations teams within Save the Children International (SCI) Centre. He/she will provide administrative and compliance support with a focus on sponsorship funding mechanisms. The role holder will also provide award management support to other centrally pooled funding, such as humanitarian funds and SCI directly received.

The role holder will be responsible for ensuring that these funds are processed efficiently and correctly through the Award Management System (AMS) and are compliant with the policies for each type of funding. The role holder will also provide support to the SCI country offices, regional offices and Save the Children members in monitoring and reporting on sponsorship funding.

the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Previous NGO experience with a good understanding of the grant (award) management cycle
• Ability to understand grant budgets and analyse financial reports
• Proven influencing skills with the ability to communicate compliance requirements to stakeholders in the most appropriate way
• Proven planning, setting objectives and determining courses of action
• Excellent Microsoft Excel skills with the ability to draw out complex data from various different sources
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Ability to explain complex issues to both staff and peers
• Ability to manage a varied workload quickly and efficiently, and work effectively under pressure to organise and prioritise work for yourself and others to ensure deadlines are met
• An energetic, flexible and proactive approach with the ability to work both independently and cooperatively within a team setting
• Strong team skills and the ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships at all levels both within and outside the team
• Demonstrable commitment to equal opportunities and an awareness of what constitutes good practice
• Ability to travel, up to 5% of the time to Save the Children International regional and country offices
• Understanding of human rights and children’s rights.

Desirable

• Experience in financial accounting
• Project management skills, particularly including planning
• Experience of working in a complex international organisation
• Experience working for Save the Children
• Experience working in across departments and in business process
• Language skills, alongside English, particular in Spanish or French