Associate Director, Global Education, Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too.

We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.

R4D seeks a highly motivated and dynamic Associate Director (AD) to play a key role in the Global Education practice on our largest program, EdTech Hub.

Global Education Practice

R4D’s Global Education practice focuses on combining three core methods — applied across critical issues such as early childhood education, out-of-school children, education financing, EdTech, non-state education, education innovations, and more — to support partners to strengthen education systems:

● Action Networks: We build and support action networks to convene practitioners and policymakers and facilitate opportunities for them to learn from one another’s experience and jointly develop new solutions. Then we share widely the lessons learned and tools they have generated.

● Analysis: We conduct new, rigorous analysis requested by our partners to support them in making evidence-based decisions to pressing policy or programmatic questions. We present our findings in accessible, actionable ways that can be relevant to others facing similar challenges.

● Adaptive Learning: We use rigorous methods to support partners as they design and test key elements of their programs, helping them design experiments, adapt their activities based on results and ultimately get to better programs faster. We make sure the evidence we generate gets into the hands of other change agents in different contexts working on related issues.

EdTech Hub

R4D serves as the prime of a consortium of organizations that deliver EdTech Hub, a global research-to-practice program which generates new insights on the use of EdTech in low- and middle-income countries and supports EdTech decision-makers to use those insights. Within EdTech Hub, R4D runs a demand-driven support service, the Helpdesk, where government decision-makers and their advisers can request real-time support on how to make evidence-based decisions on the use of EdTech. The Helpdesk bridges the gap between EdTech research findings and practical application, and also serves as a means for the Hub to gather insight into decision-makers’ interests and demands related to EdTech. Beyond the Helpdesk, R4D also helps lead EdTech Hub’s long-term Country Engagement work, comprised of technical assistance support to governments and their partners in seven focus countries: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Opportunity:

As Associate Director, you will draw on your significant education and EdTech expertise to provide technical leadership for the Helpdesk workstream, working as part of a tight-knit team providing high-quality support and building strong relationships with education decision makers in low and middle income countries. This role is pivotal to furthering our team’s work to help decision makers in low and middle income countries translate evidence into practice, generate new learning, and facilitate evidence, knowledge and experience-sharing between experts, countries and stakeholder groups.

In leading the Helpdesk workstream, the Associate Director will take responsibility for the quality of Helpdesk support globally and manage relationships with key stakeholders with government agencies, UNICEF, the World Bank, FCDO and other partners. Each Helpdesk request involves interaction with senior decision-makers, so the AD must be comfortable to lead these engagements and coach others to do so as well.

Importantly, you will manage existing stakeholder relationships and cultivate new partnerships globally and regionally that maximize the impact of the Hub’s work, especially the Helpdesk portfolio. You will also play a key role in shaping the strategic development and direction of R4D’s Education portfolio and will make significant contributions to new business development, including in collaboration with other practice areas at R4D.

A successful candidate for this role will have EdTech research, implementation, and/or policymaking experience in low- and middle-income countries. The role requires empathetic listening to understand partners’ needs, combined with technical expertise in EdTech and people and program management skills to guide the oerationalisation of the support that decision-makers need. The AD must be a highly-motivated self-starter, a creative problem solver, have strong analytical, communication and collaboration skills, and will have a commitment to excellence and producing results. We are a team that is resourceful, responsible, tenacious, high-energy, and always has a positive attitude.

You will have the opportunity to have a significant impact by bringing your experience in education and EdTech to a team that has well-developed mechanisms for supporting decision-makers. You will have the chance to work on a daily basis with colleagues around the world, especially in Africa, South Asia, the US and the UK.

This position is open to in-person hybrid work or can be based remotely. It requires willingness and availability to travel internationally on an as-needed basis. It is open to candidates who are authorized to work from one of the following countries where R4D has a presence: Ghana (Accra), Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), United Kingdom (London), United States (Washington, DC). The position reports to the Senior Program Director of R4D’s Global Education practice.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and technical leadership and development of EdTech Hub’s Helpdesk portfolio, aligned to EdTech Hub’s strategy. Listen and probe to understand education decision-maker needs via Helpdesk scoping calls, and provide technical and managerial direction in responding to those needs. Link to existing EdTech evidence, examples, and resources
• Conduct quality assurance (QA) reviews of Helpdesk deliverables, providing in-line comments, edits, and overall feedback on early and late-stage drafts. Guide teams on technical content, format, and length of deliverables that range from powerpoint slides and workshop agendas and materials, to topic briefs and evidence syntheses
• Provide internal and external technical and thought leadership by:
• representing EdTech Hub at events, conferences, workshops, and speaking engagements, both in-person (international travel expected) and virtually
• contributing to technical guidance (i.e. good practices in education and EdTech) within EdTech Hub at both the senior leadership and implementation levels
• coordinating and collaborating closely with EdTech Hub’s team of 14 country co-leads to provide technical input and expertise, quality assurance reviews, and strategic insight as requested
• Oversee and provide leadership of a team managing the day-to-day operationalisation of Helpdesk requests
• give suggestions on staffing from across a multi-partner consortium and the Specialist Network, a group of diverse experts on EdTech
• work with the Operations Senior Manager to identify operational needs for Helpdesk work
• Lead a core Helpdesk team of 3 – 5 staff (ranging from 30% – 100% FTE) from R4D and partner organizations to action Helpdesk requests, supporting team members with:
• Creative thinking to define next steps in response to partner needs
• Guidance on level of effort (LOE) / days per request or task
• Technical linkages across Helpdesk requests and Helpdesk / Country Engagement workstreams
• Feedback to staff on performance and areas for growth
• Oversee a complex, multi-donor annual Helpdesk budget, providing input to quarterly budget forecasting and working closely with Operations Senior Manager and R4D Finance teams to track R4D and partner spending, ensuring accuracy and compliance with funder requirements
• Serve as a member of EdTech Hub’s Delivery Leadership Team, working to ensure alignment between EdTech Hub’s strategic operations and the delivery of its portfolio of work
• Lead on select business development opportunities aligned with R4D’s organizational strategy, the R4D Education Team strategy, and EdTech Hub’s strategy, specifically contributing to EdTech Hub’s expansion within and beyond the life of core FCDO funding
• Participate fully as a member of R4D by contributing, assisting and participating in projects, activities, and initiatives as requested by management

Qualifications

• Successful candidates are likely to have the following qualifications:
• 9+ years of relevant work experience in the fields of international education and EdTech, at a donor/funder organization, government, EdTech company or implementer, or multilateral organization (such as UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank), including at least 2 years of supervisory experience.
• Familiarity with EdTech or ICT in education policymaking, as well as the strengths, limitations, and nuances of EdTech evidence base, and a bird’s eye view of the global ecosystem of EdTech stakeholders, initiatives, and key issues relevant to low- and middle- income countries.
• Colleagues would describe you as a strong analyst, dot-connector, strategic thinker, and a thorough, responsive team player who takes initiative
• Undergraduate/graduate training in international development, education, economics, social sciences or a related field
• Exceptional oral & written communications skills;
• Ability to deliver high-quality outputs and results within tight timeframes;
• Excellent project management and problem-solving skills;
• Comfort working with a diverse team of colleagues from many different countries, cultures, and backgrounds
• Proficiency in Google Suite, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, and Word; and
• Full professional fluency in written and spoken English.
• Preferred but not required: fluent in written and spoken French

Additionally, R4D prizes people who are:

• Good active listeners and facilitators;
• Productive, energetic, creative and task-oriented
• Adept at exchanging constructive feedback
• Multilingual
• Equally comfortable and capable of working independently and in teams;
• Highly collaborative and approachable; and
• Enthusiastic about joining a diverse and inclusive work environment.