District Coordinator DID – Inclusive Education

Sightsavers implements projects in over 30 countries in Africa and South Asia working to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote the rights of people with disabilities. We are looking for a District Coordinator DID – Inclusive Education to work closely with the Project Manager in the Bangladesh Office.

Location: Narshingdi, Sirajgonj districts of Bangladesh

Contract: 18 Month Fixed Term Contract

Salary: Local Terms and Conditions apply

About the role

The District Coordinator will work with the Sightsavers team to coordinate and support implementing partner organisations to the successful implementation of approved activities. Maintain liaison with the partners including effective planning, strengthen collaboration with district level educational officials, department of social service and relevant authorities, advocate with respective authorities and on behalf of Sightsavers and oversee financial and asset management of implementing partners.

Jobholder Requirements:

District level programmatic coordination (50%):

Coordinate partner/s in the district to plan and execute all the project activities as per project design and workplan and be responsible for the overall achievement/failure.

• Support partners in dealing with partnership agreement (e.g., PFA, PP, budget, roles, and responsibilities, etc.) with Sightsavers.
• Support partner to organise training program with respective intervention schools’ teachers, SMC, PTA training programme.
• Maintaining proper guidance from MEL team, the position will guide partner to collect project related data collection tools (enrolment, attendance, drop out, progress, disability allowance, disability card etc.) from the intervention schools.
• Monitor different level of activities carried out by the partner organisations such as awareness raising meeting for parents, caregivers and siblings to enable children to enrol and return to school, OPD coordination meeting, ensure regular technical support, ongoing capacity building and guidance to partners for their organisational and development.
• Support partner to organise different training session engaging government authorities, teachers, SLIP committee, re-activate students’ council, and maintain follow-up, monitoring after the training as explained in the project description.
• Support partner organisation for meaningful engagement of OPDs in all the implementation areas, explore partnership with OPDs with the implementing partner’s, with specific focus on OPDs organisational development process.
• Promote shared learning and collaboration between partners by facilitating different meetings.
• Develop and support longer-term relationships with the partners that go beyond the duration of individual projects.

Project financial planning and execution (20%)

• Coordinate with finance Officer of partners and Finance colleagues of Sightsavers on budget preparation, forecasting, advance, requisition, adjustment, and financial documentation.
• Ensure that partners submit accurate financial reports in a timely manner, and they manage and utilize project resources (financial and human) as per the standard protocol set together.
• Support to partners on organisational development (e.g., governance issue, new policies/guidelines, legal issues, etc.)
• Monitor compliance by the partners regarding recommendations made during MPC assessment/ due diligence exercise/ monitoring visits in their offices and activities.

Project advocacy and communication (20%)

• Liaison and coordination with DC office, UNO office, District level Education Officials, Department of Social Services (DSS), Local Government Authorities (LGA) office as Sightsavers’ local representative.
• As per the guidance of Sightsavers’ Advocacy and Communication Coordinator, support partner/s in the district to deliver advocacy activities and campaigns for the project.
• Be proactive in providing good quality case studies, process documentation, participate in District level meetings facilitates by the government authorities to promote Sightsavers portfolio.
• Take the responsibility to ensure donor and Sightsavers compliance at the district level project implementation work.

Project monitoring and evaluation (10%)

• Ensure regular project performance monitoring of partners as per the guidance of Sightsavers’ country and global colleagues.
• Contribute to monthly, quarterly report writing along with management of participant database to ensure the quality and consistency of the activities offered from the project.

This is a highly varied and involved role and the above is not an exhaustive list of duties or required professional skills. Please see the Job Description for full details.

Essential:

• Commitment to Sightsavers’ values and rights based inclusive development approaches.
• Demonstratable experience of consistent programming/advocacy for marginalised communities with skills development and job transitions of youths with disabilities.
• Masters in Education, Development Studies, Social Welfare.
• Experience in project management, partnership management.
• Previous experience in working with Organisaitons with Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), Self-help Groups (SHGs).
• Understanding and working knowledge of working with donor funded projects and donor compliance.
• Demonstratable experience in project monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Experience in advocacy, communication, and proper documentation.
• Sound knowledge of Microsoft Office products, particularly Excel.
• Relationship building skills with internal and external audiences.

Desirable:

• Masters in the mentioned fields of study.
• Persons with disabilities with some level of flexibility in requirements.
• Experience of working with government entities e.g., Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), Deputy Commissioner Office, District level educational authorities, and Department of Social Service and with other relevant stakeholders.
• Good computer aided writing skills in Bangla and English.
• Strong verbal and written presentation, negotiation and influencing skills.
• Excellent IT skills including familiarity with virtual meetings and online learning platforms.
• Availability to travel on a regular basis using locally available public transport.

Closing date: 13 November 2022

Next Steps

To apply for this exciting new opportunity, please complete an application via our recruitment portal. We are particularly interested in learning of your motivations for applying.

Due to project deadlines, we are keen to fill this role as quickly as possible so applications will be considered as soon as they are received.

As an equal opportunity employer, we actively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Sightsavers is a Disability Confident Leader and qualified people living with a disability are particularly encouraged to apply.