Education Chief of Party

ROLE PURPOSE:

Save the Children International is seeking an Education Chief of Party (CoP) for an upcoming EU-funded two-year Education project aimed at supporting the right to quality education for vulnerable Syrian and Lebanese children and youth. The project aims to improve the education pathways and wellbeing for vulnerable children and youth, with or without disabilities. This will be achieved through a focus on improving access to education for out-of-school children by addressing key barriers to education, and ensuring that children can access safe, inclusive and protective learning environments. This will also be through improved transition and retention of vulnerable children in an enhanced education system

The Education Chief of Party will lead a consortium of four NGOs and will be responsible, in coordination with Area Management in the Area offices, for the overall management of the project and is ultimately accountable for the delivery of desired project results with quality, based on the contractual agreement. The Education Chief of Party will act as the main point of contact with the donor, as well as with all relevant stakeholders including national and local authorities

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Deputy Country Director, Programme Operations

Staff Directly reporting to: Senior MEAL Coordinator

Budget Responsibilities: Programme exceeding Euro 9,000,000

Role Dimensions: Ensuring high quality and cost effective Consortium management and project implementation within the designated geographical areas, in compliance with SCI and donors’ policies and procedures.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Consortium Management, Leadership and Technical Oversight

• Provide strategic guidance and strong leadership to the Consortium to ensure the delivery of program targets and technically sound decision-making processes.
• Ensure that effective monitoring and performance management systems are in place for tracking and achieving prior agreed program activity targets, budget allocations and financial expenditures, ensuring that value for money can be effectively demonstrated to the donor and activities and expenditures are compliant with donor requirements.
• Maintain efficient and effective operating systems that are compliant with all Save the Children Minimum Operating Standards across the consortium, including safety and security management and child safeguarding.
• Lead on the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) related to governance and technical direction within the consortium, ensuring adherence the Ministry of Education & Higher Education policies.
• Put operational approaches in place, oversee project implementation in coordination with Area Management in the Area offices and consortium members, oversee implementation plans, assess progress of activities against plans on a regular basis, and take corrective measures as and when required.
• Lead the preparation, review and regular revision of the detailed implementation plan, taking into account agreed milestones, log frame and budget prepared by each consortium member.
• Monitor the progress through field visits and meetings with staff across the consortium, communities, partners, local and provincial government and other key stakeholders.
• In coordination with the Education Technical Adviser, carry out field-based needs assessments and gap analyses, including risk and vulnerability assessments for the consortium.
• Ensure sound financial planning, track spending and support the preparation of financial reports.
• Ensure that the consortium deploys an effective collaborating, learning and adapting approach, such that the consortium/project is able to evolve in a changing context to achieve desired outcomes.
• In coordination with the Education Technical Advisors/staff of all consortium partners, provide overall technical guidance, design relevant technical approaches and contribute to development of tools for implementation.
• Recruit, hire, and manage staff and consultants as needed to carry out activities, including the Senior MEAL Coordinator.
• With the MEAL team, ensure the development of all the relevant MEAL tools and ensure data is collected and analyzed in a timely manner, based on a defined plan across all consortium members.
• Promote sustainability of project activities with effective networking, coordination and linkages to other programs, partners and counterparts, capacity building of project staff, and institutional strengthening of implementing partners and community-based organizations.
• Ensure the Consortium members are implementing robust Safeguarding systems which enable children and adults to report any concerns and allow the organisations to take actions (investigation, corrective measure, management plan, etc.)

Award Management

• In coordination with the Award Management Unit, organize project kick-off and yearly closeout sessions.
• Oversee the development and submission of project work plans, quarterly and annual reports, and other program materials and coordinate across the consortium.
• Ensure compliance with donor, host government and Save the Children policies and procedures.
• Ensure the effective and donor-compliant management of the project budget through close collaboration with the consortium focal points and the Finance department.
• Prepare and implement monthly pipeline analyses and monthly spending targets.
• Identify potential variances of expenses versus budget, and recommend appropriate adjustments and actions to the steering committee.
• Develop reporting flowchart, draft narrative reports as needed and coordinate report preparation processes among partners.
• Provide information on award status, progress and risks to management team; Lead on any amendment process and budget revisions.
• Support MEAL in the writing of donor progress reports and document case studies of successes, challenges, lessons learned and other project-related feedback.
• Coordinate with the Policy, Advocacy and Communications team for the publication of best practices and lessons learned for a variety of external stakeholders and audiences.

Staff Management

• Ensure that the consortium is appropriately staffed across Save the Children and partners, including the appropriate combination of expertise across technical and operational areas.
• Support the capacity building of staff in report writing; budget utilization; indicator tracking; and the preparation of detailed implementation plans.
• Ensure capacity gaps across the consortium are identified and acted upon; ensure appropriate capacity-strengthening initiatives are offered to partners as part of ongoing project implementation.
• Recruit and manage the senior MEAL coordinator ensuring performance objectives are set and revisited, support is provided as needed and feedback is provided on a timely basis.
• Manage technical consultant work all over the launching, planning and implementation.

Consortium Leadership & Representation

• Develop the consortium governance structure and ensure proper understanding of roles and responsibilities among consortium partners.
• Act as the main representative of the consortium for interagency communication and coordination.
• Liaise with Save the Children member office (Sweden) on project updates and advocacy opportunities (both national and international).
• Build and maintain strong relationships with consortium partners, SC Member, national and local authorities and donor, as well as other key stakeholders.
• Ensure adequate support provided to partners from MEAL, PDQ, Cash Ops, PAC, and Partnerships.
• Lead the consortium and organize regular coordination meetings, as agreed with management; Chair the Project implementation management committee and co-chair the Project steering committee.
• Build and maintain a strong network of relevant stakeholders including governmental institutions.
• Represent the Consortium in all relevant fora and attend coordination meetings including donor and EDPU meetings.
• Lead on the communication with EU representative in-country.
• Maintain clear understanding of the security, political and legal context.
• Lead the relationship with the Ministry of Education in representing the consortium in senior level Ministry meetings, including presentation of project to government & regular update meetings.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Essential

• Bachelor degree in Education, Pedagogy, Public Administration, International Development, or related field.
• Fluency in English.

Desirable

• Fluency in Arabic.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

• Minimum 7 years of experience of managing complex donor-funded education activities in challenging environments.
• Experience in the education sector in Lebanon or the region strongly preferred.
• Relevant management, supervisory, technical experience working with programs that are of a similar scope and scale to this program.
• Proven ability to coordinate with government stakeholders, as well as non-governmental organizations; strong networks and relationships with Lebanese NGOs, universities and education stakeholders preferred.
• Strong knowledge of, and commitment to, gender and social equity issues in education.
• Familiarity and experience working with complex donors and programme management experience.
• Understanding of global best practices in formal and non-formal education provision, and familiarity with cross-sectorial education approaches.
• Solid experience in grant management, including budget holding and donor reporting.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate at all levels.
• Representational, political awareness and advocacy skills.
• Experience of working with partners.
• Commitment to and understanding of SCI’s aims, values and principles.
• Ability in using Microsoft Office.

Additional job responsibilities:

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities:

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety:

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.