Programme Associate (Myanmar Education Consortium) (Consultancy)

TITLE: Programme Associate (Myanmar Education Consortium) (Consultancy)

LOCATION: Home-based (working during Myanmar – GMT+6:30 – hours)

CONTRACT LENGTH: Full time consultancy agreement – 1 year, renewable

Consultancy Role: The Myanmar Education Consortium (MEC) partners with selected ethnic and monastic education providers to strengthen their capacity to deliver and sustain good quality learning opportunities for hard-to-reach children in Myanmar. As a multi-donor funded programme with a $15 million/year annual budget, MEC is an education programme that is operating in a fragile and complex context. With funding support from four institutional donors (USAID, DFAT, FCDO and Finland), MEC provides funding, coordination, technical assistance and research across different local partner organisations to promote continuous improvement of education services and a supportive operating environment for ethnic and monastic education providers. MEC is currently in its third phase of implementation with a strategy period of 2021-2025 and is currently recruiting for a fluent English speaker to serve as Programme Associate, providing donor liaison, reporting support, management assistance and other forms of programme assistance, as required, to the programme.

Introduction:

The MEC Programme Associate will report to the MEC Director, providing assistance to the MEC donors and the MEC senior leadership team on a range of tasks. Primary responsibilities include liaising and coordinating with MEC donors; providing programme management assistance; and supporting MEC staff capacity development. The Programme Associate will be home-based, working online remotely with the Myanmar and Thai-based team members; however, the candidate is expected to work during Myanmar (GMT +6:30) working hours (9am – 5:30pm).

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: MEC Director

Donor Liaison and Coordination Support

• Convene Steering Committee meetings, soliciting inputs and preparing the agenda, preparing and sharing documents in advance, coordinating schedules and invitations, ensuring that minutes are produced in a timely manner, circulated and approved, and that action points are followed up on;
• Consolidate donors’ inputs to key programme documents (such as reports, annual plans, etc), identifying areas that require further discussion or agreement across donors in order to reach consensus and supporting the Steering Committee Chair in cross-donor liaison for decision-making;
• Coordinating provision of MEC inputs to donors’ internal reporting requirements;
• Facilitate gathering inputs across donors on areas of strategic importance to the programme;
• Assist in donor field visit planning;
• Support other coordination and liaison activities with donors / MEC Steering Committee, as required.

Programme Management Assistance

• Ensure efficient and timely support to the Myanmar Education Consortium Director and other Directors in the Senior Leadership Team;
• Prepare concise and accurate minutes for quarterly Steering Committee meetings, Senior Leadership Team meetings, Senior Management Team meetings and other selected meetings (utilising online meeting recordings and/or attendance at meetings);
• Provide oversight in ensuring follow up actions from meetings are taken forward and maintain an action point tracker;
• Review documents, communication pieces, programme management manuals and/or donor report drafts, supporting in proof reading, editing text as necessary and ensuring formatting of all external-facing products are in alignment with the programme’s style guide;
• Maintain document version control and ensure appropriate filing of final versions of key documents in the programme’s shared drive, ensuring files are organised intuitively with a filing ‘map’ to ensure all team members can easily locate desired files;
• Prepare presentations or other briefs for management use in meetings or workshops;
• Provide support for the development and finalization of communications and reporting products or publications, as needed;
• Lead administrative management of specific activities, such as the Strategic Facilitation Fund;
• Support other tasks / assignments as assigned.

Staff Capacity Development Support

• Organise and lead staff ‘learning labs’, based on requests from staff on topics of interest;
• Support team members in improving their written and oral English language communication skills;
• Maintain the programme’s Learning & Development Plan to ensure all MEC team members are supported appropriately to develop capacity in self-identified areas;
• Upon request, assist MEC team members and partners in identifying relevant opportunities for learning and development.

Travel:

• Minimum (up to 3 days per month, if feasible depending on the base location of the candidate and opportunities for travel to partner areas / team meetings)

Person Specifications:

• B.A. in Development or International Studies or related discipline;
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills and ability to communicate effectively using technical international development terminology;
• Proven skills in proof reading and editing documents, reports and communication materials;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and respect;
• Well-organized, attentive to detail, skilled in setting priorities and meeting deadlines, and able to handle working under pressure and addressing multiple tasks simultaneously;
• Pro-active in anticipating work requirements and problem-solving;
• Ability to analyse information, evaluate options and to think and plan strategically;
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures;
• Coordination skills, including experience of coordinating a team of people to deliver results within a restricted timeframe;
• Ability to work independently as well as with a team;
• The capacity and willingness to be flexible and accommodating in light of challenging circumstances;
• Willingness to work during Myanmar working hours;
• Commitment to Save the Children International values.

Desirable:

• Degree / background in the field of Education;
• Work or research experience in/with the Myanmar context;
• Experience in international development or humanitarian programming;
• Previous experience of administration and/or project management;
• Understanding of donor compliance requirements;
• Ability and willingness to travel;
• Having as one’s ‘home’ base Myanmar or Thailand.