Scale & Sustainability Senior Manager

Role & Responsibilities

We are looking for a Scale and Sustainability Senior Manager who will be responsible for supporting TaRL Africa to deliver its new 5-year strategy: By 2030 we will scale up core TaRL in over 20 countries, and accompany 5 Ministries of Education to focus on and improve the delivery of foundational skills through education systems, so that all children acquire critical reading and math skills before they graduate from primary school. A core part of this role will be to work closely with governments in five countries to institutionalize the TaRL approach within government systems, to ensure sustainability. This new role was developed in line with our updated strategy, which is informed by the large-scale nature of TaRL programming in countries where we work directly with government and the appetite from governments to mainstream the TaRL approach.

This role will work closely with TaRL Africa’s country and central teams as well as government counterparts to craft TaRL institutionalization plans, as well as monitor and manage the actioning of these activities.

The Scale and Sustainability Senior Manager forms part of the Programs and Partnerships Team and reports directly to the Programs and Partnerships Director. They will support government liaisons across Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia. The size and geography of the team supporting this work will likely expand over time.

Institutionalization and education transformation strategy creation (50%)

• Co-develop plans for national scale, sustainability and institutionalization across core TaRL Africa countries in collaboration with country offices and government counterparts, including:
  • identifying how implementation costs can be reduced and absorbed into existing systems;
  • developing sustainable training delivery models; and
  • incorporating TaRL into relevant policies and frameworks.
• Support committed/interested governments to develop national or state level frameworks, priorities and indicators for FLN programs.
• Identify opportunities that enable sustainability and institutionalization of TaRL programs such as curriculum review, integration of data systems, or national budgeting.

Country Team Support (40%)

• Supervise, coach, mentor and provide strategic support to government liaisons across supported countries.
• Work closely with country teams to action institutionalization plans.
• Constantly review the political landscape across core countries and provide guidance to government liaisons and Country Directors to channel knowledge to enable effective decision making.
• Provide high quality advice to senior Government counterparts as well as country teams. Ideate, troubleshoot to ensure we are maximizing sustainable impact on children’s learning.
• Support government liaisons to develop and maintain trust-based and respectful relationships with all government partners supported at all levels with an aim to ensure buy-in and support for TaRL programs.

Cross Cutting: Quality Delivery and Impact Assurance (10%)

• Engage in education evidence and experiences to strengthen TaRL Africa work.
• Stay informed on the latest relevant education and governance research.

Minimum Requirements

• At minimum, MPA, MPP and/or Masters in a relevant subject area such as public policy, international development, education, political economy, etc.
• 5+ years of experience working with governments, ideally on education policy/programming in Africa;
• Strong project management and organizational skills; proven ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously, which require inputs from multiple, diverse stakeholder groups;
• Strong oral and written communication skills in both English and French;
• Experience in effectively communicating with, presenting to, and managing a variety of stakeholders;
• Advanced executive-level writing and presentation development skills, including exceptional skills in Word and PowerPoint or Google Docs;
• Ability to develop strategic recommendations based on qualitative and quantitative analysis;
• Able to work within a matrixed, complex organizational structure;
• Desire to get hands-dirty and take on priority tasks;
• Willing and able to travel 5-25%

TaRL Africa Values

1. We put children’s learning first.
2. We are always learning, improving, and innovating.
3. We are locally rooted for high-quality delivery and sustainable impact.
4. We are kind, respectful and collaborative.
5. We are proactive, committed to integrity and doing our best each day.