Senior Education Technical Adviser

TITLE: Senior Education Technical Adviser
REPORTS TO: Head of Technical Unit

LOCATION: Kabul, Afghanistan (with travel to provinces)

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3 – the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people.
Staff directly reporting to this post: Education Technical Specialist (s) Budget Responsibilities: None

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Senior Education Technical Advisor is responsible for ensuring high quality programming of Education Projects. S/he will ensure technical standards are defined, shared and used across projects, coordination, standardization of approaches and use of common approaches in different projects, and that quality of program are of nationally/internationally accepted and recommended standards. The Advisor builds strong external relations, and produces and utilizes high quality and well-articulated project evidence and research for learning, advocacy and for the continued development of the Education portfolio.

The overall aim of the Senior Education Technical Adviser will be to monitor the needs and gaps, design appropriate interventions, and guide staff and partners in the initiation of programmes to address violations of children’s right to education and protection.

The post holder will ensure that programmes are designed in alignment with international quality standards and that the team has the appropriate level of capability to implement and monitor the programme. The post holder will be expected, with limited support, to lead on sectoral assessment, programme design and master budgeting, coordination, and support fundraising, recruitment, and procurement.

The Senior Education Technical Adviser will also be expected to play a leadership role within a response team, through 360-degree support to colleagues and work to ensure that broader sector coordination mechanisms are functioning effectively. In most circumstances, the post-holder will be expected to mentor and/or build capacity both international and national staff colleagues.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Programming Quality and effectiveness
* Provide technical advice and support in education to support quality programming and implementation for education projects and the design and delivery of the Country Strategic Plans.
* Ensuring that needs are identified and that education projects address the identified needs, fill gaps and prevent overlap and duplication and to inform the development and delivery of the education strategy with integrated links with other sectors.
* Actively seek innovative programme improvements and programme design and proposals which encourage donor diversification and the opportunity to try new approaches.
* Ensure priority cross-cutting issues are embedded in programming interventions.
* Actively communicate and coordinate with other sector specialists and relevant technical advisors and project coordinators to ensure integrated approaches across themes.
* Ensure common approaches and SCI quality frameworks standards are incorporated into proposals and implemented.
* Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) team to ensure education work is contributing to all objectives across these priority quality areas.
* Contribute to the development of an M&E framework for the education programme that monitors the impact of projects and progress towards strategic operational and advocacy objectives.
* Conduct regular field visits to provide supportive supervision to all education programs and build capacity of staff.
* Review all education donor reports to ensure high quality.
* Build capacity of staff and partners to ensure they have skills to deliver programmes and objectives and meet donor and SCI quality standards.
* Support multiple education consortiums (which are led by SCI) technically where required

Fundraising and donor engagement
* Support donor engagement and strategic fundraising to secure sufficient funding to maintain or expand the country office’s education programs as per the country strategic plan needs and in a pro-active manner.
* Develop and maintain contacts with current and potential donors, partners and key technical agencies. Support donor meetings and visits.
* Ensure that members are aware of funding opportunities and support their capacity to access these.
* Secure sufficient funding to maintain or expand the country office’s education programs as per the country strategic plan needs.

Advocacy
* Develop policy briefs and position papers related to Education with the Head of Advocacy
* Keep abreast of national and global debate in Education and relevant sub-themes, analyse and use in programming and advocacy to pro-actively inform the advocacy activity and strategy
* With the support of the ACCM Director, develop and implement EiE advocacy work to achieve education advocacy objectives and outcomes.
* Represent Save the Children in the Education Cluster, the Afghanistan Strategic Group, and other relevant working groups, task forces, seminars and related fora in the thematic area; and among donors, UN agencies, International NGOs, and national and sub-national government counterparts in coordination.

COMPETENCIES FOR THIS ROLE:

1. Applying Technical and Professional Expertise:
Applies the required technical and professional expertise to the highest standards; promotes and shared best practice within and outside the organisation.
Level required: Accomplished

2. Delivering Results:
Takes personal responsibility and holds others accountable for delivering our ambitious goals for children, continually improving their own performance or that of the team / organisation.
Level required: Leading Edge

3. Problem Solving and Decision-Making:
Takes effective, considered and timely decisions by gathering and evaluating relevant information from within or outside the organisation
Level required: Leading Edge

4. Advisor: Leading and Inspiring Others
Demonstrates leadership in all our work, embodies our values, and articulates a compelling vision to inspire others to achieve our goals for children.
Level required: Accomplished

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential
* Previous experience of working in large-scale emergency response
* At least 7 years’ experience at senior level in the education sector and working in international assignments with INGOs.
* Previous experience of managing a team of international and national staff
* Previous experience of quality oversight across multiple locations
* Commitment to, thorough understanding of, and ability to train staff in participation and accountability approaches
* Demonstrated experience in leading assessment activities and of designing, managing, monitoring and evaluating education programmes for NGOs
* Experience of applying relevant interagency humanitarian frameworks and standards in education in emergencies (for example INEE Minimum Standards)
* Demonstrated ability to set up monitoring & evaluation systems in large complex programmes.
* Demonstrated ability to set up learning and development processes for a large team
* Experience of senior level representation, including cluster coordination
* Experience of developing and negotiating successful partnerships with institutional donors
* Ability to write clear and well-argued assessment and project reports
* Excellent communication skills
* Proven ability to influence change at an operational and strategic level.
* Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
* A high level of written and spoken English
* The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
* Commitment to the aims and principles of SC. In particular, a good understanding of the SC mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support

Desirable
* Experience or knowledge of working and living in relevant regions/contexts