Strategic Education Advisor Partnerships & Policy

VVOB is an international NGO with programmes and projects in 10 countries worldwide. Our head office is based in Brussels, Belgium.

When you join VVOB, you become a key player in VVOB’s mission to ensure quality education as a key enabler for achieving the sustainable development goals. We implement our programmes and projects with one shared passion: to ensure the improvement of quality education. Our teams of national and international experts achieve this by providing technical assistance to governmental and other education actors. In doing so, worldwide we ensure capacity building of governmental and other education actors.

Do you share our ambition to ensure that learners around the world can enjoy their fundamental human right to quality education, without exception? Are you convinced as well that quality education guarantees equal opportunities for everyone and is the key to a better world?

We are looking for a Strategic Education Advisor Partnerships & Policy who will operate from our headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Do you want to take on this challenge? Then continue reading!

VVOB in Kenya

VVOB has a long history of working in Kenya and will now restart activities again after almost a decade of absence in the country. We are starting up our first project in Kenya in 2022, and then gradually expand our project portfolio from there. Our first project will support the Ministry of Education (MoE) with the implementation of the new competency based curriculum (CBC) in Kenya, specifically at the junior secondary level. The focus of this project will be on strengthening the instructional leadership skills of school leaders by providing them with new opportunities for their continuous professional development, complementing a traditional cascade training system with innovative app-based learning experiences.

Purpose of the function

As Strategic Education Advisor you contribute to the ambition and values of VVOB in Kenya by being the key person for education partnerships and policy. You provide technical and strategic advice and guidance on this domain to VVOB and VVOB’s partners in Kenya. In this position you report to the Country Programmes Manager. You work closely together with the education and M&E colleagues.

You will:

· You create and manage partnerships and strong networks with relevant partners, institutions and organisations*.*

· You support the policy processes needed for institutionalizing and scaling the programme’s of VVOB, together with our partners and other stakeholders. You aim for evidence-based policy outcomes, guided by the research agenda of VVOB in Kenya and globally.

· You provide both short- and long-term strategic advice, information, and guidance to VVOB and VVOB’s partners on education, in line with Kenyan policy trends, new developments and the latest research and thinking in education and international development.

· You design and develop relevant and scalable projects in close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.

· You take up a variety of roles in the capacity development process according to the needs, particular situations, and phases of the programme.

· You contribute to internal and external knowledge development and learning**,** by systemizing lessons learned and sharing pro-actively lessons learned between partners, colleagues and other VVOB country teams.

If you’re our Strategic Education Advisor, your workweek at the office will include the following highlights:

• Together with your colleague M&E and Research Advisor, you have a meeting with the research department of the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), who are involved in the research agenda of the programme, to discuss the results of the data collection of school leaders who followed the training programme in cohort 3
• You assist the country programmes manager in preparing the agenda for the steering committee, composed of strategic partners to guide, oversee, and support the realisation of the Specific Objective of the INCREASE Programme
• You represent VVOB at the Education Evidence for Action (EE4A) Conference in Naivasha and together with the learning partner, you present the latest findings of our cost-effectiveness research on school leadership trainings
• You log in to an online meeting with partners from a University College in Belgium to prepare for a visit to Kenya. You present a summary of the state of affairs and discuss how their support can further improve the programme
• You give a presentation at the Ministry of Education about the impact of the training programme and advice on further upscaling of the training for school leaders in a cost-effective way
• You respond to a draft strategy note sent by the Country Programmes Manager on the scaling strategy of the programme

Your expertise and experience

· Master’s degree in education, human sciences, or other relevant field or equivalent experience

· In depth understanding of and connections with the Kenyan education system and the Kenyan education sector

· In depth understanding of and experience in recent evolutions related to effective school leadership

· Experience in programme and/or project & change development and management

· Experience with research cooperation and evidence-based policy making

· Experience in organisational and institutional capacity development

· Fluent in English

Nationality: Kenyan national

What we’re offering:

· A full-time contract until 31/12/2026, with the possibility of extension depending on the availability of donor funding

· This position is subject to funding approval

· A dynamic working environment in an international context

· An exciting job in a growing organisation with varied responsibilities and opportunities for professional development

· A competitive salary and benefits package.