Education Programme Officer

Job Title: Education Programme Officer
Reporting to: Head of Programmes
Hours: 40 hours/ week
Principal Location: Buea, Cameroon
Length of Contract: 12 months fixed term contract – with possibility of extension

Organisation Background:

Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to be safe in school and learning. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes and use evidence to drive learning, refine, and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over one million children to go to school and learn and have supported over 25,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.

Our work as Street Child of Cameroon reflects this global ambition. With programming commencing in Cameroon in 2020, we have set out to build a programme that responds to those most in need with integrated education, child protection, and livelihoods activities. With a successful start in child protection, and more recent momentum in education, our objective is to build off of this success and to expand our efforts for children in crisis affected communities.

ROLE PURPOSE:

Street Child of Cameroon seeks to significantly scale up our work in the domain of EiE. The Education Programme Officer will take responsibility for providing technical guidance to this growing portfolio, around the programme cycle, and to our partners. This will require support for proposal development, programme design, and ongoing guidance for quality programme implementation. The Education Programme Officer will help drive the country programme towards meeting our objective of reaching 100,000 vulnerable children within the next 5 years.

The Education Programme Officer will work under the overall responsibility of the Country Director and under the direct supervision of the Senior Programmes Manager.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

PROGRAMME DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND REPORTING (60%):

• Play the lead role in the design and implementation of Street Child education programmes
• Ensure oversight of education programme implementation to ensure high quality and timely delivery of programme activities.
• Identify local actors with complementary capacities with whom Street Child of Cameroon can partner to implement education programming
• Ensure education programming adheres to international technical and humanitarian standards including INEE minimum standards
• Proactively promote high quality EiE technical approaches by Street Child staff and partners.
• Represent Street Child in the Education Cluster and other coordination mechanisms, working groups and platforms in-country
• Lead on budget and procurement planning for EIE programming
• Ensure that protection is well mainstreamed in all EiE projects
• Work closely with programmes and MEAL colleagues to prepare narrative reports for donors in full compliance with Street Child and donor requirements
• Ensure there is a functioning information pathway with submission of project data, and activity reports to MEAL team in order for verification checks to be carried out.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING (20%):

• Identify capacity strengthening needs of Street Child and partner staff as related to education and EIE.
• Develop and roll out capacity building plans on EiE to Street Child and partners to strengthen the delivery of quality EiE programming.
• Collaborate with the Street Child HQ programme and advisory teams to upgrade and contextualise Education tools to be used by Street Child of Cameroon and local partners.
• Support the development of EiE learning needs assessment and capacity building plans for Street child and its partners and oversee their implementation through regular reviews.
• Oversee the development of technical training materials that will improve the different components of EiE portfolio within street Child of Cameroon
• Perform any other capacity development and training duties as relevant and assigned by the supervisor.
• Ensure the learning from EiE programming is captured, shared and that best practices are replicated.
• Manage quality reporting processes through detailed induction and hands-on training for relevant staff, introducing them to standards, donor templates and Street Child expectations

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION (20%):

• Support in the identification of relevant funding opportunities for education/EIE locally and internationally
• Lead the development and submission of quality proposals in response to identified opportunities in EiE; serve as technical lead and/or lead technical writer, as required.
• Work together with the programmes team in-country and at HQ to initiate and design high quality, cost-effective, innovative and sustainable education project proposals and concept notes.
• Support engagement with funders and partners and represent Street Child at donor meetings and events as necessary
• Perform any other resources mobilisation duties as assigned by the supervisor
• Person Specification / Education/Qualifications:
• A first degree in the domains of Education, Humanitarian Affairs, Educational Psychology, Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Project Management, International Relations, Sociology, etc.

Experience and knowledge:

• Demonstratable experience in an education program management position with progressive responsibilities within an international NGO
• Minimum of 5 years hands on experience in EiE related work in Cameroon
• Firm mastery of the Cameroonian humanitarian context
• Specific professional experience in EiE projects in the NW/SW regions of Cameroon
• Firm mastery of INEE

Skills and abilities:

• Excellent interpersonal, listening and communication skills.
• Ability to positively influence others and successfully reconcile differences.
• A self-starter with a strong results orientation and with high levels of integrity, credibility, and dependability.
• Ability to work in an international setting and with various departments to implement successful approaches to Education.
• Must have a strong understanding of child development and education principles.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task, work and deliver independently and under pressure and tight deadlines.
• Committed to and familiar with safeguarding approaches including anti-sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Good working knowledge of French.
• Excellent interpersonal, listening and communication skills.
• Excellent planning, coordination and reporting skills with demonstrated ability to work under pressure and delivering to tight deadlines.
• Proven coaching/capacity building skills and organisational development experience.

Desirable:

• Mastery of pidgin English and any other lingua franca used in the crises-affected regions of Cameroon.

Others:

• Able and willing to occasionally travel as necessary.
• A ‘can-do’ and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptive thinking.
• Commitment to our vision, mission and values.
• Commitment to protecting the rights of children in all circumstances.
• Commitment to localisation and local action.
• Must possess the right to live and work in Cameroon.

Street Child’s commitment to Safeguarding:

Street Child is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks, including a Criminal Records check. Street Child also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

Street Child of Cameroon is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff.

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks, including a Criminal Records check. Street Child of Cameroon also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

To apply:

Street Child welcomes applications through its jobs portal from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

Application Deadline:

This vacancy announcement shall remain open until filled.