PEACE Education TA

This role can be based in Berlin, Bonn and Dakar, as well as any IRC office across the globe. 

The IRC’s vision is to lead the humanitarian field by implementing high-impact, cost-effective programs for people affected by crisis and by using our learning and experience to shape policy and practice. To achieve that vision, the IRC’s Technical Excellence (TE) provides technical assistance to IRC’s country program staff and shares what we learn to influence policy and practice.

TE has three central objectives that we work towards:

1. Guide program design to achieve outcomes by incorporating the best available evidence

2. Build technical capacity of country program staff to implement, measure and continuously improve programs

3. Influence the IRC, peer agencies and donors to use proven interventions and generate new evidence to achieve change in peoples’ lives

TE is comprised of seven Technical Units, all of which have deep expertise in their respective sectors: Education, Economic Wellbeing, Gender Equality, Governance, Health, Violence Prevention and Response, and Research and Innovation (R&I).

In 2017-18, the IRC reached over 1.6 million children in 20 countries with education programs. We ensure that even the hardest to reach children in the most challenging places are able to go to school and thrive. In the midst of conflict and disaster, education is one of the first things parents and children say they need. Education is a human right. It also helps keep children safe and gives them the skills needed to be resilient, do well now, and later in life. Education offers a glimmer of hope. The IRC defines success with six education outcomes from infancy to young adulthood, ensuring results for all girls and boys, regardless of age.  These outcomes are: access to safe, functional and responsive education, across all ages; early childhood learning and nurturing care; primary school-aged learning; post-primary learning; safety in school; and gender equality across all education outcomes.

Position Summary:

The Education Technical Advisor (TA) will be responsible for an ECHO-funded grant titled Protective and Adaptive Education Approaches for Children in Emergencies (PEACE), that will take an  integrated  education and  child  protection approach  to support school-aged  girls  and  boys  in  Nigeria,  Niger  and  Cameroon to  access  educational  opportunities  and  improve  their  academic  and  social-emotional skills in safe, functional schools and learning spaces. The program has a strong focus on adaptation and innovation.

The TA will guide the program design, provide direct technical support, and build technical capacity to implement, measure and continuously improve the proposed project in Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon, working in close collaboration with the Child Protection Technical Advisor. The TA will be the primary education advisor for Cameroon throughout the 2 years, including for education projects beyond PEACE, and in year 2, the TA will act as an advisor to other IRC education programs as is requested and feasible.

This is a primarily field-facing position with the central responsibility focused on program quality. The remaining 0-20% of their time is spent on influence, advocacy, research and internal initiatives at the discretion of their supervisors, including to support PEACE. The Technical Advisor’s specific responsibilities are as follows:

PEACE:

• Provide technical leadership to ensure a shared regional framework, as well as context-appropriate adaptation, for program design, material  development and adaptation, field-testing, assessment, innovation, influence, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning for the PEACE project;

• Support country program staff to undertake PEACE activities, ensuring that they are aligned with the project strategies which include contextualizing education outcomes and including interventions chosen based on best available evidence;

• Help analyze data to inform periodic review and course correction to ensure that the PEACE Program is based on evidence and is evidence-generating;

• Provide support to ensure proposed activities are responsive to client needs and preferences based on sound context and gender analysis;

• Document and share cross-context learning internally (with country program staff in Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon) and externally (in relevant meetings, conferences, etc. in national, regional, and global  fora);

• Regular communication and coordination with the Project Manager and key home office staff  as well as other regional Technical Advisors on  technical and project management issues;

• Support senior technical country program recruitment and onboarding;

• Conduct technical training and ongoing technical coaching for country program staff, including on outcomes, theories of change, evidence and indicators;

• Give technical input to relevant communication materials such as fact sheets, briefs, papers, and presentations that can be disseminated and used for influence at the national and global level; 

• Produce technical inputs to internal and external reports, as needed;

• Act as lead technical focal point for education in emergencies technical questions with the donor.

  Additional responsibilities for projects and country programs outside of PEACE (particularly for year 2):

• Act as primary education technical advisor for all education projects in Cameroon (years 1-2);
• Support country program staff to design programs and projects;
• Engage in business development for new opportunities;
• Build technical capacity of country program staff to ensure ongoing program quality and innovation;
• Work with country colleagues to support data analysis and use;
• Influence the IRC, peer agencies and donors to use proven interventions and generate new evidence; and
• Representation and thought-leadership.