JOB OPPORTUNITY

EDUCATION ADVISOR

World Vision International (Rwanda) is a child focused Christian humanitarian organization implementing development programs in 29 Districts of Rwanda.

World Vision (WV) seeks to hire a highly qualified, dedicated and experienced national for the position of Education Advisor. This position will be based at the Head office in Kigali and reporting to the Chief of Party for the Homes and Communities project. Please note that this position is contingent upon funding and donor approval.

Purpose of the position:

The Education Advisor will lead the development and review of home and community strategies to improve early learning and reading outcomes for all children, especially girls and boys with disabilities.  The Education Advisor will lead engagement with external agencies to ensure robust collaboration with other agencies working in the area of children’s literacy in Rwanda, and to avoid duplication of work, especially other USAID education activities. Finally, the Education Advisor will identify consultancy needs to ensure outcomes will be met, manage said consultancies, and review deliverables.

The major responsibilities:

• Oversee and lead the development of strategies to support early childhood development positive parenting, quality materials and content and robust linkages between home-school-community to strengthen children’s literacy
• Support approaches to include children with disability to increase at home learning and participation in community-based literacy activities
• Provide technical support to train community-based structures to implement positive parenting and literacy activities
• Manage consultancies for the development of educational, training or other content to deliver project results
• Coordinate development and procurement of supplementary reading materials for children with Rwanda Education Board, Rwanda Children’s Book Organization, coordinating with external actors as needed integrating cross-cutting themes such as gender and disability.
• Provide technical guidance on baseline instruments, review assessment results to inform strategies
• Coordinate with key stakeholders (e.g. consultant) on a social behavior change study to foster a safer, stimulating and more supportive home learning environment
• Adapt other existing training materials in collaboration with MINEDUC and other key early grade reading stakeholders based on a review of materials available in schools and communities to ensure gaps are filled and to eliminate duplication.

Review of Work Plans and Consultancy Needs:

• Provide technical review and feedback on feasibility of proposed work plans; provide adjustments and recommendations as needed.
• Identify consultancy needs for early literacy activities to ensure targets are met on time; manage consultancies and review technical deliverables in consultation with identified WVUS and relevant team member.

Partnership Engagement:

• Engage with strategic partners, including MINEDUC, REB, and other education departments ministries (in coordination with the WV Education Technical Program Manager), key bilateral donors (USAID, DFID, JICA, etc.), and other relevant major education actors (i.e. Save the Children, Rwanda Reads, Chemonics, WFP and local organizations) to ensure coordination and collaboration in the child literacy space, and identify/develop WV’s core literacy strengths.
• Works closely with Education Technical Program Manager at National Level to ensure the Homes and Communities project is well represented in all Education coordination meetings and other humanitarian forums at all levels.

Management and Building Capacity of Local Staff:

Build the capacity of Literacy Coordinators in literacy competencies, using the literacy-specific competencies to determine literacy learning needs for WV literacy staff, and incorporate into staff L&D plans; build the staff capacity on positive parenting, inclusive education practices and home-school-community partnerships; facilitate and develop capacity of local community structures

Qualifications: Education/Knowledge/Technical Skills and Experience

The following may be acquired through a combination of formal or self-education, prior experience or on-the-job training:

Minimum Qualification required:

• Master’s Degree or higher in education, international development, curriculum and instruction or related field

Experience:

• At least 10 years performing a similar role and team management experience, preferably within East Africa.

Technical Skills & Abilities:

Essential

• Understanding of the 5 core components of literacy instruction
• Understanding of key challenges in child literacy in Rwanda
• Knowledge of positive parenting strategies
• Ability to ensure gender equality and social inclusion throughout the program
• Experience providing educational technical support to community-based structures
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Kinyarwanda, including proposal and report-writing skills.
• Cross-cultural sensitivity, flexible worldview, and ability to work with a wide range of people from different backgrounds.

Desirable

• Understanding of early learning in young children (early childhood development)
• Familiarity with inclusive education and universal design for education and ways to provide specialized support to children with disabilities
• Understanding of how literacy skills can be sequenced in instruction of teaching and learning
• Ability to facilitate partnerships at the national and local level to improve literacy
• Ability to adapt curricula or based on a review of other materials available in schools and communities to ensure gaps are filled and to eliminate duplication.
• Understand how to complement work of national literacy programs (e.g. Rwanda Education Board and USG, Education Strategic Plan activities)
• Ability to assess, level, and focus on the capacity building in facilitators to develop supplementary reading materials themselves supplementary reading materials for children.
• Understanding of early grade reading assessment to give input to monitoring and evaluation Education Strategic Plan processes and outputs.
• Knowledge of the Rwanda MINEDUC and NCDA materials including early grade reading curriculum a plus and minimum standards and national parenting curriculum and the national early childhood development policy
• Strong supervision skills, including training, mentoring, coaching, and supporting staff.
• Excellent relationship building and people management skills.
• Emotional maturity and ability to lead a team of professionals.

Salary:

The salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

N.B: Women are highly encouraged to apply.