Teacher Development Project Manager South Sudan

War Child is looking for a:

Teacher Development Project Manager South Sudan

"A seasoned project manager and teacher trainer with a solid understanding of ICT4D"

War Child Holland's programme in South Sudan

War Child Holland (WCH) has been working in South Sudan since 2006. Its programmes aim to protect children by contributing to the creation of a safe, protective environment in which they can reach their full potential. Its programmes are focused on tackling the consequences of decades of conflict so that children's rights are fulfilled, and it currently implements educational, child protection and psychosocial support programmes in a number of states.

Conn@ct.Teaching

South Sudan has an inexperienced and mostly unqualified teaching workforce, resulting in low educational outcomes. Rote teaching methodology remains the dominant teaching approach. This leaves high numbers of children struggling to learn.

Conn@ct.Teaching is an in-service teacher professional development (TPD) project managed by WCH that aims to improve the quality of education in primary schools in South Sudan through the enhancement of primary teachers' capacities. It combines ICT, open educational resources and in-school support.

The project utilises tablet computers to make curricular and pedagogic material accessible to teachers. The tablets hold an off-line database of 500 curriculum-linked educational resources (national curriculum, lesson plans, teaching tips, model-teaching videos, images etc.). They are one component of an integrated TPD programme that also includes group workshops, school-based support from teacher-trainers, and self-study. The project works in partnership with the South Sudan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and brings together a broad range of education stakeholders in South Sudan and beyond. The project was conceived through a collaboration involving War Child and TNO (a Netherlands-based research institute) within the Conn@ct.Nowprogramme.

Conn@ct.Teaching is currently in a second phase pilot implemented by WCH and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Particular foci of the second pilot are a research project that aims to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the project, and building the institutional capacity and relationships required for scaling up the project. The project will run until 30 June 2015, dependent on funding.

A Teacher Development Project Manager is required to provide overall project management, and to develop and implement a TPD programme that integrates traditional training approaches with the use of digital resources.

The role

The Teacher Development Project Manager will provide overall leadership for theConn@ct.Teaching project. They will be responsible for all aspects of theConn@ct.Teaching project, including development of the TPD modules; training of trainers; budgeting, planning, co-ordination and monitoring; stakeholder management; research management; and quality assurance. This will be at all levels of implementation. They will also be responsible for preparing the ground for further expansion of the project. The Manager will be based in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Position within South Sudan

The Teacher Development Project Manager will report ultimately to the War Child Country Director, South Sudan, but will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the country Programme Development Manager. The Manager will supervise the implementation of the project in Eastern Equatoria State, where WCH is implementing the project, and liaise closely with NRC, which is implementing the project in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, providing overall oversight. The Manager will also liaise closely with project funders; ICT, education, and research consultants; and WCH head office staff.

Essential functional relations will include:

Partners/Consultants: UNICEF South Sudan, NRC Programme Manager; Software Developers, Research Consultants, the National Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and State Ministries of Education, County Education Centres; and the wider ICT4D, teacher professional development and innovation communities.

WCH South Sudan: Field Location Managers, Programme Development Manager, Senior Officer-Teacher Training; Project Officer-ICT; Programme Development Adviser M&E.

WCH Amsterdam: Senior Education Adviser, Conn@ct.Now Coordinator, Institutional Funding, and Project Controller.

Your challenge

Provide overall leadership of the Conn@ct.Teaching project in two states:

• Lead planning and budget control;Manage the timeline of all project activities, ensuring everyone is aware of their responsibilities and completes them by the required date;
• Ensure timely delivery of internal and donor reports and in line with the respective requirements;
• Manage the contracts with the funders, working in conjunction with the Institutional Fundraising Department;
• Support implementation in two states;
• Continuously monitor the project and adjust implementation to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness;
• Co-ordinate all stakeholders and ensure the timely and effective sharing of all relevant information.
  Ensure capacity of War Child staff and implementing partners:
• Support recruitment of all Conn@ct.Teaching colleagues, including the development of terms of reference;
• Identify capacity needs, develop training programmes and provide support toConn@ct.Teaching staff (Education and ICT) in two states;
• Support Field Location Managers with functional management of staff;
• Advise Field Location Manager on colleague performance review.
  Lead the innovation cycle and research close:
• Lead the design, implementation, analysis and reporting of the project research studies;
• Ensure all planned research and learning activities take place;
• Assure the quality of all research deliverables;
• Ensure that learning on all aspects of the project is communicated to and implemented by WCH and state-level implementing partners, and all relevant stakeholders;
• Ensure delivery of an effective communications strategy (internal WCH/Connect.Now and external). This will include: 1) production of suitable documentation for external audiences; and 2) ensuring information is shared within the organisation.
  Coordination of network of partners:
• Work closely with UNICEF South Sudan (this will include spending considerable time working with the UNICEF Innovation team in Juba);
• Produce frequent communications documents to update all stakeholders on progress;
• Lead the coordination of the Conn@ct.Teaching steering committee jointly with the UNICEF Innovation focal person;
• Develop new partnerships (private, government, NGO, UN) as required;
• Frequently liaise with relevant Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Departments in collaboration with UNICEF;
• Liaise with professional counterparts of (inter)national authorities and organisations.
  Technical expertise required (Education and Technology):
• Exceptional teacher training and education materials development skills;
• The ability to work closely with software developers and act as core link between software development and project implementation (this will require good levels of understanding of technical software);
• The ability to manage complex education projects;
• A sound understanding of innovative approaches to education;
• The ability to refine the database of teaching and learning resources.
  In addition, the Manager will lead and facilitate the process of developing follow-up project proposals. They will support other ICT4D projects and initiatives in-line with the broader Innovation agenda in South Sudan.
  Your profile
• Masters' Degree in Education, ICT4D, or a related field;
• Detailed knowledge of education, schools, teachers and professional development gained in resource constrained and insecure environments;
• Confidence and competence in managing digital education resources;
• Experience in training teachers and in developing teacher professional development training material;
• Demonstrated knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research;
• A minimum of five years' experience working in post-conflict / fragile environments;
• Substantial project management experience with INGOs in ICT4D with a solid understanding of project budgets;
• Substantial experience in research and development in the development sector;
• Experience working with donors in an international humanitarian or development context;
• Work experience in South Sudan is a plus;
• Excellent coordination skills;
• Social and communicative skills for supervising and coaching staff;
• Ability to work within a partnership approach and multiple stakeholders;
• Outstanding writing and reporting skills;
• Excellent written and spoken English;
• Able to assess social/ political situations and able to act in a diplomatic way in delicate situations;
• Good analytical and problem solving skills;
• Result-focused and persistent to achieve goals;
• Cultural sensitivity;
• Stress-resilient to be able to cope with deadlines and complex problems;
• Commitment to Child Rights.

The organisation

War Child Holland offers a challenging job, within an inspiring and motivated team of people and the backup of a strong and professional organisation in The Netherlands. War Child Holland offers its international staff a fair salary and comprehensive secondary benefits that includes free housing, good insurances (including health, travel and disability) and opportunities to develop and learn professionally. Please visit our website www.warchildholland.org for more information on the organisation and the programmes.

Job Location: Juba, Republic of South Sudan

Contract: Contract to 30 June 2015, with the possibility of extension to allow for post-project evaluation management (depending on funding)

Starting date: As soon as possible

South Sudan is a non-family duty station. The expatriate is not allowed to bring a partner and/or children.

How to apply

Interested and qualified candidates are invited to send a CV and a letter of motivationas soon as possible (please mention Teacher Development Project Manager South Sudan in the subject line and where you found this vacancy) tojobs@warchild.nl (your letter and CV should not exceed 5 pages). An assessment will be part of the selection process.

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The safety of children is essential to War Child. War Child does not tolerate or accept any form of abuse. 
This subject is addressed in our recruitment and selection procedures.