Education Specialist – Secondary Success Activity

Company Description

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER (EDC) is one of the world’s leading nonprofit research and development firms. Established in 1958, EDC designs, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health, and economic opportunity. Our services include research, training, educational materials, and strategy, with activities ranging from seed projects to large-scale national and international initiatives.

Job Description

Project Description

The Secondary Success Activity will build on existing structures to increase the availability, access, and quality of education, including remedial skills, life skills, health and leadership, mentorship, and financial inclusion.

Position Description

The Education Specialist functions in a leadership capacity, providing high-level technical oversight of the project’s education components. Together with the Chief of Party and EDC home office technical staff, s/he guides strategies for all the education technical requirements of the Secondary Success Activity and provides technical expertise to ensure the fulfillment of project deliverables. The Education Specialist is responsible for the technical objectives relating to improving access to remedial skills such as functional literacy, numeracy, life skills and mentorship programs.

S/he demonstrates an understanding of evidence-based best practices in reading, functional literacy and numeracy, adult and accelerated education principles, school retention, safe learning environments, and school-related gender-based violence prevention and response, particularly in resource lean environments. S/he contributes to knowledge capture and dissemination of key learnings to key stakeholders within the activity and promote innovation, improved methodologies, and project implementation through the USAID Collaborating, Learning, & Adapting (CLA) approach. This position reports to the Chief of Party.

Specific Essential functions include (but are not limited to):

• Provide overall strategic guidance and technical oversight to advance the activity’s education approach related remedial skills such as functional literacy, numeracy, life skills and mentorship programs;
• Guide technical-staff on essential components of literacy, numeracy, life skills, and mentorship programs, including curriculum design, lesson planning, continuous professional development for trainers and facilitators, materials development and distribution, classroom-level assessment, universal design for learning, social inclusion and gender responsive pedagogy, social and emotional learning to develop and integrate highly effective and accessible activities to maximize outcomes;
• Build relationships with key stakeholders including government counterparts, local partners, private sector and other humanitarian and development organizations and promote effective collaboration and cooperation across the activity team;
• Supervise the production or adaptation of activity-supported teaching and learning materials, trainings, teacher and classroom supervision and monitoring, and student assessments;
• Contribute to the design and implementation of the project’s learning agenda;
• Use the findings of the learning agenda to enhance the program
• Build community and host country government awareness regarding the importance of education;
• Work with home office experts and local partners to ensure activity relevance and quality; and quality;
• Other duties, as assigned.

Qualifications

Education:

Master’s Degree in a field relevant to education with a specialty in reading, numeracy or another pedagogically oriented specialty.

Skills and Experience:

• A minimum of 7-8 years of progressively responsible technical experience on reading and/or numeracy programs in both English and the national Local language;
• Extensive experience developing and managing education programs;
• Recognized expertise in adapting educational modules and materials for reading and/or numeracy in both English and Local Languages
• Experience developing materials for remedial learners and functional literacy and numeracy in both English and Local Language; experience designing professional development programs for youth;
• Experience working in alternative education or out of school youth programs highly desired;
• Ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders;
• Willingness to travel to states and counties covered by the project.

Language:

Advanced proficiency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of and fluency in Chichewa preferred.

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.