Country: Bangladesh
Closing date: 24 Oct 2019
Project Summary:
This position is for an upcoming education project in Bangladesh, which seeks to equitably and sustainably improve the quality of and access to education in select areas of Bangladesh.
Position Summary:
The Systems Strengthening Specialist will have overall responsibility for the quality implementation of activities related to educational systems strengthening. S/he will lead the design and development of activities to build government capacity at the central, district, and upazila levels to plan and manage quality education service delivery and will provide technical and managerial support to field-based systems strengthening and school management staff. S/he will work with project partners and stakeholders to design and develop policy research, action planning and capacity-building for the flow-down of policy in target regions.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Facilitate a process with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders at central- and provincial-levels to map and review existing education policy frameworks, especially around systems, attendance, access, reading instruction, and assessment;
- Work with relevant project stakeholders and local officials to provide support to sustain existing policy initiatives and facilitate development and implementation of policies, particularly in the areas of systems strengthening, access, attendance, reading instruction, assessment, and accountability;
- Support implementation and monitoring of policy action plans as part of the local language reading improvement strategy;
- Facilitate policy review meetings regarding reading and access to track progress in implementing new policies, identify corrective actions to speed implementation, and develop tools to assess impact;
- Improve the capacity of education officials and provincial-, district- school staff to develop leadership, managerial, and supervisory skills to effectively implement policies and regulations regarding improved early grade reading;
- Provide coaching on various issues including data analysis and evidence-based decision making, monitoring, and staff mentoring;
- Lead capacity building for project staff related to community engagement, advocacy, and monitoring of activities; and
- Support dissemination of new policies and opportunities for feedback at all levels through state-level workshops involving government education officials, community meetings, publications, and ongoing media campaigns.
Required Skills & Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Education, Public Policy, or related field required. Master’s degree strongly preferred;
- At least 10 years of education project implementation experience, preferably in Bangladesh;
- Specific experience in primary education reform, institutional capacity building, policy framework development, and working in crisis-affected environments;
- Demonstrated experience working with government agencies, actors, and other stakeholders at the national, district, and local levels;
- Demonstrated expertise in policy mapping;
- At least four (4) years’ demonstrated experience in managing staff;
- Ability to lead workshops, trainings, and strategic planning sessions;
- Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation highly desired; and
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
- Professional proficiency and fluency in written and spoken English; proficiency in Bengali is preferred, but not required.
Local and regional candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
Position contingent upon donor funding.
How to apply:
Please apply on our website: https://recruiting.ultipro.com/CRE1010CREAI/JobBoard/b093422a-53ee-4b40-ae33-72edfc017f55/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=1cb6694d-3d2f-42cd-9e59-27783886b5d3