Technical Advisor, Education

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC delivers education programs in 22 conflict-affected or post-conflict countries around the world.  The IRC’s educational interventions strive to help children and youth gain valuable skills and knowledge that will increase their opportunities and life chances, and contribute to their well-being and livelihood. The IRC supports formal and non-formal learning activities that lead to tangible learning outcomes and promotes the protection and psychosocial well-being of conflict-affected children and youth.

Job Overview/Summary

The Education TA will be responsible for ensuring that IRC education projects implemented in a portfolio of four to six countries have technically sound project designs and  have the technical support needed to meet the desired projects’ outcomes which include: increased access to safe learning environments, improved reading and math skills, improved social-emotional well-being and skills.   The TA will be based in New York (London-based applicants will also be considered) and will report to the Education Senior Technical Advisor who is based in Washington, DC. The TA will be expected to travel approximately 40% of his/her time to conflict or crisis-affected countries.

Responsibilities:

• Be the primary provider for Technical Support and guidance to selected education field programs (preferably 4-6) in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of quality education programs. 
• Help national staff to troubleshoot complex problems related to the projects’ technical approach or technical deliverables and coordinate HQ technical, regional and support resources that can contribute to the solution
• Ensure projects benefits from lessons learned, promising practices, and resources developed globally in similar programs as well as ensuring that IRC captures and applies globally what is learned and developed in the field.
• Work with project staff to analyze and reflect on monitoring and evaluation data to continually inform and refine the overall project design
• Provide technical input, alongside the Research, Evaluation and Learning Education Advisor, into the development of an overall learning agenda for field projects
• Jointly with other CYPD technical advisors, develop or revise best practice guides, manuals and other technical resources to improve the quality of IRC’s education programs as needed
• Participate in proposal review and development: (1) Fully participate in the design and development of large RFAs, RFPs, IQCs and other proposals, and (2) Draft, review and edit other proposals on an on-going basis
• Support Senior Technical Advisor and Business Development Advisor  to develop strong relationships and raise IRC’s profile with specific donors including USAID and DFID
• Support HR in recruitment for positions in the field (international staff, interns and consultants): assist with developing job descriptions, conduct interviews and provide feedback
• Participate in CYPD strategic planning, special projects, meetings, communications material development, intra-net development
• Help field staff to start up new education projects when appropriate that includes recruitment of staff, development of key project documents (work plan, PMP, budget, etc), training of staff, and management procedures and processes for staff, budget, and implementation support and monitoring. 

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Senior Technical Advisor for Education, Child and Youth Protection and Development

Position directly supervises:  Not Applicable

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: The position includes close liaison and work with colleagues across all IRC departments, especially the other technical units, advocacy and communications teams; and the International Programs Department. 

External:  The position includes relationship-building with partner organizations, oversight of vendors and consultants for special projects

Job Requirements:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Education or related field.     
• At least five years of experience managing and/or advising on education projects, ideally in conflict or crisis-affected contexts
• Strong knowledge in areas of formal and nonformal primary education, emergency education, and teacher support and development
• Experience teaching and assessing reading in the early grades of primary school preferred
• Strong knowledge and experience with project start up and management
• Experience with proposal development of large scale projects across a wide variety of public and private donors preferred
• Ability to be work as part of a remote team across many time zones
• Excellent communication skills, cultural sensitivity, flexibility, ability to improvise, team player.
• Fluency in  spoken and written English required; proficiency and/or fluency in Arabic preferred

Working Environment:  A standard office work environment is provided within an existing IRC office.   Regular travel to provinces will be required.