ROLE PURPOSE

Save the Children is seeking an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Systems Strengthening Technical Advisor for an anticipated five-year USAID-funded Early Childhood Education activity in Ethiopia. The program focuses on increasing the effectiveness of the early childhood education system. The specific objective is to strengthen the system’s capacity to provide, oversee and coordinate continuous high-quality, responsive early childhood development and education, at the federal, regional, woreda, Kebele and Household levels

The Early Childhood Education (ECE) Systems Strengthening Technical Advisor reports to the Chief of Party and will provide technical leadership and provide leadership oversight  for the technical team with responsibility for all activities associated with strengthening systems and practices related to early childhood education, positive parenting and social inclusion in Ethiopia.

This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Early Childhood Education Analysis and Strategy

• Support in national and local level ECE policy, strategy, guidelines, curriculum and structure analysis and use evidence to contribute to systems strengthening, advocacy and policy engagement efforts.
• Carry out evidence drive advocacy and policy engagement in collaboration with key stakeholders including bilateral partners such as   USAID, FCDO UNICEF and World Bank and civil society partners.
• Collaboratively map local systems focusing attention on the 5Rs resources, roles, relationships, rules and results.
• Support in identifying challenges and barriers to successful transition from ECE to primary and provide technical support to government in the design and implementation of transition approaches
• Lead the design and implementation of the Early Childhood Education project.
•  Lead the development of Early Childhood Education project strategy and ensure Early Childhood Education Analysis recommendations are integrated into project plans
• Update the project Early Childhood Education Strategy annually alongside the project work plan using formal and informal feedback.
• Coordinate with project staff, including managers and technical specialists, to ensure the implementation of the Early Childhood Education Strategy in project activities.
•  Play a lead role in proactively identifying potential implementation bottlenecks, key decision processes and decision-makers, and helping to expedite implementation of education system strengthening and sustainability measures as per relevant USAID guidance and strategies, annual work plans and country sustainability plans.
• Team up and work along inter and intra ECE staff and functions

Project Implementation

• Support SCI field offices, MOE, Regional education Bureaus and district education offices in ECE systems analysis and strengthening activities.
• Support with project reporting, ensuring that updates and progress on related indicators and successes are included in project reports and annual work plans.
• Work with and support project and GoE Monitoring, Evaluation, and Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams to: develop context-specific and sector wide applicable indicators for Early Childhood Education; measure outcomes; and collect and analyze data to inform system strengthening, advocacy and policy efforts.
• Design and conduct Early Childhood Education components of assessments or standalone Early Childhood Education assessments as appropriate, ensuring results are used to adapt project implementation and broad system level improvements.
•  Support field offices advising and ensuring play-based learning approaches are implemented and documented

Coordination & Capacity Building

• Build capacity of project, partner and Government of Ethiopia staff in Early Childhood Education principles, and play based methods and techniques.
• Ensure alignment with Save the Children ECE priorities and strategies and complementarity between existing and planned programs.
• Represent Early Childhood Education aspects of the project to external stakeholders, such as the donor, governments, and partners; disseminate learnings and best practices; and participate in technical working groups.
• Contribute to GoE ECE capacity building plans and curriculum implementation activities.
•  Promote strengthening of cross‐sector collaboration in Ethiopia, based on the country context, including with education, early childhood development.

Required Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree required.
• Master’s degree in ECE, Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Leadership, Social Sciences, or in a closely related field is preferred.
• Minimum of ten (10) years’ experience and demonstrated practical skills in the NGO sector, whether in Ethiopia or another African country is preferred.
• Five+ years of experience demonstrating technical expertise in systems strengthening activities, as well as integration with several areas including: Early Childhood Development and Education; quality improvement/quality assurance; gender; disabilities, and the use of education related data in program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience in systems analysis and contribution, engaging at policy level with policy and strategy development or analysis, at regional or Federal level, with particular focus on ECE and positive parenting programming, preferably in Ethiopia is highly desired;
• Experience improving data-driven decision-making through education management and information system assessment and development; refining decentralization policies to bring decision-making closer to parents, students, and communities; altering school funding formulas to equitably distribute resources to urban and rural schools; and aligning institutional incentives with educational outcomes through human capital management policies.
• Experience in emergent literacy, numeracy and social emotional learning promotion and systems development in ECE settings is highly desired.
• Excellent knowledge of holistic child development and understanding of global evidence, best practices, and gaps around early childhood education interventions;
• Experience in integrating and mainstreaming disability and inclusion in ECE programming in low-resource settings.
• Demonstrated experience working with children experiencing deprivation, exclusion and vulnerability and their families, and
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Amharic are highly desirable.
• Proven experience in building capacity of programs with local NGOs and INGOs and government bodies in-country and working collaboratively with partners and/or key stakeholders.
• Competence in use of various computer software.
• Qualified local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond.  As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)