Education Specialist Full Time NEW

Organization: Right To Play Tanzania

Department/Division: Programs

Reports to: Country Director

Work Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Work Arrangement: A combination of in-office and remote-working in accordance with Right To Play’s work arrangement and the operational needs of the department

Authorized to work in: Tanzania (Eligible to work legally without visa or work permit sponsorship)

Target Hiring Salary: Starting from **TSH.80,338,108/-**per annum (before taxes)

Target Start Date: April 2025 (subjected to approval of funding from the donor)

Contract Duration: Full-time, 12 months contract with possibility of renewal based on performance and availability of funding

Application Closing Date: January 24th, 2025, 23:59 EAT

ABOUT US:

We reach millions of children each year in some of the most difficult places on earth, helping them to stay in school and learn, overcome prejudice, heal from trauma, and develop the skills they need to thrive. We do this by harnessing play, one of the most fundamental forces in a child’s life, to teach children the critical skills they need to dismantle barriers and embrace opportunities, in learning and in life.

Established in 2000, Right To Play reaches children through experiential programming in 14 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. These programs are supported by our global offices in Toronto, Canada; London, UK and seven national offices across Europe and North America.

OUR CULTURE:

• Accept Everyone – Be intentional about inclusion
• Make Things Happen – Seek opportunities to lead and innovate
• Display Courage – Act with integrity
• Demonstrate Care – Look after yourself and one another
• Be Playful – Have fun at work

Please visit our website to learn more about who we are and what we do, and watch this video to find out about the five pillars of our Culture Code.

ROLE SUMMARY:

The Education Specialist reports directly to the Country Director. He/she is responsible for providing technical advice and guidance on the development and implementation of education programs in line with the Country Strategic Plan and Right To Play’s global theory of change. The incumbent works to integrate Right To Play’s methodologies into the education curriculum. This includes developing materials that align with literacy development for primary school students and necessary resources in collaboration with the HQ Education Specialist and Program Quality and Impact team as relevant. The incumbent provides technical input to the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Specialist on the development of education-related performance measurement frameworks, baseline assessments, and evaluations. He/she plays a leadership role in policy engagement with external stakeholders. The Education Specialist is also responsible for analyzing education-related results from Right To Play’s interventions and bringing innovative knowledge to organizational approaches.

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WHAT YOU’LL DO:

#1: Program planning, implementation and delivery (60% of Time):

• Together with Program Manager, develop a clear country level Education strategy as part of the Country Strategic Plan that resonates with Right To Play’s global Education priorities and the organizational strategy, and is informed by internally collected and externally sourced education data.
• Provides high-quality technical input into education programme proposals with HQ, Global Partnerships and country level colleagues, including support to education needs assessments for project design.
• Drives iterative and innovative programming, using evidence and probing projects to ensure direction and approaches are still appropriate and will lead to the expected outcomes, particularly during key project cycle decision gates.
• Advises the Training team on contextualization and adaptation of global resources for local use, and occasionally supports the Training Team by quality assuring training and promoting best practice.
• Leads technical planning and monitoring of RTP’s education program(s) in line with the Country Strategic Plan, the Ministry of Education plans, and donor requirements.
• Supports Country Office Program Manager in developing education focused project proposals and concept notes for new projects.
• In coordination with Country Office Program Manager, the Gender Specialist and program staff ensures that issues of gender equality, inclusion, child protection and safeguarding, accountability, risk and vulnerability are addressed and monitored throughout all education programs.
• Leads in developing curricula and resources for basic education programs (pre-primary and primary) as needed, working in collaboration with the Global Training and Capacity Building Specialist.
• Builds networks with other Education Specialists in the cluster to support cross-learning with other RTP country programs in the region.
• Stays abreast of new developments and opportunities to develop new initiatives to improve education outcomes for children in the country.
• Provides technical leadership on the procurement and/or development of appropriate teaching and learning materials, training manuals and education resources.
• Works closely with teacher training and curriculum development institutions to integrate RTP methodology into curriculum, textbooks and classroom teaching.
• Documents and synthesizes learning across all education projects led by the country office and shares this with HQ and local stakeholders.
• Collaborates with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist (MELS) to develop appropriate systems, tools and procedures for the monitoring and evaluation of education programs
• Forges links with other thematic areas at country level such as Child Protection and Gender for integrated programming in program development and implementation
• Train Education Stakeholders in an integrated play-based literacy approach.
• Build Capacity of Project Coordinators in formulating school-based reading clubs
• Suggest, review, and recommend story books (both in English and Swahili) that align with Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) directives to be distributed to partner primary schools.

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#2: Representation, advocacy and policy engagement (25% of Time):

• Engages with government ministries, teacher training colleges and universities, and local education networks and donor groups to promote Right To Play, gain insights on trends and expectations that can align with the organizational strategy, and map and monitor other actors’ activities to ensure coordination, potentially seek partnership, and avoid duplication and maintain relevance for Right To Play in country.
• Drives collaboration and positive working relationship with Ministry of Education, ensuring effective implementation of MoUs, delivering relevant technical assistance to drive systems-level policy change for play-based learning integration, identifying entry points and opportunities for scale up of the play methodology.
• In close coordination with the Program Manager and the Country Director, leads RTP’s advocacy and policy effort in the education sector by participating in national coordination forums as applicable national strategic planning for the education sector, relevant technical working groups and other key coordination platforms.
• Represents RTP in various platforms and maintains positive relationships with governments and other relevant stakeholders regarding RTP activities.
• Regularly updates stakeholder analysis for the education sector and ensures that RTP is engaging with and is visible to the most influential actors in the sector.
• Work with MELS to Coordinates research and advocacy interventions related to the program at national and international level, using data from school-level interventions to advocate for national-level policy development/implementation.
• Leads and develops RTP’s analysis and best practices in education programming in the country and disseminates through documents and position papers with education stakeholders and within RTP at the regional and global levels.
• Provides technical inputs to regional and global strategies, policies and resources related to education programming to ensure that country experience and realities are well-reflected.

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#3: Capacity building support (10% of Time):

• Ensures that country staff are properly supported with the technical knowledge and skills necessary to deliver education program interventions.
• Conducts regular visits to the field to provide technical support to program teams.

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#4: Performs other duties as assigned (5% of Time)

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WHAT YOU’LL BRING (ESSENTIAL):

EDUCATION/TRAINING/CERTIFICATION:

• Master’s degree in education or equivalent combination of education background experience in education

EXPERIENCE:

• 5 years’ demonstrated experience implementing and providing technical guidance on basic education programs and liaising with government officials
• Proven experience in project planning, report writing, networking, partnership-building and working with NGOs
• Significant experience in designing and delivering training and/or the development of education materials and resources

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:

• Understanding of active learning approaches, particularly play-based learning
• Knowledge and understanding of best practices in basic education programs, including technical experience in teacher training and resource and curriculum development
• Understanding of community development processes
• Strong MS Office and program management tools and procedures
• Knowledge and experience with programmatic approaches related to life skills or social emotional learning
• Knowledge and experience in education research, quantitative and qualitative methods

LANGUAGES:

• Fluency in spoken and written English and Swahili languages

BONUS IF YOU’LL BRING:

• Experience in quality improvement
• Experience in strengthening civil society organisations
• Experience in coaching
• Knowledge/experience in child protection, gender mainstreaming and/or governance
• Knowledge of adult learning
• Knowledge of international donors
• Experience in Advocacy work

WHO YOU ARE:

You are highly driven, results-oriented, collaborative with a passion for working with children and youth. You are creative and flexible with problem solving skills. You have superior organizational skills and ability to multi-task on a constant basis, excellent interpersonal communication skills to build rapport with staff, partners, government officials, donors and other stakeholders, ability to adapt and work under pressure meeting deadlines in a fast-paced environment, demonstrated professionalism and diplomacy, ability to represent oneself as an effective Right To Play ambassador to high level officials, strategic planning skills for education initiatives as well as people management, particularly influence management skills.

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

The opportunity to collaborate with an innovative global team who are passionate about working with children and youth. You will gain experience working for a globally recognized organization with a healthy culture premised on our Culture Code (accept everyone, make things happen, display courage, demonstrate care and be playful). You will be immersed in an environment where learning and development is encouraged and valued, and “play” is appreciated as a core avenue to building community.

• Competitive salary and benefits (e.g. medical insurance, group disability and life insurance)
• Flexible work arrangements (e.g. hybrid and flex hours)
• 28 days annual leave
• 3 personal days per year
• 5 personal learning and development (L&D) days per year
• 4 months Maternity leave
• 10 days paternity leave
• Annual learning week
• Annual staff recognition awards and long service awards
• Opportunity to connect with employees across our offices (e.g. Facebook Workplace)
• Opportunity to engage in global projects and initiatives
• Wellness programs
• Playful activities and events
• Opportunity of job enrichment/enlargement through paid acting or additional responsibility assignments

Tagged as: Right To Play, United Republic of Tanzania