Senior Education Specialist Opportunity International

The Senior Education Specialist, Zambia will be instrumental in driving the success of the EduQuality program in Zambia. This role will be responsible for achieving key performance indicators (targets) through effective management of staff, contribution to regional and global strategy, and engagement of internal and external stakeholders to raise visibility and financial resources to contribute to the organizational mission and vision.

RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned

Team & Program Management

• Prioritise the support and growth of individual team members, as well as team cohesion and culture.
• Responsible for achieving country-level targets, quarterly/termly team target reviews, and annual staff performance reviews.
• Manage regular effective communications across multiple digital channels, team meetings, one-on-one meetings, and other co-ordination support as needed.
• Prioritise actions to enhance programme delivery based on internal and external research, feedback from school/partners, and the wider team; provide regular recommendations to the leadership team to refine and improve delivery processes continuously.
• Leverage the extensive and varied expertise embodied by the Education Specialist team to best meet programme needs, and review/reallocate individual responsibilities as needed; leverage expertise from global team as needed.
• Created linkages between special projects (pilots, research, etc.), the Education Specialist team, leadership, and global team.

Cluster Development & Management

• Ensure Education Specialist are equipped to promote effective collaboration between school leaders, teachers, and cluster members in training cluster leadership to perform their role, including the self-assessment of their cluster using the Hargreaves criteria.
• Lead the planning and implementation of Introductory Seminars to bring new schools and clusters into the EdQ programme, in collaboration with the Education Specialist team, EdQ Project Management Associate, and financial institution partners.
• Support the team in delivering approximately nine cluster meetings per cluster per annum.
• Support Education Specialist colleagues in timely reporting on all required activities in a systematic way using agreed approaches (i.e., Collect app, report writing, etc.).

Pathways to Excellence

• Ensure all Education Specialist follow the developed procedures in supporting school leaders in their School Self-Assessments and in both developing and monitoring the School Development Planning process each annum.

School Leadership Professional Development

• Oversee preparations, logistics, and implementation of the School Leadership Professional Development (SLPD) training, with support from the EdQ Project Management Associate.
• Ensure Education Specialist team are properly trained and support to deliver high-quality trainings to school leaders.

Teacher Mentor Professional Development

• Oversee the effective approaches to teacher development and mentor training and on-going support by the Education Specialist team.
• Ensure the schools have the materials and capability required to train replacement mentors when existing mentors leave; seek ways of improving the effectiveness of mentor in the clusters.
• Provide training to the Education Specialist team on the use of adult facilitation/coaching and training of trainers to bring consistency of practice to the work with cluster teachers and mentors.

Measurement & Evaluation

• Collaborate with the Director of Operations and local M&E team to implement the EduQuality M&E framework to drive programme learning and improvement.
• Assist Education Specialist team in how best to support M&E activities through co-ordination with school leaders and data collectors/enumerators.
• Gather and document learnings and effective practices from the field on a regular basis for dissemination to the larger network of partners with the goal of continual improvement in service offerings.
• Publish or contribute to publications, where applicable, to share outcomes, program design, and effectiveness of interventions with the broader financial institution and educational communities.
• Liaise with learning partners, as necessary, who are engaging with the work of EduFinance for the study and reporting of impact.

Financial Institutions

• Liaise with financial institution partners as required to maintain quarterly/termly reporting and co-ordination.

Materials & Product Development

• Support the development and review of new EdQ products/materials to ensure alignment with in-country curriculum and teacher standards, context, language, and culture.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY     

• Three Education Specialist staff in Lusaka, Zambia

QUALIFICATIONS

• Postgraduate degree in school-based education or education development, with Graduate degree preferred.
• At least 10-15 years of relevant education experience in education development, pre-primary and primary education, early literacy and reading development, special education, and school leadership and teacher professional development.
• At least 2-3 years of formal experience as a classroom teacher and/or school leader at pre-primary and primary levels.
• 10 years of experience managing a diverse multi-functional team.
• Leadership in large-scale education program implementation.
• Strong writing, data collection, and ICT skills (e.g., Microsoft Office products, EdTech, mobile tablets, etc.).
• International education experience or training is preferred.
• Ability to manage contract negotiations with external vendors and ability to manage internal work-related expenses is required.
• Experience working within cross-cultural global organizations and INGOs.
• Knowledge of and experience with USAID-funded projects preferred.
• An understanding of and a commitment to advancing the mission and core values of Opportunity International
• Passionate about Opportunity’s mission. Able to promote and communicate the organization’s goals and objectives to external and internal stakeholders.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Written and verbal fluency in English required; 1-2 additional local languages preferred. Must be able to attend & fully participate in meetings conducted in English.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

• Access to a personal vehicle for 50% domestic travel; 10% international travel
• Able to travel with minimal notice and maximum flexibility
• Willing to travel independently and without escort or planning support

ABOUT OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL 

Opportunity International is a global non-profit that has been empowering people to work their way out of poverty for over 50 years. Last year, Opportunity provided 18.7 million families with innovative financial resources, training, and support to grow their small businesses and send their children to school. Opportunity and its partners released $2 billion in capital across 30 countries and helped fund 8,400 schools that reached 2 million children.

Learn more about our company by visiting our website: https://opportunity.org/

ABOUT EDUFINANCE

Opportunity EduFinance is a nimble, fast-moving, and rapidly expanding core function of Opportunity International’s global footprint. EduFinance aims to get more children into better quality schools. It does this by increasing access to capital for affordable private schools and parents, and by boosting the capacity of school leaders and teachers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). It does this in over 25 countries and is growing rapidly.

The Education Finance program accelerates investment into affordable education in low-and-middle income countries, to get more children access to better quality schools. In 2022, EduFinance became a WISE Award winner – which recognizes programs addressing global education challenges and serving as “a model of excellence that serves as an inspiration for innovation and creative action for education.”