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Job Description
Early Childhood Development Program
High-quality ECD programs provide the foundation for children’s future academic success, health, prosperity and wellbeing. A large body of scientific evidence emphasizes the need for increased investment in early childhood, particularly for children experiencing conflict, crisis and displacement; these children are vulnerable to the long-lasting effects that prolonged stress has on the developing brain.
In December 2017, Sesame Workshop and the IRC were awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change grant to make real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time. With the extraordinary investment of $100 million, our partnership will transform the language, early reading, math, and social-emotional skills of a generation of children ages 0-8 affected by the Syrian war. Focusing on children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria until 2023, the plan combines the depth of in-person services, reaching 1.5 million children, with the breadth of mass media, reaching 9.4 million children. For more information, please
The ECD Coordinator will serve as the project lead for IRC Jordan and provide technical direction and leadership for the creation, implementation and scaling of high-quality ECD programming and service delivery.
The Coordinator is responsible for the following key objectives:
1. Project and staff management: provide leadership, supervision and guidance to the ECD team in Jordan, ensure donor compliance and appropriate and timely spending of grants, support the development of new business concept notes and proposals and the submission of timely and accurate reporting requirements;
2. Program Quality and Implementation: Execute effective deployment of ECD resources and materials to support ECD caregiver and child facing programs, as well as the implementation of sound M&E systems and research-driven efforts as per pre-existing work plans;
3. Partnerships and scaling: Maintain and strengthen productive relationships with ECD-focused organizations and networks, technical experts, line ministries and donors within Jordan, in coordination with the Regional Project team and Technical Advisors.
4. Representation: Represent IRC and the ECD program inside Jordan at strategic meetings and events in close coordination with the Regional Project team and IRC Jordan leadership;
5. Business development and growth: lead on scoping activities and program development for ECD programming opportunities in Jordan, in collaboration with local partners.
Responsibilities:
Program Quality and Implementation
- With guidance from the ECD Regional team, develop country-specific programmatic standards for child-facing and caregiver-facing programming;
- Ensure that content and program models are aligned with local or national standards for early childhood development and early childhood education;
- Ensure technical quality and roll out of ECD training for relevant staff;
- Work with MEAL team on the development of M&E systems and ensure regular follow-up on data relevant to the Ahlan Simsim project and other ECD initiatives inside Jordan;
- Support the implementation of the IRC Jordan Strategy by ensuring that program activities align and contribute to achieving selected pathways of the prioritized signature and core sub outcomes;
- Collaborate with Ahlan Simsim regional team and IRC program teams (Protection, Women Protection and Empowerment, Child Protection, Education and Economic Recovery and Development) to develop strategies for integration of ECD activities across IRC programs and with partners;
Internal and external representation
- As ECD focal point at country level, participate actively in internal coordination and management meetings to promote effective and efficient information sharing, problem-solving and decision making;
- In coordination with the IRC Jordan leadership and Regional Project team, participate actively in external coordination forums and represent the IRC and Ahlan Simsim to UN, international and national NGOs, line ministries, and key ECD actors;
- Coordinate and support external missions, visits and other communication and visibility activities related to Ahlan Simsim, Play to Learn and other ECD projects in Jordan;
Partnerships, advocacy and scaling
- Work in close collaboration with the Partnership unit to develop a comprehensive and collaborative approach to strategic and implementation partnerships;
- Build and maintain collaborative relationships with partners to facilitate collaborative design processes, co-development of materials and approaches to improve and expand the access and quality of ECD services in Jordan;
- Provide strategic direction in the design and implementation of scaling initiatives with lines ministries and partners, ensuring that ECD solutions are in line with national strategies, aiming at institutionalization and sustainability;
- Lead on the ECD advocacy agenda and activities for Jordan, including participation in strategy design meetings, and advocating for ECD outcomes in external events and relevant coordination fora;
Grant Monitoring and Business Development
- Support and ensure donor compliance, including appropriate and timely spending of grants to achieve program goals, grant reporting contributions, use and distribution of supplies and resources;
- Lead on developing business concept notes and proposals for the continuation and expansion of the program;
- Ensure the submission of timely, accurate and well written donor reports and other reporting requirements;
- Work closely and coordinate with IRC other technical unit, logistics, finance and grant staff to ensure timely and compliant program activities and expenditures; including active participation in grant opening/closing and review meetings and participation in bids opening and review.
Staff Management and Development
- Coach, train, and mentor staff with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and providing professional development guidance
- Develop and implement staff capacity building plans to ensure quality ECD programming across programming teams and projects in collaboration with partners;
- Set clear performance goals and conduct timely and quality performance evaluations of direct reports;
Skills
Job Requirements:
The requirements should establish a baseline (minimum) for educational background, previous work experience, professional knowledge or certification, specific skills and strengths and any other skill vital to perform the essential functions of the job.
- Masters level qualification in Social Sciences, Education, Psychology, Human Development, Social Work, or related subject
- Proven experience in managing and/or technically supporting ECD, education or child protection programs and/or policy workstreams;
- Experience in managing cross-sectoral projects or portfolios
- Experience in managing co-design processes for projects and/or policies with partners and line ministries preferred;
- Strong leadership and team management skills;
- Strong project planning, budget management for large portfolios, and reporting skills; and an ability to supervise multiple awards from a variety of donors;
- Strong written and oral communication skills, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment and effective in representation;
- Analytical interpersonal and communication skills, including capacity to communicate effectively with high level stakeholders;
- Ability to supervise monitoring and research staff and use data from monitoring and research to shape program implementation, scale up, and transfer to partners;
- Able to respond rapidly to changing environments
- Excellent digital literacy: MS Word, Excel
- Fluency in English (written and speaking)