Education Programme Manager - Syria (national contract)

The Education Programme Manager - Syria ensures the successful implementation of an ECHO-funded project in the Education in Emergencies sector in Syria. The focus of this project is to provide a safe learning space, early childhood education, psycho-social support, quality teacher education, and referral to social services within the framework of a Christian faith-based organization in Syria. The project aims a enabling vulnerable and internally displaced children to enter the formal education sector and attend regular classes, once conditions permit.

The education project is part of the Syria Crisis Response programme of Caritas Switzerland in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria with a regional office (RO) based in Beirut. The Education Programm Manager reports to the Regional Education Manager at the RO and will ensure the implementation, compliance, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting according ot the ECHO guidelines and requirements. Moreover, (s)he will organize training programmes within Syria in cooperation with the partner organization, consultants, and resource persons. The incumbent manager will lead a team of 2-3 local staff in Syria. 

 In order to assure the implementation, regular and frequent visits to the three social centers and the partner organization in Syria are required. The Education Programme Manager – Syria will be also incremental in scaling up the project through contingency planning and acquisition of additional backfunding. Caritas Switzerland has no preferences regarding the religious or ethnic background of the candidate.

DUTIES

Managerial leadership

• Establish an annual work plan with the education team, and set priorities and targets. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards
• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives, goals, direction, and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently
• Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results
• Work closely with Christian faith-based partner organisation and provide leadership in planning, implementation and monitoring
• Monitor progress and ensure quality of education and child protection activities by undertaking regular field visits to project sites and provide structured feedback
• Contribute to efficient budget management and timely preparation and submission of cash requests and financial reporting of education projects as per CACH and donor requirements
• Control, prepare and submit programme and project reports to Caritas and ECHO to keep them informed on programme progress and critical issues
• Monitor project to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to superiors for timely resolution
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews, studies and annual reviews with other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action and interventions to achieve results. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
• Introduce educational approaches in education in emergencies to partner organization in cooperation with trainers and resources persons
• Collect and institutionalize best practices and knowledge learned
• Lead, plan and coordinate technical support to partner organisations in the development of the necessary technical training contents and materials for formal and informal training. Coordination, networking and partnership building
• Establish and maintain strong productive working relationships with partner organisations and strategically collaborate with key stakeholders
• Support the partner organisations in strengthening of coordination, cooperation and networking related to education and child protection with clusters, humanitarian actors and donors - Participate and/or represent CACH education coordination meetings Programme development and planning
• Contribute to the upscaling of the project or new education projects, develop concept notes and/or project proposals
• Contribute to the acquisition of backfunding of the project

REQUIREMENTS

• University degree and advanced training in International Development, Social Science, Pedagogy, Economics or related studies
• Training/experience/exposure to the education sector, demonstrate general technical understanding of the education environment, psycho-social support and curricular development in MENA region, preferably in Syria and Lebanon
• Minimum of 5 years working experience in implementing projects or programmes in emergency and/or development contexts
• Ability and proven experience in transferring knowledge and skills through formal and informal training/capacity building of staff of partner organizations and communities
• Proven budget planning and expenditures monitoring as well as reporting skills
• Strong project management skills, incl. Project Cycle Management (design, planning, budgeting and monitoring) and CSPM
• Strong motivation to work in close partnership with national partner
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team
• Excellent English writing skills
• Fluency in English and Arabic, French is an asset
• No objection to undertake regular and frequent travel and field visits to Syria
• Open-minded personality, eager for knowledge
• Strong leadership skills, leading by example
• Strong organizational and coordination skills
• Sense of responsibility, team spirit, strong listening, comprehension and dialogue skills

Your place of work will be Beirut/Lebanon or Damascus/Syria, with frequent travel to/in Syria
Starting date: 01.11.2018 or earlier.

Caritas offers attractive working conditions and an open working atmosphere in an international field of activities.

Thank you for your interest. We look forward to receiving your job application by
7 October latest through our web portal.