Senior Content Development Officer - Beirut - National Candidates Only

Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities that support them, as well as with those who remain within their homes and communities. At-work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. IRC reaches over a million children annually with education and child protection programs in 25 countries around the world.

In response to the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon in mid-2012, IRC opened a country office and launched humanitarian assistance programming. IRC operates throughout Lebanon, with the main office in Beirut and field offices in Qobayat, Zahle, Tripoli and Mount Lebanon. IRC’s programs assist Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese in host communities across multiple sectors: education, livelihoods, protection, women's protection and empowerment child protection and early childhood development in close coordination with national partner, the Lebanese Government and broader humanitarian community.

High-quality Early Childhood Development (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 extremely 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. Focusing on children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria over the next five years, 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 visit: http://refugee.sesameinternational.org/.

Job Overview:

Reporting to the Senior Technical Quality Manager, The ECD Senior Content Development Officer is responsible for supporting the planning, design, development, pilot, and roll-out of the highest quality content that aligns with the IRC ‘s standards. The position is responsible for the support in the development of content and training materials. The position plays a key role in ensuring harmonization of best practices across different programmatic components.

The Early Childhood Development Senior Content Development Officer is responsible for the following key objectives:

1. Development and Adaptation of technical materials: Support the technical team in the design, pilot, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based early childhood education approaches, materials, and interventions, including using monitoring and evaluation results to inform program design and implementation.

2. Quality of program implementation: Support the technical team in the development of related curriculum/ content assessment and monitoring tools, to monitor and enhance overall program quality and implementation.

3. Training and capacity building: Support the technical team in the development of building content, and in conducting training.

Major Responsibilities:

Development and adaptation of technical materials

• Provide technical assistance in the development of an evidence-based national early childhood education (ECE) curriculum targeted for nurseries in Lebanon including instructional guides for teachers, activities and assessment for students;
• Design early childhood nutrition awareness sessions targeted towards caregivers and educators based on existing content;
• Support in the development of the training materials on inclusion;
• Provide technical support in the revision of the community-based early childhood education curriculum;
• Keep abreast of new developments of technical design, strategies and best practices in the ECD field;

Quality of program implementation

• Assess, evaluate, and report on how effectively the curriculum meets children’s needs in coordination with the Senior Technical Quality Manager;
• Coordinate with the Senior Technical Quality Manager to continuously evaluate existing curricula and assess the quality of instruction;
• Review the remote ECE available content to enhance the quality of implementation;
• Support the Senior Technical Quality manager in analyzing technical gaps and program impact at the community level for quality and content-related activities/services;
• Share recommendations to improve the quality of content and program implementation;
• Conduct a range of quality assurance tasks for scaling activities.

Training and capacity building

• Support in the development of capacity building content and conduct training activities in coordination with line manager;
• Support in identifying capacity building needs with scaling partners;
• Upon need, support ECD Senior Quality Officers in the mentoring of teachers and volunteers’ and monthly meetings;

Knowledge Management

• Report progress on a weekly basis to the Line Manager, highlighting immediately any difficulty or delay faced;

• Identify and document programmatic lessons learnt and participate in knowledge management activities;
• Support the production of case studies, and success stories related to scaling activities;
• Actively participate in coordination meetings, planning and reporting processes;

Human Resources Management

• Take responsibility for discussing job expectations, performance, and objectives as a part of the annual Performance Review and Planning Process;
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit, oversight and advise;
• Adhere to and act in accordance with the IRC Global HR Policies and Procedures;

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: ECD Senior Technical Quality Manager

Position directly supervises: None.

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• Internal: Integrated Early Childhood Coordinator, Senior RMEAL Manager, Scaling and Learning Manager, Senior Quality Officers, IRC Operations and Support Departments, ECD Technical Units (HQ/Region), and Ahlan Simsim Regional Team.
• External: Scaling partners including focal points from the Center for Educational Research and Development, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Ministry of Social Affairs.

REQUIREMENTS:

• BA in early childhood education, special education, or other related fields. A master’s degree is preferred.
• 3 to 5 years of professional experience working in the education sector including teaching, materials design, and curriculum development.
• Strong understanding of educational context and needs in Lebanon.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Computer literate in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.
• Autonomy and ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Flexibility, commitment, work ethics and team spirit.
• Fluency in Arabic and English, French is an asset.

Working Environment:

The position will be based in Beirut.

Standards of Professional Conduct:

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Gender Equality

IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including maternity leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances. Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.