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Job Title:    Education Officer      

Organisation: Right To Play (RTP)

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

Right To Play (RTP) is a global organisation that protects, educates and empowers children to rise above adversity using play. By harnessing play, one of the most powerful and fundamental forces in a child’s life, we help 2.3 million children to stay in school and out of work, to prevent life-threatening diseases like HIV and malaria and to stay safe from exploitation and abuse.

Job Summary:   The Education Officer reports directly to the Program Manager (PM) and is responsible for providing support both the implementation of and giving feedback and insights about Project to the Program Manager in Uganda and Education Specialist. Key functions will include contributing greatly to enhancing quality of education interventions, co-facilitation at Training Workshops, especially those on literacy, play-based learning and inclusion and close follow-up on teacher Communities of Practice. He/she also plays a key role on the capacity building and follow up of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) partners, School Inclusion Committees (SICs) and Local District Education Authorities on inclusive education initiatives.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Programme planning, implementation, and delivery (60% of Time)

• Supports the Program Manager and Education Specialist, by providing field learning and insights to ensure appropriate design and development of program strategies, and alignment with RTP’s global education theory of change.
• Supports the Program Manager and Education Specialist on improving program delivery by documenting lessons learned and best practices in the field, especially those related with children with disabilities, literacy, and life skills development components of the program.
• Collaborates with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist/Officer (MELS/O) on the roll out of appropriate systems, tools and procedures for the monitoring and evaluation of the program.
• In close coordination with the Training Officer, supports training for Education Departments, Teachers, Province and District Education Officers on Literacy, Play-based learning and Inclusion.
• Plays a technical lead role on the DTT (Disability Tracking Tool) training and rollout both at school and community level.
• Provides a technical guidance to teachers, reading facilitators and parents on the rollout of reading clubs and/or centres initiatives and any other supplementary learning initiatives for reading and life skills development both at school and community level.
• Supports supplementary learning initiatives for literacy boosting in schools and communities, for enhanced parental engagement supporting children’s education.
• Acts as a local child protection focal point, responsibly and appropriately handling any safeguarding concerns or disclosures of abuse.
• Works with Project Coordinators, Partners, and District Education Officers to develop weekly, monthly, and annual Coach training schedules for all project locations.
• Conducts regular follow-up visits of all project locations to ensure training plans and implementation aligns with project proposal.
• Coaches and mentors, the Project Coordinators and Trainers to evaluate training workshops and provide inputs on training reports developed by them.
• Together with Project Coordinators, encourages and supports Trainers and community-led initiatives in all project locations.
• Supports project team in developing workshops to best fit the requirements of the project in the field.

Capacity building support (25% of Time):

• Ensures that Local District Education Authorities, partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), School Inclusion Committees (SICs), School Management Committees (SMCs) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) are properly trained and supported with the technical knowledge and skills necessary to deliver inclusion initiatives.
• Supports the integration of inclusive learning component in the Play Based Learning teacher training package, and support its contextualization in the Project, in coordination with the Education Specialist supporting CBO partners in Adjumani and Isingiro.
• Ensures that teachers, parents and reading clubs and/or centres facilitators are trained and supported to adequately implement supplementary learning activities (including reading and life skills) at school and/or community level.
• Ensures that School-based child protection referral mechanisms are established, trained and supported to fulfil their role on promoting child protection, child rights and prevent corporal punishment, abuse, and/or Gender Based Violence.
• Ensures that all project stakeholders are adequately trained on child protection, safeguarding and referral mechanisms.
• Supports Project Coordinators and Trainers in identifying the community and partners needs and gaps on implementation updates regularly the Education Specialist and Training Officer.
• Conducts regular visits to the field to provide technical support to program team, partner staff, teachers and all stakeholders at school and community level.

Representation, advocacy and policy engagement (10% of Time)

• Represents RTP’s education work in Uganda and maintains positive relationships with local government officials and other relevant stakeholders to ensure efficient and effective implementation and smooth coordination of activities.
• Regularly updates the Education Specialist with local stakeholder analysis to ensure that RTP is engaging with and is visible to the most influential actors in the sector.
• Under the lead of Education Specialist, carries out research and advocacy activities at the provincial and district levels, in close coordination with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer.
• Under the lead of Education Specialist, carries out communication campaigns for behaviour change in supporting children with disabilities, leveraging on community advocacy mechanisms for education rights of children with disabilities and advocacy with schools for inclusion.
• Participates in technical calls, local meetings, monthly calls with HQ, etc., as required.

Others:

• Other tasks as assigned (5% of Time)

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant must hold a Bachelor’s degree in Education or related field with previous experience on Inclusive Education
• Three years of experience implementing and providing technical guidance on inclusive basic education programs and liaising with government officials in Uganda.
• Proven experience in project planning, report writing, networking, partnership-building and working with NGOs.
• Experience in working through systems of community participation, capacity building and representation.
• Significant experience in designing and delivering training and/or the development of inclusive education pedagogical materials and resources.
• Experience in using inter-agency Child Protection standards and guidelines.
• Superior organizational skills and ability to multi-task on a constant basis.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills to build rapport with staff, partners, government officials and community leaders.
• Ability to work under pressure meeting deadlines in a fast-paced fluid environment.
• Creative and flexible with problem solving skills.
• Demonstrated professionalism and diplomacy.
• Ability to confidently represent oneself and Right To Play to Provincial and District level officials.
• Strategy planning skills for education initiatives.
• A commitment to the Protection Principles, particularly Do No Harm, and an understanding of appropriate responses to safeguarding concerns.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills both written and verbal
• Deeper understanding of the education situation in Uganda, including the MOES’ strategy for inclusive learning and support to children with disabilities.
• Understanding of active learning approaches, particularly play-based learning.
• Knowledge and understanding of best practices in inclusive basic education programs, including technical experience in teacher training and resource development.
• Understanding of community development processes.
• Knowledge and experience with programmatic approaches related to life skills or social emotional learning.
• Knowledge and experience in education research, quantitative and qualitative methods.
• An understanding of safeguarding and the Social Model of Disability.
• Computer literacy in outlook, MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Internet
• Understand project management cycle.
• Effective report writing and analytical skills.
• Languages: Fluency in spoken and written English. The knowledge of the local language will be an added advantage.

Desired Qualifications (an asset)

• Experience in strengthening community based organizations.
• Experience in coaching and mentoring.
• Knowledge/experience in child protection, gender mainstreaming.
• Knowledge of adult learning.
• Coaching and feedback skills.

How to Apply:

If you are interested in applying for this position, please apply with your resume and cover letter in English via the application link.

Click Here

Deadline:  26^th December 2023

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