Internal/External Vacancy of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Technical Advisor (Proposal Recruitment)
Employee Type: Full-time regular
Supervisor Title: Chief of Party/
Department: DECP
Division: IP
Work Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Child Safety: ☐Level 1- No Contact ☐Level 2- Limited Contact ☐Level 3- Contact
Summary
Save the Children is seeking an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Senior Technical Advisor for an anticipated five-year USAID-funded Early Childhood Education activity in Ethiopia. The program focuses on increasing the effectiveness of the early childhood education system. The specific objective is to strengthen the system’s capacity to provide, oversee and coordinate continuous high-quality, responsive early childhood development and education, at the federal, regional, woreda, Kebele and Houshold levels.
The ECE Technical Senior Advisor reports to the Chief of Party and will provide technical leadership and have responsibility for all activities associated with strengthening systems and practices related to early childhood Education, positive parenting and social inclusion in Ethiopia.
This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.
Duties and Responsibilities
Early Childhood Education Analysis and Strategy
- Support in national and local level ECE policy, strategy, guidelines, curriculum and structure analysis and use evidence to contribute to systems strengthening, advocacy and policy engagement efforts
- Carry out evidence drive advocacy and policy engagement in collaboration with key stakeholders including bilateral partners such as USAID, FCDO UNICEF and World Bank and civil society partners
- Support in identifying challenges and barriers to successful transition from ECE to primary and provide technical support to government in the design and implementation of transition approaches.
- Lead the design and implementation of the Early Childhood Education project.
- Lead the development of Early Childhood Education project sstrategy and ensure Early Childhood Education Analysis recommendations are integrated into project plans.
- Update the project Early Childhood Education Strategy annually alongside the project work plan using formal and informal feedback.
- Coordinate with project staff, including managers and technical specialists, to ensure the implementation of the Early Childhood Education Strategy in project activities.
Project Implementation
- Support SCI field offices, MOE, Regional education Bureaus and district education offices in ECE systems analysis and strengthening activities
- Support with project reporting, ensuring that updates and progress on related indicators and successes are included in project reports and annual work plans.
- Work with and support project and GoE Monitoring, Evaluation, and Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams to: develop context-specific and sector wide applicable indicators for Early Childhood Education; measure outcomes; and collect and analyze data to inform system strengthening, advocacy and policy efforts.
- Design and conduct Early Childhood Education components of assessments or standalone Early Childhood Education assessments as appropriate, ensuring results are used to adapt project implementation and broad system level improvements.
- Support field offices advising and ensuring play-based learning approaches are implemented and documented
Coordination & Capacity Building
- Build capacity of project, partner and Government of Ethiopia staff in Early Childhood Education principles, and play based methods and techniques.
- Ensure alignment with Save the Children ECE priorities and strategies and complementarity between existing and planned programs.
- Represent Early Childhood Education aspects of the project to external stakeholders, such as the donor, governments, and partners; disseminate learnings and best practices; and participate in technical working groups.
- Contribute to GoE ECE capacity building plans and curriculum implementation activities
Required Qualifications
- A Bachelor’s degree required.
- Master’s degree in ECE, Education, Social Sciences, or in a closely related field is required. is preferred.
- Minimum of ten (10) years’ experience and demonstrated practical skills in the NGO sector, focusing on ECE, whether in Ethiopia or another African country is preferred
- Experience in engaging at policy level with policy development or analysis, at regional or Federal level, with particular focus on ECE and positive parenting programming, preferably in Ethiopia is highly desired;
- Experience in emergent literacy, numeracy and social emotional learning promotion in pre-school settings is highly desired
- Excellent knowledge of holistic child development and understanding of global evidence, best practices, and gaps around early childhood education interventions;
- Experience in integrating and mainstreaming disability and inclusion in ECE programming in low-resource settings.
- Demonstrated experience working with children experiencing deprivation, exclusion and vulnerability and their families, and
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Amharic are highly desirable.
- Experience in working with partners, with particular focus on capacity building and system strengthening
- Experience in research and evaluation related to ECE thematic area
- Competence in use of various computer software
- Qualified local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
About Save the Children
Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.
Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.
We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.
Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.
Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all
Location: Addis Ababa
Employee Status: Fixed Term