Senior Education Officer - CARE International in Timor-Leste - CITL

JOB ADVERTISEMENT
Internally & Externally
CARE International in Timor-Leste - CITL 

 

Department/Project	Hatutan
Position Title	Senior Education Officer
Supervisor	Field Office Deputy Manager (FODM), Technical supervision from Literacy Program Manager and Education Program Manager
Position Supervises	Education Project Officers (5 staff)
Position Grade	Grade 5
Salary	From  USD 743 Plus Benefit
Location of work	Ainaro
Contract Period	1 Year
Areas of experience required	This position will coordinate the overall training and visiting schedule for all activities at the school level. This position will lead activities that support school personnel to improve: literacy teaching in pre-schools and grades 1 and 2; school management; extracurricular activities; and mobilization of parents and PTA to actively support their children by providing healthy learning environments at school and at home.
Applications required by	23rd of June 2021
Application should include	CV and Application letter only
Application should be sent to	Manuela.dasilva@careint.org

INTRODUCTION:

CARE is a leading humanitarian and development organisation dedicated to fighting global poverty and social injustice with special emphasis on human rights, gender equality and women and girls’ rights. As a non-religious and non-political organisation, CARE works with communities to help overcome poverty by supporting development efforts and providing emergency assistance. We believe supporting women and girls is one of the most effective ways to create sustainable outcomes in poor communities.

CARE International in Timor-Leste (CITL) will implement a 5-year United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded program called HATUTAN, to build a partnership between schools and their communities to improve literacy, learning, health and nutrition for children and adults in the municipalities of Ainaro, Ermera, Liquica and Manatuto. The program works with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) as the lead Ministry to strengthen pre-school and primary school performance in literacy, health and nutrition and support the full implementation of the government school feeding program.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION:

Senior Education Officer: Based in Ainaro, this position will coordinate the overall training and visiting schedule for all activities at the school level. This position will lead activities that support school personnel to improve: literacy teaching in pre-schools and grades 1 and 2; school management; extracurricular activities; and mobilization of parents and PTA to actively support their children by providing healthy learning environments at school and at home.

The Senior Education Officer, together with FODM, will lead the field team by providing technical direction, serving as the point of contact for schools. Each field team is comprised of a Senior School Feeding Officer; Education Project Officers; Senior Health and Gender Officer; Health and Gender Officer(s); and Community Development Agent (CDA) Senior Field Officer and CDA Field Officer. The CDA Senior Field Officer and CDA Field Officer lead training and oversight of the CDAs and their work with Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs). Senior and Health and Gender Officers will provide training on maternal and child health, nutrition, hygiene and gender equity to Parent and Teachers’ Associations (PTAs), Water Committees and parents. Senior School Feeding Officers will lead delivery of USDA commodity-based school meals and training to school administrators, PTA members and school cooks on the ministry school feeding program guidance. The Senior Education Project Officer will receive technical guidance from the Literacy Program Manager or her delegate (Dili) and the Education Program Manager (Dili) and will be directly/administratively supervised by the Field Office Deputy Manager (FODM). The position directly supervises 5 Education Project Officers covering the assigned schools.

The role requires good leadership and vision, excellent organisational and planning skills, strong communication and interpersonal skills and an ability to work confidentially and appropriately with others across a diverse team as well as with local community members, school personnel and municipal government officials.

This position requires extensive travel to remote school locations and some travel required to Dili or other municipal project offices. During weeks schools have classes, the regular work schedule will include Saturdays to cover activities at the schools. The work schedule for field staff, including the Senior Education Officer, may shift to Tuesday through Saturday work week and/or use compensatory time off.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:
Planning and Research:

• · Provide logistical support to the final assessments and to special research activities to coordinate schedules with the schools;

Implementation, Training and Application of Learning:

• Serve as the main point of contact with the schools in the program and establishing the schedule for all school-level field activities including workshops, training and mentoring;
• Establish mentoring schedules for the field team with individual school administrators ensuring that the mentoring does not disrupt class time;
• Liaising with the Field Office Deputy Manager, work with municipal MEYS officers and central school administrators to make municipal performance data collected during baseline, mid-term, and final evaluations available to administrators, teachers, and parents;
• Work with school administrators to: implement their school development or action plan to progressively improve compliance with existing MEYS policies and laws on the school feeding program, inclusive education, curriculum delivery, zero violence at school, anti-smoking and school health program; develop their leadership and community mobilization skills to engage the broader community to establish or reinvigorate PTAs; support students, teachers, principals and parents to track their progress on the school’s annual action plan and Eskola Haksolok goals;
• Support central school Deputy Directors to: identify low performing schools using ongoing monitoring and school-level data and develop targeted school support plans; provide targeted mentoring to teachers to improve early grade literacy teaching skills; provide targeted mentoring to teachers to conduct reading assessments and to share the results with parents and administrators; support teachers to use child-centered methodology, develop or improve Saturday remedial lessons and extracurricular activities;
• Support the Education Officers to: mentor school administrators on daily school management including HR management, record-keeping, managing student reading materials, integrating parent-teacher associations in school management and the school feeding program;
• Assist coordination of mentoring support for Deputy Director and teachers with INFORDEPE trainers;
• Work with municipal MEYS officers and school administrators to develop pragmatic recommendations to ensure teacher and school administrator training or other official work duties minimize disruptions to class time;
• Liaising with the Senior School Feeding Officer, support school administrators to improve management and timely reporting of the school feeding program through targeted training and on-going mentoring;

HR Management and Team Building:

• Assist the FODM to coordinate and provide technical direction for the field team which includes a Senior School Feeding Officer, Education Project Officers, Senior Health and Gender Officer, Health and Gender Officer(s), Community Development Agent (CDA) Senior Field Officer and CDA Field Officer;
• Directly supervise the Education Project Officers and backstopping for them as needed;
• Serve as the point of contact for schools, and overseeing and coordinating the activities of all technical staff at the school level;

Other Tasks:

• Be proactive in identifying risks of fraud on the part of staff, partners or beneficiaries and supporting spot-checks and investigations as needed;
• Perform other duties as may be requested by the supervisor.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES:

• To proactively participate in the staff evaluation (APPA) process including the annual appraisal, midyear review and regular 1:1 meetings, ensuring that the APPA process (including the paperwork) is an integral component of Annual Work Plans and activities;
• Engage in emergency preparedness, assist in any emergency response as required;
• Promote a safe and secure work environment; foster a culture of safety and security awareness and consistently follow all CARE safety and security policies, procedures and directives; and
• Demonstrate an ongoing commitment to gender equality, diversity and child protection.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Minimum Bachelors’ degree in Education, Management, Humanities or equivalent with minimum 3 years’ relevant work experience, and/or University Diploma with minimum 4 years’ relevant work experience;
2. Experience working in education programs and schools;
3. Experience providing training or mentoring, leading teams and directly supervising other staff;
4. . Experience in project planning, monitoring of budget and expenses and proven ability to write and present regular reports to management and partners as required;
5. Ability to promote collaboration with CITL staff, Government, Local authority, and other partners;
6. Excellent communication skills in Tetum and intermediate (very good) in English;
7. Ability to speak Mambae is an advantage;
8. Demonstrated strong leadership, decision making, problem solving, planning and attention to detail;
9. Demonstrated honesty, reliable and trustworthy;
10. Demonstrated ability to take direction and to work as part of a team;
11. A willingness to learn about CARE, gender equality and women’s empowerment activities;
12. Intermediate (very good) in Microsoft Office with knowledge in Microsoft Word and Excel, good numeric skills;
13. Ability to drive a motorbike in remote locations and with a valid license is an advantage.

In return of your commitment you will benefit from ongoing professional development fostered within an innovative and forward thinking environment, plus a comprehensive benefits package.

To apply to this position, please email or submit your application letter and Curriculum Vitae with three references (Please DO NOT attached the other documents) to Manuela.dasilva@careint.org before or by date deadline on 23rd of June 2021. Only successful candidates will be contacted for the interview.

CARE is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse workplace. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

CARE International Timor-Leste is committed to protecting the rights of children in all areas we work. CARE International Timor-Leste reserves the right to conduct screening procedure to ensure a child-safe environment.