Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Closing date: 21 Sep 2015
For more than 25 years, The Mitchell Group (TMG) has provided practical solutions that meet a diverse array of client needs. TMG has done this by forming strong local and global partnerships to complete project goals successfully and efficiently. TMG's history of solving client challenges has given us a solid foundation upon which we built the platform for our work in sustainable development. Our staff is made up of expert international development practitioners from a variety of fields and backgrounds.
TMG seeks to fill a 3-5 year Education Specialist/Co-Deputy COP position for a USAID project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The purpose of the project is to provide coordination, monitoring, evaluation, analytic, and research services for the Mission’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) and a Joint Education Program between the USAID/DRC and the United Kingdom Government (represented by the U.K. Department for International Development [DFID]).
The Education Specialist will provide leadership and technical expertise for Component 2 planning, implementation, and evaluation as well as lead coordination with USAID, DFID, the GDRC and the IPs.
He/she must develop and maintain collaborative relationships across the Joint Education Program with
DFID, USAID, Activity IPs and the GDRC. The technical background of the Education Specialist will ensure that the activities of the Joint Education Program contract work in collaboration with IPs’ technical components, which include early grade reading, teacher training, accelerated learning programs, out-of-school children and youth, and others. He/she must manage and coordinate provincial and sub-province monitoring and evaluation specialists, and any administrative staff responsible for performance monitoring, oversight, and data collection and reporting. He/she must ensure that the methodologies used to measure the Joint Education Program results include gender, disability-inclusive, and conflict sensitive measures, and that they are consistently and systematically tracked and reported in accordance with USAID data reporting requirements. The individual must ensure that performance monitoring, action research, and evaluations are consistent with contract deliverables. This individual will be expected to identify issues and concerns related to the Joint Education Program in a timely manner, and suggest appropriate adjustments. He/she oversees and supervises data collection systems including, instrument development and testing, the training of data-collectors, data entry, data cleaning and statistical analyses. He/she will set-up and operate the Joint Education Program M&E System so that data is collected in accordance with the Joint Education Program M&E Plan, its protocols and procedures. As Co-Deputy, the Education Specialist will support the COP on all contract reporting and document production related to the Joint Education Program.
Education Specialist responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to:
• Serve as the Lead of Component 2 and serve as a key member of Component 1*• Advising the Component 2 contract personnel on technical aspects of intervention delivery and sharing knowledge of current educational practices.
• Oversee procuring further technical assistance from the home office as needed, and help staff ensure that the monitoring and evaluation tasks are aligned with the educational perspectives of the GDRC, schools and communities.
• Support Joint Education Program related assessments and analyses. This may include: providing background materials, studies and data on relevant education issues such as school related gender-based violence (SRGBV) or out-of-school children.
• Participating in the Joint Education Program evaluation design process to ensure good intersect between the evaluation purpose and the education context.
• Visit target Joint Education Program sites for monitoring.
• May be required to build the capacity of local organizations and make presentations during workshops with stakeholders.
• Must be familiar with USAID Education Strategy Technical Notes regarding monitoring and evaluation of Goal 1 and Goal 3 activities.
• Support and participate in collection of data, refinement of data collection instruments, writing analytic reports, and participating in research design.
• Ensure that data collection and reporting protocols are followed to maintain research design integrity and manage data entry and processing in conformance with data specifications and analytic needs.
The Education Specialist must have:
• A graduate degree (or foreign equivalent) in education or equivalent, or a bachelor’s degree and 5 years’ experience in addition to the required minimums.
• At least 8-10 years demonstrated experience working on improving access and/or quality of basic education with a focus on gender equality education, SRGBV, violence against women, conflict affected children, early grade reading, teacher training, or education service delivery. With at least 3-5 of those years having significant M&E responsibilities.
• Demonstrated management and technical experience on projects aimed at enhancing education opportunities for marginalized communities.
• Professional level oral and written skills in English and French. Bidders should submit a writing sample.
• Knowledgeable of USAID Education Strategy Technical Notes regarding monitoring and evaluation of Goal 1 and Goal 3 activities.
• M&E training/capacity building experience.*
Component 1: The Contractor will enhance USAID/DRC’s ability to monitor its programs that address interconnected development challenges, offering integrated solutions and maximizing synergies across sectors.
Component 2: The Contractor will provide coordination, monitoring, evaluation, research, organizational learning, knowledge management, and other relevant technical and/or advisory services for the Joint Education Program
.
How to apply:
If you meet these requirements, please send your most relevant CV and 1420 form to recruitment@the-mitchellgroup.com by September 20th, 2015. Place “DRC MECC/Education Spec. / (Last Name)” in the Subject Line.