Education Cluster Coordinator at Save the Children Nigeria

Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with programs in over 120 countries. We save children’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Save the Children is working in Nigeria because one in five children in Nigeria dies before their fifth birthday. About 40% of children miss out on school and have to work to survive while nearly 2 million children have lost one or both parents to an AIDS-related disease.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Education Cluster Coordinator

Ref No: 220007QQ
Location: Maiduguri, Borno, Nigeria with field visits to other States and Abuja (possibility of remote support)
Employee Status: Permanent
Contract Length: 12 months
Reports to: Education Sector Manager, Northeast Nigeria
Grade: TBC

Child Safeguarding

• Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g., once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

Role Purpose

• The Working Group approach ensures clear leadership, predictability and accountability in international responses to humanitarian emergencies by clarifying the division of labour among organizations and better defining their roles and responsibilities within the different sectors of the response.
• It aims to make the international humanitarian community better organised and more accountable and professional, so that it can be a better partner for the affected people, host governments, local authorities, local civil society and resourcing partners.
• The Education in Emergencies (EiE) Cluster Co-Coordinator is a core Working Group Coordination team member.  The purpose of this post is to co-lead the EIE Working Group team and ensure that the Working Group performs with better coordination in education in emergency sector.

Budget Responsibilities:

Role Dimensions (e.g., complexity, relationships, communication with stakeholders):

• Role requires frequent and complex interactions with UN, government and civil society partners, and liaison with the inter-cluster working group. Requires excellent judgment, analytical and conceptual thinking; and ability to work in high pressure environments, with limited supervision.

Key Areas of Accountability
Education in Emergency Working Group/Cluster Coordination:

• Assume overall responsibility for (co-)leadership of the Education in Emergencies (EiE) Working Group (Cluster), Northeast Nigeria.
• Work closely with other key members of the Education in Emergency Working Group, including school officials, National, Provincial or Local Governments, OCHA, UNICEF and all other cluster members.
• Secure commitments from humanitarian actors responding to or supporting the emergency response.
• Support and coordinate multi-sector and education specific needs assessments and utilise existing secondary data to inform sector response planning including consideration for inclusion of children with disabilities and gender for equal access to quality education.
• Develop, implement and monitor the Education in Emergencies Working Group strategy, work plan, and co-ordinate the harmonization of response activities, ensuring that activities prevent overlap and duplication in terms of location, time and sectors; and ensuring that local partners are fully supported and enabled to play active roles in the Working Group (including transitioning to local co-leadership where feasible).
• Ensure that inter-agency response strategy for Education in emergency reflects key findings from needs assessments, identifying gaps, and formulating a sector-wide interagency response plan, taking into account the cross-cutting areas from other sectors or working groups. 
• Ensure that information is shared amongst working group members, and that information from other sectors and working groups is made available to cluster members in order to improve planning, integration and implementation.
• Ensure that information is shared amongst EiE Working Group members, and that information from other sectors and working groups is made available to EiE Working Group members to improve planning, integration and implementation in a consultative and transparent manner.
• Ensure clear and effective communication occurs between the sub-national and the national EiE working groups.
• Contribute to regular sitreps, and actively participate in inter-cluster co-ordination meetings.
• Ensure education is explicitly included and prioritized in all multi-sector assessments and reports, including OCHA Sitreps and 5 Ws updates.
• Ensure working group members are aware of relevant minimum standards, policies and guidelines and best practices in Education in Emergency, which will apply to the response with all agencies as members of working group.
• Track and monitor cluster members fundraising for Education specific interventions and ensure that members are aware of funding opportunities.
• Consult and identify how the education cluster should facilitate the move towards early recovery and plan an exit strategy for the sector.
• Ensure that children are engaged in all stages of the HPC and that the cluster and members have systems to institutionalise this.
• Ensure that child safeguarding is addressed by the EiE Working Group membership

Capacity Building:

• Where appropriate, ensure that capacity building of country programme staff occurs to ensure on-going sustainability and quality of the response 
• Identify learning and training opportunities for education working group state leads and SCI Staff to enhance both technical and institutional capacity in preparedness and response within the EiE Working Group

General:

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and other relevant policies and procedures.
• Display neutrality and act as the representative of all education working group members.
• Develop and maintain a strong and positive relationship with UNICEF, EIE working group co-lead.
• Develop and maintain a strong and positive relationship with colleagues at regional and global levels.

Qualifications

• University Degree in Education, preferably at an Advanced Postgraduate level, in a subject area relevant to Education Management.
• Proven extensive relevant work experience will be highly rated. 
• Formal training in cluster coordination is desirable. 

Experience and Skills:
Essential - Experience:

• At least 8 years progressively relevant work experience with UN, government and/or NGO, including in a humanitarian context. Extensive relevant work experience outside the humanitarian sector may be considered.
• Prior experience of working within a senior management role or cluster coordination within a complex country programme in an emergency response or fragile state
• Experience applying relevant interagency humanitarian frameworks and standards in education in emergencies (for example INEE Minimum Standards)
• Understanding of the Humanitarian Program Cycle including experience with Humanitarian Response Planning and/or Humanitarian Needs Overview
• Education to MEd/MSc/MA/ME level in Education (or a related field) or equivalent field experience with Education in Emergencies
• Demonstrable ability to work and represent views across different stakeholders taking part in the Education Cluster
• Experience of high-level co-ordination and chairing of meetings
• Demonstrable understanding of international humanitarian response and co-ordination mechanisms
• Understanding of opportunities to provide integrated or cross-cutting humanitarian interventions with other sectors and Clusters
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.

Skills:

• Excellent communication skills, including ability to facilitate diverse groups.
• Political, cultural and conflict sensitive with ability to act with patience, tact and diplomacy
• A high level of written and spoken English. 
• Demonstrable ability to work and represent views across different stakeholders taking part in the Education Cluster.

Knowledge

• Excellent technical understanding of education in emergencies
• Knowledge of the IASC Working Group System and recent humanitarian reform developments, including the Transformative Agenda
• Understanding of the Consolidated Appeals Process and other funding mechanisms such as AHF and the HRP process
• Knowledge of information management processes within the Working Group system
• Understanding of the National and State Ministries of Education (MoEs) and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) ways of working

Other:

• Demonstrated commitment to Humanitarian Principles and the Principles of Partnership
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.

Desirable:

• Experience in coordination roles in the first phase of a major emergency response relevant to the education cluster.

Behaviours (Values in Practice)
Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved
• Demonstrates commitment to the cluster and independence from employing organisation

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, SC Members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

Application Closing Date
24th October, 2022.