Country Director at Teaching at the Right Level Africa (TaRL Africa)

Teaching at the Right Level Africa (TaRL Africa) is a newly formalised partnership between Education NGO, Pratham, and research centre J-PAL, who have been working together developing cost-effective, scalable literacy and Numeracy interventions for more than 15 years. The fruits of these efforts have been the development of what we now refer to as the TaRL.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Country Director

Location: Abuja
Employment Type: Full-time

Role Summary

• We are looking for a passionate, creative, solutions-oriented Country Director to strengthen and grow the team; enhance the impact of the programme, and enable state and federal systems to own and integrate TaRL programming into education systems so that children have the opportunity to acquire foundational skills in perpetuity.

The Country Director will:

• Oversee programme operations and reporting, ensuring compliance with TaRL Africa’s policies, donor rules and regulations, MoE policies, and Nigerian law;
• Guide overall administrative and fiscal management of TaRL Africa’s programme.
• Travel to programme locations within the country;
• Work with TaRL Africa global team and key stakeholders to mould the strategic direction for TaRL Africa in Nigeria and oversee simultaneous government-led TaRL programmes across multiple states;
• Guide review processes, innovation, and learning to optimise impact and sustainability in the country;
• Lead continued expansion of TaRL programming in Nigeria by initiating new partnerships and projects;
• Represent TaRL Africa in the Federal Government of Nigeria, donors, NGOs, private companies, Academia, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Spearhead Country Office fundraising and donor management;
• Monitor, evaluate and report on all program activities and progress as required
• Will oversee a national team of Content and Training, Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation, Programmes and Partnerships and Finance and Operations sub-teams, and state teams across Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano and Kebbi; and
• Will report to the Director, Programme & Partnerships They will oversee operations.

Responsibilities
Oversee impactful government-led TaRL programming (50%):

• Become an expert in TaRL programme delivery and methodology and the evidence behind the TaRL approach, including familiarity with related academic papers.
• ensure that the Nigeria programme provides technical services of the highest quality.
• Oversee and manage a team whose responsibilities include programme design, teaching-learning content development, innovation; programme management, and monitoring, learning and evaluation – all in close collaboration with government partners.
• Strengthen current systems and structures to ensure that TaRL programming remains impactful.
• Identify key concerns for programme impact and sustainability in Nigeria and initiate and manage the development of corresponding innovations and research in collaboration with the Global Measurement, Learning & Evaluation team.
• Coordinate skills training and provide mentorship to staff.
• Incorporate best practices and lessons learned from experience and research into programming.

Ensure sound operations and finances (20%):

• Create and monitor an annual budget for the Country Office and ensure that country office structures are supported by incoming revenue through country office budget planning and management.
• Supervise and support administrative staff, overseeing human resources, IT, procurement, operations, and finance.
• With support from the Global Finance and Operations teams, ensure compliance with financial procedures, approve expenditures, make accurate spending projections and ensure overall compliance.
• Oversee the management of project budgets and donor reporting, with support from the country office management and finance team and in coordination with Global Programmes and Partnerships.
• Coordinate office and country-wide meetings and trainings and oversee performance and salary reviews and contracting for locally-hired staff.
• Ensure application and compliance of security protocols and policies
• In collaboration with the Security Associate, monitor the security situation in the country and its implications on TaRL programming and take necessary mitigation or responsive measures

Guide programme sustainability and fundraising (10%):

• Develop country objectives and plans in line with organizational strategy.
• identify opportunities for scaling up and improving TaRL programming in collaboration with state and federal government.
• Lead programme design, budgeting and partner engagement (where applicable) for fundraising proposals in Nigeria.
• Manage grants and donor reporting for country-specific programming.
• Lead the development and execution of country-specific fundraising strategy.
• Build and lead relationships with local and global donors and partners focused on Nigeria.
• Coordinate the development of proposals for in-country donors.

Create and maintain strong government and external relations (20%):

• Maintain relations with the government and their partners and coordinate the work of the Ministry of Education/UBEC with other partners.
• Work with partners and political actors to take ownership of TaRL pedagogy and support the adaptation of TaRL in the Nigerian context.
• Develop and maintain relationships with the government, donors and implementing partners for the country office to maximize its impact.
• Oversee targeted dissemination, and encourage scale-up or strengthening of TaRL programming.
• Represent TaRL Africa in Nigeria.

Qualifications

• A Master's Degree in Public Policy, Education, Management, Economics or other related disciplines
• 10 years of professional experience of a similar nature is required, especially on programmes involving multiple actors
• Perfect command of professional English is essential, oral and written good and speaking in public
• Excellent managerial skills, including the ability to work with a diverse, dynamic team comprising professionals with varied skill sets and functional expertise
• A good understanding of the importance of scientific research for effective public policy development and the ability to communicate academic data to a non-specialist audience
• Experience working with government
• The ability to create and manage budgets
• Good adaptability to a changing work environment.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.