Plan International is an independent child rights and humanitarian organisation committed to children living a life free of poverty, violence and injustice.

We actively unite children, communities and other people who share our mission to make positive lasting changes in children’s and young people’s lives. We support children to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights to a fulfilling life, today and in the future. We place a specific focus on girls and women, who are most often left behind. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Plan International Tanzania is looking for an Education in Emergencies Officer who will support day-to-day implementation of PlayMatters project activities in Nduta refugees camp and in the surrounding host communities in Kibondo District. The project is aimed at supporting play-based learning for children aged 3-12+ years in the 3 refugee camps and host communities in the Kigoma region. The project will focus on reaching out to nearly 1 million pre-primary and primary school aged refugee and host community children impacted by the humanitarian crises in East Africa and living in Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. This project aims to build children’s social, emotional, cognitive, physical and creative skills through play in their homes, schools, and communities and will be implemented in partnership with War Child, International Rescue Committee, Behavioural Insights Team and Innovations for Poverty Action.

The EiE Officer will be entirely accountable for the prompt, effective, and gender-responsive daily implementation of all project interventions in order to accomplish the project outcomes intended to guarantee that:

1. Educators integrate high-quality, Learning Through Play in teaching and learning;
2. Increase Community Engagement in Learning Through Play
3. Strengthen Learning Through Play in Policy and Systems

Dimensions of the Role

The Education in Emergencies Officer will be responsible and ultimately accountable for day-to-day implementation of project activities, quality delivery of results, coordination and collaboration and relations with project consortium members, teachers, PTAs, caregivers and community and religious leaders, and other stakeholders at field level. The post holder will also be responsible to ensure that project activities are implemented in a timely and quality manner and in compliance with donor requirements. The EiE Officer will ensure timely data collection and analysis is used in periodic reporting and to inform project activities. S/he will be responsible for representing Plan International EiE team in relevant stakeholders’ meetings such as Education Working Group meetings on camp level and camp coordination meetings.

S/he will demonstrate excellent project management and problem-solving skills, a very high degree of maturity, flexibility, organization and communication skills, and strategic thinking to meet the demands of a dynamic and sometimes unpredictable operating environment while ensuring Plan International’s systems and policies and donor requirements are adhered to, especially gender transformative programming and child and youth safeguarding.

RESPONSIBILITIES/ ACCOUNTABILITIES

1. Program delivery

• Lead and supervise the implementation of project activities as per the workplan and budget; and programmatic reporting in accordance with donor and Plan International regulations.
• Work closely with operations to ensure timely implementation of planned activities.
• Support distribution of direct service provision materials in project location both in camps and host communities.
• Ensure the implementation of project activities adhere to Plan International’s policies, INEE minimum Standards, ECCD Standard guidelines and SOPs; as well as Core Humanitarian Standards.
• Assess project progress and identify technical quality issues or other implementation issues, provide solutions and implement modifications as required.
• Provide and coordinate capacity building trainings for incentive staffs, facilitate training, coaching and mentoring of pre-primary and primary teachers.
• Work with MEAL Coordinator and Officers to undertake assessments in coordination with partners.
• Support PlayMatters budget development and activity plans for coming years.
• Supervise Teacher Professional Development (TPD) activities at school level and document best practices for reporting and evidence sharing.
• To support the educators, community leaders and caregivers in ensuring the holistic development of the children and the implementation of Learning through Play approach.
• Prepare weekly, monthly activity reports and contribute to quarterly programmatic report.  

2. Communication, Advocacy, Representation and partnerships   

• Support the EiE team when necessary in representing Plan International in sector coordination meetings and inter-agency activities at field level.
• Support the documentation of best practices and lesson leant from project implementation to inform the design of future programs.
• Maintain active and cooperative relationships with all key stakeholders, including government officials, UN agencies, project partners, other implementing agencies, and related institutions. Support advocacy initiatives through developing briefs, documentation of evidence and impact stories.
• Promote community understanding on the importance on Learning-through-Play.
• Represent Plan International at local and district level meetings and work closely with the advocacy focal point to ensure relevant stakeholders are aware of Plan International EiE Programming.

3. Staff Management

• Directly supervise refugee and other incentive workers at their respective ECCD centres and ensuring they adhere to Plan International’s Policies, Code of Conduct and Procedures.
• Report any violations of Plan International’s Code of Conduct and Policies as per Plan International-Tanzania.
• Provide capacity building sessions including coaching and mentoring to teachers and ECCD facilitators on gender equality.

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

• Hold a Bachelor’s degree in an interdisciplinary area such as Education Management, Teacher Training, Development Studies, International Development, Strategic Planning, Program Management, etc. or equivalent.
• At least 3 years of demonstrated experience in managing the implementation of Early Childhood Development and Primary Education programs in Emergency and Development contexts.
• At least 2 years’ experience of teaching and facilitating pedagogical training to ECCD and Primary School teachers.
• Experience with Learning through Play approaches and teacher’s wellbeing.
• Proven leadership, inter-personal and cross-cultural skills, and ability to build and motivate multi-disciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with consortium partners.
• Strong understanding of Child Protection, Disability and Inclusive Education, gender responsive programming and meaningful child participation in programs.

• Conversant with refugee and national education service delivery systems.

• Knowledge of effective participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Research systems and processes.

Skills

• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to work in a matrix environment
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including presentation and public speaking
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to multitask while working on projects with varying activities, objectives, and deliverables
• Good negotiation and influencing skills
• Creates a strong sense of purpose within the portfolio and with stakeholders
• Sound judgment and decision-making in complex situations

Physical Environment

The job holder requires 40 % field work in refugee camp and host community and 60 % office-based environments.