Inclusive and Safe Schools Lead - Shule Bora(Quality School) Tanzania

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.

We won’t stop until we are all equal.

Role Purpose & Dimension

The Inclusive and Safe Schools Lead is part of the Core technical team of Shule Bora. S/he will be line managed by the Team Leader (TL) and will lead the sustainable system strengthening work related to school access and inclusion (to mitigate physical, social, financial and pedagogic barriers to inclusion), school-based safety, family and community engagement, climate and environment and manage the technical team working in this area. S/he will provide strategic leadership, quality assurance and coordination across inclusion, safety and climate and environment working closely and coordinating with other technical leads. S/he will closely work with the Team Leader (TL), Deputy Team Leader (DTL), government and key national stakeholders to ensure a coherent, coordinated approach defined by strong ownership. S/he will ensure sustainable system strengthening is at the centre of the strategic approach and a core dimension of how the team is working. S/he will ensure the inclusion, safety and climate and environment strategy, plans, resources and interventions follow the Shule Bora operating principles, supporting and co-defining government-led education sector reform, and are focused on sustainable strengthening of the education system. The post-holder will be based in Dodoma. S/he will also work closely with the TL and others to communicate Shule Bora’s work and results to internal and external stakeholders. The role is initially for 2 years with the option to extend for an additional year.

Role Accountabilities

• Lead the Inclusion workstream with sustainable system strengthening approach and ensure strong technical assistance to government to help create space for change and achieve results at local, regional and national levels.
• Oversee the planning, implementation and review of the Shule Bora Inclusion Strategy and all related interventions under the inclusion, climate and environment plans in conjunction with the Shule Bora Coordinators at MoEST and PO-RALG.
• Lead and support the inclusion, safety, climate and environment team to ensure coherence, communication and proactiveness, as well as strong involvement in getting results. Support the TL and DTL in strategic thinking and adaptative strategies implementation.
• Work closely with the TL and DTL to review and adapt strategy and approach when needed, updating roadmaps in coordination with the Shule Bora programme coordinators.
• Lead on facilitating the government to operationalise and implement its safe schools programme.
• Provide technical assistance and expertise within government on inclusion, safety, and climate and environmental issues.
• In partnership with Cambridge Education, oversee technical advisory support on climate and environment activities across the Local Government Authorities (LGAs).
• Coordinate staff input for technical assistance and capacity building at national and regional levels.
• Support technical leads, regional coordinators and interventions specialists to operationalise interventions across regions and LGAs to successfully implement inclusion, safety and climate and environment-related interventions.
• Identify short term technical assistance (STTA) needs, ensuring high quality and relevant technical assistance related to inclusion and climate management is introduced and embedded into each level of the system as agreed with the government.
• Quality assure Terms of Reference, concept notes and STTA inputs under the inclusion and safety and climate and environment workstreams.
• Ensure collaboration with other technical leads and partner organisations to ensure a coherent approach to implementation.
• Support the institutionalisation programme activities within PO-RALG, LGAs and Regions.
• Network and build strategic partnerships with all relevant key stakeholders working on education, inclusion, safety, climate and environment to ensure effective collaboration and prevent duplication.
• Communicate Shule Bora’s Inclusion work and its results fluently and clearly with key stakeholders, internal and external, national and international.
• Contribute to the production of all donor and ministerial accountability mechanisms through quarterly progress reports, annual reports and any other reports as required.
• Provide input on design, approach and content of materials and provide quality assurance.
• Work closely with the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and disbursement linked indicator (DLIs) teams to ensure harmonisation across the programme.
• Coordinate with the MEL team to ensure data related to climate management and inclusion are made available on time and can be used for reporting.
• Coordinate with DTL and Project Regional Coordinators to ensure grass roots qualitative results are being collected and used as evidence both in reports and influencing communication pieces.
• Document and disseminate stories of change for lesson learning and influencing purposes.
• Review and approve budgets for activities related to this technical area and monitor activity and STTA budgets to ensure they are managed effectively.
• Identify development needs and build capacity of programme staff and counterparts.
• Line manage the Inclusion Advisor and Climate and Environment Advisor.
• Provide training and mentorship internally as required in areas of expertise.
• Act as a role model in adhering to all relevant policies and procedures that Shule Bora has in place for staff members. Promote and uphold these policies and procedures with line reports, STTAs and the extended Shule Bora team.
• Understand and adhere to Shule Bora's safeguarding policy and reporting procedures, as well as Plan International's global Child Protection Policy (CPP), safeguarding and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI)
• Participate in all Shule Bora Technical/management meetings as appropriate, as a technical lead.
• Provide regular programme updates to Plan International Tanzania and Plan International UK. Communicate any concerns and challenges in a timely manner, and engage with Plan International to ensure Plan are appropriately supporting the successful progress of Shule Bora and are effectively partnering with Cambridge Education and other consortium partners.

Location: Dodoma
Reports to: Team Leader
Level: 15
Closing Date: 5th January, 2025

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas. We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.