The Head Education Specialist, Asia is responsible for the management and development of the Education Specialist teams across Asia, which currently includes India and Pakistan. This role will be responsible for achieving key performance indicators through effective management of staff, contribution to regional and global strategy, engagement of internal and external stakeholders to raise visibility, and financial resources to contribute to the organizational mission and vision.
RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
Team & Program Management
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- Support the development and growth of team members and build a cohesive culture.
- Meet country-level targets, quarterly/termly team target reviews,
- Maintain effective communication across multiple digital channels, team meetings, one-on-one meetings, and other coordination support as needed.
- Enhance e-program delivery through research, feedback from partners, and provide recommendations to the leadership for program improvement.
- Leverage Education Specialist and School Support Specialist teams to best meet program needs, and in collaboration with the global team.
- Collaborate with the ETAF (Education Technical Assistance Facility), Operations, and Data & BI departments to ensure effective coordination of global and regional activities.
- Ensure all Education Specialists and School Support Specialists follow the correct procedures in supporting school leaders
- Develop and monitor the School Development Planning process each annum.
- Serve as a liaison to financial institution partners and maintain quarterly/termly reporting.
- Review new EduQuality products/materials to ensure alignment with in-country curriculum and teacher standards, context, language, and culture.
Cluster Development & Management
- Ensure Education Specialists and School Support Specialist teams are equipped to promote collaboration between school leaders, teachers, and cluster members.
- Plan and lead Introductory Seminars to attract new schools and clusters into the EduQuality program.
- Deliver approximately 12-14 professional development sessions per school per annum.
- Oversee the reporting of activities for the Support Education Specialist and School Support Specialist teams.
School Leadership Professional Development
- Oversee preparations, logistics, and implementation of the School Leadership Professional Development (SLPD) training.
- Train and support the Education Specialist and the School Support Specialist teams in delivering high-quality training and support to school leaders.
Teacher Mentor Professional Development
- Oversee teacher development, and mentor training to support the Education Specialist and School Support Specialist team.
- Ensure the schools have the materials and capability required to train replacement mentors.
- Seek ways of improving the effectiveness of teacher mentors.
- Train Education Specialist and School Support Specialist teams on how to facilitate coach, and train trainers.
Measurement & Evaluation
- Collaborate with the Director of Operations and local M&E team to implement the EduQuality Monitoring & Evaliayopm framework to drive program learning and improvement.
- Assist Education Specialist and School Support Specialist team in supporting Monitoring & Evaluation activities.
- Document practices from the field for dissemination to the larger network of partners for continual service improvement.
- Publish publications for the financial institutions and educational communities to share outcomes, program design, and effectiveness of interventions.
- Report the impact of the EduFinance program in collaboration with learning partners.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY
- Oversight of implementation and team management for India and Pakistan. This includes supervising one Senior Education Specialist, two Education Specialists, and four School Support Specialists.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Postgraduate degree in school-based education or education development, with significant experience in the education field. Graduate degree preferred.
- At least 15 years of relevant education experience in education development, pre-primary and primary education, early literacy and reading development, special education, and school leadership and teacher professional development.
- At least 6 years of experience managing a diverse multi-functional team.
- At least 2-3 years of formal experience as a classroom teacher and/or school leader at pre-primary and primary levels
- Experience working with low-cost private schools in South Asia.
- Leadership in large-scale education program implementation.
- Strong writing, data collection, and ICT skills (e.g., Microsoft Office products, EdTech, mobile tablets, etc.).
- International education experience or training is preferred.
- The ability to manage contract negotiations with external vendors and ability to manage internal work-related expenses is required.
- Experience working within cross-cultural global organizations and INGOs.
- Knowledge of and experience with USAID-funded projects is preferred.
- An understanding of and a commitment to advancing the mission and core values of Opportunity International
- Passionate about Opportunity’s mission. Able to promote and communicate the organization’s goals and objectives to external and internal stakeholders.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
- Written and verbal fluency in English and 1-2 additional South Asian languages (Urdu/Sindhi/Tamil/Hindi) fluency required.
- Must be able to attend & fully participate in meetings conducted in English.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS
- 50% of international travel in South Asian region
- Able to travel with minimal notice and maximum flexibility
- Willing to travel independently and without escort or planning support
- Candidates should have the requisite travel documents to facilitate ease of travel to both India and Pakistan
ABOUT OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL
Opportunity International is a global non-profit that has been empowering people to work their way out of poverty for over 50 years. Last year, Opportunity provided 18.7 million families with innovative financial resources, training, and support to grow their small businesses and send their children to school. Opportunity and its partners released $2 billion in capital across 30 countries and helped fund 8,400 schools that reached 2 million children.
Learn more about our company by visiting our website: https://opportunity.org/
ABOUT EDUFINANCE
Opportunity EduFinance is a nimble, fast-moving, and rapidly expanding core function of Opportunity International’s global footprint. EduFinance aims to get more children into better-quality schools. It does this by increasing access to capital for affordable private schools and parents, and by boosting the capacity of school leaders and teachers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). It does this in over 25 countries and is growing rapidly.
The Education Finance program accelerates investment into affordable education in low-and-middle-income countries, to get more children to access to better-quality schools. In 2022, EduFinance became a WISE Award winner – which recognizes programs addressing global education challenges and serving as “a model of excellence that serves as an inspiration for innovation and creative action for education.”
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