We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. 

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

•            No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday

•            All children learn from a quality basic education and that,

•            Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

SCI - Afghanistan

Save the Children has been working in Afghanistan since 1976. Our way of working close to people and on their own terms has enabled us to deliver lasting change to tens of thousands of children in the country. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child is the basis of our work.

We are helping children get a better education, we make it possible for more boys and girls to attend school, we help children protect themselves and influence their own conditions. We work with families, communities and health workers in homes, clinics and hospitals to promote basic health in order to save lives of children and mothers.

ROLE PURPOSE:

Save the Children seeks a Education Senior Manager, a senior member in the Program Implementation team. The post holder provides leadership to the Education Unit, responsible for high-quality delivery of Save the Children’s (SCI-Af) education program and managing multi location education programs. The Education Senior Manager closely works with the Education Technical Advisor for program design, fundraising, and quality assurance of service delivery. The post holder directs thematic managers and coordinators to execute financial and implementation plans according to the program objectives aligned to the country strategic plan (CSP) for the education. The Education Senior Manager liaises and coordinates closely with the operational teams (Supply chain, HR, Admin, Finance, Awards, Safety and Security, Fleet) and Provincial managers, Heads/Deputy Heads of office to ensure timely execution of the Human Resource, Procurement, and financial plan of the education unit. In addition, the post holder will ensure that programs are regularly visited, and the field teams are supported for the quality service delivery to the children.

The Senior Manager Education reports directly to the Program Implementation Director and ensures technical implementation of high-impact, proven interventions that meet stated goals and reporting requirements. S/he will be based in Kabul, with potential travel to the program areas.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Oversight and Management of High-Quality Programme Implementation

• Responsible for the overall delivery of high-quality education programme implementation for multi-location awards in line with the objectives of the country strategy and respective commitments made to supporters/donors.
• Provide ‘first line’ technical support to thematic managers and coordinators based in Kabul and in provinces to ensure quality and timely implementation of the education program.
• Support thematic managers and coordinators to ensure that Child Safeguarding is strongly embedded and implemented within all activities and project sites, and that safe programming methodologies are used as standard across the education portfolio. 
• Support and direct the thematic managers and coordinators to regularly incorporate community feedback into project activities so that activities remain appropriate, relevant, and appreciated in line with the Core Humanitarian Standard.
• Install a culture of field-centred support among direct reports, i.e., through regular visits to the field, systematic analysis and information sharing on integrated programming, incorporation of thematic field staff’s inputs into proposal development processes and ongoing capacity-strengthening. 
• Manage positive relationships with Members in relation to project updates and implementation.

Budget Management

• Deep dive in project budgets (BvAs) to tackle any under/overspent through catch up plans to ensure efficient and effective utilization of resources.
• Coach and monitor the project leads to build capacities in financial planning and management to prepare yearly, and monthly phased budget.
• Work closely with thematic advisor and finance team to prepare reasonable budgets for pipeline in accordance with education costing framework, SCI-Af and Donors requirements.
• Provide narratives to the program budgets in new opportunities and help the thematic advisor to negotiate and justify budgets to donors/supporters.
• Ensure that programmatic records are kept appropriately for audit purposes.
• Participate and lead the Award Review Meetings with Program Implementation Director for Education awards.

Awards Management

• Collaborate with the Senior Awards Manager to ensure that kick-offs and close-out meetings of education projects are organised in good time and in advance.
• Collaborate with the Technical Advisor to ensure that proposals are realistic; feasible to implement; and that the monitoring and evaluation of individual projects (incl. baseline and endline data) is of high quality in line with internal processes and workflows. 
• Ensure that key documents are systematically uploaded onto Save the Children’s shared drive.
• Prepare timely and high-quality donors reports.
• Present and provide projects updates to member offices in monthly and quarterly update call.
• Provide guidance to direct reports and field staff to ensure compliance with donor requirements.
• Ensure all projects have Detailed Implementation plan, procurement plan and accordingly phased budget and implement monitoring mechanisms for implementation activities align with the department master technical and financial plan.

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.

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, 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

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s Degree in relevant areas of expertise, international development or related field.
• Minimum of a Bachelor Degree or equivalent experience.
• Familiarity with the political, social and cultural context of Afghanistan.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Minimum of seven years of professional experience in managing and implementing complex technical projects of similar size and scope in a development context,
• At least three years of demonstrated experience in managing and supervising a technical team and in project design.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government representatives, private sector entities, local community organizations, donors and other stakeholders, particularly at the sub-national level.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate successfully with individuals and teams at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to inspire and enable others through teamwork, training, and capacity building to realize organizational objectives.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Knowledge of local languages.

Qualified applicants are highly encouraged to apply for the position by filling in the online application form. In addition to the online application form, they can also attach their CV and Cover Letter in the online system. Please note that only the applications received through the online portal will be considered for this position.

Applicants can login to the online application system by copying and pasting the following link intro their web browser. Returning users will need to enter their username and password, first time users will need to create a user account.

It is recommended that you save your username and password for future job applications through the online system.