Specialist, Early Childhood Development - Tanzania

Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with programs in 120 countries, including the United States. We aim to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives by improving their health, education and economic opportunities. In times of acute crisis, we mobilize rapid assistance to help children recover from the effects of war, conflict and natural disasters.

We are currently seeking an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Specialist for a five-year USAID-funded Caring for Children and Empowering Young People (C2EYP) Project based in Tanzania. The goal for this $65M cooperative agreement seeks to enable more Most Vulnerable Children (MVC) and other young people to access services for improving health, nutrition, education, protection, livelihoods and psychosocial well-being. To this end, the project will build the capacity of caregivers to provide care and access to services for their children and young people. In addition, it seeks to improve and expand age-appropriate service utilization for children and young people, especially hard-to-reach children. This project will support the PEPFAR continuum of care in Tanzania, with a critical focus on regions where USAID and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have located clinical projects; it will refer families to HIV services; and it will receive referrals from clinical partners, especially for Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) and pediatric care and treatment.

Responsibilities

The ECD Specialist will be responsible in supporting the development and implementation of Early Childhood Development projects with an emphasis on scaling-up evidence based ECD models. Working closely with MVC and other young age groups, the ECD Specialist is expected to work with staff in other sectors (health, nutrition, protection, livelihoods and psycho-social wellbeing) to capitalize on potential synergies and consolidate holistic evidence-based education models at early ages. The Specialist will oversee field operations, ensuring that staff support the implementation of the technical components to implement and monitor the use of new approaches to early childhood education. S/he shall ensure high quality deliverables, relevant and timely reporting, and shall participate and engage in technical meetings. Critical for success in this role is the ability to build staff capacity for program activities, ensure that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are in place to improve and measure its direct impact, represent Save the Children in national forums and share best practices regarding Save the Children’s experiences in community-based preschool education projects. The Specialist will also be responsible for coordinating the preparation of timely reports to donors and partners and ensuring sustainability and long-term impact of program activities within Tanzania. Recruitment is contingent upon successful award of the project and the selection of the final applicant is subject to USAID approval.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Education, International Development or related field
• Minimum of 5-7 years of managing education, early childhood or community-based development projects with preferred expertise in areas such as community-based education, student assessments, teacher training, parenting education educational materials development, educational management, and educational monitoring and information systems
• Strong understanding of holistic child development approaches and the ways children learn, including early-literacy methodologies
• English language skills are critical (both oral and written)
• Outstanding project management and project cycle skills
• Strong personnel leadership skills, particularly mentoring skills
• Solid communication and facilitation skills
• Excellent collaboration skills with local, national, and civil society stakeholders
• Extensive experience working in Africa preferred
• Ability to travel frequently within Tanzania
• Tanzanian residents and/or nationals are highly preferred.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply, please visit our website at: www.savethechildren.org under the Careers page. Please select “Search US Jobs” and then choose location as “Tanzania.” EOE