Senior Early Childhood Development Officer - Akkar

Job Overview:

The Senior ECD Officer will be responsible for overseeing the ECD team (ECD Assistants and ECD Facilitators) based in Akkar. The Senior ECD Officer will report directly to the Deputy ECD Coordinator, and will oversee all ECD activities in Akkar and the monitoring and evaluation of these activities. The Senior ECD Officer will be based in Qobayat, but will be required to travel to field locations in Akkar to oversee the implementation of the ECD program activities, services, and research components. The Senior ECD Officer will develop, oversee, and maintain key relationships with relevant stakeholders. The Senior ECD Officer represents IRC ECD program in Akkar as needed

Major Responsibilities:

• Oversee (management and technical support) the field-based ECD team to ensure program quality and transparency;
• Monitor the quality of the project, with the Deputy ECD Coordinator, against benchmarks determined by the Beirut-based management and RMEAL teams;
• Supervise the organization and delivery of all ECD activities and services;
• Design and develop new methodology to support community level outreach and work;
• Whenever required, be the representative of IRC ECD for project activities, donor visits, local governance, etc.;
• Analyze technical gaps and project impact at the community level for project activities;
• Act as key focal point for data quality and data screening with Beirut-based RMEAL team;
• Ensure quality data collection and verification of data collected;
• Conduct regular field visits to ensure successful program implementation;
• Write regular field reports including progress against targets, all implementation details and challenges;
• Organize and attend regular meetings with relevant stakeholders to ensure a coordinated and streamlined approach across target areas;
• Collaborate with relevant IRC Akkar field teams (protection, child protection, education) to optimize the ECD program implementation;
• Collaborate with field teams in other regions to share lessons learned and harmonize work approaches and best practices across governorates and teams;
• Timely identification and discussion of project issues with Deputy ECD Coordinator

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Deputy ECD Coordinator
Position directly supervises:  ECD Assistants and ECD Facilitators

Indirect Reporting: Integrated ECD Coordinator

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Senior Quality, Training, and Capacity Building Officer, Senior ECD Officers in the Bekaa and Tripoli, ECD Officer in Mount Lebanon, RMEAL team, IRC Akkar field teams

External:  local governance representatives, local NGOs and INGOs, UN agencies, local ECD stakeholders, donors, Sesame Workshop, New York Universit

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor degree in social sciences, development, or any relevant related field
• At least 3 years of professional experience in the field of ECD and/or community-level humanitarian work overseeing community-level programming (awareness sessions, parenting)
• At least 2 years of professional experience at management level
• Adhere program implementation to IRC policies at all times, including confidentiality and safe identification/referrals
• Demonstrated knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and planning
• Demonstrated knowledge of developing new community-level awareness raising and assessment tools
• Demonstrated experience in overseeing data collection and M&E activities
• Demonstrated capacity to lead a team (organize, plan and oversee)
• Demonstrated capacity to write clear reports
• Experience in working with communities (monitoring, training and overseeing activities)
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, and capacity to maintain excellent working relationships with relevant stakeholders
• Demonstrated capacity to perform well under pressure with overlapping deadlines in a challenging environment
• Fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English

Preferred:

• Working experience with an NGO/INGO
• Master degree in social sciences, development, or any relevant related field

Working Environment:  

The position is based in Qobayat, and expected to travel extensively within Akkar, and occasionally to Beirut.