Re-advertised: Programme Implementation Manager

Background

In recent years, Lebanon has become the country with the highest refugee per capita in the world. Officially, there are more than 1.5 million registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a third of which are school going aged children. In 2013, the Government of Lebanon opened a second-shift in its public education system to cater for the enormous numbers of refugee students. In 2017/2018, non-Lebanese students outnumbered Lebanese students in the public education system. The responsibility for educating all these students resides with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) who, alongside external donors, launched the Reaching All Children with Education II (RACE II) programme in 2016.

The World Bank (WB) and Government of Lebanon (GoL), especially the MEHE, designed Support to RACE II (S2R2) to deliver on significant parts of RACE II as the strategy relates to the formal education sector. S2R2 is designed to complement other work developed to support RACE II, such as activities planned and implemented with UNICEF, UNHCR and UNESCO. S2R2 strategic pillars are 1) Equitable access to education with a focus on the children, youth, and their caregivers, for equitable formal or regulated non-formal education, 2) Improved quality of education Services and learning environments to ensure appropriate learning outcomes, 3) Improved Education Systems including enhanced governance and managerial capacities of implementing institutions to plan, budget, deliver, monitor, and evaluate education services. This is achieved through different activities including School Rehabilitation and Refurbishment, Developing School Management, Assessments and Capacity Building, Establishing Internal Audit functions, and Strengthening Data Management.

DFID Lebanon’s contribution to the education sector includes support to a World Bank multi-donor trust fund as well as the provision of a technical assistance (TA) team to MEHE. In March 2018, a three-year TA project was awarded to Oxford Policy Management, to support MEHE to achieve the objectives of RACE II through the DFID Support to RACE II (SR2)  programme. The TA team supports the GoL to deliver the immediate objectives of the SR2 programme while building the capacity, systems and processes which will underpin a medium-term sector development strategy.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Work with the allocated civil servant(s) to build their capacity to undertake all of the above activities alone – for example, managing overall program needs, preparing action log, generating action from action owners in the Ministry or amongst partners, prioritizing DG decisions needed.
• Identify other key staff in the GDE and build their capacity in project design and project cycle management.
• Conduct different capacity building activities pertaining to the program and serving MEHE staff.
• Coordinate all the technical and managerial aspects of the GDE’s components of the S2R2 program and report to the DG.
• Maintain a regular action log of all program activities needed, including action owners, prioritized deadlines and decisions needed by the DG.
• Follow up and ensure that all the program activities are implemented as per the S2R2 Program∕Annual Work Plan and the associated timeline.
• Provide support in the delivery of S2R2 DLIs and follow up on day to day sub-activities, including building relationships with and following up with Ministry staff, finance and procurement, or implementing partners on a daily or weekly basis as needed,
• Contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of different activities and aspects of the S2R2 Program∕Annual Work Plan.
• Prioritize the most urgent DG decisions and use concise, effective approaches to elicit responses, including offering options, recommendations, or taking decisions and communicating these wherever appropriate. Build judgement on what needs to be escalated to DG and can be decided at technical level over time.
• Facilitate communication between MEHE directors and different donors when requested by the DG. For example, support in drafting formal requests or explaining an issue and the necessary action to a busy director.
• Participate in different meetings with internal and external stakeholders upon the request of DG.
• Support linking the activities planned with the technical, finance, procurement and M&E functions of the program.
• Support in the preparation of relevant review and progress reports.
• Perform any other duties as requested by the DG.

Profile

• Master’s or other equivalent advanced degree, preferably in education, educational management and leadership, Project/Program Management any other relevant field Education background is a plus.
• At least 10 years’ delivery experience in complex education programs. Public sector experience in Lebanon is a plus.
• Substantive work experience at a management level in all aspects of the education continuum including policy, team leadership , coordination, evaluation, program design, project management, planning, and delivery.
• Resilience and willingness to learn while doing.
• Readiness to get into implementation detail.
• Strong background understanding of the current structure, strengths and challenges facing the education system in Lebanon.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and deliver complex and large scale education development projects.
• Demonstrated experience in capacity building.
• Dynamic, strong leadership skills and team management abilities.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills in Arabic and English. French proficiency is also valuable.
• Excellent creative and analytical thinking and problem solving skills.
• Excellent negotiation and diplomacy skills and previous experience in negotiating with top public executives and international donors in addition to educational staff and officers.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary trends in education.
• Passionate to new learning and working under minimal supervision.
• Excellent computer, internet and presentation skills

WORKING RELATIONSHIP: The consultants will work in close coordination with the Director General, those individuals working in the Office of the Director General. It is expected that the DG nominates specific civil servants to be designated counterparts for various aspects of the work.

The Team Leader OPM-TA is responsible for day to day management of the consultants and will oversee deliverables.

STATION: The consultant team will work from MEHE under the guidance of the Director General.