Regional Education Technical Coordinator – NRC Middle East Regional Office (MERO) .

1. Context

Around 2.45 million Syrian children (aged five to 17 years) are out of school and 1.3 million are at risk of dropping out. Schools in Syria have been subject to attacks, repurposed and used as IDP shelters, while costs, psychological stress and shortage of personnel are further drivers of out of school rates.

Barriers to accessing quality education have led young Syrians to lack foundational learning and vocational, life and employability skills required for transition to livelihoods. The learning gap of children and youth, if not addressed, is expected to have a long-term impact on their income potential, exacerbating a cycle of poverty for households and communities.

Through a Whole of Syria approach, NRC is in a unique position to operate across different hubs and ensure an education response for all children in Syria. Thanks to the contribution of several donors, NRC is implementing an Education Programme portfolio targeting children, youth and communities in urban and peri-urban settings who are unable to meet their basic needs or access learning due to a lack of quality educational and economic opportunities.

Underachieving students are primarily targeted for Child Education Pathways (CEP) and Youth Education Pathways (YEP) and a Better Learning Programme (BLP) is integrated throughout all interventions to offer psychosocial support (PSS) to displaced and conflict affected children and youth enrolled in education activities who are affected by the trauma of conflict and displacement. Through this work, NRC aims at supporting Internally Displaces Persons (IDPs), returnees, and host community children and youth living in Syria to have continuity of learning, increased access to socio-economic opportunities, and improved resilience, with a view of fostering the socio-economic resilience and social cohesion of conflict-affected communities through the implementation of a community-based education response.

2. Role and responsibilities

The Whole of Syria Regional Education Coordinator, is responsible for providing technical support, coordination and programmatic guidance to ensure a Whole of Syria approach to education as part of a 27-month DG Near grant. The role will support the development and roll out of relevant programme and MEAL tools for NRC’s Education programming in Syria and ensure coherence across all education programming related to this grant. 2

This position will be based in in NRC’s Regional Office, working closely with the Regional Grants Manager to provide a technical overview across Syria.

Generic responsibilities

1. Adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures.

2. Promote the rights of IDPs/returnees in line with Country Office advocacy strategies.

3. Contribute to the development of the Core Competency strategy, Macro Log-Frames, and Plan of Action.

4. Contribute to programme development, adjustment or review of the relevant project.

5. Harmonise CC specific technical indicators and tools for M&E. Monitor the correct use of these tools and update these tools throughout the Project Cycle.

6. Develop and or harmonise CC specific technical guidance, tools and mechanisms.

7. Contribute to organisational learning through the provision of specific technical analysis, research, lessons learned and reports.

8. Develop and or harmonise training curriculums and provide specific technical learning or/and training for project staff, project partners and other relevant stakeholders.

Specific Responsibilities

1. Technical Guidance. Responsible for supporting the continual strengthening of technical quality of Project activities implemented by NRC/partners, in collaboration with the Regional Education Advisor and Country Offices. This includes, but is not limited to, developing or harmonising technical tools; reviewing curriculum and assessment tasks; and supporting integration with other Core Competencies where relevant in accordance with project design.

2. Technical Training and Capacity Building. Responsible for supporting the training and capacity building of NRC/partner Education staff as requested, in collaboration with the Regional Education Advisor and Country Offices. Training and capacity building initiatives should be compatible within the activities and expectations included in the project design.

3. Project (Field) Team Support. The position-holder may be expected to travel to the field to provide technical support to country office if requested.

4. Programme Development. Responsible for supporting high quality Education programme development initiatives, in collaboration with the Regional Education Advisor and country offices.

5. Project M&E. Responsible for supporting the collation of Monitoring and Evaluation of NRC/partner Education activities, in collaboration with the Regional Education Advisor and Country Offices.

6. Fundraising. Responsible for supporting fundraising and donor reporting for Education or related activities, in collaboration with the Regional Education Advisor.

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are: Strategy and Programme Development:

Education Specialists, Education Regional Advisor

Implementation:

Project Managers

Area Operations:

Education Project (Field) Teams, Area Program Managers

Support Services:

NRC Syria Support Unit

Monitoring:

Regional Education Advisor, Education Specialists, Education Project (Field) Teams, M&E Team

Staff Capacity Building:

Regional Education Advisor, Education Specialists, Education Project (Field) Teams, Area Program Managers, Education Global Advisor