JOB DETAILS:
Bantwana Initiative Uganda (BIU) is a Non-Government Organization and its programs focus on the development of high quality, comprehensive Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) service delivery models in the country. BIU brings a significant track record of excellence and innovation in improving access to and quality of integrated OVC care and support and strengthening coordination and harmonization of care, protection and support services for OVC households from community to national level. Learn more at (www.bantwana.or,ug)

As an equal opportunity employer, Bantwana Initiative Uganda. is seeking to hire full-time experienced /qualified persons to fill the following positions below for the anticipated 5-year USAID Uganda Targeting the Learning Crisis (TLC) Activity, which aims to create sustained, measurable improvements in development outcomes in Basic Education through Targeted Instruction (TI) for foundational skills, a learner-centric pedagogy that reorganizes math and reading instruction based on children’s actual learning levels, rather than on the prescribed gradelevel syllabus.

BIU as a consortium partner of the TLC Activity, seeks to implement a cost-effective, sustainable, and impactful programming, centered around evidence-based early childhood education for preprimary years, in order to significantly improve foundational skills and school readiness for Ugandan primary students using a Community Based Early Childhood Education (CBECE) model, in 14 districts of Uganda (7 in Lango sub region and 7 in Busoga sub region).

Please note: The following positions are contingent on approved donor funding.

Job Title: Early Childhood Education (ECE) Lead – 1 Position
Reports to: Project Director
Location: Kampala Uganda

Job Summary
The Early Childhood Education (ECE) Lead will ensure quality delivery of BIU’s CBECE model of the TLC program. S/he will be responsible for providing technical leadership on the ECE program interventions and providing oversight of the Activity’s ECE technical staff and OVC partners implementing ECE interventions. The ECE Lead will collaborate with all other Consortium partners to ensure smooth and effective transition of learners from pre-primary into primary school. The ECE Lead will report directly to the BIU TLC Project Director and assist in overall project leadership and liaise with the District Local Governments, other key Education stakeholders and the school communities. S/he will supervise the TLC program staff.

Key Result Areas and Specific Responsibilities and Duties:
Program Development and Implementation
• Provide technical guidance to BIU’s TLC ECE interventions and engage with the consortium partners to ensure the strategic development and delivery of quality ECE programming.
• Identify challenges and opportunities to increase access to high-quality ECE programming for marginalized groups and enhance referral pathways for successful transition of children to primary school.

• Participate in the development of project annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly work plans and scheduling of CBECE capacity building activities at regional level.
• Review project work plans, designing activities that target learners and caregivers, including Learning through Play (LtP) age- and developmentally-appropriate activities, and activities that are responsive to and target marginalized children.

• Support the development of CBECE budgets and maintain high standards of stewardship and accountability for all project resources.
• Provide mentorship, support supervision and coaching of OVC partners and Project staff to enable them spearhead delivery of the CBECE model to beneficiary households and ECE centers.

• Support and work with TLC consortium and OVC partners to ensure harmonized planning and implementation of activities in regions to achieve project goals.
Training and development
• Support identification of training needs of project staff, Local Government and OVC partners in CBECE including LtP methodologies.
• Strengthen the capacity of staff, partners, and stakeholders to integrate gender equity, social and emotional learning and other social inclusion considerations into intervention design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

• Lead the development of CBECE training plans and coordinate the training with regional staff and consortium partners.
Representation, Networking and Advocacy
• Collaborate with all relevant District Local Government stakeholders, sub-counties and communities, for systems strengthening, advocacy and community engagement
• Maintain communication, share lessons learned and best practices from the project among program staff and various stakeholders.
• Facilitate and strengthen linkages and coordination between ECE and various child protection service providers both formal and non-formal to ensure comprehensive service delivery to beneficiary vulnerable households

• Represent BIU in technical meetings, events and other collaborative activities relevant to ECE and TLC project.
• Represent and promote program interventions in district, Sub County and other local partner agencies.
Project monitoring and documentation
• Support the project’s monitoring, evaluation and learning processes and use data to assess and address potential challenges and opportunities within BIU’s ECE strategy.
• Periodically follow up with project teams on implementation of planned and approved activities.
• Conduct site visits and spot checks to Regional teams, OVC partners, ECE centers and beneficiary households to monitor implementation.
• Take lead in technical development and compilation of Regional specific project reports for timely submission to Project Director
• Oversee the documentation including electronic and non-electronic filing and storage of data on CBECE.
• Document CBECE best practices for sharing across program teams and with other education partners and District Local Governments.

Required Qualifications and Experience
• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in early childhood education, education, social work, Community Psychology, or a closely related field, is required. Master’s degree or equivalent is an added advantage.
• At least 8-10 years of consecutive proven work experience in developing community engagement strategies and approaches, ECE/ECD programming and providing technical assistance, guidance and coaching to implementing staff and partners. USAID experience preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in developing, managing and monitoring high-quality ECE programming for marginalized groups, particularly in community-based early childhood settings, and home-based (parenting) settings.
• Proven experience in Learning through Play methodologies is an asset.
• Solid understanding of the ECE eco-system including relevant policies and guidelines and contextual knowledge of barriers to pre-primary education in Uganda
• Demonstrated experience in collaborating with the private sector for greater scale, sustainability, and effectiveness of early childhood development programming and outcomes.
• Proven interpersonal skills with the ability to build personal relationships with staff, TLC consortium partners, and Local Government stakeholders at all levels in a culturally sensitive manner
• Effective oral and written communication skills to make formal and informal presentations and compose professional and analytical reports and program documents in English.
• Ability to work in a challenging environment, under high pressure and ability to cope with tight deadlines

Interested applicants with the required Qualification, Knowledge, Skills, Attributes and Abilities should send their applications and CVs (detailing responsibilities carried out in previous positions) as one pdf to the HR and Admin Officer, Bantwana Initiative Uganda through the following email:
Indicate clearly on the application subject line the position and region applied for easy reference.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Child Safeguarding is the responsibility that Bantwana Initiative Uganda has, to make sure its staff,
operations, and programs do no harm to children, that is, they do not expose children to the risk of harm and abuse, and that any concerns the organization has about children's safety within the communities in which they work, are reported to the appropriate authorities