Background/IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 28 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Position Summary:

IRC is seeking a Deputy Project Coordinator in Ethiopia for a five-year project, “PlayMatters”, funded by the LEGO Foundation. This position will be a part of the larger PlayMatters initiative to increase play-based learning opportunities for nearly 1 million pre-primary and primary school-aged refugee and host community children impacted by the humanitarian crises in East Africa and living in Ethiopia. This project aims to build children’s social, emotional, cognitive, physical and creative skills through play in their homes, schools, and communities and will be implemented in partnership with War Child, Plan International, Ubongo, Behavioural Insights Team and Innovations for Poverty Action. The Deputy Project Coordinator for Ethiopia will be responsible to assist with coordination across these partners and IRC staff to ensure the project delivers high impact programming for children. In addition, the Deputy Project Coordinator will assist in ensuring the design and implementation of project activities and engages other key partners required to achieve results such as government officials, the UN and other humanitarian coordination actors, as well as other implementing agencies outside of the consortium. The Deputy Project Coordinator will assist the Project Coordinator to ensure the project achieves the expected results in Ethiopia and is implemented in accordance with the donor agreement, donor regulations, and internationally recognized quality of assistance standards. The Deputy Project Coordinator will report to the IRC PlayMatters Project Coordinator.

Job Responsibilities:

• Support the Project Coordinator, to provide strategic and technical leadership and define country-level activities to achieve the greatest impact on project goals and objectives;
• Develop, review, and monitor, in coordination with key project staff, annual work and performance plans to ensure long-term and short-term priorities are on track;
• Support field staff to use project data to track progress and engage in meaningful course correction discussions at regular and frequent intervals; as well as ensure data is tailored to facilitate similar discussions at the country level;
• Supervise field-based PlayMatters teams, ensuring accountability to IRC policies and donor rules and regulations;
• Support the preparation of work plans with clear objectives and achievement benchmarks, long-term and short-term priorities, in line with the PlayMatters programmatic vision and strategies;
• Ensure the vision and direction of the PlayMatters project corresponds to field realities and needs;
• Coordinate implementation of PlayMatters activities, services, and research components across field offices, in collaboration with the relevant team members;
• Oversee and harmonize PlayMatters work approaches and best practices across field offices and teams;
• Ensure that program initiatives address beneficiaries needs adequately and cost-effectively;
• In coordination with the Project Coordinator and the PlayMatters MEAL team, oversee the maintenance of a robust monitoring and evaluation framework, including quality control and reporting systems;
• Work closely with the Grants unit to achieve overall grant activities, deliverables, and budget compliance within donor guidelines;
• Provide direct support to the management of the grant at the field-level – including financial planning and tracking, procurement planning, and reporting;
• Support the Project Coordinator in producing high quality monthly, quarterly, and annual donor reports and other materials as required.
• Conduct regular visits to project sites, as possible, to provide technical assistance and ensure accurate implementation and monitoring of project activities;
• Coach, train, and mentor staff with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the PlayMatters team and providing professional development guidance;
• Coordinate regular field-based review meetings with PM team and partners at the field level.
• Delegated representation of the PM Ethiopia Project Coordinator at National, regional, working groups, and partner meetings.

• Advanced degree from an accredited university in education international development, or related field;
• Minimum of 5-6 years of proven experience in managing education programs for refugees or crisis-affected populations;

·         At least 2 years of management experience

• Experience managing large-scale, multi-million dollar, complex, multi-partner projects;
• Demonstrated success in staff capacity-building and in participatory, flexible, and gender-sensitive programming and implementation;
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written;
• Proficiency in English required.

Reports to: IRC Ethiopia Play Matters Project Coordinator

Supervision: The Deputy Project Coordinator will work in close collaboration with the AA based PM team and will have to oversight over the field-based PM team.

Working Environment: The Deputy Project Coordinator will work in the IRC Ethiopia office and be provided regular administrative and logistics support to perform his/her responsibilities.

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The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and ensures policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Preference will be given to qualified female candidates.