GEC Project Officer Job Description and Person Specification

Job title / Girls EducationChallenge (GE) Project Officer / Department/office / TfaC Malawi, Education Programme
Line manager / GEC Manager / Post-related allowances / None
Background / Many girls in Malawi are marginalised educationally, socially and culturally. They have higher drop-out rates and lower rates of primary school completion than their male peers. Only 25% of girls complete primary school, and only 23% of girls go on to secondary education. This marginalisation of girls impacts on their learning and their life chances.
Since 2007, Theatre for a Change (TfaC) has been training pre-service teachers in Malawi to be able change their own behaviours that may put themselves and others at risk, and to deliver innovative approaches to developing Sexual Reproductive Health knowledge, attitudes and skills of learners in primary schools.
This project will therefore use these teachers as Agent of Change (AoC) teachers in primary schools, with the following aims:
  • Improved sexual and reproductive health knowledge and attitudes, as well as an increase in life skills to use this knowledge and these new attitudes
  • Increased attendance of girls at risk of exclusion or dropping out
  • Improved literacy and numeracy
  • Improved self-confidence and self-efficacy
  • Increased support for girls’ personal, social and physical well-being from community leaders and parents as well as in school from dedicated female teachers
In the longer term, we expect the project to have a positive impact on poverty reduction for marginalised girls and their households.
Job Aims /
  1. To ensure that AoC teachers are implementing activities aimed at keeping girls in school
  2. To assist in monitoring and evaluation of the marginalized girls education project
  3. To provide support to the objectives of the education programme as a whole

Number of staff managed / As line manager / As countersignatory / 0

Duties

  1. AoC Communications and Management
  • Support the GEC team on the management of all communications with Agent of Change teachers via phone and facebook, ensuring that they are:

- conducting required activities in their respective primary schools such as Girls’ and School Listening Clubs, school based child protection and gender-inclusive training, Open Days, Community Listening Clubs, Holiday Clubs etc.

- responded to as soon as they have a query for the GEC office team

- aware of their responsibilities including breakdown of financial transfers

- informed of any changes that will affect them

  • Organise all AoC and stakeholder trainings
  • Participate in training of AoC teachers and community stakeholders in areas such as literacy, numeracy, self-confidence, self-efficacy, Child Protection and gender-inclusive learning environments
  • Update the Project Manager on your activities
  1. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and sustainability
  • Ensure any individual issues shown within monthly monitoring reports from the MEL team are sorted out with the AoCs.
  • Support in collection of relevant data to ensure that it is accurate and up to date
  • Participate in meetings focussed on transforming project learning into strategic changes to project plans. Lead these meetings when GEC Manager is absent.
  • Monitor the project in schools around Malawi each term as outlined by the MEL department timetable
  • Support with the organisation of the dissemination ofendline evaluation results for the project
  1. Sustainability and Partnerships
  • As the GEC project embarks on a period of learning, taking the lead on project sustainability initiatives
  • Ensuring continuous engagement with direct and in direct stakeholders
  • Development of new project partnerships and strengthening of existing project partnerships
  1. Support to the Project and Education Programme
  • Collaborate with Education Programme staff in general planning and review meetings
  • Participate in capacity building of Education Programme staff where appropriate and relevant
  • To undertake any other initiatives to achieve the stated objectives
  • Support the team with admin and other tasks
  1. General
  • Demonstrate a clear commitment and passion for gender and development issues, in particular working towards the empowerment of marginalised women and girls
  • Whenever possible undertake exciting and interesting initiatives to complement the impact of the project and programme
  • Ensure that the work is carried out at all times with the utmost of privacy and confidentiality fully in accordance with the terms and conditions of employment
  • Represent Theatre for a Change at meetings with partners
  • Commit to promoting equality in terms of race, gender, culture, sexual orientation, and disability, so that Theatre for a Change is recognised as an open and welcoming resource that challenges discrimination and works to address needs of disadvantaged groups
  • Undertake any other work that is requested for ongoing Theatre for a Change projects during the duration of the contract and which the management team deem that the Project Officer has the skills to support and/or contribute to for the further development of the project or the organisation

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
  • Strong excel and data management skills
  • Confidence to facilitate trainings, meetings and workshops
  • Experience having worked on gender and/or women’s empowerment projects
  • Experience working with the education sector preferred

Please note: This is a short term position (end of February 2016) with possibility of extension for longer term

opportunities.