Project Coordinator

The primary role of the Project Coordinator, Education and Vocational Training Sponsorship (National) is to manage the Education and Vocational Training Sponsorship program of Children’s Hope In Action (CHIA). This includes working directly with very poor children in the commnity who are at risk of stopping their education due to poverty. Once at-risk children are identified, the organisation attempts to find sponsors who will commit to sponsoring the costs of the child’s education to grade 12, and sometimes through university, college or vocational training. Once a child is sponsored, the Coordinator manages all aspects of (a) continuing to reimburse the family for the child’s education costs (b) ensuring that the child is referred to other available services when appropriate (c) liaising with donors and other stakeholders (d) reporting to management.

Context:
Children’s Hope in Action (CHIA) is a grassroots non government organisation to especially care for some of the most disadvantaged children in Quang Nam province, central Vietnam. CHIA believes passionately that it is the right of every child to be raised within a nurturing family environment and have access to essential services which are taken for granted by people living in the Western world. CHIA focuses efforts and resources in four key areas – health, disability, education and housing services.
This role focuses on the education needs of children from very disadvantaged families of Quan Nam Province. This role develops collaborations and partnerships with the official education authorities as well as with school managers, teachers, families and children that are already, or may become sponsored.
The role develops tools to evaluate the situation of possible beneficiaries; elaborates and updates lists of potential beneficiaries; provides the information to the General Manager and makes recommendations about the kind of support needed to maintain the children at school or to facilitate their attending school.
This role is also responsible for developing and implementing a sponsorship program for tertiary education and vocational training. This role may invite the participation of the Social Worker and/or
members of other programs, to help to implement additional assistance to some cases.

Responsibilities:
participate in meetings and develop collaborations with official education officers in the communities, in schools and with other education providors
receive lists of children in need of education support, from the community officials and other collaborators
do home visits to assess the children’s circumstance and their education needs
prioritise the lists of recommended children, and, within budget constraints, recommend which children should be supported at this time
after investigation and evaluation, design and prepare specific plans to help and support the education of the children approved by management
keep in contact with beneficiary children and their families, making regular phone calls and home
visits in order to keep up-to-date all documents and data concerning the children, their circumstances, and any expected changes in their circumstances
collect school reports to be used to send feedback to donors
provide additional support for any education-related difficulties e.g. investigate and support if a child’s school results have dropped
assure the timely reimbursement of all education-related fees to families
ensure the timely management of all education-related fees with the Accountant
liaise with donors, Accountant, Marketing Team (donor liaison staff) and other CHIA staff in order to maintain clear and well-organized communication
ensure a current Biography is available for each child who has been approved for education support
ensure confidentiality is maintained, to protect the identity of the children in relation to media and other communications
support the Marketing Department to secure additional sponsorships as needed
maintain all documents, data and reports related to Education Sponsorship
maintain and follow regular work flow schedules
provide and/or refer to other CHIA program or partner organisations for additional services needed, such as health assessment, nutrition support, housing support (renovation or building a
house....) for very disadvantaged children
meet regularly with management, send reports regularly to management and provide appropriate and timely adhoc feedback to management
establish and maintain contacts and partnerships with local authorities in order to discuss issues that are sometimes not specific to this program, but that could help the children and their families
to overcome difficult issues in their everyday life
assist as required with activities and events which may cross program boundaries e.g. Tet
Celebrations
at the discretion of the Director, assist as and when required, with duties not related to this program, e.g. general interpreting and translating at the discretion of the Director, occasionally work outside of normal working hours
Qualifications
- Degree (3 or 4 years full-time study) in English
- Certificate in Computing
- Vietnamese National
- Male applicants preferred as this position involves a lot of travel in the countryside

Normal Hours of work
8:00-12:00 and 13:30-17:30
Monday to Friday
Deadline for submission: 05th February, 2012
Interested, qualified candidates are invited to send their application to:
Ms. Hao: [email protected]
and
Children’s Hope In Action (CHIA)
516 Cua Dai, Hoi An, Quang Nam
Email: [email protected]