Girls’ Education Program (GEP), Senior Program Manager

Job Description

Position: Girls’ Education Program (GEP), Senior Program Manager

Location: Ho Chi Minh City

Organization Profile:

Room to Read is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, our innovative model focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools during two time periods that are most critical in a child’s schooling: early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. We work in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls can complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions. By focusing on the quality of education provided within the communi-ties and ensuring these outcomes are measured, we have created a model that can be replicated, localized and sustained by governments. Room to Read has benefited 16.8 million children across over 37,000 communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia. Learn more at www.roomtoread.org [1].

In Vietnam, Room to Read has been providing educational support in 20 years, establishing our presence in 35 provinces.

Position Overview:

The Girls’ Education Program (GEP) Senior Manager is responsible for overseeing the overall direction and technical quality of Room to Read’s Vietnam Girls’ Education program, ensuring that the Girls’ Education and Gender Equality’s strategy for Vietnam is effectively executed, the Government partners at all levels are engaged and supportive of scale and integration, and the Vietnam GEP team is successfully prepared to implement program content with quality. 

Working closely with the Global Office Girls’ Education Program Manager, this position serves as Country Office technical expert, and will contextualize worldwide program content and professional learning materials for effective use by the Country Office GEP team and for adaptation for scale and integration in the national education system.  These duties include providing leadership, capacity building, and on-going technical assistance support to the Government partners, Country Office GEP staff, and other relevant stakeholders in the implementation, scale and integration of contextualized Girls’ Education program resources. 

The Senior Manager may also support the Country Office GEP team and other relevant partners with revisions and implementation of their current content while the worldwide implementation packages are being developed.  This position is a member of the Country Management Team, reporting directly to the Country Director.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

Program Management, Contextualization, Training and Coordination

• Review and contextualize worldwide Girls’ Education program content and professional learning materials for Vietnam, in collaboration with the Global Office Girls’ Education Program (GEP) Manager.
• Prepare Country Office GEP staff in the use of contextualized program content and professional learning materials, in collaboration with the Global Office GEP Manager, including delivering necessary orientations and trainings
• Provide technical oversight of Country Office GEP staff and Social Mobilizers (SMs); including providing on-going capacity building, on-site coaching, and technical support as required to address issues of program implementation quality in content areas
• Provide general technical support to Country Office GEP staff in program content areas where contextualized worldwide content and professional development are not yet available
• Provide feedback to the Global PDTA team on the use and effectiveness of contextualized program content and professional learning materials to improve design and content and revise contextualized program content and professional learning materials as needed based on learnings from field implementation, in collaboration with the Global Office GEP Manager
• Provide guidance and technical support for the GEP Scale Manager in the development and implementation of scale and integration initiatives. This includes liaising with the Ministry and supporting the GEP Scale-Manager in managing their relationships with the Ministry accordingly.
• Line manage and supervise the GEP Scale-up Manager and Program Officer (Technical), including coaching, oversight, regular performance feedback, individual goal setting, and semi-annual performance reviews. Monitor and collect feedback/best practices on the use of contextualized program content and professional learning materials, including conducting regular field visits
• Serve as a member of the Country Management Team, which provides overall support and direction for the work of Room to Read in country.  In this capacity, the GEP Senior Manager will have ownership over all GEP activities that take place in Vietnam as the program evolves over time.
• Carry out other activities as may be required to fulfill the objectives of the organization

Planning, Reporting, and Documentation

• Coordinate and provide input for the country strategy development process in connection with the Girls’ Education and Gender Equality program.
• Provide program technical expertise to the Country Research, Monitoring & Evaluation (RM&E) team to support design, implementation and refinement of monitoring and evaluation systems and procedures used to track progress against planned program outcomes
• Lead the annual budget development for GEP’s technical and technical assistance activities. Provide technical input to the Program Operations Director (POD) on developing and providing oversight of the implementation calendar, budget, annual planning, quarterly reporting, and overall tracking of program implementation and spending, as needed.

External Coordination and Networking

• Responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with government partners, and other NGOs as needed to mobilize support for the program
• Represent Room to Read internally and externally by attending and speaking at relevant forums, advocate for the importance of girls’ education and gender equality program work
• Liaise with and explore opportunities for knowledge sharing with NGOs, experts, and institutions involved with girls’ education and gender equality.
• Carry out any other critical task relating to Room to Read’s goals and priorities as assigned by Country Director from time to time.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a related field of study, e.g. education, gender equality, international relations, or related development field.
• A minimum of 10 years of related professional experience in the international development field, with at least five years specifically on overseeing and managing programs in the field of education and/or gender equality, preferably relating to gender-transformative life-skills education and mentoring.
• Experience delivering trainings as a lead trainer or technical coach and/or developing training materials, especially in life-skills education, mentoring, and gender-related topics.
• Experience in program design and/or developing technical program content and curriculum; understanding of monitoring and evaluation, including process documentation.
• Experience working with government, multi-lateral institutions, and civil society in Vietnam.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Experience in working in cross-functional, cross-cultural team and supporting staff through direct and dotted lines of management, and prior success working and building relationships with diverse groups of people
• Ability to travel extensively.

To be successful as a member of the Room to Read team, you will also:

• Have a passion for education, gender equality, life skills and mentoring.
• Be an innovative and creative thinker; you’re not afraid to try something new and inspire others to do so
• Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness
• Have a strong work ethic and require minimal direction
• Work well independently as well as part of a team
• Thrive in a fast-paced and fun environment

Compensation:

Room to Read offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, fun, and rapidly growing organization that is transforming the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.

Application Procedure:

Please submit your application preferably with a cover letter, online by visiting our website www.roomtoread.org [1] (about us > careers > see current vacancies).

Or submit your application preferably with a cover letter to email address: [email protected] [2].

Due to high applicant volume, we regret that we are not able to send personalized responses to all applicants. Applications are accepted until the position is filled.

Room to Read is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds. Room to Read is a child-safe organization; all personnel are expected to adhere to Room to Read’s Child Protection Policy and Child Protection Code of Conduct.