Position: Literacy Program Director
Duty location: Ho Chi Minh City
Organization Profile
Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.
We are non-governmental, non-religious and work with many local NGOs and community based organizations to implement our programs. We currently work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia – countries with a desperate lack of resources to educate their children. Since our inception, Room to Read’s worldwide team has impacted over 6 million children by constructing more than 1,500 schools, establishing over 13,000 libraries, publishing 700 new children’s book titles in 11 local languages, and rewarding over 15,000 girls with long-term, holistic scholarships.
Room to Read has an annual budget of approximately US$44 million and our global staff numbers over 600. Our global headquarters is in San Francisco, and we have smaller fundraising offices in New York, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Sydney, and Tokyo. Our Asia Regional Office is in New Delhi, a Southern Africa Regional Office in Pretoria, and program offices in Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kathmandu, Lusaka, New Delhi, Pretoria, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane.
In Vietnam, Room to Read is implementing School Libraries, Book Publishing, School Construction, Reading and Writing Instruction, and Girls Education Programs in the Mekong Delta and the Northern upland areas. Our country office is located in Ho Chi Minh City.
Position Overview
This position is responsible for overseeing Room to Read’s Vietnam Literacy program, which includes School Libraries, Book Publishing, School Construction, Reading and Writing Instruction. The Director will provide guidance, direction, support and technical assistance for the Country programs. The position will report directly to the Country Director and will have a dotted line reporting relationship to the Global Literacy Director regarding literacy technical issues. This position will be based at Room to Read’s Vietnam office in Ho Chi Minh city and will require frequent travel to provinces.
Duties and Responsibilities
Assume overall management of program development and implementation activities relating to School Libraries, Book Publishing, School Construction, Reading and Writing Instruction.
• Oversee the designing, planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring, and reporting of four Literacy related programs namely School Libraries, Book Publishing, School Construction, Reading and Writing Instruction.
• Leads efforts to review and monitor Literacy program implementation
• Manage partner organizations that are responsible for implementing the Literacy Program.
• Supports Literacy Program staff in the country by serving as a mentor and coach who encourages collaboration, innovation, excellence, and professional development;
• Work closely with the Global and Regional team members in formulating, reviewing and implementing Global Literacy Strategy.
• Oversee collecting and sharing of effective practices from all Literacy Programs
• In collaboration with the Regional and Global Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Team, collects and analyzes metrics from the programs that can be used by M&E to enhance the effectiveness of the Literacy Program reporting and evaluation
• Assist Country Director with the recruitment, training, and development of annual performance plans for Literacy Program staff, and provide regular feedback on their performance.
• Identify Literacy program staff capacity-building and professional development needs and assist the Human Resources team with sourcing of support to address the needs; provide similar support to partner capacity-building efforts
• Recommend improvements to Program Managers and Country Director to more efficiently and effectively manage Literacy program;
• Oversee the selection, negotiation, hiring and other processes related to consultant and other service providers for Literacy Program.
• Leads the Literacy program part of the annual, quarterly and periodic budget and plan reviews and reporting processes
• Oversee the preparation of MoUs with provincial authorities Room to Read areas
• Extensive visit to program sites for overseeing the implementation, monitoring, evaluation, donor and government visits, training, workshop and other purposes.
• Provide support to admin team in purchase and procurement.
Meetings/Networking
• Explore opportunities for partnerships and knowledge sharing with NGOs, experts and institutions involved in related education initiatives
• Develop and manage relationships with other NGO’s, government officials and appropriate educational facilities/authorities;
• Represent Room to Read at relevant meetings and assist in planning and hosting donor visits
• Provide regular updates on program activities and plans to Country Director
Budgeting
• With the Finance Team, oversee program budgets, specifically forecasting quarterly updates and tracking actual funds spent
• Approve program teams’ budget proposals for program, training, and travel expenses
Qualifications
Required:
• Master’s degree required in a related field of study (e.g. MA, MSS, MPA, or MSc in International Education, Development Studies, Education, or Early childhood development);
• Substantial, relevant working experience in education programs;
• Minimum of 8 years of work experience as direct program implementer in a field focused on primary education levels, with a minimum of two years in a senior management capacity;
• Demonstrated leadership in program planning and design, implementation, compliance as well as monitoring and evaluation.
• A proven ability to establish effective working relationships and partnerships with diverse stakeholders including donors.
• Strong financial management and team management skills including the ability to supervise multi-location and multidisciplinary professionals and motivate staff effectively.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written) and capability to relate and interact with multicultural teams and represent the organization in professional forums.
• Willingness to work with strict deadlines and ability to travel frequently (at least 50% of the time), occasionally on short notice, and, when required, for extended periods of time.
Preferable:
• Experience working with government schools will be an asset
• Experience with reading/literacy or learning improvement programs
• Experience in language education at the primary stage
• Experience teaching at the primary stage
Personal Attributes:
• Passion for, and strong desire to impact children’s education.
• Ability to inspire trust, lead and facilitate the team, and move from ideas to action
• Ability to communicate effectively and professionally with a diverse range of people from different cultural background
• Ability to listen to others and learn from their best ideas, demonstrating intellectual curiosity, approachability, and openness to input from all levels of staff
• Ability to be stay grounded, trustworthy, and to give credit and recognition to others
• Personal style of acting with humility and grace
• High sensitivities toward issues e.g. gender and disability.
Compensation
The salary range for this position will be determined based upon the experience of the candidate hired. Benefits including health and a retirement plan are also provided. Additional benefits include a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, and rapidly growing organization that is changing the world through the lifelong gift of education.
Application Procedure
Please send your Cover Letter and Curriculum Vitae to Ms. Ngoc Diep at [email protected] [1] with subject: ‘Literacy Program Director’.
Due to the high volume of applicant response, not all applicants may receive a response from Room to Read. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.