Job Description
Position: Program Officer, Instructional Design & Teacher Support (IDTS Officer)
Location: Ho Chi Minh and other project sites
Employment: Full time
Starting: April 2019
Organization Profile
Room to Read (RtR) is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children in low- income countries 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 in low-income countries 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 communities 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 11.5 million children across over 20,000 communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia, and aims to reach 15 million children by 2020.
Room to Read’s Literacy Strategy
Literacy is fundamental to exercising the right to a basic education and is crucial for economic, social and political participation and development. For these reasons, Room to Read has made literacy development a cornerstone of our work. The goal of our Literacy Program is for primary schoolchildren to acquire literacy skills and reading habits to become lifelong independent readers. One crucial input is regular access to books and other reading materials, which are scarce in many of the communities where Room to Read operates.
In Vietnam, Room to Read’s Literacy Program implements School Library Component which aims to establish school libraries and publish local language books to fill this gap. Room to Read ensures schools have access to quality reading materials in libraries by sourcing local-language materials and working with local authors and illustrators to develop original storybooks. Our literacy strategy capitalizes on our organizational strengths built over the last decade and defines a clear and carefully constructed path to the goal of increased literacy and a habit of reading in the children with whom we work.
Position Overview
The position is a member of the Instructional Design and Teacher Support Unit (“IDTS”). S/he is responsible to provide technical and managerial support in all aspects of program design, particularly school library activities, management and Family Community Engagement. The incumbent is responsible to assist IDTS Manager in providing technical support and supervision on all aspects of the program design, including professional development to school and Room to Read staff about library management and activities. The IDTS Program Officer who provide technical oversight and training at the field level will work in dotted-line with Program Operations Officers.. This position will require regularly travel to RtR provinces in Vietnam to support field office staff on implementing LP, monitoring; and interact with partners at all levels.
This position will be based in the country office and will report directly to the IDTS manager.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Program Design, Training and Implementation
- Support the designs and follows-up implementation of school library management and activities with Program Operations Officers.
- Assists the manager in designing and adapting, as needed, Room to Read’s approach to teacher and librarian professional support to improve students’ habit of reading, based on research, monitoring and evaluation data.
- Provides assistance to Program Manager in developing staff and partners’ understanding of literacy program, school library component.
- Ensures the quality of all Room to Read trainings. This includes designing and conducting TOT trainings, as well as building the capacity of RtR staff or partner staff to conduct direct trainings.
- Conducts an analysis to identify gaps for developing librarian and teachers’ skills in managing libraries as well as conducting reading activities
- Provides technical assistance to the team and shares knowledge, experience and skills for developing manuals, training modules and documenting best practices.
- Ensures global guidelines are being adhered to adapt as needed.
- Contact with Global Office PDTA (Program Design and Technical Assistant) to discuss and give inputs for all documents about school library
Management & Coordination
- Support Program Operations Officers’ work through providing field monitoring, coaching and on the job training, as well as other necessary assistance to enabling them to fulfill program work requirement.
- Coordinate with others to conduct internal technical workshops and meetings for staff.
- Participates in any other activities, which may be required to fulfill the objectives of the organization.
- Work close with QRM officer to give feedbacks on booklist, and published books
Planning, Reporting & Monitoring/Research
- Work with manager to provide library expertise to the Research, Monitoring & Evaluation (“RM&E”) team to support the design, implementation and refinement of monitoring and evaluation systems and procedures used to track progress against planned program outcomes.
- Make recommendations on improving the Literacy program’s impact and sustainability in schools and communities, with particular focus on maximizing quality and community’s participation in maintaining RtR’s provided assets. Provides assistant in planning and reporting relating tasks
External Coordination & Networking
- Represent Room to Read by attending and speaking at relevant forums and advocates for the importance of Literacy program work at the provincial level.
- Liaise with other NGOs running similar programs to identify areas of knowledge sharing and possible collaboration.
Qualifications
Required:
- At least bachelor’s degree in Education or a related field of study, or equivalent experience
- A minimum of 5 years of professional experience
- Knowledge and understanding of teaching methodologies for primary stage
- Experience in developing and conducting training programs for primary teachers
- Experience with library programming (e.g. book leveling, library management, reading/library activities that instill a habit of reading in children).
- Experience with reading improvement programs
- Experience in developing and implementing programmatic improvements
- Good planning, supervising, and program development skills
- Understanding of monitoring, evaluation, and process documentation
- Prior success working closely and building relationships with diverse groups of people and organizations
- Ability and desire to travel frequently to visit school sites
- Good verbal and written communication skills in English
Preferred:
- Experience teaching at the primary stage
- Experience in developing and conducting on-site school support and coaching initiatives for teachers
- Development and use of observation and other monitoring tools and practices to assess progress of primary school interventions
- Effectiveness in working or volunteering in a non-profit organization that is focused on maintaining high quality work and low overhead
- Prior track record of achieving results in a fast-paced, growth-oriented global or regional organization
To be successful as a member of the Room to Read team, you will also:
- Have a passion for our mission and a strong desire to impact a dynamic non-profit organization
- Be an innovative and creative thinker - you are 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
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); link: https://osv-rtr.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/RoomToRead/job/Vietnam---Mai... [2]
- Alternately, send to [email protected] [3]
We regret that we cannot respond to all applicants personally due to high applicant volume.
Applications will be 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.