Policy and Scaling Manager

Sector: Child Protection

Job Description

Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Since 2007, IRC has worked with refugees and other vulnerable populations in Jordan. Working in coordination with the humanitarian community and the Government of Jordan, the IRC's assistance programs for Syrian refugees in Jordan include both camp-based (Zaatari, and Azraq camps) and urban-based refugee assistance (Mafraq, Ramtha, Irbid).

Ahlan Simsim Program:

In December 2017, Sesame Workshop and the IRC were awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change grant to make real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time and in December 2018 received another award from the LEGO Foundation to support refugee early education programs. With these extraordinary investments, our partnership will transform the language, early reading, math, and social-emotional skills of a generation of children ages 0-8 affected by the Syrian war. Focusing on children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria over the next five years, the inclusive plan combines the depth of in-person services, reaching 1.5 million children, with the breadth of mass media, reaching 9.4 million children. For more information, please visit: http://refugee.sesameinternational.org/

Scope of Work:

The ECD Policy and Scaling Manager will be managing the advocacy efforts with the national stakeholders, donors and INGOs in close collaboration with Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and National Council for Family Affairs. He/she will be collecting the learnings to design evidence based action and codesign the strategic plans with NCFA, managing the scaling efforts and negotiations with the partners.

Major Responsibilities:

Manage and oversee the Ahlan Simsim scaling design, planning, and implementation:

• Coordinate with the technical, M&E and research focal points in the team to ensure that iterative scaling cycles are integrated into all aspects of the work.
• Coordinate with the partnerships IRC staff to ensure scaling is rooted in the IRC partnerships management system.
• Ensure close coordination with the technical team on a country and regional level to facilitate the development of adaptable and scalable AS models/packages.
• Ensure the rollout and implementation of all tools that aim to track, assess, and document scaling by coordinating with IRC team and partners for realizing a learning and adaptation strategy.
• Lead on regular operational plan meetings to ensure alignment and progress on scaling activities.
• Plan for and materialize an iterative scaling process whereby change and adaptations are driven by real-time data collected throughout the lifecycle of the AS program.
• Conduct background research on previous and ongoing efforts related to ECD service delivery in X country, including desk review of project documentation, national strategies, conducting key stakeholder interviews, and attending related meetings and events.
• Support work in coordination with the governance unit on political economy analysis (PEA) for country context and other background research.
• Develop proposals, presentations, and briefs on an ad hoc basis.
• Conduct a quality review of all documents related to scaling including the outputs shared by the team and scaling partners.
• Ensure scaling plans and implementation are consistent with PEERs processes and procedures

Ensure proper relationship building and management with key stakeholders and partners:

• Facilitate Social Network Analysis workshops on a country and regional (in-country) level.
• Ensure proper flow of information between the IRC and partners.
• Ensure partners’ feedback is taken forward in all aspects of the project whether in technical, scaling, partnerships, RMEAL etc.
• Identify ECD champions within different partner organizations and work closely with them on all the aspects of scaling.
• Hold collaborative design meetings to ensure that scaling activities and workplans are addressing the partner’s ECD-related needs.
• Coordinate with the RMEAL team to develop a continuous capacity building plan for the scaling partners to ensure the adaptation of their existing monitoring systems.

Generate evidence-based learnings based for scaling:

• “Tell the story” of how the Ahlan Simsim program scaled in X country, including capturing key decisions, opportunities, and challenges faced by relevant actors and documenting the piloting of the scalable models developed for each scaling pathway.
• Facilitate and document key scaling-related events and meetings as decided in coordination with the ECD Coordinator.
• Proactively share lessons learned within the X country program as well as with regional stakeholders to assist decision-makers in identifying, adapting, and scaling other evidence-based ECD solutions.
• Participate in Scaling community of practice within the IRC and with the wider scaling community.
• Participate in regional scaling and partnership check-ins to facilitate cross-learnings..
• Work in close coordination with the ECD coordinator to ensure learnings from scaling are embedded within the country strategy.
• Coordinate with the RMEAL team on a country level and regional level to ensure alignment on the AS learning agenda.

Lead and coordinate advocacy efforts as they relate to scaling:

• Identify Decision makers and influencers for each policy goal in close coordination with Advocacy advisors on a country and regional level.
• Facilitate and oversee the implementation of the advocacy plans.
• Maintain proper data collection for advocacy indicators.
• Ensure advocacy activities are conducted in close coordination with the partners.
• Work closely with the regional partner to support advocacy efforts and coordination of coalitions.
• Support regional advocacy efforts by participating in different coordination groups, workshops, and conferences.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Early Childhood Development Coordinator
• Position directly supervises: Data collection Surveyors/assessors (short term)

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• Internal: Senior ECD Scaling Officer, ECD Officer, Community Health Officer, IRC programs and support departments
• External: New York University (research partner), Partner NGOs

Qualifications

Job Requirements: The requirements should establish a baseline (minimum) for educational background, previous work experience, professional knowledge or certification, specific skills and strengths and any other skill necessary to perform the essential functions of the job.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (social science, public policy, international development, development economics, or a related discipline),
• 4 years of experience , and 2 in managerial level managing social science field research; experience managing rigorous research preferred including supervising data collection, teams of surveyors/assessors,
• Experience with data management and statistical analysis packages, including SPSS and STATA,
• Ability to handle multiple tasks; proven self-initiative, problem solving abilities, and strong organizational and communication skills,
• Proven experience in supervision and training in M&E and/or applied research, specific experience training for local teams and local partners an asset,
• Demonstrated ability to work successfully with diverse constituencies. Experience in working in emergency/humanitarian response a plus,
• Strong sense of personal integrity and understanding of confidentiality,
• Team-work skills,
• Fluency in Arabic and excellent English written and speaking.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Working Environment: This Position is based in Amman, with frequent visits to Azraq camp and other program sites location within Jordan.

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