Education Technical Advisor

ForAfrika is an African-founded and led organisation with over 40 years of impact across the continent. We partner with communities through our integrated development continuum: saving lives and building resilience to reach self-sufficiency through our Humanitarian & Development work and unlocking commercial viability through our Social Enterprise activities. We are Africans, delivering African-led solutions for Africa, and we stand by our promise: we’re committed to the long run, until the job is done and communities are enabled to thrive.

**Position Summary**

The Education Advisor serves as the technical leader and strategic architect for ForAfrika's comprehensive education programming portfolio across multiple country operations in Africa. This pivotal role combines deep educational expertise with operational excellence to drive transformative change in some of the world's most challenging educational contexts, including conflict-affected areas, refugee settlements, fragile states, and marginalized communities with limited access to quality education.

The Advisor will champion innovative, evidence-based educational interventions that not only address immediate learning needs and educational barriers but also tackle the underlying systemic issues that perpetuate educational inequality and exclusion. This includes designing and overseeing integrated programs spanning emergency education, formal and non-formal education systems strengthening, teacher training and professional development, school infrastructure and WASH in schools, digital learning innovations, youth skills development, and comprehensive early childhood development initiatives focusing on the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of children from birth to eight years.

Operating at the nexus of humanitarian response and development programming, the position demands a seasoned professional who can seamlessly transition between emergency education deployment scenarios and long-term educational system transformation initiatives. The Advisor will be responsible for building organizational capacity, fostering educational innovation, and ensuring that all interventions are pedagogically sound, culturally appropriate, conflict-sensitive, gender-responsive, and aligned with international education standards and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This role offers the opportunity to shape education strategies that directly impact millions of children, youth, and adults while building the capacity of education systems to deliver quality, inclusive, and equitable education for all. The successful candidate will work collaboratively across sectors, lead multidisciplinary teams, engage with ministries of education and high-level stakeholders, and contribute to global knowledge generation in the education in emergencies and development sector.

**Key Roles and Responsibilities**

1. **Strategic Leadership and Program Development**

- Develop and implement comprehensive education strategies aligned with ForAfrika's mission, national education policies, and international frameworks (SDG 4, Education 2030 Framework)
- Lead the design of integrated, multi-sectoral education programs that address barriers to quality education, with particular focus on conflict, fragile, and marginalized contexts
- Provide technical guidance on program approaches including emergency education, accelerated learning programs, teacher training, school feeding, WASH in schools, digital learning innovations, and comprehensive early childhood development programming
- Ensure programs incorporate cross-cutting themes of gender equality, social inclusion, disability inclusion, child protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and community engagement
- Support the development of context-appropriate curricula and learning materials that promote peace, tolerance, social cohesion, and holistic child development from birth through primary education

**2. Technical Support and Capacity Building**

- Provide systematic training, mentoring, and coaching to field staff on education programming approaches and international standards
- Support country teams in conducting rapid and comprehensive education needs assessments, learning outcome evaluations, and education system analyses
- Develop technical guidance materials, standard operating procedures, training curricula, and best practice documentation
- Build organizational capacity in emerging approaches such as Education in Emergencies (EiE), inclusive education, digital learning, and systems strengthening
- Mentor and coach regional and national education staff in quality education programming and international standards (INEE Minimum Standards, Sphere Standards)

**3. Business Development**

- Lead education grant acquisition portfolio development and management in collaboration with business development teams
- Support proposal development and fundraising efforts for education programs across humanitarian and development funding streams, with particular expertise in early childhood development funding
- Provide technical inputs for grant applications, donor reporting, and compliance with education donor requirements
- Participate in donor meetings, technical working groups, and education sector reviews
- Contribute to resource mobilization strategies, funding diversification, and expansion of revenue streams for education programming
- Cultivate strategic partnerships with external organizations, stakeholders, and donors to enhance collaboration opportunities and secure sustainable funding

**4. Program Quality Assurance**

- Ensure adherence to international education standards including INEE (Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies) Minimum Standards and Sphere Standards
- Oversee monitoring and evaluation systems for education interventions, including learning outcome assessments and education system strengthening indicators
- Conduct regular field visits to assess program quality, learning environments, and provide technical support
- Lead or support external evaluations and reviews of education programs and contribute to evidence-based program improvements
- Ensure child safeguarding measures are integrated into all education programming

**5. Partnership and Coordination**

- Represent ForAfrika in relevant education coordination forums, clusters, and interagency platforms at national, regional, and global levels
- Facilitate knowledge sharing and learning across the organization and with external education partners
- Coordinate with other technical sectors (Food Security and Livelihoods, Economic Empowerment, Health and Nutrition, WASH) to ensure integrated programming approaches
- Support government capacity building and education system strengthening initiatives

**6. Research and Innovation**

- Lead cutting-edge analysis, applied research, and documentation of lessons learned and best practices from education programming in challenging contexts
- Identify and promote innovative approaches, methodologies, and technologies in education programming including digital learning, mobile education, and adaptive learning technologies
- Support operational research initiatives, impact evaluations, and evidence generation for program improvement and policy influence
- Stay updated on global trends, best practices, and emerging approaches in education sector development and emergency education
- Contribute to organizational learning and adaptation based on field experience and research findings
- Lead development and field testing of educational tools, curricula, and pedagogical approaches

**7. Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning**

- Develop and implement comprehensive knowledge management systems for education programming across all country operations
- Establish knowledge sharing platforms, communities of practice, and learning networks among education staff and partners
- Design and maintain accessible repositories of educat