Project Coordinator – Early Childhood Coordinator (ECD) at Save the Children

Role Purpose: 

The Project Coordinator – Early Childhood Coordinator (ECD) provided the strategic thought leadership for the ECD interventions in the Nitunze Project (an Integrated Child Survival project) and in the Country Office. Nitunze aims to ensure that children under 5 in Turkana North sub county and Mathare in Kenya survive and thrive.  This 3-year project will apply a WHO-approved integrated approach to ensure that children under 5 recover from common childhood diseases. That malnourished children under 5 are successfully treated; that families have enough resources and knowledge to feed their children; that children under 5 have access to safe drinking water and good hygiene and sanitary conditions and that children under 5 have better access to health, nutrition and WASH services through accessing early childhood development (ECD) centers. He/she should be knowledgeable, skilled and provide technical oversight in service delivery with emphasis on ECD. He/she will be accountable for the preparation of strategic direction for ECD, annual work plans, capacity building of teachers, parents and liaison with community health volunteers.

Key Areas of Accountability

Strategic Programming, Representation and Fund raising

• Be fully aware of national policies, strategies, other initiatives, developments by government, and other stakeholders relating to early childhood development.
• Ensure that ECD programme remains relevant to the external environment and participate in the relevant ECD national level coordination meetings, early childhood development Working Groups and other national level forums (for example, Nurturing care, ECD Network etc).
• Support in fundraising for the Country Office by developing proposals for ECD programming in line with the country strategic objectives and Government of Kenya policies and legal frameworks. 
• Ensure presence at relevant coordination meetings at national and sub-county levels, and sometimes even with stakeholders.  
• Ensure active dissemination of programme findings and lessons learned through the production of lessons learned documents and their effective dissemination to key stakeholders.

Programme Quality

• Ensure quality programme implementation across ECD programming areas – both humanitarian and development initiatives in education and support the quality of ECD programming. 
• Work with Technical specialists and project team to identify areas of integration where ECD can be included in funding proposals and especially within Health and Nutrition programming.

Knowledge management

• Work with MEAL team to develop, up-date monitoring, and evaluation framework and key indicators for ECD that helps each project improve quality of reporting.
• Promote the sharing of best practice and learning in relation to ECD programming, advocacy and campaign activities amongst Area Programmes in the country.
• Contribute to documentation of case studies and human-interest stories.

Staff Management

• Manage staff in challenging environments and ensure a balance between the safety of personnel and the quality of data. 
• Manage the performance of direct reports through: effective use of the Performance Management System . 

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor Degree in ECD, Education, or equivalent. Master’s Degree in ECD is an added advantage 
• At least five (5) years relevant experience in ECD, coordination and sector integration.
• Ability to make links between early childhood development and gains in education, protection, livelihoods, nutrition and health interventions within the context of an integrated program approach
• Maintains and extends an effective network of individuals within the organization and with government and development partners
• Fluent in English and Kiswahili (both spoken and written) 
• Demonstrable competence in proposal and report writing 
• Experience of community participation, ownership and empowerment
• Experience of financial planning and expenditure monitoring 
• Commitment to Save the Children's child safeguarding Policy 
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment and be a team player

The Organization

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. 

• We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030,
• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday 
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated