Technical Director - Refugee Teacher Professional Development System Support in Kenya at FHI360 NGO

The Technical Director will oversee technical design, implementation, and monitoring of all activities across a consortium of partners. The Technical Director will work closely with implementing partners to adapt activities across regions while coordinating with external stakeholders to ensure that activities complement other initiatives. He or she will have a major focus on supporting implementing partners to deliver services on time, on budget, and with a high degree of quality and fidelity. The Technical Director will lead a technical steering committee that sets technical and strategic direction for the project, oversee a team of technical specialists, and at times serve as the Project Director. He or she will foster positive relationships with donors, government officials, UN agencies, implementing partners, and other stakeholders.   

 Job Description: 

• Ensure that program activities are responsive to the needs and priorities of refugee teachers, head teachers, parents and learners, and align with the national vision and strategy for teacher education and professional development.  
• Oversee design and implementation of TPD activities that exemplify best practices and pedagogies for children and youth who are displaced, that foster inclusion, wellbeing and use of innovative play-based pedagogies to support the use of Kenya’s competency-based curriculum in refugee hosting communities. 
• Oversee a team of senior technical experts. Ensure clear roles and responsibilities and lines of communication are maintained among team members, and that deadlines are met consistently. 
• Work with the MEL team and other technical experts to develop and oversee the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Plan. 
• Lead the development and implementation of technical strategies, resources and approaches necessary to meet project objectives, developing workplans and aligning teacher professional development with the academic year, leveraging teacher education cycles in Kenya.   
• Lead and/or contribute to the development of high-quality work plans, quarterly and annual reports, financial reports, and any other reports. 
• Identify synergies with other donor funded activities and local initiatives to increase project impact and sustainability. 
• Identify technical assistance needs and resources for project staff, partners, government counterparts and beneficiaries. Coordinate technical assistance provision from the home office and other experts. 
• Promote sustainability of the project activities through linkages to other programs, integration with national TPD systems, tools and materials, and capacity building of project staff and local stakeholders.   
• Coordinate with partners, government counterparts and other stakeholders to achieve project objectives. 
• Represent the project in technical meetings, conferences, and coordination platforms. 
• Act in place of the Project Director when needed. 

 Minimum Requirements:  

• Master’s degree in international development, economics, education, or a related field. Ph.D. preferred. 
• At least ten years of experience supporting education projects in developing contexts. 
• At least five years of progressively more responsible supervisory experience that involves direct leadership as well as oversight and evaluation of staff performance.  
• Previous experience leading comprehensive teacher professional development activities in low resource or fragile environments.  
• Strong understanding of inclusion, MHPSS / SEL, and play-based learning.  
• Familiarity with the challenges faced by refugee learners and refugee teachers in Kenya.  
• Familiarity with the current parallel refugee education system in Kenya and recent policies aimed at greater refugee integration.  
• Familiarity with Kenya’s Competency Based Curriculum. 
• Previous experience working with the Kenyan Ministry of Education or Teacher Service Commission. 
• Strong understanding of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) activities and experience working with MEL counterparts to measure, learn from and adapt programming. 
• Previous experience providing technical leadership within a consortium.  
• Experience managing large scale activities including conducting strategic planning, work planning, contingency planning and report writing. 
• Fluency in English required.