Jobs at Educate!

In this role, you will lead a portfolio of strategic projects, specializing in high priority initiatives with external government stakeholders and in internal projects which contribute to Educate!’s long term strategies. Educate! is on an exciting journey of growth, and the work you do to create new systems and ways of working will be a critical part of building a game-changing organization, as we work towards our organizational vision of measurably impacting 1 million students across Africa each year.

We have already partnered with governments in Rwanda and Kenya to support skills-based curriculum reforms through our education system solutions, and results from a rigorous impact evaluation have shown that our cost-effective solutions create a real impact on youth through national education systems. The Strategic Project Manager  will work closely with the Chief Education Innovation Officer (CEdIO), Regional Director of Partnerships and our program and advocacy experts in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda to continue developing ways of working and program models that support long-term changes to education systems and meaningful, sustainable curriculum reforms.

The right person for this role will:

• Be motivated to work with government education systems to create a broad and sustainable impact on youth through those systems.
• Enjoy collaborative working across geographies and teams, and thrive in bringing structure and systems to complex and fast-changing environments
• Enjoy varied and flexible work - from supporting high profile government events, to troubleshooting problems internally - on initiatives that contribute to Educate!’s future success. Experience might come from work in consultancy, government policy and communications, or project management in a social impact setting.
• Be driven to shape the role and their own career path. Educate! is growing rapidly and this role comes with opportunities to develop skills and experience in a range of fields including education policy, communications, fundraising, strategy, and product development. 

Qualifications and profile

• 3+ years’ experience in a projects environment in a public sector context, with a professional background in an area such as consultancy, external communications or policy engagement.
• Ability to tailor research and policy insights for different audiences, with experience of producing high quality deliverables such as policy briefs and benchmarking reports to deadlines.
• Experience in building systems and processes for use by different stakeholders.
• Experience of collaboration in a multi-disciplinary and remote working environment, as well as ability to work independently on deliverables.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to manage internal and external stakeholders, including those in more senior positions.
• Demonstrated ability to operate well in complex and fast-changing environments.
• Passion for Educate!’s mission is a must, but past work in education or youth development is not required. We value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from people with a variety of backgrounds.
• Fits our Five Cultural Tenets
• This role will preferable be based in East Africa, though we are open to virtual candidates willing to include travel to East Africa

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In this role, you will lead a portfolio of strategic projects, specializing in high priority initiatives with external government stakeholders and in internal projects which contribute to Educate!’s long term strategies. Educate! is on an exciting journey of growth, and the work you do to create new systems and ways of working will be a critical part of building a game-changing organization, as we work towards our organizational vision of measurably impacting 1 million students across Africa each year.

We have already partnered with governments in Rwanda and Kenya to support skills-based curriculum reforms through our education system solutions, and results from a rigorous impact evaluation have shown that our cost-effective solutions create a real impact on youth through national education systems. The Head of Strategic Projects will work closely with the Chief Education Innovation Officer (CEdIO), Regional Director of Partnerships and our program and advocacy experts in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda to continue developing ways of working and program models that support long-term changes to education systems and meaningful, sustainable curriculum reforms.

The right person for this role will:

• Be motivated to work with government education systems to create a broad and sustainable impact on youth through those systems.
• Enjoy collaborative working across geographies and teams, and thrive in bringing structure and systems to complex and fast-changing environments
• Enjoy varied and flexible work - from supporting high profile government events, to troubleshooting problems internally - on initiatives that contribute to Educate!’s future success. Experience might come from work in consultancy, government policy and communications, or project management in a social impact setting.
• Be driven to shape the role and their own career path. Educate! is growing rapidly and this role comes with opportunities to develop skills and experience in a range of fields including education policy, communications, fundraising, strategy, and product development. 

Performance Objectives

Government partnerships

• Work with the Regional Director of Partnerships to support government outreach and communications, including conducting stakeholder analyses, preparing advocacy and talking points, and preparing partnership documentation.
• Provide high quality project management to support government reform teams in new markets, owning project plans, meeting agendas and action logs to optimize team resources and progress Educate!’s advocacy outcomes.
• Provide professional event management for government partnership events, such as policy dialogues, learning visits, and workshops, coordinating material production, workshop plans, communications and logistics.

Research, policy and strategy

• Produce high quality resources for government reform, such as benchmarking reports, education system analyses and policy briefs.
• Support senior leaders with Educate!’s market expansion strategy for our Education System Solutions work, including analyzing education policies and trends, and co-ordinating the strategy development process across the team.
• Conduct and co-ordinate market analysis to contribute to Educate!’s product development strategies, identifying policy, competitor and market trends.

Strategic Project Management

• Design, scope and manage strategic projects agreed with the Chief Education Innovation Officer CEdIO, managing communications, resources and external contractors, and making strategic recommendations to contribute to Educate!’s future success.
• Partner with the CEdIO and senior leaders to codify and disseminate Educate! products internally, producing standardized toolkits and resources to support team upskilling and the scaling of Educate! innovations in new markets.
• Develop tools, templates and project management systems to support the design and delivery of projects across the team, including departmental budget, reporting and knowledge management systems.

Qualifications and profile

• 3+ years’ experience in a projects environment in a public sector context, with a professional background in an area such as consultancy, external communications or policy engagement.
• Ability to tailor research and policy insights for different audiences, with experience of producing high quality deliverables such as policy briefs and benchmarking reports to deadlines.
• Experience in building systems and processes for use by different stakeholders.
• Experience of collaboration in a multi-disciplinary and remote working environment, as well as ability to work independently on deliverables.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to manage internal and external stakeholders, including those in more senior positions.
• Demonstrated ability to operate well in complex and fast-changing environments.
• Passion for Educate!’s mission is a must, but past work in education or youth development is not required. We value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from people with a variety of backgrounds.
• Fits our Five Cultural Tenets(see What Educate! About? below); Learn more by looking at Educate! culture deck here
• This role will preferable be based in East Africa, though we are open to virtual candidates willing to include travel to East Africa

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This individual will create and edit compelling impact reports and partnership proposals, support the management of key external relationships, and be a critical member of Educate!’s multi-national fundraising team. The External Relations Manager reports to the Director of External Relations and is an externally-facing member of our team representing Educate! to funders and other key stakeholders. This individual will also play an important role internally by building and strengthening the fundraising systems and processes required to move Educate! towards its revenue goals, coaching teammates, and serving as a link between External Relations and other teams like Programs, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Finance. 

We are looking for a self-starter with meticulous attention to detail, exceptional communication skills and native English proficiency, and advanced structuring, writing, and editing skills. Experience living or working in Africa is a strong plus and our hope is that this individual will spend significant time (at least several weeks) with our teams in East Africa in their first year. Our ideal candidate will already have some professional writing experience and experience preparing compelling content for external audiences, but a variety of backgrounds would suit this role. 

In this role, you will have a chance to work closely with Educate!’s teams in East Africa who implement our programs on the ground, and you’ll develop high-quality content, materials, and relationships to showcase our impact to key stakeholders. You’ll join a motivated, passionate, overachieving international team that is positioning Educate! to be the leader in skills-based secondary education in Africa.

Performance Objectives 

Develop and manage grant reports, proposals, and other materials to communicate Educate!'s strategy and impact externally (50%)

You’ll work with our fundraising team to ensure that Educate! meets and exceeds our commitments to our funders by producing high-quality grant reports that keep our stakeholders informed on Educate!'s progress and mission. We envision this role will primarily be editing reports, while also frequently writing and creating new content for proposals and other materials to communicate Educate!’s strategy and impact externally. You will work collaboratively to develop comprehensive, engaging, and tailor-made proposals and reports to submit to prospective and current funders. 

• Draft, edit and project manage high-quality grant reports, collaborating with other team members primarily as an editor.
• Write, edit, and project manage high-quality grant proposals that are customized to address the key focus areas and requirements of prospective and current donors.
• Draft, edit and peer review a large number of internal and external communications as well as work to ensure consistent messaging and branding within the fundraising function as well as across Educate!’s teams.
• Work closely with in-country teams to develop and maintain effective communication plans for gathering information needed for reporting and donor materials. 
• Support the team in streamlining systems and processes to make grant reporting and information sourcing more efficient. 

Support fundraising strategy, revenue generation, and relationship management (25%)

Educate!’s success relies on the important external relationships we have to fuel our mission, particularly with funders and experts in our sector. You will:

• Help build and maintain strong relationships with external stakeholders and funders through personable and appropriate communications (direct emails, phone calls) and in-person meetings.
• Support the Director of External Relations and other teammates in managing high priority funder relationships as “Relationship Driver”, a secondary point of contact for funders.
• Participate in setting fundraising strategy and contribute to Educate! meeting its fundraising goals through a variety of stakeholder management and relationship building activities.
• Participate in prospecting/lead generation activities for new potential funding, including supporting new outreach to strategic philanthropy (foundations) and high net worth individuals. 
• Represent Educate! as needed at funder and partner meetings and other external settings, including conferences and special events, to build our reputation and establish relationships to new funders and partners. 

Strategic projects and team support (25%)

Educate! is a fast-growing organization and we don’t know everything the coming years will bring. We are looking for a skilled generalist and team player who is happy to wear a variety of hats and tag in to support the team wherever there is a need. Some of the things we envision this role supporting include: 

• Continuously work to develop and build upon Educate!’s existing fundraising and relationship management systems, processes, and procedures to increase efficiency and move Educate! towards its revenue goals.
• Provide coaching for the fundraising team, helping junior-level teammates level up writing and communications and take on more ownership of proposals and reports, and troubleshoot and develop solutions to any problems as they arise within our systems and workflows.
• Build relationships with other Educate! teams and become an internal "expert" on specific products, solutions, or aspects of Educate!'s work.
• Work with the Director of External Relations to set and execute fundraising strategy towards the goal of Educate! becoming a $15-20M organization.

Qualifications 

This position is well-suited for those with 3-5 years of work experience. The ideal candidate will have: 

• Extremely strong written communication skills; experience editing and preparing engaging and nuanced content for external stakeholders.
• An understanding of how to adapt and tailor communications, both written and verbal, for a variety of different audiences and purposes.
• The ability to review, summarize and present a high volume of information quickly and accurately with advanced structuring, writing and editing skills.
• Strong verbal communication skills, including public speaking and project management/ team coordination, and social judgment for cultivating new and existing relationships with prospective donors and organizational partners.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to collaborate effectively on a wide variety of tasks and projects across teams with colleagues at all levels.
• Excellent organization and time management skills; experience working with a remote team to successfully manage multiple projects with competing timelines. 
• High degree of proficiency working in a fast-paced, flexible, goal-oriented environment, with the highest level of personal and professional integrity. 
• A self-starter, able to prioritize and manage multiple assignments and competing projects, take initiative, and work independently to a deadline.
• Prior experience living and working in Africa is a plus, as is an eagerness to spend time with our teams and programs in East Africa - at least a couple weeks a year. 

We’re also requiring for this position: 

• Bachelor’s degree (related area not necessary) 
• Native proficiency in spoken and written English 

Priority application deadline is February 6, 2023.