Program Manager, Girls’ Education and Gender Equality

Job Description

Position:                               Program Manager, Girls’ Education and Gender Equality, Vietnam

Type of employment:                   Full time

Location:                                    Hanoi and frequent travel to other provinces

Expected to start:                        March 2022

Organization Profile:

Room to Read is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, our innovative model focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools during two time periods that are most critical in a child’s schooling: early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. We work in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls can complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions. By focusing on the quality of education provided within the communi-ties and ensuring these outcomes are measured, we have created a model that can be replicated, localized and sustained by governments. Room to Read has benefited 16.8 million children across over 37,000 communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia. Learn more at www.roomtoread.org.

In Vietnam, Room to Read has been providing educational support in 20 years, establishing our presence in 35 provinces.

Position Overview:

Based in Hanoi, the Girls’ Education Program (GEP) Manager leads the program’s strategic partnerships with national Government stakeholders to integrate the program components in the education system and increase program scale and sustainability. The GEP Manager closely engages with national government and other stakeholders, increases the organization’s thought leadership in gender equality and girls’ education in the country, and oversees the design and delivery of high-quality scale-up initiatives. 

This position will also support GEP direct implementation in the provinces through enhancing national Government’s engagement and providing advice and feedback on the design, contextualization, and continuous improvement of curricula and program materials where appropriate.  The GEP Program Manager reports directly to the Country Director and collaborates closely with the GEP Senior Program Manager and Program Operations Director. This position is also a member of the Country Management Team (CMT) and coordinates with other functions’ heads, contributing to the country strategy planning and execution.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Scale-up initiatives leadership (60%)

• Work with the GEP team and CMT in Vietnam to identify opportunities for new projects supporting GEP scale and integration in the education system in key areas, including mentoring and gender-transformative life-skills, and lead all aspects of the project design, budgeting and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and scaling in collaboration with the identified national Government partner and internal Room to Read program teams and functions.
• Recommend appropriate staffing arrangement for scale-up initiatives, as and when relevant, track and analyze scale initiatives’ results and propose relevant solutions to maximize scale and integration results.
• Serve as a liaison in the strategic GEP scale-up conversations between Room to Read Vietnam, Southeast Asia region and the Global Office in San Francisco.
• Provide input and support business development opportunities in collaboration with the global Development team as related to donor engagement, reporting, and proposal writing for scale-up projects.

Direct implementation support and advice (20%)

• Through close collaboration with the GEP Senior Program Manager, Program Operations Director and Northern Field Manager, provide support and advice for GEP direct implementation in the areas of national Government engagement, technical support, capacity building, contextualization, monitoring, and evaluation as well as suggest improvements in program design, when appropriate.
• Provide support and advice, where relevant, to increase/incorporate greater gender sensitivity and enhance gender equality outcomes of the program, including curriculum development, contextualization, and pilot of boy inclusion in Vietnam.

Knowledge sharing & coordination (20%)

• Support the creation of knowledge-sharing systems to facilitate communication and learning in terms of national and sub-national Government engagement, integration of program components in the education system, and advocacy.
• Identify and take part in conferences, roundtable discussions, coalitions and other fora advancing mentoring, life skills, girls’ education, and gender equality in Vietnam.
• Represent Room to Read internally and externally to share our work and advocate for our programs, traveling extensively in Vietnam to support programmatic needs as needed.
• Collaborate across Room to Read departments (Program Operations, People Operations, Finance, Research, Monitoring & Evaluation, Development & Communications, etc.) in routine program planning, budgeting, monitoring, and reporting processes, including participating in regular calls with other departments.
• Participate in regular CMT calls and meetings and 1:1s with the Country Director as well as offer 1:1 meetings support to direct reports.
• Contribute to and complete other tasks and projects as a member of the CMT.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a related field of study, e.g. education, gender equality, international relations, or related development field.
• A minimum of 10 years of related professional experience in the international development field, with at least five years specifically on overseeing and managing programs in the field of education and/or gender equality.
• Experience working with government, multi-lateral institutions, and civil society in Vietnam.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Experience in supporting staff through direct and dotted lines of management, and prior success working and building relationships with diverse groups of people
• Experience delivering trainings as a lead trainer or technical coach and/or developing training materials
• Experience in program design and/or developing technical program content and curriculum
• Ability to travel extensively.

Preferred:

• Significant experience and/or knowledge of governmental policies and priorities, institutional partnership mechanism, and strong networking in the education sector
• Strong in both program and instructional design and possess effective facilitation skills.
• Experience managing projects and programs funded and implemented by a variety of bi-lateral, multi-lateral and private sector institutions
• Prior experience in a fast-paced, growth-oriented global or regional organization

To be successful as a member of the Room to Read team, you will also:

• Have a passion for education, gender equality, life skills and mentoring.
• Be an innovative and creative thinker; you’re not afraid to try something new and inspire others to do so
• Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness
• Have a strong work ethic and require minimal direction
• Work well independently as well as part of a team
• Thrive in a fast-paced and fun environment

Compensation:

Room to Read offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, fun, and rapidly growing organization that is transforming the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.

Application Procedure:

Qualified candidates are invited to apply here or refer career section at our website www.roomtoread.org You will be asked to complete an online application and upload your resume and cover letter.

Due to high applicant volume, we regret that we are not able to send personalized responses to all applicants. Applications are accepted until the position is filled.

Room to Read is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds. Room to Read is a child-safe organization; all personnel are expected to adhere to Room to Read’s Child Protection Policy and Child Protection Code of Conduct.