Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, October 22 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
VVOB is an international NGO with programmes and projects in 10 countries worldwide.
Hello! We’re excited to see you found your way to this job opening. That must mean you share our ambition to ensure learners around the world enjoy their fundamental human right to quality education, without exception. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
But first things first. Allow us to introduce ourselves, drawing on the great mystery behind our name. Since our establishment in 1982, ‘VVOB’ has evolved from a complex (Dutch) acronym to a stand-alone concept meaning education for development:
• VVOB stands for ‘commitment’ – to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
• VVOB stands for ‘integrity’ and ‘mutual respect’ – in working with our partner organisations across 10 countries / 3 continents.
• VVOB stands for ‘quality’ and ‘innovation’ – of everything we do in our effort to improve education worldwide.

Do you still feel like you’re in the right place? Great, because we’re hiring a Project Coordinator – Closing the learning gap Project for our VVOB country team in Zambia.
VVOB in Zambia:
In Zambia, VVOB is working in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE) since 1986. We are building capacity on Early Childhood Education (ECE), Primary School Level, and recently Out of school adolescents through the Digital School Programme.
Our key focus points in ECE are ‘Learning through Play’ and ‘Emergent Literacy.’ We are currently reaching two provinces with our work in ECE.
The evidence-based TaRL approach helps learners in Grades 3, 4 and 5 to develop basic reading and numeracy skills. TaRL (or Catch Up – as it is known in Zambia) now reaches more than five thousand primary schools and close to 800,000 learners spread over nine provinces.
Our ambition is to support MoE in scaling the ‘Learning through Play,’ ‘Emergent Literacy’ and ‘Teaching at the Right Level’ work. We are also working with the government to support out of school adolescents and school leadership.
Closing the Learning Gap – Piloting an Integrated Model for Foundational Learning in Zambia:
Despite significant gains in increasing access to primary education, Zambia is faced with a learning crisis. The latest grade 2 learning assessment demonstrated that only 4% were able to read at grade level (EGRA 2021 Report). Most learners progress through the school system without mastering the basic skills to learn increasingly more complex subject matter. This learning crisis undermines sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 focuses on the quality of learning, but progress so far has been too slow to meet the targets by 2030.
The proposed intervention will develop, implement and test an integrated approach to foundational learning, combining three evidence-informed components:
1. Structured pedagogy in early grades (piloted in grade 2). Structured pedagogy combines clear learning objectives, well-designed materials, teacher professional development and local community involvement.
2. Remediation in the early grades (piloted in grade 2), either through in-class differentiation or by providing extra support to children outside class, but during regular school hours. Strategies and materials for differentiation can be integrated into the structured pedagogy packages.
The intervention will be piloted in two districts in Eastern Province. In this province, Catch Up, the name for the contextualized version of TaRL in Zambia, has been implemented for several years, providing a good backdrop to test this integrated approach. The pilot will be implemented in 110 schools, reaching nearly 25,000 learners directly and 73000 learners indirectly. The pilot will initially focus on mathematics, and gradually expand to English literacy, aligned with the implementation of the new curriculum and language of instruction.
More specifically, as project Coordinator you are responsible for:
• Ensuring good project management, including amongst others: planning, budgeting, donor compliance, monitoring, donor reporting and a timely realization of key milestones and final Hempel project outcomes.
• Be the link between the VVOB management team, the Hempel Foundation technical team, ministry provincial and district teams, the MEAL team and the operations team for all Project activities. You ensure that all staff are involved, listened to, advised, supported and guided.
• Manage, advise, motivate and support colleagues of the project team in their work to contribute to project results.
• Identify and communicate relevant project-related information towards a wide range of stakeholders (partners, donors, internally).
• Work in close collaboration with the Education Manager to offer technical advice, guidance and support to facilitate capacity development and project results.

If you’re our Project Coordinator, your workweek at the office will include the following highlights:
• In the regular team meetings, you give an update on activities and status of implementation in your project, highlighting issues where you need guidance from colleagues, or an action to be taken by the central team.
• You work on the logistics planning for all the project related activities that include trainings, coaching visits and materials development workshops. Based on workload, you check with the operations manager if you can temporarily have extra support resources dedicated to your project.
• Lunch! A perfect time to have an informal exchange on best practices with VVOB colleagues in the Lusaka office.
• You schedule regular meetings with the province and district staff in Eastern province to support them on implementing project level activities and action plans from meetings.
• You prepare and present project deliverable during the Hempel Foundation Bi-annual steering committee meetings.
• You carry out joint monitoring with the PEO, PESO, EO-TED, or/and SPO to districts that have reported poor learning outcomes. You meet with the district officers and VVOB Education Advisors to identify challenges and come up with mitigations.
• You take part in online or physical meetings with technical experts from the Hempel Foundation and VVOB to co-design content and materials for upcoming trainings. You are well prepared with ideas based on your work in the field.

Still on board? You might just be the person we need… Read on for the specifics.
This is a national position, open to Zambian nationals.
Your expertise and experience
• Master’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent in field experience.
• At least 5 years of demonstrable experience in project coordination and project management (planning, budgeting, coordinating, monitoring, human resource management and report writing), preferably working on projects which strengthen government systems and structures.
• Hands-on experience in implementing structured pedagogy programs for early grades within the Zambian education system. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of the local context and proven success in enhancing early-grade learning outcomes through targeted pedagogical strategies.
• Experience with change management and capacity development processes in the context of educational systems.
• Good understanding of the education landscape in Zambia
• Excellent computer skills in a wide range of software
• At least 2 years working experience in the international development sector.
• Ability and willingness to travel frequently to the piloting province
• Experience with working in a multicultural team.
• Language skills: Fluent in English. Knowledge of local languages an advantage.
• Ability to inspire and motivate both VVOB’s provincial staff and MoE staff to put in their very best!

VVOB core competences:
• Result Orientation
• Continuous Improvement
• Cooperation
Function specific competencies:
• Communication Skills
• Planning and Organization
• 360° Empathy
• Agility
• Problem Analysis and Judgement

What we’re offering:
• A fixed- term contract
• 25% gratuity at year’s end
• In-patient and out-patient medical package for you and your legal dependents (as proven by marriage certificate and birth certificate(s))
• Education allowance for your legal children.
• Transport allowance and housing allowance in line with the Zambian employment legislation
• Supportive environment enabling continuous professional development
• An opportunity to work in a very well liked, evidence-based project aimed at ensuring that learners in Eastern province acquire foundational literacy and numeracy skills!

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Job application procedure
Interested in applying for this job? Click here to submit your application now.
What’s next?
• Submit your motivation letter and a detailed CV by e-mail no later than 31st October 2024 to recruitmentzambia@vvob.org .
• Shortlisted candidates will take a written test, go through an interview process and reference checks before a final offer.
• VVOB firmly believes that quality education can only be achieved if equity is ensured. Qualities of people prevail, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or disability.
• Is this not exactly the job you are looking for? Please have a look at our other vacancies at:
www.vvob.org/en/vacancies. 

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