Job description
Under the direct supervision of the Education Project Officer in Kirkuk and with technical supervision from the Education Program Manager in Erbil, the Education and Psychosocial – Assistant Project Officer (APO) is responsible for supporting CRS’ education and psychosocial projects in Kirkuk. Responsibilities will include (1) administrative, financial, logistical, and clerical tasks in support of education projects, and (2) providing support to the PO in liaising with the schools to organize caregiver engagement activities, trainings, peer-learning circles among teachers, and other programmatic activities, and (3) providing support to the monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) functions of the Education team.
Program/Admin Support:
- Provide logistical and administrative support for key program activities including teacher trainings, peer learning circles, school family events, and parent committee meetings, as well as school repairs, upgrades and furniture deliveries.
- Assist in coordination with Human Resources for timesheet submission and other HR needs.
- For procurement of and payment for project materials and inputs, prepare necessary requests and documentation, and coordinate closely with procurement and finance departments to ensure timely delivery and payments.
- Maintain file tracking system, updating file listings, labeling, archiving, and ensuring organization, confidentiality and safekeeping of files.
- Take notes in meetings, ensuring accurate documentation and agenda.
- Perform translation of correspondence, and documents, reports, and presentations.
Program Activities:
- Support PO in ensuring day-to-day program activities are implemented according to the program Detailed Implementation Plan
- Support PO in establishing and maintaining strong working relationship with school directors and staff
- Support PO in collaborating with school directors to engage parents in the school and their children’s education;
- Support PO in organization, delivery, and follow up of trainings within the education and psychosocial domains to diverse audiences.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning:
- Support ongoing Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) activities, in accordance with the project’s MEAL plan with a particular emphasis on documenting successes, challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities
- Support the collection, analysis and storage of project data
- Support synthesizing and analysis of project data for purposes of project review and decision making
- Support gathering of beneficiary concerns and complaints through two-way communication with beneficiaries upon request of PO and in coordination with MEAL team.
- Support and contribute to related activities including technical assessments, satisfaction surveys, project monitoring, reporting, project baseline and final evaluations, and project review meetings.
Program Reporting and Compliance:
- Support PO in the timely preparation of high quality donor reports, quarterly performance indicator tracking tables, as well as other reports needed/required by the local government, donors, clusters, the region or headquarters as per reporting schedule.
Partnership and external representation
- Support the PO in establishing and maintaining strong working relationships with local partners
- Build and maintain relationships with beneficiary communities; contribute to maintenance of relationships with other relevant stakeholders such as community members and local leaders.
Programmatic Growth
- Actively participate in the design and implementation of new initiatives that would improve the existing and future projects.
Internal Coordination and Communication:
- Take part in regular team and staff meetings
- Identify personal areas for growth so as to engage in continuous learning
- Adhere and remain compliant at all times with CRS policies and procedures
Qualifications & Preferred Skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills with a strong beneficiary/local partner-service focus
- Willingness to learn and develop MEAL-related competencies and skills
- Ability to communicate clearly and professionally
- Ability to problem solve and adapt to changing scenarios
- Ability to work with diverse groups of people as a member of multi-cultural teams
- Ability to prioritize work, multitask and control processes
- Ability to work diligently and independently
- Ability to work in a team work environment and coordinate team work
- Ability to work under pressure with short deadlines
- Maturity, diplomacy, tact, and discretion
- Ability to remain calm and professional in tense situations
- University degree preferred in Education, business, English, or related field.
- 3 years’ experience in Education or general NGO work
- Excellent writing and communication skills in English, Kurdish and Arabic
- Strong cross-cultural skills and experience working with different ethnic/cultural backgrounds.
- Proven ability to multi-task and meet deadlines.
- Proficiency with Microsoft suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Ability to work in a team environment
- Experience working with children and educators a plus.
- Strong desire to engage with the education sector and continuously improve personal skill set.
- Normal physical strength required to move and carry up to 10 kilograms of weight.
Foreign Languages Required:
- Fluency in English, Arabic, and Kurdish (written and spoken)
