Education Specialist-GPE

Job #: req13617

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Education

Grade: GF

Term Duration: 2 years 0 months

Recruitment Type: International Recruitment

Location: Washington, DC,United States or Paris, France

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s): Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and French

Closing Date: 11/28/2021 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Are you a passionate advocate for education? Do you want to make a difference in the lives of children in the world’s poorest countries? The Global Partnership for Education Secretariat (GPE) would like to hear from you.

Who we are

GPE is a shared commitment to end the world’s learning crisis. It is the only global partnership and fund dedicated entirely to helping children in lower-income countries get a quality education, so they can unlock their potential and contribute to building a better world.

We bring together governments, teachers, civil society, donors, United Nations agencies, development banks, businesses and private foundations to achieve our shared vision that every child deserves to learn.

What we do

GPE currently supports 76 low- and lower-middle-income countries to transform their education systems so that all children can get the education they need to thrive. We work where the needs are greatest and focus on reaching the children who are the most vulnerable, including girls, children with disabilities and those who live in countries characterized by extreme poverty or conflict.

How we work

Transforming education is about creating lasting changes and achieving impact at scale. GPE’s new strategic plan, GPE 2025, sets out to deliver this transformative change by convening partners, mobilizing funds and catalyzing reforms to help partner countries get more girls and boys in school, improve teaching and learning, and build equitable, inclusive and resilient education systems fit for the 21st century.

Our unique approach works. Since 2002, 160 million more children in GPE partner countries have set foot in classrooms for the first time, more than half of them girls. In 2020, GPE was also the largest provider of education grants in the global COVID-19 response, rapidly providing partner countries with vital resources to ensure that learning could safely continue.

Raise Your Hand

In July 2021, the Global Education Summit raised a record US$4 billion from donors for GPE’s Raise Your Hand campaign. This put GPE firmly on the path to achieving its fundraising target of at least $5 billion over the next five years to transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories. At the Summit, Heads of State and Government from partner countries made historic commitments to domestic education financing and GPE also mobilized an unprecedented number of pledges from businesses, private foundations and development banks.

A fully funded GPE would enable up to 175 million children to learn and help get 88 million more girls and boys in school by 2025. In the longer term, this investment could add $164 billion to economies in GPE partner countries, lift 18 million people out of poverty, and protect 2 million girls from early marriage.

Governance and organizational arrangements

The GPE Board of Directors includes ministerial-level board members and alternates representing 20 constituencies that reflect the Partnership’s breadth. The Board Chair is HE President Jakaya Kikwete and the Board Vice Chair is Dr Susan Liautaud. The Board of Directors, with its three standing committees, provides policy and strategic oversight and approves or delegates funding decisions.

The GPE Secretariat, with over 120 employees and hosted by the World Bank, is responsible for translating the policies and strategies set by the Board into practical support for partner countries, coordinating with diverse stakeholders and galvanizing global support for SDG4. The Secretariat’s headquarters are in the World Bank’s offices in Washington, D.C. and the European office is in Paris with a satellite office in Brussels. This is an international recruitment subject to compensation on the local pay scale for the selected duty station, and global mobility benefits may apply as per World Bank Group policy.

Location

With over 100 staff, the GPE secretariat is hosted by the World Bank and has headquarters in Washington D.C and Paris plus an office in Brussels. The selected applicant may be based in the Washington, DC or the Paris, France office. This is an international recruitment subject to compensation on the local pay scale for the selected duty station, and global mobility benefits may apply as per World Bank Group policy.

Country Engagement and Policy Team (CEP)

CEP acts as GPE Secretariat’s primary relationship coordinator with country partners. We support national evidence-informed policy dialogue at country level, including on the development and implementation of inclusive Education Sector Plans, Partnership Compacts, Joint Sector Reviews, etc. to accelerate transformative progress in policy priorities. The CEP Team is comprised of three Regional Country Support teams, the Education, Policy and Learning team and the Strategy and Coordination team. The regional teams comprise a group of Senior Country Education Specialists (‘Country Team Leads – CTLs), who each lead on the relationship with and support to a portfolio of countries with Education Specialists, and other Secretariat’s teams/staff (Monitoring officers, Thematic Leads, etc.).

The Secretariat currently has a need for Education Specialist (ES) positions. Working closely with the CTLs, and other teams, their roles are to promote evidence-informed and broad sector policy dialogue to drive education system transformation in a dedicated portfolio. As needed and when appropriate, the ES may be asked to play a Country Team Lead. Such opportunities are not inherent to the role and will be discussed case by case with the Country Team Lead, the Regional Manager, and the Hiring Manager. The Education Specialists will also champion a crosscutting gender lens in all operations and programs and support diversity and inclusion in all team initiatives.

Duties and Accountabilities

As part of the Country Teams, the ES provide technical and operational support to the Secretariat’s country-facing activities and provide back-up support to CTLs in country-level work.

Therefore, as a member of Country Teams or as a CTL, the successful candidates will support the following duties:

• Relationship management with country partners, including ministries, civil society, development partners including grant agents, coordinating agencies, and knowledge institutions.
• Communicate effectively the key messages of GPE 2025 and processes of the Operating Model to country partners.
• Support the country political and technical leadership for system transformation and help to sustain dialogue for change.
• Support government-led and broad policy dialogue, sector policy planning and learning, adaptation and course correction through sector planning, monitoring, and reporting, and joint sector reviews or other joint review mechanisms.
• Facilitate country level dialogue on GPE funding model requirements and support assigned countries in accessing GPE grants and other strategic resources (Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KiX) , Education Out Loud (EoL) and Strategic Capabilities).
• Provide guidance to country actors in the development and implementation of the Compact.
• Participate in Secretariat’s quality assurance process and monitoring of GPE grants under the 2015-2020 and new operating model.

In close collaboration with the EPL, the ES will also:

• Develop in-depth knowledge and understanding of the education sector in countries supported as assigned, including through country analytics.
• Support processes to use GPE’s Results Framework analytics and Operational Risk Framework to identify priority actions and strategies to achieve progress on GPE’s country-level priorities in assigned countries.
• Guided by the GPE guidelines and analytics, support countries to monitor and review the sector strategy’s implementation, and reinforce sector monitoring mechanisms
• Support evidence dissemination and uptake foster informed decision-making practices and knowledge sharing, as well as promote peer-learning among partners.

Additional Responsibilities

The ES have direct responsibility for the following tasks when relevant for an assigned country or Secretariat function:

• Support data compilation and analysis on sector strategies and countries’ compacts for the GPE Results Framework and peer learning.
• Ensure that knowledge of assigned countries’ education sector is shared with appropriate colleagues and recorded for archives.
• Provide highlights on country-facing activities, and issues related to assigned countries for the Secretariat and Board.
• Support the regular updating of country pages on GPE website.
• Ensure consistency in messaging and requests from the Secretariat to partner countries, and briefing materials for GPE’s management and Board.
• Facilitate timely and smooth communication with other teams, data management, tracking, and reporting of compact and grant related actions.
• Represent CEP in Secretariat task teams, reference groups, and internal/external meetings as appropriate.

Moreover, the Education specialist will support the Regional Managers in developing and supervising the team workplans. One of the successful applicants will report to the Regional Manager for Africa 1&3 team (Anglophone Africa) and the other to the Manager for the Rest of the World (non-Africa regions).

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in education or related field, including training and experience in program and data management and analysis.
• At least five years’ experience in a similar function focused on program development, management, and reporting.
• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: Financing and management of education systems, education planning, education in fragile contexts, girls’ education, inclusive education, teacher development, or other areas relevant to the work of the Global Partnership.
• Excellent interpersonal social skills, with track record ability to work in a team and intercultural environment.
• Ability to work independently and to work efficiently in teams.
• Willingness to work in a complex environment and travel to support country level processes.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Highly organized at both the task and project level.
• Capacity to communicate clearly and accurately in English, both verbally and in writing
• Working proficiency in Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, and French are also of value
• Working experiences in international organizations or in country partners of GPE are of value.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

Please, indicate in your cover letter your first choice in term of the region that you want to work with as well as your main area of expertise in education.

Staff Mobility

Term appointments include, but are not limited to, medical benefits, including dental and vision, Staff Retirement Plan, financial assistance program, life & disability insurance, comprehensive leave policy (minimum 26 days/annum) and parental leave policy (50-100 days).

Diversity and inclusion statement

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

GPE has a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in line with its PSEAH policy.

Individuals with disabilities may be provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential functions of the role and support in receiving other workplace accommodations. Please contact the DAF-Disability Accommodation Fund at [email protected] for further information and support.

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

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