Project Officer – Education:Garissa , Turkana

Catholic Relief Services – USCCB is the official agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for relief and development overseas.

CRS supports programs in over 100 countries and works through local partners.

We are seeking suitable persons to fill the following position.

All candidates require technical competencies in the respective areas, willingness to travel to the field frequently and a commitment to work with and support faith based partners of CRS many of whom are Catholic institutions

Job Title:

Project Officer – Education: Garissa (Ref. 2012/42)

Project Officer – Education: Turkana (Ref. 2012/43)

Job Purpose:

Reporting to the Senior Project Officer, the Project Officers-Education will work with APHIAplus, IMARISHA consortium partners, implementing partners (IPs) and the GOK to ensure APHIAplus IMARISHA Service Delivery on quality education for the marginalized, vulnerable and underserved populations including youth, PLHIVs and those on ARVs, orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

They will work with IPS, Consortium members through and with GOK structures at national, county, district and community levels to deliver on USAID/Kenya Strategic Goal for health: “Sustained improvement of health and well-being for all Kenyans”.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

The Project Officer-Education is responsible for coming up with strategies that would promote education as one of the key social determinants of health to improve the well-being of marginalized, poor and underserved populations in the APHIAplus IMARISHA target areas.

The following are specific Responsibilities:

• Liaise with Education Sector Stakeholders to design and implement interventions that improve the health of students and their families
• Support the formation and operationalization of school health clubs
• With other stakeholders, design and train the health clubs in child-to-child and child-to-parent communication on health and age appropriate health messages
• Develop a mentoring system in collaboration with school authorities especially targeting the girl child
• Support teacher orientation sessions on effective curriculum delivery integrating the Life Skills curriculum into other subject areas
• Engage with education support systems to promote life skills education
• Mobilize and support School Management Committees to develop strategies to ensure universal children access to good education and health
• Promote and encourage parents to bring their young children to ECD centers
• Ensure the children are healthy through the appropriate interventions
• Foster linkages with adult learning initiatives by GOK and other partners involved in vocational training
• Develop and implement strategies to build capacity of local partners and government staff to increase access to education
• Ensure that the specific needs of girls and boys, Children Living with Disabilities (CLWD) and child protection issues are addressed and that they are accessing education
• Liaise with relevant key stakeholders to share lessons learned and best practices from the project.
• Ensure proactive technical coordination and collaboration among implementing partners;
• Ensure regular monitoring and reporting of program implementation

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Requirements

• A university Degree in Education or other related relevant training
• 3-5 years experience implementing US Government-funded projects and worked in a development program as an education or training officer
• Knowledge and experience in education, life skill and literacy initiatives for highly marginalized children, youth and other marginalized populations.
• Sound knowledge and experience in project management including planning, budgeting and reporting
• Excellent analytical and computer skills (Microsoft office package and excel)
• Demonstrated ability to work with various teams and transfer skills and knowledge in various ways
• Excellent written, oral communication in Kiswahili and English
• Demonstrated ability foster integration in programming approach
• Excellent understating of GOK, USAID and CRS operating procedures
• A professional with high personal integrity and commitment

Written applications indicating the reference number of position applied for on the email subject line and CV including day-time contact phone numbers, as well as names and contact information of three references should reach the below-mentioned by Close of Business June 11, 2012.

Human Resources Manager
Catholic Relief Services – Kenya Program;

E-mail: hr@ke.earo.crs.org

Only Short listed candidates will be contacted