Education Cluster Coordinator - Ukraine Education Cluster

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Ukraine Country Office

LOCATION: Kyiv, Ukraine

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: 

Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The ‘cluster approach’ was adopted by the IASC as a key strategy to address the gaps in humanitarian response. UNICEF and Save the Children (SC) were designated as Co-Leads of the Global Education Cluster. At country level, the aim of the cluster approach is to strengthen humanitarian response by demanding high standards of predictability, accountability and partnership in all sectors or areas of activity, by clarifying the division of labour among organizations and better defining their roles and responsibilities within the different sectors of the response. It aims to make the international humanitarian community better organised and more accountable and professional, so that it can be a better partner for the affected people, host governments, local authorities, local civil society and resourcing partners.

The Cluster Coordinator is a core Cluster Coordination team member.   

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

On behalf of Save the Children, the purpose of this post is to lead the Cluster team and ensure that the Cluster performs its 6 core functions.   

Reports to: The Ukraine Country Director 

Staff reporting to this post:  to be determined

Budget Responsibilities: none

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY : 

Cluster Coordination (based on Humanitarian Programme Cycle and cluster core functions supporting service delivery, contribute to HC/HCT strategic decision-making, develop cluster strategies, monitor and evaluate performance, advocacy, build national capacity in preparedness and response) 

• Overall responsibility of leadership of the Education Cluster (co-leadership with UNICEF as applicable); 
• Define, with Cluster Lead Agencies, an appropriate structure and funding needs for the Cluster set-up at national and sub-national level; 
• Lead Education Cluster meetings and provide high standard representation of the Cluster in inter-cluster coordination meetings; 
• Ensure clear and effective communication occurs between the national and sub-national clusters and amongst cluster partners, including that information from other clusters is made available to cluster members in order to improve planning, integration and implementation.
• Lead a transparent and consultative process for the development of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle documents and the Education cluster strategy including the following steps: 
  1. Identification of Education Cluster needs with a specific focus on the needs of marginalized children, including those with disabilities, those hard to reach and those discriminated by gender or other issues   (utilizing secondary data and coordinating education specific needs assessments to inform sector response planning); 
  2. Strenghten the quality of the response, including through the harmonisation of response activities (ensuring that activities prevent overlap and duplication) and lead on the formulation of a sector-wide interagency response plan, taking into account the cross-cutting areas from other sectors or clusters;
  3. Lead the process of identification on Education Cluster common standards and guidelines that contribute to enhance the quality of the response and ensure cluster members are aware of relevant minimum standards, policies and guidelines that apply to all agencies;
  4. Define Education Cluster funding requirements based on partners? contributions and/or activity based costings;
• Draw upon the Education Cluster Strategy and facilitate partners?engagement in the development of Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Response Plan; 
• Monitor and report on activities and needs, including measuring progress against the cluster strategy objectives, enhancing quality as well as recommending corrective action where necessary; 
• Represent the Education Cluster and undertake advocacy through/to HC, HCT the broader humanitarian community, donors and Government to ensure education is prioritized in the humanitarian response; 
• Secure funding commitments to the Education Cluster from bilateral/multilateral donors, including pooled funding mechanism, ensure that members are aware of funding opportunities and track cluster members fundraising for Education specific interventions; 
• Engage with Government, as applicable, and Development Partners to identify opportunities for Humanitarian-Development Nexus entry points and alignment, move to early recovery and plan an exit strategy for the cluster; 
• Identify capacity needs and learning and training opportunities for Education cluster members and Government (as applicable) and develop a capacity development plan drawing upon Global Education Cluster and other key stakeholder support that includes preparedness, technical and institutional capacity enhancement.

Thematic Areas of Save the Children value add as Education Cluster Co-Lead Agency: 

• Mainstream localization, by encouraging participation and representation of local partners in membership and decision-making mechanisms, and identifying and addressing their institutional capacity gaps.
• Ensure that children are engaged in all stages of the HPC and that the cluster and members have systems to institutionalise this; 
• Ensure that child safeguarding is addressed by the Education Cluster membership; 
• Lead the engagement with the Child Protection Area of Responsibility and identification of areas for joint collaboration between CPiE and EiE  

General:

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
• Display neutrality and act as the representative of all Education Cluster members.
• Develop and maintain a strong and positive relationship with UNICEF, our Education Cluster co-leads.
• Develop and maintain a strong and positive relationship with Cluster partners in country and colleagues at regional and global levels.

Role requires frequent and complex interactions with UN agencies, government, civil society partners, donors, and liaison with the Humanitarian Country Team and the inter-cluster working group. Requires excellent leadership and relationships building skills, analytical and conceptual thinking; and ability to work in high pressure environments, with limited supervision.

BEHAVIOURS

Leading and Inspiring Others (leading and inspiring others, delivering results)

Engaging (Networking, communicating with impact, working effectively with others)

Thinking (Problem solving and decision making, applying technical and professional expertise)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved
• Demonstrates commitment and accountability to the Cluster, partners and affected populations and independence from employing organisation

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and the Education Cluster, embedded in the Cluster Strategy and Humanitarian Response Plans 
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and represents Education Cluster ambitious goals to others, engaging and motivating others to contribute to these goals

Collaboration:

• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength and makes a specific effort to engage and build the capacity of local partners 
• Builds and maintains effective relationships with Cluster Partners and a wide range of stakeholders, from Humanitarian actors, Government counterparts and donors. 
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to. 

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions to Education Cluster identified needs, by identifying individual organizations? innovations and supporting experience sharing amongst cluster partners 

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS  

• University degree, preferably at an advanced level, in a subject area relevant to education, international relations/policies, coordination management;
• Formal training in cluster coordination (Global Education Cluster, Core 1 of the Core Coordination Skills Training) is desirable. 

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential:

Experience:

• At least 8 years progressively responsible work experience with UN, government and/or NGO, including in a humanitarian context
• Significant experience in a senior management role/cluster coordination in an emergency response/fragile state including field operations 
• Proven experience in leading strategy development and humanitarian response planning processes that focus on the needs of the hardest to reach and most marginalized children 

Experience applying relevant interagency humanitarian frameworks and standards in education in emergencies (for example INEE Minimum Standards) 

Skills:

• Politically and culturally sensitive with excellent interpersonal, communication and diplomatic skills 
• Effective negotiator, with the ability to positively influence investments and prioritization of the education sector in the humanitarian response 
• Solid project management skills related to program development cycle with a proven history of delivering results
• Demonstrable ability to work and represent views across different stakeholders taking part in the Education Cluster
• A high level of written and spoken English.

Knowledge

• Draw on knowledge of EiE concepts, issues, innovations, INEE minimum standards and Global Education Cluster tools to drive strategic-level discussions and inform standards and practices
• Knowledge of the IASC Cluster System and recent humanitarian reform developments, including the Transformative Agenda and Grand Bargain
• Understanding of the Country-based Pool Funds (CBPFs); Education Cannot Wait (ECW)) and other funding mechanisms
• Knowledge of information management processes within the cluster system

Other:

• Demonstrated commitment to Humanitarian Principles and the Principles of Partnership
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.

Desirable:

Previous experience in Cluster Coordination roles 

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities 

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.