District Inclusion and Social Support Coordinators x2 - Chance for Childhood

Chance for Childhood believes that no child?should have to fight for a safe, happy childhood. We exist to ensure that every child in Africa can thrive from their early years through to adulthood. Together with partners, supporters, children and their communities, we protect, educate and create lasting change for every child threatened by violence, neglect and conflict.

We specialise in ensuring access to inclusive education and safe spaces so that children can play, grow, learn and thrive. We are a Ghanaian NGO that belongs to the Chance for Childhood family registered in the UK.

Job Description

• Job title: District Inclusion and Social Support Coordinators (2)
• Reporting to: Inclusion and Social Support Specialist/Project Manager 
• Salary: GHC 48,000 per annum, 
• Job type: Fixed term (4years), full-time(40 hours per week) 
• Location: Lot 1 (Gusheigu,Mion,Karaga,) / Lot 2 ( Kpandai, Bimbila, Wulensi)

Purpose of the role

We are seeking two outstanding professionals to support the implementation of the social inclusion component under the Ghana transformED Partnership payment by result initiative. The GED Partnership is an ambitious partnership with the Ghana Ministry of Education and Education Outcomes Fund to deliver a payment-by-results programme targeted at improving access and quality in primary education for Ghanaian children living in the Northern Region. 

The primary purpose of this appointment is to coordinate the project delivery at the district and community level of the outcomes-led Ghana TransformED consortium project with a primary target delivery area in the Northern Region. The $3.2m education outcome fund programme runs 1) a primary school improvement component for 100 schools, and 2) an accelerated learning programme component for 10,000 out-of-school children. It pays only on the basis of outcomes -principally literacy and numeracy improvement compared to control schools, and placement and retention of children in school. 

Key Responsibilities

Programme management (60%) 

• Coordinate the implementation of the inclusion and social support component of the GED Partnership consortium for the rural lot 1 and 2 at the district/community level working closely with implementation partners and collaborative partners to ensure strong coordination and accountability; 
• Lead the Inclusion and Social Support team at the district and community level to carry out the following.
  • Mapping out of the relevant working zones (Communities, schools) for social support aides.
  • Coordinating community/stakeholder engagement sessions at the regional/district levels to stimulate enrolment and retention oof out of school children
  • Maintaining healthy relationships between the project and stakeholders at the district/community level to ensure their buy-in, closing the feedback loop.
  • Supervising social support aides to provide intensive individualised in-school support to promote the placement, progress, and retention of students in government basic schools within the project jurisdiction.
  • Supervising social support aides to track students using a Standard Operating Procedure [SOP] for placement into partner schools, and supervision of attendance and achievement, including gender-sensitive protocols for placement of girls, including reducing risks of danger on routes to, from, and in school, and provision of safeguarding structures and systems to reduce risks of Gender Based Violence [GBV].
  • Supporting the social support aides to train teachers to recognise and refer at-risk students for social support, using indicators such as attendance, conduct, comprehension, disruptiveness, time of departure, and degree of responsibility – in collaboration with Ghana Education Services [GES].
  • Supporting social support aides to work with at-risk students by conducting a comprehensive assessment of the student and work with the student, their caregiver, and their teacher to ascertain affecting causes and collaborate on strategies to support their attendance and achievement
• Develop and monitor implementation of district-level project work plans for the inclusion and social support sub-component under the GED partnership programme
• Lead in the preparation of progress reports for the inclusion and social support sub-component under the GED partnership programme.
• Support the identification and sharing of key programme learning across Education Outcomes Fund projects, utilising this to support the continued strengthening of programme impact. 

Operations, HR and Organizational Development (40%)

• Support in the recruitment of social support aides to be deployed to work in the project catchment communities.
• Line manage the social support aides working in assigned districts and communities to effectively deliver project outcomes. quality and accountability in programme implementation. 
• Ensure that project records are well maintained through filing appropriately the correspondence and any important documents. In a bid to support a paperless office, all important correspondence shall be saved in image on SharePoint in the appropriate folders.
• Actively participate in team meetings, teamwork plans, adopt team spirit, take responsibility for action items assigned, and provide feedback as needed.
• Represent Chance for Childhood on the consortium and external meetings and events as requested
• Perform any other duties commensurate with the level of the post, as may be required

Required Skills or Experience

• The candidate should have at least a first degree or diploma in social work, community development, education, social science, or any other relevant field of study related to the post.
• A minimum of 4 years of experience in delivering on the key responsibilities for this position is required. 
• Experience working in a local NGO or Development Agency within the education sector is required.
• Knowledge and skills in the application of social inclusion and child safeguarding models are required.
• Working knowledge of technical approaches to driving learning and access to education is desirable.
• Project management skills and working knowledge of MEL approach in education is desirable;
• Experience working with stakeholders/communities within one or more of the regions/districts (ie Northern, Savannah and North East regions and Gusheigu, Mion, Karaga, Kpandai, Bimbila and Wulensi districts) is required.
• Ability to speak fluently one or more of the following languages (ie Dagbani, Nanumba, Komkomba, Guan) is required. 
• The ability to ride a motor bicycle with a valid license is required.