Context :

Plan International is an independent non-profit development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Role purpose :

Plan International is one of the largest international actors responding to the Anglophone crisis in the North-West, South-West, Littoral, and West regions in Cameroon; implementing projects across a variety of sectors. Plan International is looking to continue supporting vulnerable children – particularly girls – and assess how Plan can further expand the way these girls and boys are supported through education. Therefore, to help Plan International explore the possibilities of supporting girls and boys through education, Plan is seeking an Education in Emergencies (EiE) Specialist to help lead Plan’s role and response in the education sector.

Dimensions of the role :

The role will involve the following responsibilities:

• To support the development, and lead the conduction, of education assessments across the North-West, South-West, Littoral, and West regions of Cameroon;
• To help set up Plan International’s education projects in the North-West, South-West, Littoral, and West regions of Cameroon;
• To support with the coordination of the education response. This will include representing Plan International in external meetings on, or related to, education;
• To have and provide valuable knowledge and analysis for Plan International’s EiE Specialist to help with the strategic direction of Plan International’s EiE response;
•  To collaborate closely with Plan International’s Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) team to ensure CPiE is fully integrated into the EiE response; and
• To support with EiE project proposal design, including support with developing project narratives, logframes, and budgets;
•  Provide technical input into reports for donors, Government and partners. Collaborate with M&E team and programme staff on producing SitReps and EiE indicators monitoring and sharing with Regional Office.

Accountabilities  :

The successful candidate will be expected to work closely with the EiE Project Managers/Coordinators and other EiE staff. He will also work closely with CPiE colleagues to ensure that child protection is a fully integrated part of Plan International’s EiE activities. Finally, the successful candidate will also be expected to form positive, productive, and friendly working relationships with all other colleagues to ensure that Plan’s EiE activities are well coordinated as part of Plan’s overall humanitarian response.

The successful candidate will provide leadership for the work carried out in the position of EiE and will report to the ERM.

This role will have the following expectations in terms of deliverables:

•  Help design and lead in the implementation of a soundly-designed education rapid needs assessment across the NW and SW of Cameroon;
• Help develop an assessment report on the educational needs of children in the NW and SW of Cameroon;
• Lead in the development of an education risk assessment for the NW and SW of Cameroon;
• Support the development of a Plan International EiE strategy for the NW and SW of Cameroon;
• Support the development of a Plan International EiE strategy for the Littoral and West of Cameroon;
• Support the development of education project proposals to key donors

The candidate will also:

Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CPP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Key relationships :

The successful candidate will ensure that strong and positive relationships are developed throughout the organisation. They will work closely with CPiE colleagues, as well as support staff in HR, logistics, and finance. Furthermore he will act as an EiE focal point for senior management such as Deputy Emergency Response Managers and to the overall Emergency Response Manager. He may also be required to work with colleagues in the Country Office and develop strong relationships remotely over mediums such as Skype and WhatsApp.

The post will also involve acting as an ambassador for Plan International – representing Plan at external meetings on, or linked to, education. This will involve interacting with donors, UN agencies, and other NGOs. The candidate will act professionally at all times both in and out of work with the realisation that as they represent Plan, this reflects on Plan’s overall reputation within the humanitarian community.

Finally, the successful candidate will importantly form extremely positive, professional, and friendly relationships with the communities Plan works for and supports. Recognising that trust and collaboration with local communities is the basis of successful programming. Relationships with schools, school staff, parents, and children will be essential for this role and the candidate will follow, at all times, Plan International procedures when visiting schools and the wider community.

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge :

• A university degree in Education or related field;
• Experience of working with children directly;
• An understanding of child safeguarding;
• Experience in the field of education in emergency is required, preferably in conflict affected and fragile situations. Previous work experience in early childhood education is an asset. Ability to learn quickly and adapt the experience/lessons learnt   in other emergency settings to the Far North Cameroon emergency response context. Knowledge of Education in Emergencies Minimum Standards (INEE);
• Strong Experience in education project management, monitoring and supervision;
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the organizations, under stressful situations;
• Excellent capacity in facilitating training and preparing user friendly manuals and toolkits;
• Has strong networking, team spirit, and partnership-building skills;
• Willing to adapt with new working environment, new challenges, colleagues and work;
• Fluent spoken and written French and English;
• Extremely confident with written English and experience of producing long pieces of writing in English;
• Proven commitment to Plan’s International efforts for gender equality and inclusion of children with disability;
• Proven commitment to participatory, child centered approaches;
• Demonstrated assertiveness and able to remains calm and positive under pressure and in difficult situations.
• Well-developed organisational and planning skills; and
• Punctuality is essential.

Skills :

• Excellent written and spoken English with French an advantage;
• Demonstrated ability to network and liaise with major Education donors including Irish Aid, UNICEF, ECHO;
• Excellent project design, participatory monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Excellent communication skills: well argued plans for response that can be justified and delivered, persuasive of others;
• Ability to work independently and as a team player who demonstrates leadership and is able to support and train local and international staff and also able to work with disaster affected communities in a sensitive and participatory manner;
• Excellent negotiation, representation, skills and the ability to work comfortably with an ethnically diverse staff in a very sensitive environment;
• Ability to operate at advanced levels of authority and manage significant activities, budgets, and resources to produce and take responsibility for results;
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work cooperatively.
• Proven ability to solve problems independently without direct supervision;
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team;
• Strong organizational and work prioritization skills and attention to detail;
• Good facilitation skills and ability to deliver induction briefing/training;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively at all levels, and to maintain this under pressure;
• Ability to work with limited supervision from line manager.

Behaviours :

• Commitment and adherence to humanitarian values and standards;
• Willing to make rapid decisions even with inadequate information but ready to reflect and adjust course of action if necessary;
• Focussed  and striving for the delivery of programme;
• Cross-culturally agile;
• Aware of own strengths, weaknesses and pro-active in using feedback and self-development;
• Aware of impact on others and uses impact to create positive climate at work;
• Works with trustworthiness and integrity and has a clear commitment to PLAN’s core values and humanitarian principles
• Resilience/Adaptability and flexibility: Ability to operate effectively under extreme circumstances including stress, high security risks and harsh living conditions. Works and lives with a flexible, adaptable and resilient manner;
• Awareness and sensitivity of self and others: Demonstrates awareness and sensitivity to gender and diversity. Have experience and the ability to live and work in diverse cultural contexts in a culturally appropriate manner Has a capacity to make accurate self-assessment particularly in high stress and high security contexts;
• Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive under pressure.
• Preparedness to live and work in uncertain security environments.
• Experience working in conflict or emergency-affected areas (or other situations where insecurity and corruption can be big issues)
• Commitment to and skills in capacity building – together with the ability to assess and coach others.

Plan international’s values in practice :

We are open and accountable :

1. Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors;
2. Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity;
3. Consistent and fair in the treatment of people;
4. Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them;
5. Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people.

We strive for lasting impact :

1. Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations;
2. Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas;
3. Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
4. Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together :

1. Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate;
2. Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals;
3. Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities;
4. Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

1.  Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate;
2. Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals;
3.  Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities;
4. Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

Physical environment :

The successful candidate must be willing to work in flexible working environments and understand that Plan International is in the process of setting up and expanding its operations. They therefore may be asked to work in non-office settings.

The role will also include frequent travel to different regions and to the commuinities which Plan International supports. Therefore, the candidate must be willing to be flexible on travel and understand that their role is for the best interests of the girls and boys which Plan International support.

Level of contact with children :

High level: Frequent interaction with children. This role will involve working in schools and communities on a regular basis. Therefore, it is essential that the candidate exemplifies that they are completely aware of safeguarding procedures and that they understand that the safety of children is the most essential part of this role.

Plan international operates in an equal opportunity environment and actively encourage diversity. Only applications received in French or English will be treated and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Plan International has a Child Protection and a gender equality policies that are integral part of the recruitment process.

NEXT STEP:

To apply for this job, kindly click on « Apply ». Your application should include:

• A cover letter
• A comprehensive CV including details of two referees, one of whom should be your current of most recent supervisor
• Location: Yaoundé – CAMEROON

Closing date: July 10th, 2019