About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Job Summary:

CRS is seeking an Senior Technical Advisor for Inclusive Education for an anticipated five-year USAID-funded Education Resilience Activity (ERA) in Pakistan. This program will support the Ministries of Education to improve the education systems’ climate resilience and inclusiveness of marginalized populations, particularly girls and children with disabilities.

The Advisor will lead Component -3 of the project to collaboratively design, pilot, and evaluate an inclusive learning model that improves student learning outcomes by building on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). You are responsible to follow UDL framework and relate to teachers and administrators as well as curricula and pedagogical practices.

The Senior Technical Advisor for Inclusive Education will provide leadership and technical oversight for the USAID Education Resilience project to ensure the delivery and development of accessible, safe, relevant, and high-quality interventions that promote inclusive, gender-responsive education programming that puts children and youth at the center for increased learning opportunities for children, particularly girls and those living with disabilities. As Technical Advisor, you will be responsible for promoting appropriate integration, layering, and sequencing of technical interventions within the scope of this project. You will also oversee the development of teaching and learning materials and teacher capacity building activities, towards improving instruction and learning outcomes and in collaboration with the project team and partners, will support the design and sustainable rollout of these materials. As such, the Technical Lead should have experience managing interventions related to inclusive, distance learning, education policy reform, curriculum development, private sector engagement, ALP skills, and community empowerment.

The Technical Advisor, will also be responsible for providing technical support, coordination, and programmatic guidance as well as evidence-based input for strategic planning with the  Consortium members. Working as a member of a large team, s/he will contribute to program research, learning and monitoring, and in collaboration and consultation with USAID and other stakeholders, refine and adjust technical approaches and annual work plans to achieve program goals and the promotion of wellbeing and learning for all children. The technical team will entail experts in the relevant technical areas (Literacy, SEL, distance education, safety, school leadership, school community resilience, Private sector engagement and education governance). S/He will foster a positive environment of collaboration with project stakeholders including but not limited to other donors, Technical and Consortium members. Partner with the public and private sectors to strengthen local education systems.  As a senior leader, the Senior Technical Advisor for Inclusive Education will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

•  Under CoP guidance, manage a key aspect of the development, implementation and consolidation of the USAID Education and Resilience project. Serve as a point of contact on technical area of responsibility to USAID as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders, when needed.
• Provide management, guidance, and technical oversight of the project activities Support the CoP in the management of key functions of the project to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget management. Contribute to ensuring coordination between program and operations leads. Contribute to ensuring the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per MEAL policy and procedures.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise project staff under the Technical Coordinator’s responsibility. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, and strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Contribute to the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of project staff.
•  In collaboration with the CoP, Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans.
• Promote, the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Help ensure compliance with USAID grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to USAID.
• Maintain relationships with key staff of consortium partner organizations in regard to area of responsibility. Contribute to coordination of the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and recommend trainings and technical assistance.

Basic Qualifications

• A master’s degree in education development or relevant discipline from an accredited, recognized university.
• At least seven years of professional experience in successfully advising on inclusive education and teacher training.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and mobilize diverse partners, developing stakeholder networks, and successfully communicating and coordinating among key stakeholders.
• Sound understanding of the education landscape of the region or Pakistan.
• Technical understanding and experience with the UDL is preferred.

Required Languages – English, Urdu and any local languages is preferable.

Travel - Must be willing and able to travel up to 40 %.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Very good strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Very good relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Recognized technical experience and qualifications in education and/or youth programming.
• Demonstrated experience of successful management, including management of functions of complex, multi-activity projects.
• Demonstrated in building resilience capabilities and assets, foundational literacy and numeracy, and gender and social inclusion.

• Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment.
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

Supervisory Responsibilities (if none, state none)

• Field Managers, Education Technical Teams

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party, Head of Programs, Head of Operations, Country Manager, Country Finance Manager, Director Finance and operations, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Advisor, Field Managers, Communication Officer, Education Technical teams

External: USAID, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Education, Consortium members leadership, other donors ‘and communities.

Candidates can apply online or send their CVs on [email protected]

We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer