Basic Education Senior Manager, LAC Regional Fund for Basic Education - USAID Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Job Description

This Proposal Opportunity:

Palladium is seeking two Basic Education Senior Managers for an anticipated USAID-funded LAC Regional Fund for Basic Education expected to begin in 2024. The LAC Regional Fund for Basic Education will address barriers to access and increase the quality of basic education for marginalized groups in selected LAC countries. USAID anticipates this wilk be done through financial and technical support of a new or existing LAC-focused regional fund or platform that will provide grants and technical support to local entities in select LAC countries that are currently engaged in or have ideas for innovative and/or scalable activities that aim to address existing systemic barriers and improve access and foundational learning outcomes specifically for marginalized and vulnerable groups.

Position Summary

The Basic Education Senior Managers will contribute significantly to the LAC Regional Fund achieving its technical objectives. Their primary responsibilities are to provide expert basic education technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of local organizations to expand inclusive access to quality basic education for marginalized and vulnerable learners, and sustain it over time. The Basic Education Senior Managers will report to the Chief of Party. One Basic Education Senior Manager is expected to be based in Guatemala, and one in Colombia.

*This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID. *

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Providing technical and capacity strengthening expertise, guidance and support for Project activities.
• Support the senior project leadership team to plan, direct, and coordinate technical activities to ensure that Project goals and objectives are met.
• Provide technical expertise and leadership to the Project implementation team, including the development of strategies; activities; budgets; work plans; and reporting.
• Contribute basic education technical expertise to designing sub-grant calls to pilot or in some cases scale innovative solutions or ideas to address barriers to inclusive access to quality basic education for marginalized and vulnerable learners; selecting sub-grantees; and supporting sub-grantees to achieve sub-grant outcomes.
• Participate with the Project implementation team to ensure intervention monitoring, adapting and learning; generating, disseminating, and using evidence and learning from local education sub-grants to support learning exchange; and communications.

Key Competencies Required:

• Extensive experience in LAC in basic education for educationally marginalized and disadvantaged groups; educational innovation and scaling; grants and technical assistance to local entities; capacity building/coaching of local organizations; and basic education monitoring (or evaluation) and learning.
• At least 10 years of basic education program experience as a basic education technical expert on USAID-funded projects, other donor-funded development projects, or domestic education projects.
• Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams.
• Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written, to fulfil the diverse technical and managerial requirements of the contract.
• Attention to detail and ability to perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities.
• Proven ability to anticipate, respond, and adapt quickly to changing requirements and competing demands; ability to take initiative and/or respond independently to situations.
• Professional, respectful and diplomatic demeanor and conduct, especially during interactions with the clients and its constituents.
• Fluent writing, reporting, and presentational skills in Spanish.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred (Optional):

• In-country experience in LAC in at least 4 of the following countries: Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Eastern and Southern Caribbean, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
• Fluent writing, reporting, and presentational skills in English. Please note any French skills.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodation to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

About the Organization

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.