Early Childhood Development Technical Advisor- INECD

Job Description

Save the Children is seeking an Early Childhood Development (EDC) Technical Advisor for an anticipated five-year USAID-funded Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) activity in Rwanda. The proposed project will focus on promoting nurturing and responsive care practices, especially in the areas of health, functioning, nutrition, and early childhood development (ECD) for caregivers and children. Specifically, the activity aims to improve health and nutrition outcomes among women of reproductive age and adolescents and infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF). It also aims to address child development gaps and specifically unmet physical rehabilitation and assistive technology (rehab/AT), and social inclusion needs for infants and children. The activity will focus on community-level service delivery, community-health facility linkages and district level capacity development, as well as address issues of inclusion and participation, including access to programs and services for children and adults with disabilities, in line with Government of Rwanda (GoR) priorities

The ECD Technical Advisor reports to the Deputy Chief of Party and will provide technical leadership and have responsibility for all activities associated with improving early childhood development, positive parenting and social inclusion.

This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Early Childhood Development Analysis and Strategy (35%)

• Lead the design and implementation of the Early Childhood Development analysis.
• Lead development of the project early childhood development Strategy and ensure Early Childhood Development Analysis recommendations are integrated into project plans.
• Update the Early Childhood Development Strategy annually alongside the project work plan using formal and informal feedback.
• Coordinate with project staff, including managers and technical specialists, to ensure the implementation of the Early Childhood Development Strategy into project activities.

Project Implementation (50%)

• Support with project reporting, ensuring that updates and progress on related indicators and successes are included in project reports and annual work plans.
• Work with and support Monitoring, Evaluation, and Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams to: develop context-specific indicators for Early Childhood Development; measure outcomes; and collect and analyze data.
• Design and conduct Early Childhood Development components of assessments or standalone Early Childhood Development assessments as appropriate, ensuring results are used to adapt project implementation.

Coordination & Capacity Building (15%)

• Build capacity of project and partner staff in Early Childhood Development principles, in project activities.
• Ensure alignment with Save the Children ECD priorities and strategies and complementarity between existing and planned programs.
• Represent Early Childhood Development aspects of the project to external stakeholders, such as the donor, governments, and partners; disseminate learnings and best practices; and participate in technical working groups.

Required Qualifications

• A Master’s degree or higher in Early Childhood Development, Social Sciences, Education or in a closely related field is required;
• At least seven years of experience designing, implementing, or supporting ECD and positive parenting programming, preferably in Rwanda is highly desired;
• Excellent knowledge of holistic child development and understanding of global evidence, best practices, and gaps around early childhood development interventions. ;
• Experience integrating ECD interventions into nutrition, health and other service delivery platforms is preferred;
• Experience in disability and inclusion as applied in ECD programming in low-resource settings.
• Demonstrated experience working with children experiencing deprivation, exclusion and vulnerability and their families, and
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Kinyarwanda are highly desirable.

Qualified local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism embedded in this country. Save the Children will not tolerate racism in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people of color to fight for equal rights and justice.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue.

About the Organization

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom Save the Children is in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.