National Volunteer: Learning Advisor (4 Available Positions)

Job Description

Job Title: National Volunteer – Learning Advisor

Placement Location: 1 each in Kapilvastu/Dang/Banke/Bardiya of Lumbini Province

Employer: VSO Nepal

Job purpose: SIKAI II- Refining and scaling up the Big Sister model for foundational learning project funded by HEMPEL Foundation is implementing by VSO Nepal to improved literacy and numeracy skills of 115,000 marginalized girls and boys aged 5-14 years in Banke, Bardiya, Dang and Kapilvastu Districts of Lumbini province. through strengthen school governance and teacher capacity to promote inclusive, child-friendly, and gender-responsive teaching and institutionalised Big Sisters model by local governments through policy advocacy and engagement.

The purpose of this role is:

• To support implementing partners including schools, local service providers and the community leaders to improve learning achievement (literacy and numeracy) of marginalized children.
• Support to develop teachers’ professional competencies community volunteers and district level project teams ensuring quality of service delivery.
• To provide mentoring and coaching support to the teachers, and community volunteers on quality teaching learning process.
• To facilitate training sessions as per project plans, objectives and deliverables.
• To support implementing partner in project implementation by ensuring quality in delivery on time.

Safeguarding Level 3: This post will have regular, direct and unsupervised access to children and vulnerable adults either face to face or online or the post will have supervisory responsibility for people who have direct unsupervised access to children or post will have accountability at organisational level to ensure safeguarding policy is in place and implemented at all levels. A criminal background check (Enhance DBS check for UK or equivalent highest level of Police check) will be obtained for post holder at this level prior to their start date.

Responsibilities

• Programme Implementation
  • Support and facilitate district level and municipal level project planning and implementation process
  • Support and contribute to implementing project activities and accomplishing the project deliverables
  • Support in learning improvement of early grade children’s foundational learning skills (literacy and numeracy) and provide technical support to the teachers at schools.
  • Support community volunteers to initiate parenting education to empower them in supporting children’s education and learning
  • Design and implement innovative teaching learning ideas in the classroom to promote student’s engagement and develop their creativity to enhance their learning achievement.
  • Initiate extra and co-curricular activities in the schools to promote quality of learning and increase student’s engagement in creative work.
  • Demonstrate model lessons and facilitate schoolteacher for quality teaching.
• Capacity Development
  • Support in capacity development of community volunteers/Big Sisters, teachers and facilitators on inclusive, child friendly and gender-responsive practices for promoting foundational learning.
  • Support implementing partners including schools, local service providers and the community leaders in improvement of learning achievement of marginalized children.
  • Providing coaching and mentoring support to the community volunteers
• Coordination
  • Communicate and liaise with School teachers, SMC/PTA, Parents group at community level, Municipality and district level for effective implementation of program interventions.
  • Work closely with municipalities in preparation of local education plans and programmes
  • Coordinate with district project team for the effective delivery of project interventions.
  • Establish working relations with Schools, municipalities, District level Education Development and Coordination Unit (EDCU) and municipal level educational authority during the process of project implementation
• Reporting
  • Support team to prepare quarterly report documentation and collect case story
  • Provide timely and regular reports to VSO Nepal as part of the requirements of the project management and compliance to donor requirements.
  • Documentation and learning products (case study, success stories etc.)

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Essential
  • Appropriate qualification in education (B.Ed.) or any other discipline and have experience of teaching, coaching, and mentoring, and training the teachers.
• Experience
  • At least 3 years of experience in the development sector.
  • Experience in teaching learning and inclusive education sector
  • Experience in training delivery
  • Experience of working with marginalized and children including children with disabilities.
  • Experience in using the technology
• Skills/Abilities:
  • Able to frequently travel
  • Able to accommodate in diverse socio-economic, and multicultural context
  • Fluent in English, Nepali and motivated to learn
  • Proven and practical knowledge of peer-to-peer support to share experience and learning
  • Have enthusiasm and the adequate knowledge and experience to continuously monitor, write and evaluate project results and reports on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
  • Good interpersonal skills combined with a flexible and adaptable attitude.
  • Excellent communication skills with good command of both spoken and written
  • Willingness to share his/her skills with colleagues in a professional but sensitive manner
• Desirable Criteria: (skills that could be an advantage in the role)
  • Knowledge of working with community level organizations, local government, and multi-stakeholders
  • Previous experiences of working with VSO in the field of volunteering mainly in education sector.
  • Experience of working with/as volunteer.
  • Ability to understand and speak the local language of the district/community.
  • Having valid two-wheel driving license is desirable

VSO has zero tolerance of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. We expect all our employees/volunteers to ensure we are protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults from harm and abide by our safeguarding policy.

Personal considerations

In addition to the job description, the following information should be used when considering whether a placement is suitable for you.

If you have a significant current or past medical condition and/or you have general concerns about staying healthy as a volunteer, please use this information to assess whether this placement will be suitable for you. All volunteers require medical clearance from a VSO medical adviser before they are able to take up a placement with VSO. Occasionally, VSO may consider that this placement is too great a risk for you in terms of your personal health and you would be advised to consider a different placement. For further guidance about medical assessment and volunteering with a medical condition please see the frequently asked questions on VSO website.

The standard and quality of local medical care and support available at this placement will depend on its location within the country. Health facilities are likely to be more poorly resourced in rural areas in terms of medical expertise, equipment, infrastructure and regular supplies of medication. However, this may not be the case in the capital city or in a larger town, where in some countries there may be a reasonable standard of medical care. The following gives you an indication of where the placement is in relation to the country office and how easy it would be to make the journey if you were ill.

This placement is in: Project districts (Banke/Bardiya/Dang/Kapilvastu district)

Before completing a job application, please seek advice from the VSO International Medical Team if you:

• have an ongoing medical condition
• have had a medical condition in the past that might recur
• take any regular medication (other than contraception)

If you wish to discuss your personal circumstances or health concerns in confidence with VSO’s medical team before you apply for this placement please contact medical@vsoint.org.

This is not accompanying role

Motorcycle driving licence is desirable.

Project background and contextual information (Please change this information as per project detail and requirement): Nepal has made significant strides in advancing education through progressive policies like the Compulsory and Free Basic Education Act (2018) and the National Education Policy (2019), reflecting its commitment to ensuring inclusive and equitable learning opportunities of all. However, despite these important policy frameworks, challenges remain at the local government (LG) level, where implementation gaps continue to hinder the full realisation of equitable education across diverse communities. Challenges include resource limitations, weak capacity and poor accountability in education governance. These issues disproportionately impact girls and marginalised groups (including children with disabilities, Dalit and indigenous communities), especially in provinces like Lumbini, where socio-cultural barriers exacerbate systemic inequalities. Lumbini province, with a population of 5 million people, is marked by high poverty (24.35%), low female literacy (64.1%) and high school dropout rates. Nealy 15% of students leave school before completing grade 5, mostly due to poverty, early marriage and academic struggles (NLSS, 2022/23). There are also several education governance challengues that could be addressed by strengthening these local institutions and promoting civil society engagements. Building on the SIKAI – Inclusive Education in Baglung project, this SIKAI II project harness the transformative Big Sisters initiative to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy for marginalised children in Nepal. It integrates mentorship, inclusive teacher training, and community-lead governance to dismantle systemic education barriers while fostering local government ownership for long-term sustainability.

The project aims to refine and scale up the Big Sisters model to improve learners’ foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes at the primary level in Nepal. Outcomes of the project are:

• Improved literacy and numeracy skills of 115,000 marginalised girls and boys aged 5-14 years in Banke, Bardiya, Dang and Kapilvastu Districts of Lumbini province.
• Strengthened school governance and teacher capacity to promote inclusive, child-friendly, and gender-responsive teaching.
• Institutionalised Big Sisters model by local governments through policy advocacy and engagement.

Additional Information

Equal Opportunities: VSO promotes equal opportunities and values a diverse workforce.

VSO reserves the right to close this job early if we receive a sufficient number of applications.

Disclaimer: VSO is committed to a fair, transparent and merit-based recruitment. VSO does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Any such request in VSO’s name is fraudulent and should be disregarded. Please report suspicious requests to recruitment@vsoint.org

All volunteers have an allowance paid in local currency. The allowance meets reasonable living expenses in country, but will not be enough to send money home.

VSO works with some of the poorest communities in the world which means accommodation varies and will be basic.

Deadline for Applications: September 01, 2025

“While we try our best to keep our information updated, the closing date of the actual job source may be changed by the recruiter without prior notice. With this, please make sure to check the official job link when submitting your application. Thank you.”

About the Organization

VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Our vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfil their potential. We bring people together to share skills, creativity and learning to build a fairer world. VSO welcomes volunteers from an ever increasing range of countries, backgrounds and ages. National agencies in Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands and the Philippines recruit volunteers from many different countries worldwide and this international approach allows us to combine and learn from a rich variety of perspectives. Tackling Disadvantage at "Grass Roots" Level Ours is a very individual "people to people" approach to development. Instead of sending food or money, we send women and men from a wide range of professions who want the chance to make a real difference in the fight against poverty. These volunteers work in partnership with colleagues and communities to share skills and learning and jointly achieve change. But we have to be realistic in our expectations. We commit to long-term development goals and long-term partnerships and focus on sustainable development rather than the short-term relief of certain problems. VSO also works to address the structural inequalities and barriers that prevent people from exercising their rights. We use our experience and our supporter networks to work for changes in policy and practice - rich and poor countries - that reduce disadvantage. VSO is by far the largest independent volunteer-sending agency in the world. Since 1958, we have sent out more than 29,000 volunteers to work in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific region and, more latterly, Eastern Europe in response to requests from our overseas partners. At the moment we have around 1,500 people working in placements in these regions. Shared Partnerships, Shared Benefits You only have to talk to VSO volunteers to realise that they gain from their experience, personally or professionally, as much as they contribute. Many will enthuse how fascinating it was to explore a different culture at first hand. Others will point to the friendships they have made. But many will also tell you how their professional talents have been stretched, and how they have learnt new skills that will significantly enhance their career prospects on their return home. If ever it was true that "you get out what you put in", VSO is proof positive. This experience makes volunteers passionate in challenging misconceptions about developing countries. In the current climate, it is more urgent than ever that we work to achieve a global community where people of all cultures are seen as equal, learn from each other and share a common sense of rights and responsibilities as global citizens. VSO builds on this experience and passion to support a range of global education activity. To find out more about volunteering with or supporting VSO visit our website at www.vso.org.uk