Education Innovation Project Lead

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation 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’s 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 85 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.

The Opportunity 

Plan International seeks an education expert who has extensive experience with identifying and scaling-up innovative approaches for the promotion of equitable learning opportunities for the world’s most vulnerable children and youth, particularly girls. Over the span of 12 months the Education Innovation Project Lead will work closely with education and innovation experts from across Plan International and partner organizations on an innovation challenge fund titled ‘Education Uninterrupted’, which will seek to identify innovative and contextually relevant approaches to the delivery of inclusive quality education, particularly during times of disruption.

As the Education Innovation Project Lead you will be a key member of Plan’s Inclusive Quality Education (IQE) Hub. You will ensure that lessons learnt from the ‘Education Uninterrupted’ challenge fund are highlighted to stakeholders across the organization and integrated into various global program and influencing processes.

You will be responsible for articulating learning questions and gathering insights throughout the duration of the Education Uninterrupted Innovation Challenge Fund – from planning, to implementation and close-out.

This role is critical to the success of the innovation challenge fund, providing educational technical expertise and guidance to challenge fund team and CO teams engaged in the initiative. The position will act as an essential liaison between the IQE Hub and the Digital and Innovation Hub.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

• Prior experience/technical knowledge of inclusive, quality education
• Demonstrable experience in working with innovation teams, or versed in innovation methodologies including human-centered design, problem identification, and prototyping.
• Able to demonstrate experience and familiarity with innovation/ innovation processes (eg human-centred design, work)
• A strong understanding of current trends, debates and ethical considerations around the role EdTech and public-private partnerships in education, particularly in the COVID-19 response, and ability to use this understanding to inform Plan’s policy position on various related issues.
• A strong understanding of and commitment to the right to education and gender equality and be able to use normative frameworks to inform programmatic recommendations
• High-level communication, influencing, collaboration and interpersonal skills particularly, including proven ability with independent and team work particularly in a virtual context
• Excellent project management skills with a proven record of successfully managing all aspects of projects through to completion, in accordance with agreed standards and timeframes
• Previous experience of working in international development and humanitarian settings and a sound understanding of the issues and challenges. Experience working in the West and Central Africa region preferred.
• Master’s degree or other in Education, International Development, ICT or other relevant subject matter or demonstrated practical experience

Please click here for the full role profile: Project Lead, Education – July 2022.docx

Location: This role will ideally be based in the UK, employed from the Global Hub for Plan International which is based in Woking, Surrey however other locations where Plan International has an office* that can employ on behalf of the Global Hub and you have the pre-existing right to work and live may be considered.

Type of Role: 12 month Fixed Term role, this could also be considered an internal secondment

Salary: We will be happy to disclose the salary and applicable benefits to applicants as part of this process, however, please kindly note that this will vary according to the location of the appointed candidate and therefore it is not possible to include full details here. As an indication if this role was based in the UK the salary would be circa £45,000 per annum

Closing Date: 18th July 2022

Applicable locations may include: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.