Educational Technical Advisor

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) has over 30 years' experience assisting governments, communities, and the private sector. As a non-for-profit, independent research institute based in North Carolina, USA, RTI has roughly 6,000 employees with global experience implementing international development projects in education and other disciplines. RTI's International Education Division leads education development around the world by strengthening education policy, management, and practice in order to achieve measurable improvement in teaching and learning. From our well-established reputation in education system strengthening, to innovative work in early grade assessment and learning, RTI is improving education quality, relevance, and efficiency through implementation of projects funded by USAID, DFID, FCDO, The LEGO Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other donors and clients.

Project Description

The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Fund to Expand Inclusive Access to Quality Basic Education will be a five-year cooperative agreement with an estimated total amount of up to $25,000,000 from USAID, with the expectation of obtaining other non-USAID funds to support the objectives. The primary objective of the activity is to expand inclusive access to quality basic education for marginalized and vulnerable students in a sustainable manner over time. This objective will be achieved by managing a regional fund that will have three main components: 1) a grant facility that will provide sub-grants to local organizations to expand their work in inclusive education and/or fund their ideas for promising innovations; 2) a technical assistance component to strengthen the capacity of local organizations to work with USAID, monitor and adapt their interventions, increase access and improve the quality of education for marginalized groups; and 3) a component that seeks to generate, disseminate, and use evidence and learning from local education sub-grants. The activity will closely monitor and evaluate improvements in inclusive access and quality of education with an emphasis on improving foundational skills for marginalized groups, especially in, but not limited to, the early primary grades.

Position Description

The Education Technical Advisor is responsible for supporting grantee access to and use of the best available evidence and materials to support teaching and learning activities under Objective 3: Increased access to and retention in inclusive, quality education, particularly for the most marginalized learners. The position will also support project activities more broadly across all objectives. The Education Technical Advisor reports to the Chief of Party (COP). This position can be based in the United States or Latin America, with preference for Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico.

Responsibilities of the Education Technical Advisor include, but are not limited to:

• Lead the development of evidence-based approaches to improving classroom instruction for reading for use by grantee organizations, including materials development and teacher training.
• Contribute to the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of all activities that grantees undertake that aim to improve teaching and learning.
• Ensure that prior work by USAID, donor community and education sector is integrated into design, planning, and implementation.
• Ensure integration of learning improvement technical activities by leading the technical aspect of the annual work planning process, implementing the annual workplan, ensuring close integration of technical activities with monitoring, evaluation, and learning efforts, and cost-effective operational management.
• Provide inputs to reporting and deliverables as required, including but not limited to weekly progress reports, quarterly reports, annual reports, etc.
• Promote and support a community of practice linked to a broader knowledge base on teaching and learning, with a particular emphasis on foundational skills development for marginalized and vulnerable learners.
• Maintain relationships with key sector partners, donors, consultants, counterparts and stakeholders.
• Organize and undertake trips to program sites across the LAC region to ensure sound implementation of program teaching and learning activities.
• Demonstrate professional behavior, including a commitment to conflict-sensitivity, gender sensitivity and social inclusion and environmental protection and being a team player within the project, and growing and learning.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the COP.

• Bachelor's degree and 12 years of experience, or a Master's and 9 years of experience. Degrees in education, reading and literacy instruction or related field; specialization in reading and literacy preferred.
• Nine years' professional work experience in the education sector, experience in international funded programming in reading a plus.
• Experience implementing education development programs in primary and/or middle school, particularly in reading in LAC region preferred.
• Knowledge/experience in primary/middle school teacher training in LAC region.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills, process and systems-oriented, with a strong attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Spanish, Professional proficiency in English.
• Prior experience working with donor-funded projects, particularly USAID.

Disclaimer

The above information in this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.