Technical Assistance Lead / Coordinator

CTG overview:
CTG staff and support humanitarian projects in fragile and conflict-affected countries around the world, providing a rapid and cost-effective service for development and humanitarian missions. With past performance in 17 countries – from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia, we have placed more than 20,000 staff all over the world since operations began in 2006.
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Overview of position:
THIS ROLE IS BEING ADVERTISED FOR TALENT POOL BUILDING PURPOSES ONLY.

Job summary:
The TA Lead / Coordinator will lead the Country Office (CO) efforts in designing, coordinating & consolidating provision of strategic technical support to the government to achieve their vision. This will also entail supporting the CO in high level engagement with the government & key stakeholders engaged in school health & nutrition, playing a convenor’s role to support multi sector of the school meals program, as well as enhancing engagement of wider range of stakeholders in support of the program. The TA Lead / Coordinator will work closely with the Head Quarter (HQ) based TAF implementation team to ensure consistency & alignment of the overall approach & coordination with partners at global level.

Project context:
Recognizing the transformative potential of the school meals program, a group of member states launched the school meals coalition at the UN food systems summit in 2021. The coalition is a government led global platform driving actions to urgently improve & scale up school meal programs to ensure that every child has the opportunity to receive a healthy, nutritious meal in school by 2030. Since its creation, the membership of the school meals coalition (Co Chaired by France, Finland & Brazil) steadily increased from 46 countries in September 2021 to 100 countries from all regions across the world. The coalition has resulted in governments taking a central role & moving rapidly to advance school meal programs, with the topic now globally positioned as a key priority. As of today, the coalition has received national commitments from 48 countries.
To support national commitments to the coalition & government priority directions, a group of partners within school meals coalition are now exploring the opportunities to support provision of strategic on demand technical assistance at the country levels. The support is planned to be provided through a dedicated technical assistance facility starting from 2025.
In the meantime, for the purpose of piloting & testing the approaches an inception phase was launched with deeper dive in focus countries. This inception phase is anchored in the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) project that focuses on Kenya & Lesotho. Additional countries may be identified during the inception phase based on availability of funding to expand the diversity of country typologies. The facility aims to enhance the country’s capacities for transitioning to nationally owned school meal programs, as well as ensuring cross sectoral ownership. Leveraging the school meals Coalition’s technical expertise, tools & resources to expand country specific partnerships supporting the national SMP, this facility will provide strategic in kind technical assistance aligned with the government & national stakeholders’ prioritized activities for the national SFP.
Our client has established an internal implementation team to lead the implementation of the TAF in focus countries & provide dedicated program & partnerships coordination support to the coordination cell. The position will be integral part of the global implementation team outposted to the CO with the responsibility to roll out & lead successful implementation of the TAF.

Role objectives:
In support of the government’s efforts to achieve its commitments in relation to the national school feeding program, our client is seeking a TA Lead / Coordinator to lead its strategic technical assistance portfolio, specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Act as the CO Lead for the designing, consolidating, action planning, implementing, reporting & learning on the provision of the strategic technical assistance, ensuring a clear & strong connection between the innovative thinking around clients convening role for the provision of support to the government, our clients strategic portfolio in the country, our clients regional & corporate policies & strategies.
Lead / support facilitation of the prioritization process to identify capacity needs of the government in the immediate, mid & long term in an inclusive & participatory manner that promotes multisectoral nature of the national school meals program & enhances engagement of wider range of stakeholders in support of the program.
Assist government stakeholders in identifying solutions, provide technical expertise for the planning, formulation & implementation of the school meals program along key pillars (evidence generation, policy & regulatory frameworks, funding, institutional capacity, coordination, design & implementation (including monitoring systems), participation of non state stakeholders).
Support the government in articulating the workplans in support of identified capacity needs & provide support in their validation at the technical & decision making levels (with the government & respective sector groups as applicable).
Lead the design / update of the partnership mapping focused on the identified priorities. Support the government in the defining the partnership approach to identify opportunities for collaborative approaches & initiatives that may scale up the impacts of the NSFP.
Support the government in facilitating / convening activities aimed at bringing new partners in support of school feeding program (school health & nutrition where applicable). In line with the partnership approach, develop & maintain operational & strategic partnerships with government entities & respective stakeholders engaged in the setup & implementation of the program.
Lead the planning & implementation of the activities. In collaboration with respective technical teams, design & implement a robust monitoring framework & learning approach for the activities.
Provide technical advice & / or mobilize technical expertise (in collaboration with other CO teams, the regional bureau & HQ as needed), on a wide range of school meals related program & policy issues (identified in the above participatory prioritization process) including assessment & analysis, the choice of objectives, models, activities, the deployment & testing of innovative approaches & the development of strategies to support government.
Collaborate with technical teams & / or experts to promote coherence between technical activities (including support missions), ensure quality of final deliverables & consolidate emerging learnings. Ensure clear communication of goals, progress & challenges to senior government officials, share their feedback with the TAF team & advise / discuss necessary adjustments, where applicable.
Establish our clients status as a convenor in the school meals space through coordination & collaboration with partners & stakeholders to promote a culture of learning & cooperation, as well as explore opportunities of & operationalize innovative partnerships.
Enhance our clients status as a school meals expert among stakeholders supporting school health & nutrition, as well as our clients convenor role in support of government’s priorities for the national school meal program (through direct engagement, briefings, information products, other materials, planned an implemented through a systematic advocacy approach).
Support the CO leadership in defining & implementing an advocacy approach (based on influencing mapping, context specific advocacy needs & objectives). Identify advocacy opportunities, support the preparation of the key advocacy activities & messaging.
Lead the development of funding proposals to secure sustainable resourcing in support of strategic technical assistance activities & joint initiatives with partners / stakeholders.
Prepare timely, quality analytical reports, publications, information products & work closely with the communications & partnerships team for effective dissemination. Systematically produce quality documentation to track the implementation of the school feeding program so that the broader technical assistance & our clients specific experience contributes to building sectoral knowledge & best practices in the area of school health & nutrition.
Closely monitor the budget & expenditures related to the activities to ensure the best use of resources to achieve objectives within a moderate budget.
Perform any other duties that will support implementation of the strategic technical assistance in country.

The TA Lead / Coordinator will have dual reporting lines:
To the HQ based Implementation Team Lead on TA content & strategic engagement with partners of the TAF at the global level.
To the Country Director on the strategic engagement at the country level.

Key competencies:
Advanced post graduate degree in public administration, education, international development, social sciences or other related fields.
At least 15 years of senior level experience in strategic engagement with national governments, particularly high level policy & decision makers at the country level.
Significant experience in establishing strategic partnerships with development partners at the national level (global, regional experience will be an advantage) & with a wide variety of stakeholders & subject matter experts in education, food security, nutrition, health, social protection, agriculture, gender & / or related fields.
Broad senior level professional, technical experience in policy & strategy formulation, research, program management, project planning & institutional strengthening in a large institution in the above mentioned sectors.
Demonstrated capacity to manage complex projects, including coordination of organization wide initiatives country & / or regional hierarchies.
Previous work experience with the national sector platforms (in the above mentioned sectors).
Experience working with the education sector groups will be a strong advantage.
Advanced academic degree & fluency in English required.

Team management:
This role has no team management responsibility.

Further information:
Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for this role.
THIS ROLE IS BEING ADVERTISED FOR TALENT POOL BUILDING PURPOSES ONLY.