Special Education Project Manager

Job Summary

Position Overview

To supervise and manage special education programs for children with disabilities across two provinces; Parwan and Kabul. ANOD is looking for a highly qualified and driven education project manager. This job is situated in Kabul and requires frequent travel to the regions. Within the assigned provinces, the Education Project Manager will be in charge of organizing, carrying out, and assessing special education initiatives meant to enhance educational opportunities and outcomes for children with disabilities. Strong project management abilities, familiarity with special education, and the capacity to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders are prerequisites for this leadership position.

The project manager is responsible for the management of the ANOD education projects and for developing the projects at field level in accordance to ANOD Policy, the ANOD education directives as well as the annual work plans and budget holding responsibilities as described in a detailed job description. He is supposed to ensure quality of the education projects through regular field visits, to the education project sites.

The Education Project Manager also ensures that projects are completed on schedule, with quality and within the budget. He collaborates closely with other units at the POs (Project Offices) and ensures good and regular contacts/briefing with related provincial and district authorities and other external stakeholders.

The position holder is expected to promote an attitude of team spirit and through transfer of own knowledge and skills, enhances the ability of the project staff in the PO and ensure that all project staffs have appropriate skills, knowledge and training to perform job functions.

Duties and Responsibilities 

-    Develop project plans, objectives, and strategies for improving special education for children with disabilities within the four provinces.

-    Frequently supervise education activities in the field, at least 15-20% of time should be in project sites. 

-    Lead the implementation of special education projects, ensuring adherence to established timelines, budgets, and quality standards.

-    Coordinate project activities, including curriculum development, teacher training, and student support programs for children with disabilities.

 -    Monitor project progress, identify risks and issues, and develop mitigation strategies to ensure project success. 

-    Regularly travel to the provinces to monitor classes, observe teaching practices, and gather data for evaluation purposes.

-    Develop effective strategies to regularly cooperate with national government line agencies, provincial government units and district government departments.          

 -     In collaboration with the Kabul-based Administration and Programme Implementation departments, ensures the timely provision and supply of the education materials to project office and schools. 

 -     In collaboration with the Field Administration Unit, ensure the project staffs receive on time logistics support in performing their daily action plans and field visits.    

 -    Build and maintain strong relationships with special education institutions, disability-focused organizations, government sectorial departments and other relevant stakeholders.        

 -    Coordinate, attend and facilitate regular meetings, workshops, and forums to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders.    

 -    Advocate for the rights and needs of hearing-impaired and visually impaired children within the education sector and the broader community.      

 -    Develop and implement monitoring and evaluation frameworks to assess the effectiveness and impact of inclusive education programs.

-    Regularly travel to the provinces to collect reports, conduct classroom visits, and monitor the implementation of special education programs.                

 -    Document lessons learnt and best practices, write case studies and success stories.

 -    Prepare and submit narrative reports on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis to account for progress at output and outcomes/results level in accordance with ANOD and donor’s requirements.

 -    Prepare and submit donor reports.

 -    Participate to project team recruitment process.

 -    Supervise staff and regularly evaluate staff performance.

 -    Support the preparation of Terms of reference for project consultants and trainers.                                

-     Identify training needs of PO education staff and to give recommendations to HRM on training of staff.

  -    Prepare project budget including quarterly budget forecast. Monitor expenditure and ensure that the burn rate is within the design spend plan.                                                                                                      

-    Prepare financial reports, including budget analysis and expenditure tracking.                                        

-    Ensure accurate and timely financial reporting to donors, adhering to their reporting requirements and guidelines.                                                                                                                                                      

-    Collaborate with the finance and administration teams to gather financial and budgetary information for reporting purposes and provide oversight to procurement plans.

-    Monitor project expenditures, ensuring compliance with budgetary allocations and donor restrictions.    

-    Promote an attitude of team spirit and a strong focus on quality

-    Promote gender equality and human rights as well as non-discrimination attitudes with regard to ethnic, political and religious background within his mandate of responsibilities

-    Oversee and guide the implementation of the education activities according to the policy, strategy, work plan, budget and other guidelines.

-    Maintain good cooperative relation with the national and provincial authorities, NGOs and other stakeholders.

-    Participate actively in ensuring broad understanding and acceptance by local communities of the education projects and ANOD in general.

-    Actively ensure community participation in education projects.

-    Actively contribute to the successful development and good reputation of the ANOD and donors.

Protection Acknowledgment

 ANOD prohibits all forms of abuse and exploitation towards children and vulnerable adults. As a professional candidate, you commit to adhering to the Agency’s policy on protection, rights and dignity of children and vulnerable adults and to safeguard them from abuse and exploitation as defined in ANOD’s Safeguarding Policy.

Job Requirements

Qualifications 

-    Bachelor's or master's degree in special education, project management, General education or other related fields.

-    Proven experience 4 years in managing education projects, preferably in a multi-province or regional context of an local or international NGO.

-    Strong knowledge of special education systems, policies, and practices.                                               

-    Excellent project management skills, including planning, implementation, and monitoring.                     

-    Demonstrated ability to engage and collaborate with diverse stakeholders, such as government officials, special educators, disability-focused organizations, and NGOs.

-    Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data for decision-making and continuous improvement.

 -    Willingness and ability to travel regularly within the four provinces to monitor classes, observe teaching practices, and collect education information and data.           

-     Fluency in English, Dari and Pashto, written and spoken.

-     Strong interpersonal and communication skills and capacity to deal with different rural communities with varied political/socio-economic and educational background.                                                               

-    Solid knowledge of planning, budgeting and report writing.

-    Familiar with design, evaluation and monitoring of education projects.                                                   

-    Computer knowledge at operational level, ANOD uses Ms Office standard software.