District Project Officer

Apply now »

Date: 11 Feb 2025

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Company: Plan International

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 know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

 

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. 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.

 

For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.

 

We won’t stop until we are all equal.

 

SUMMARY OF THE POSITION

EduPlay (EoF) Project interventions aim to contribute to the development for children between the ages of 3 to 5 by building the holistic early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector in Sierra Leone. This will be done through comprehensive participatory and inclusive consultations with relevant stakeholders, including project participants, to implement demand-driven early learning education, WASH, and nutrition interventions.

 

The project will work to deliver the following:

  • Establishing ECD centres

  • Identifying parent engagement/social mobilization strategies

  • Defining rules and requirements for enrolment of children in ECD centres

  • Recruiting educators, assistants, and community engagement facilitators (CEFs).

  • Organizing ECD Centre Management Committees.

  • Monitoring of ECD centre activities and upkeep of infrastructure and equipment.

 

The District Project Officer will be responsible for the implementation and monitoring of activities of the EduPlay (EoF) Project at district level in accordance with the project proposal, monitoring and evaluation plan, performance framework, procurement and supply management plan, detailed budget, training plan, in Falaba, Tonkolili, Kono, and Kailahun, together with the relevant project participants. The EduPlay (EoF) Project will focus on addressing social norms, attitudes and behaviours that hold parents/communities back from ECD/ECCE education. It will strengthen community leadership and practically address ECD/ECCE education access challenges in their communities

 

DIMENSIONS OF ROLE

The EduPlay project will leverage Plan International’s extensive experience working with local communities in Sierra Leone for over 45 years in promoting children’s rights and equality for girls. Community engagement will be very critical, as always, as one of Plan’s greatest strengths, to which we credit the success of all our programming in Sierra Leone for several decades. The job holder is expected to have extensive experience working in rural contexts in Sierra Leone with sensitivity towards cultural norms and practices. The project will engage and collaborate with local communities in undertaking the following key activities

 

Accountabilities

  • Conduct field visits as required by the project

  • Organize district and community-level consultations with project participants in furtherance of ECD/ECCE Education

  • Responsible for mentoring and coaching Community Engagement Facilitator

  • Support strategies for advocacy with community stakeholders

  • Participate in sectoral meetings

  • Conduct regular coordination meetings (biweekly/monthly) with relevant stakeholders

  • Collect relevant project data by using the agreed monitoring tools.

  • Provide weekly and monthly monitoring data to the M&E Officer and the Project Manager.

  • Report any issue with monitoring data collection to the M&E Officer and the Programme Manager.

  • Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully in their area of responsibility.

  • Ensure staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures

  •  Promptly report any safeguarding and child protection issues through Plan International’s protection and safeguarding focal point.

  • Ensures partners and community members understand PISL’s policies on safeguarding and how to report concerns.

  •  Promptly report any safeguarding and child protection issues through Plan International’s protection and safeguarding focal point.

  • Conduct trainings for partners and other stakeholders on safeguarding and child protection

  • See full job Description for the role 11-02-25.docx

 

Location:                  Falaba, Tonkolili, Kono, Kailahun Districts 

Type of Role:            District Project Officer X 4 position

Reports to:                Project Manager

Grade:                        Level 12

Closing Date:            24th February 2025

 

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.