Program Associate, ECD

Responsible for helping setup and deploy the programmatic frameworks, protocols, and systems for a pilot project on early childhood development via playhouses and an associated outreach arm. S/he will work with the ECD Lead and support with ECD stakeholders for service agreements related to the project.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct secondary research on ECD delivery in South Africa, types of nutritional support, design of Home Kits, resourcing and materials for ECD centre’s and non-centre based programmes, and others as needed.
• Develop checklists, observational guides, rubrics, and standard operating procedures pertaining to ECD services set up and delivery based on the Department of Basic Education's requirements.
• Participate in on-ground field visits and research with the program team and partners where feasible.
• Develop protocols and manage tools for ECD workforce for programmatic review and process monitoring.
• Consolidate findings and learnings from collected data tools, conduct data analysis of ECD programmatic data, and present, with support of ECD Lead, at various forums to inform improvements and iterations.
• Serve as coordination point person between IRD and ECD workforce (through the ECD Centre as well as Community Play Facilitators).
• Work with relevant teams to ensure ECD workforce is meeting standards of delivery and upholding project requirements.
• Support ECD Lead with development of awareness raising materials for CE Lead to deploy through field teams.
• Support ECD Lead with review of training materials, technical documents, and others.
• Support ECD Lead with integration of ECD services with other programmatic services, such as mental health, community engagement, monitoring and evaluation, etc.

Required Qualification

• Bachelor's degree in Education, Psychology, Business Administration, or a related field.

Required Experience

• 2 years experience in community-based programming in education or other related fields.

Required Skills

• Strong written and spoken communication skills in English. In addition, needs to be able to communicate in Zulu, Xhosa, or Afrikaans.
• Research and data analytics skills which includes SPSS / STATA / other quantitative data analytical skills.
• Ability to meet deadlines and learn new systems.
• Excellent interpersonal communication and problem-solving skills.
• Detail oriented and have strong stakeholder liaison skills.