Strategic Education Advisor

VVOB in Kenya
VVOB has a long history of working in Kenya and restarted activities in 2022, after almost a decade of absence. Our focus is to strengthen primary and secondary education in Kenya, working in the thematic area of School Leadership and Gender Transformative Education. Our ongoing project, INCREASE, is supporting the Ministry of Education (MoE) through our operational partner, Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI). Together, we are piloting an app-based blended training to support school leaders in steering the competency-based curriculum (CBC) reforms in junior schools. The focus of this programme is to strengthen the instructional leadership skills of school leaders nationwide, with cost-effectiveness in mind. Since 2024, we also have a regional programme on Teacher Professional Development for Gender-Responsive Pedagogy.

Purpose of the function
The ambition of VVOB is to ensure learners around the world enjoy their fundamental human right to quality education, without exception. In striving for that ambition, we place our values ‘commitment’, ‘integrity’, ‘respect’, ‘quality’ and ‘innovation’ central. As Strategic Education Advisor you contribute to the ambition and values of VVOB in Kenya by being the key person for education partnerships and policy. You provide technical and strategic advice and guidance on this domain to VVOB and VVOB’s partners in Kenya. In this position you report to the Country Programmes Manager. You work closely together with the Education and M&E colleagues.

You will:

• Create and manage partnerships and strong networks with relevant partners, institutions and organisations.
• Support the policy processes needed for institutionalising and scaling the programmes of VVOB, together with our partners and other stakeholders. You aim for evidence-based policy outcomes, guided by the research agenda of VVOB in Kenya and globally.
• Provide both short and long-term strategic advice, information, and guidance to VVOB and VVOB’s partners on education, in line with Kenyan policy trends, new developments and the latest research and thinking in education and international development.
• Design and develop relevant and scalable projects in close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Take up a variety of roles in the capacity development process according to the needs, particular situations, and phases of the programme.
• Contribute to internal and external knowledge development and learning, by systemising lessons learnt and sharing proactively lessons learnt between partners, colleagues and other VVOB country teams.

If you’re our Strategic Education Advisor, your workweek at the office will include the following highlights:

• Together with your colleague M&E and Research Advisor, you have a meeting with the research department of the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), who are involved in the research agenda of the programme, to discuss the results of the data collection of school leaders who followed the training programme in cohort 2.
• You share the draft version of the skilling for sustainable future situational analysis that you’ve been working on with the Global Strategic Education Advisor at head office for her inputs.
• You give a presentation at the Ministry of Education about the impact of the training programme and advice on further upscaling of the blended training in a cost-effective way.
• You log in to an online meeting with your colleagues from the African Center for School Leadership and partners to organise the upcoming school leadership taskforce meeting.
• You have a meeting with the Country Programmes Manager to finalise the presentation that you will give during a coming meeting with a potential donor.

Your expertise and experience

• Master’s degree in education, human sciences, or another relevant field or equivalent.
• Indepth understanding of and connections with the Kenyan education system and the Kenyan education sector.
• Experience in education project management.
• Experience with research cooperation and evidence-based policy making, or/and scaling education programmes.
• Experience in organisational and institutional capacity development.

Nationality: Kenyan national
Location: Nairobi, Kenya (Parklands)

Matching competences
VVOB core competences:

• Cooperation
• Result Orientation
• Continuous Improvement

Function specific competencies:

• Strategic Networking & Partnership Building
• Creativity
• Persuasiveness
• Vision Building
• Problem Analysis and Judgement

What we’re offering:

• A one-year contract with the possibility of extension until 31/12/2026
• A dynamic working environment in an international context
• An exciting job in a growing organisation with varied responsibilities and opportunities for professional development
• A competitive salary and benefits package. Gross salary range for this position is KES 265,000-350,000 depending on seniority.