Job Opportunities at Plan International

Introduction

• The role of education to bring about a sustainable, just and equal future for the worlds’ children and youth has never been more urgent and crucial. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the gross inequalities and the fragility of societies and the planet, leaving the world at critical cross-roads. At its peak, COVID-19 disrupted the education of over 1.6 billion learners – 90% worldwide – creating an education emergency at a scale not experienced in living memory. At least one-third of children worldwide have had no access to remote learning opportunities, missing out on education entirely during school closures.
• This year alone, 70 million children are at risk of not acquiring basic literacy skills, and the most marginalised, particularly girls, children with disabilities, displaced and refugee children, have been most impacted. For girls and young women around the world, lockdown and school closures have hit particularly hard. Increases in gender-based violence and exploitation, the disproportionate burden of care and domestic work, and other gendered barriers risk leaving over 20 million girls at risk of never returning to school. Not only will this further entrench gender gaps in education, but it increases the likelihood of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, and undermines girls’ longer-term social, political and economic opportunities.
• Yet, COVID-19 is not a one-off crisis. The climate crisis, conflict and displacement are causing mass disruptions to education, exacerbating existing inequalities and continue to pose the greatest threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and gender equality. As with COVID-19, it is the world’s most marginalised, many of whom are girls and young women, who suffer the most during times of crisis. Thus, it is critical that educational continuity is prioritised during times of crisis and that education systems become more resilient, adaptable and gender transformative.
• The education sector has an important opportunity to not only “build back better”, but to “build back equal”. This will require a more strategic and harmonized approach to bridging the humanitarian development divide and operationalising nexus approaches, recognizing that the sector is facing a global protracted crisis that requires innovations in resilience and adaptation when it comes to educational planning and delivery, while keeping gender equality and inclusion as a top priority.

Role Purpose

• Plan International seeks an education policy and advocacy expert who has experience with policy analysis and advocacy strategies and initiatives that span both development and humanitarian contexts. 
• The role will be key to advancing Plan International’s influencing on gender transformative education and building resilience of education systems in order to ensure continuity of learning during times of disruption.
• This will be done by leveraging global, regional, and country level opportunities and processes.
• The role will ensure Plan International becomes a recognized thought leader on education in all contexts - including development, humanitarian, and protracted crises - and will offer analysis and recommendations to both internal and external sectoral stakeholders on the global education crisis that has been brought on and exacerbated by COVID-19 and climate change.
• The role will help connect and bridge education policy and advocacy efforts for acute emergencies, with longer term efforts for recovery, resilience, and adaptation.

Scope of the Role

• Working together with the Inclusive Quality Education Hub and the Education in Emergencies Network develop robust policy analysis and position papers on priority thematic issues related to education, particularly as it relates to education in crisis/ emergency including in displacement settings, education and the nexus approach and climate change education, for Plan International’s strategy, operations and influencing
• Provide robust, accurate policy advice and information to drive Plan International’s strategic education influencing strengthening our niche in gender transformative education to ensure that advocacy efforts can be utilised for global and domestic purposes.
• Manage global campaigning and advocacy efforts on education, coordinating with National, Regional, Country and Liaison Office colleagues.
• Manage and coordinate external representation and partnerships as they relate to education in crisis/ emergency, education recovery and resilience and education and the nexus approach. Key strategic partners will include Education Cannot Wait, INEE, Global Education Cluster and the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, among others
• Provide though leadership, policy and advocacy support to the ECW and GPE Global Account Management (GAM) mechanisms to ensure coordination and harmonization.
• Deploy (virtually or in person) to support Country, Regional and/or Liaison Offices with education policy and advocacy upskilling and capacity backstopping up to 20% of the time.

Qualification and Experience

• University Degree in Education, International Development, Humanitarian Response or other relevant subject matter.
• Proven advocacy and policy influencing experience in education, gender equality, and/or humanitarian systems. Strong preference given to experienced gained in a crisis affected country.
• An understanding of concepts of the right to education, inclusion and quality within education both in development and humanitarian contexts will be essential.
• Strong understanding of humanitarian systems and policy landscape, both globally and at country level.
• Solid experience of working on children’s rights and gender equality at a global level within an NGO, UN agency or government department.
• Proven experience of producing high quality evidence based policy positions and briefings. Having developed advocacy strategies on related topics in a national and/or international context using a variety of advocacy approaches, policy analysis and positioning.
• Knowledge of global institutions, initiatives, and organisations with a priority focus on education combined with an awareness of the global financing requirements to achieve the right to education for all children, including domestic and international financing needs. Specific knowledge on ECHO funding is an asset.
• Experience with external representation and effective relationship building at a senior level and a consultative, collaborative approach.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills and the ability to manage multiple demands, meet deadlines and prioritise workload whilst remaining adaptable and flexible.
• Experience working in a highly matrixed environment where multiple interdependencies are required to deliver various workstreams
• Fluent in English and preferably French and/or Spanish.

Plan International’s Values In Practice
We are open and accountable:

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people.

We strive for lasting impact:

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness

We work well together:

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering:

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

Level of contact with Children:

• Low contact: Minimal interaction with children  

Salary
We will be happy to disclose the salary and applicable benefits to applicants as part of this process, however, please kindly note that this will vary according to the location of the appointed candidate and therefore it is not possible to include full details here. As an indication if this role was based in the Global Hub office in the UK the salary would be circa £45,000 per annum

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Role Purpose

• Plan International embarked on consolidating their legacy systems (PPM, GL and GTS) to deliver additional functionality to support growing business; to give National Offices access to key donor reporting data; and have an integrated online system to be used by Global Hub (GH), Regional Hubs (RH) and Country Offices (COs). This system is called SAP.
• The Systems Specialist is responsible for the coordination of the operation of Plan International Nigeria systems i.e. SAP (Standard & BI Online), Microsoft Dynamics 365.
• The role provides a combination of on-site and remote troubleshooting, trainings for systems related requirements.
• With SAP, the function will monitor and report regularly on country SAP performance across all modules including grants, programmes, finance and Procurements; advising Country Finance Manager and the country SAP subject matter experts on SAP usage/Optimization.
• The role coordinates various SAP SME experts and builds a strong community of SAP experts across the country program.
• The Systems Specialist also acts as the Focal point of contact for Country SME, Field Office Project teams, Support units on all SAP related activities.

Dimensions of the Role
The post holder will contribute towards the system performance optimization, Track performances, ensure data readiness for migration into the new ERP:

• Remit of role covers all field offices and Country Office.
• Liaise with teams of SAP experts across Plan countries for knowledge transfer and quality standards.
• Establishes monitoring indicators and reporting parameters for SAP.
• Participates in the development and implementation of SAP Strategies and operational plans and priorities for Plan International Nigeria.
• Act as the roving SAP SME.
• Offers on site and remote troubleshooting to issues and where necessary, relates matters to experts.
• Mobilizes SAP and other system resources across the organization to support colleagues facing SAP usage and maintenance challenges.
• Disseminates regular SAP usage reports to Country Leadership Team as agreed.
• Advises on SAP capacity needs and facilitate requisite training.
• Works with IT teams to ensure adequate follow up on SAP and system issues for timely resolution.
• Responsible for training and induction of existing and new staff on SAP
• Escalates SAP/System issues to Regional and Global Hub SMEs, towards mitigating corresponding risks.
• Be a member of, and participate in the Y.O.D.A transition team activities.

Accountabilities
Manage the operations of the SAP system in the field office to meet Plan’s spending and financial reporting requirements. To do this, the role will:

• Performs regular review of SAP performance and usage across the teams.
• Facilitates full processing of business transactions in SAP systems and accurately undertake accuracy checks to ensure all transactions entered in SAP are correct.
• Liaises with SMEs on progress towards complete usage of SAP across all modules/functions.
• Facilitate quarterly review of SAP protocols and make necessary corrections or support.
• Identify and address key issues for using SAP effectively, with all departments and seek regional and GH support.
• Reviews all country plans for clearing backlogs, lead on data cleansing and any corrections in SAP.
• Contribute in FAD and Project outline set up process in SAP. 
• Analyses process flows across country program and advise where there are irregularities and blockages.
• Works with Regional SMEs towards developing plans for various SAP activities as required.
• Follows up with COs, RHs, NOs and GH on matters with dependencies from each of the stakeholder entities.
• Anchors and disseminates key communications including SAP system changes.
• Works with different departmental teams to ensure all financial records are Year End and annual audit ready.
• Lead on SAP data migration and readiness for Program Y.O.D.A transition.

Reporting and Monitoring, To do this, the role will:

• Works with CO, RH, NOs, GH on SAP financial/grants audits and reporting related matters
• Ensure the Monthly SAP Oversight Report is timely prepared
• Defines in collaboration with Regional Systems Business Specialist (RSBS) key reports to be generated for different teams in countries and Regional offices for monitoring and management
• decision.
• Extracts and disseminates monitoring reports from SAP systems.
• Reviews and follows up with Project Point Persons on weekly Grants Spend and budget performance status.
• Contribute in Developing a monitoring system and scorecard for Country Leadership Team on SAP performance issues across the country.
• Works closely with Finance, Projects, Procurement and Grants teams to check country SAP records readiness for financial year end closure and NO grant reporting at year end.

Compliance and Risk Management, To do this, the role will:

• Reviews SAP internal audit reports jointly with the SAP SMEs and supports field offices to address areas of weakness.
• Participates in regular country SAP review meetings.
• Reviews the country SAP related risks and facilitates implementation of remedial actions.
• Engages the CO Systems & Applications Roll-out coordinator on Program YODA related roll out reporting and regular updating, key challenges and lesson learning.
• Prepares readiness assessment on roll out of new systems in Plan International Nigeria.

Capacity Building and Training, To do this, the role will:

• Trains and coordinates the SAP SMEs, Country users in-order to establish a strong community of experts and shares best practices.
• Coordinate SAP training for existing staff and new joiners.
• Disseminates training/SAP enhancement materials from GH to country users.
• Reviews country SAP user lists for consistency and ensures that internal control standards are maintained.

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• University Degree in Social Science, Physical Science and / or equivalent; Relevant professional qualification.
• At least 3 years’ experience in a similar role; Training, Grants or project management, Donor reporting or Finance and system monitoring and support services
• Knowledge and use of accounting software (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365).
• High experience in managing and implementing SAP systems issues and reporting.
• Preferred qualifications: knowledge of and experience with the key donors in the industry is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of plan global process and policies in Grant, Finance, Program and Procurement
• Experience providing capacity development assistance to sub-grantees strongly preferred.
• Experience working with sub-grantees required.

Skills & Knowledge:

• Communicates clearly and effectively.
• Working knowledge of English and the languages of the region (may be French or English)
• Strong analytical skills; problem solving; decision making in ambiguous environment
• Project and general management skills
• Have a natural attraction for computer science skills
• Good knowledge in Excel and data base management
• Capability to coordinate and cooperate within interdisciplinary teams
• Strong negotiation, facilitating and influencing skills
• Excellent communication and customer relationship skills
• Fast learner of complex process skills is a plus.
• Capability to communicate ideas and technical information to a non-technical audience
• Ability to facilitate participative processes for all stakeholders for implementing grant projects.
• Strong team building skills, Organized and methodical.
• Independence, objectivity and integrity.
• Good supervisory & coordination skills and ability to deliver to tight deadlines.
• Fair knowledge of project planning, management, supervision, monitoring and evaluation tools.
• Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook.