Protection and Education Technical Manager – Erbil

 

JOB OPPORTUNITY

Protection and Education Technical Manager – Erbil

World Vision International is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision – Iraq Office is looking for a highly qualified and motivated person for the position of Protection and Education Technical Manager – Erbil.

Employee Contract Type:

Local – Fixed Term Employee (Fixed Term)

 

Job Description:

 

JOB PURPOSE:

This position provides strategic and technical leadership for WORLD VISION Iraq’s NEXUS Protection and Education Strategy objectives and programming ensuring the meaningful participation and inclusion of children, women, persons with disabilities, minorities, and other marginalized groups. The role involves developing and implementing protection and education programme strategies, overseeing technical project implementing and supporting project teams, contributing to assessments, design, monitoring and evaluation, and engaging with key stakeholders including government, the private sector, NGOs, faith actors and community groups. In addition, supports advocacy and research efforts and collaborates with the resource development team on grant acquisition and represents WORLD VISION Iraq externally while building the ability of field staff and partners including coalitions/ consortiums.

KEY RESPONSIBILITES:

Leadership
•    Demonstrate WORLD VISION’s core values, vision and mission in all aspects of the role. 
•    Build a team of highly committed and competent staff, ensuring cooperation and coordination among relevant staff within the Project. 
•    Provide leadership and direction to the overall sector and supported project. 
•    Create a learning environment in which staff regularly reflect, learn from mistakes and use lessons for personal growth and to revise work plans to improve ministry impact. 
•    Ensure that staff understand and follow the WORLD VISION child protection policy and that awareness-raising on child protection, response and incident reporting is occurring.

Project Management- Quality Implementation, Financial and Risk Management

• Coordinate with Operations Manager, Technical Programme Managers, finance, and administration staff to ensure operational systems are in place to support field activities.
  •    Ensure that the programme systems and staff are working together to achieve project goals with an HDP NEXUS mindset while upholding WORLD VISION and donor standards.
  •    Ensuring right structures, internal and external standards, staffing, resources and policies as well as all grant requirements are adhered to.
  •    Ensure clear understanding of project vision, goals and technical sector interventions by all project staff with the aim to achieve project goals, outcomes and outputs.
  •    Ensure that all terms and conditions agreed in the signed Memorandums of Understandings with donor and government departments are adhered to throughout the life of the project.
  •    Manage and mitigate any risks within the Project that could have financial, Human Resources (HR) or Legal consequences or negatively affect ministry or WORLD VISION reputation.
  •    Ensure that proper community development practices and “Do No Harm” practices are incorporated and upheld throughout the planning and implementation of the project.
  •    Support in the development of correct and complete Bill of Quantities.
  •    Prepare and submit procurement plans in close coordination with the team.
  •    Regularly check and evaluate the progress of the project.
  •    With support from WORLD VISION Iraq’s Finance Department, assume primary responsibility for budget overview reviews and monthly financial reports.
  •    Ensure compliance with WORLD VISION and donor financial policies and procedures and promoting a culture of transparency and accountability.
  •    Ensure proper coding and budget availability of all project expenses.
  •    Oversee the submission of monthly cash requests for project operations.
  •    Collaborate with support departments to ensure contractors and creditors are paid on time.
  •    Review and approve expenditures and contract according to assigned levels of authority.
  •    In collaboration with other Technical Managers, lead the project team in planning and implementation of programmes following set WORLD VISION protection/ education and industry standards.
  •    Consult with all relevant staff to ensure coordinated planning and implementation of integrated interventions.
  •    Review reports and find key lessons and consistently apply emerging innovations, and good practices from project evaluations, field visit reports, project reports across the program, and from other NGOs and donors to new proposals.
  •    Develop and support partnerships and cooperation with government agencies, NGOs and private partners, financial service providers, development actors, and other strategic partners that contribute to WORLD VISION Programme outcome.
  •    Coordination of partner during project implementation cycle through structured and regular coordination meetings.

Personnel Management

• Manage direct reports and provide overall project leadership in close coordination with respective operation managers.
• Coordinate and oversee the hiring process for project staff.
• Coordinate and implement new employee project orientations and training.
• Monitor staff performance and raise any issues with Human Resources if necessary
• Initiate and perform, with support from others, staff performance appraisals.
• In coordination with P&C, keep correct employee data files and oversee completion of routine issues such as contract renewals, leave, salary adjustments.
• Develop the capacity of staff to plan, monitor and coordinate service delivery.

Monitoring, Reporting and Administration
•    Ensure correct quality narrative and financial reports are sent on time according to donor and WORLD VISION requirements.
•    Work closely with Program Officer in ensuring that all reports meet donor and WORLD VISION requirements. 
•    Track the performance of the project activities and outputs against expected results and adjust implementation processes to ensure the project is progressing towards the intended outcomes using donor and partnership standardised outcome and monitoring indicators consistent with the design and disaggregation by gender and vulnerability. 
•    Analyse the impact of project and promote learning by documentation of best-practices. Use this information to support decision-making processes. 
•    Track project progress, project expenditure against approved budgets, predict any deviations and recommend and act on relevant and required adjustments.
•    Track project risk to prompt adjusts and implement the existing contingency plan.
•    Travel regularly to all project sites to ensure proper implementation of project activities.
•    Ensure all programming and implementation follows WORLD VISION Iraq’s standard technical approaches to each sub-sector, uptakes donor, international and country-specific guidance, minimum requirements, and global best practices.
•    Support REALM to prepare modules for assessment, monitoring and evaluation tools including providing sector analysis and interpretation support. 
•    Review grant progress reports and monitoring and evaluation reports for the protection and Education projects to ensure compliance with WORLD VISION expectations and donor requirements. 
•    Provide technical leadership to protection and education sector-related research, case studies, learning reviews, and publications for WORLD VISION Iraq and as part of Regional / Global initiatives relevant to Iraq or fragile contexts.
•    Provide technical review of protection and education procurement related bids to ensure quality and value for money.
•    Collaborate on action research and impact assessments with REALM Manager and recommend changes to achieve quality impact.  
•    Lead in developing, adapting, and contextualizing teaching and learning materials. 
•    Conduct periodic supportive supervision initiatives to provide technical backstopping and monitoring including for the RRPI program. 
•    Write and submit high quality programme progress reports that meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders.

Strategy, Program and Business Development 
•    Meet donors to preposition for new protection and education ideas and models based on evidence.
•    Develop the technical/sectoral components of new proposals, in coordination with Resource Development, REALM and operations teams ensuring quality proposal submission for greater impact.
•    Ensure project design describes desired changes to child well-being in alignment with field office priorities and demonstrates how programming approach, activities, outputs, and outcomes contribute to WORLD VISION priorities.
•    Provide inputs into budget of technical components within new proposals.
•    Coordinate with the resource development team and operations for potential new proposals based on emerging new needs and ensure documenting of evidence.
•    Participate in the development of proposals for external partners such as the Recovery and Resilience Pathways for Iraq (RRPI) program through the business development and donor engagement working groups.
•    Support projects to roll-out context appropriate protection and education models/ approaches and tools in line with donor and WORLD VISION partnership guidelines and designs.
•    Develop and align sector roadmaps, approaches with context and country standards.
•    Sector innovative designs and approaches supporting the Programme to achieve desired changes to child well-being in alignment with field office and donor priorities and demonstrates how programming approach, activities, outputs, and outcomes contribute.
•    Ensure donor and WORLD VISION project models and other evidence-based practices are used in the design and adapted appropriately for the context.
•    Ensure project design includes a clear approach to sustainability, including strengthening local capacity to sustain improvements in child well-being.
•    Ensure project designs and implementation includes context-appropriate partnering with churches and other faith communities, government, civil society organizations, and businesses.
•    Programmes demonstrate shared ownership and implementation with key stakeholders / partners, in accordance with their capacity and agreed roles, and accountability to children and communities. 

Advocacy, Networking and External Engagements 
•    Provide ongoing, quarterly context analysis on national ministerial changes/humanitarian context and opportunities for policy influence, particularly in the protection and education technical areas
•    Engage in WORLD VISION partnership, Middle East Regional Office (MEERO) and strategic related campaigns.
•    Collaborate with Advocacy team to review, develop, and implement Sector objectives adopted to achieve WORLD VISION Iraq Advocacy implementation plan.
•    Analyze the government’s sector policies that may further or constrain efforts to increase sector opportunities and adaptation efforts and develop strategies/actions to respond to them.
•    Lead the development of technical branding of WORLD VISION Iraq’s protection and education efforts.
•    Represent WORLD VISION Iraq on strategic country and humanitarian and private sector technical working groups including academia.

Organizational and Staff Capacity Building
•    Provide technical support to recruit peace protection and education technical staff (i.e., JD review based on existing standard JDs, technical short-listing, technical interviews, etc.)
•    Develop and revise protection and education capacity-building plans including safeguarding and share them with People and Culture. 
•    Review, update, and, where necessary, develop contextualized training or other guidance material for protection and education for field staff based on project needs and assessment findings.
•    Roll-out mandatory or best-fit WORLD VISION partnership models/ approaches in collaboration with partnership technical support teams and P&C. 

Others
•    Ensure that organizational Security, Supply chain, Administration, People and culture, IT procedures and guidelines are well integrated into projects.
•    Standardized approach to the donor guidelines across the two projects
•    Uphold Safeguarding and cross-cutting themes standards. 
•    Any other duties relating to the nature of the job. 

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification    

• Bachelor’s degree in any area related to Education, Social Studies, Gender studies, Peace Studies, International Development, Management etc. required
  •    Post Graduate Degrees in Education, Social Studies, Development Studies, Rural, International Development Etc.

Required Professional Experience    

• Experience managing and leading grant implementation, including consortia management
  •    Knowledge and experience of UN or other major grants, is highly advantageous
  •    Experience in working with UN agencies, collaborating with relevant government ministries, and relevant protection and education donors.
  •    Strong understanding of protection, education and inclusion programs including engagements with government and community structures including faith actors.
  •    Experience in protection and education capacity building processes, tools and methodologies.
  •    Experience in protection and education assessment approaches/ methodologies and project design, proposal development.
  •    Over five years humanitarian and development and/or relief work at the programmatic level.
  •    At least 4-6 years’ experience in grant project management. Demonstrated experience working with UN projects in a leadership role.
  •    Experience in integrated program/project cycle management.
  •    Experience living and working in a fragile context.
  •    Mentoring within cross cultural contexts.
  •    Creative and able to come up with, embrace and coordinate innovative thinking, partnership building and problem-solving skills.
  •    Good analytical and writing skills.
  •    Good interpersonal skills, influencing skills and cross-cultural sensitivity.
  •    Effective in written and oral communication in English.
  •    Able to work on multifunctional tasks in the pressure of time and organizational changes.
  •    Strong computer skills including Word, Excel, PowerPoint•  
  

Required Language(s)    

Excellent written English, with fluency in speaking English and local languages 

Required travel and/or work environment accommodations

• The position is based in Erbil.
  •    Willingness to travel often within KRI and GOI areas including peri-urban and field locations.
  •    Ability to work in a multicultural and occasionally high-pressure environment.
  •    Flexibility to adapt to changing project needs and field conditions.
  •    The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically to project sites as needed, with occasional international travel.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge and/or other Qualifications  

• Demonstrated technical and professional aptitude in project management in evolving contexts.
  •    Understanding of HPD NEXUS multi-sector project implementation essential i.e. a thorough understanding of key sector interventions at a programme/operational level.
  •    Relevant professional experience managing and implementing large emergency and development projects.
  •    Experience with NEXUS multi-sectoral programmes targeting IDPs and returnees, Women, Youth, in and out of school children, and vulnerable groups.
  •    Knowledge of project cycle elements, community engagement, design and management.
  •    Understanding of integrated government and rural community development programming and processes.
  •    Strong capacity building and facilitation skills.
  •    Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills.
  •    Cross-cultural and gender sensitivity, flexible world view, emotional maturity and physical stamina.
  •    Initiative-taker who can work independently under pressure and who has ability to manage work tasks without direct supervision.
  •    Effective in setting up priorities and to plan, coordinate and check activities, prioritize competing demands and work to tight deadlines.
  •    Experience participating in program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes.
  •    Experience with proposal writing and strategy development.
  •    Experience with Donors liaison, prepositioning and donor contract management
  •    Experience with working on commercial contracts.
  •    Strong ability to work with and relate to diverse personality types, to practice relational and ideological tolerance, and to contribute to a positive organizational culture.
  •    Commitment to WORLD VISION Core Values, Vision and Mission Statement.
  •    Knowledge of and adherence to the Red Cross and NGO Code of Conduct and capability of incorporating standards in implementation and evaluation of relevant projects.

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local Applicants Only

 

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

 

Mode of Application:

If you are interested in this position, to apply, please register at: https://worldvision.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WorldVisionInternational/details/Protection-and-Education-Technical-Manager—Erbil_JR45176

 

No information inquiries will be handled over the phone. Only short-listed candidates will be notified for the interview. The deadline for application is September 27, 2025.

 

As a Child focused organization, World Vision is committed to the protection of children and does not employ staff whose background is not suitable for working with children. All employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of all applicable background checks