Assistant District Advisor (Short-Term)

Chemonics Soma Umenye LL

JOB DESCRIPTION

Title: Assistant District Advisor (Short-Term)

 Project: USAID Soma Umenye 

Project Summary

USAID Soma Umenye is a five-year USAID-funded activity that aims to improve reading outcomes in Kinyarwanda for at least 1 million children in public and government-aided schools in Rwanda. Covering all 30 districts of Rwanda and working in close collaboration with the Rwanda Education Board (REB) and the Rwandan Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), Soma Umenye will contribute to Rwanda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) and the Government of Rwanda’s national development priority of ensuring that Rwandan primary-grade students acquire the fundamental competency of literacy so that they can succeed in future schooling and, later, in the modern workplace. Soma Umenye aims to achieve the following two goals.

To improve reading outcomes in Kinyarwanda for at least 1 million children (unique direct beneficiaries) in public and government-aided schools in Rwanda by the end of P3; and

To ensure that at least 70 percent of P1-P3 students are able to read grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.

To achieve the above goals, it requires close collaboration with all education stakeholders under the technical leadership of MINEDUC and REB.

Purpose of Assignment 

As part of its activities, the project is distributing P1, P2, and P3 learning materials to Rwanda’s public and government-aided schools.  Additionally, the project is in the process of finalizing the distribution and assembly of bookshelves as a part of its activity to establish classroom libraries.  Soma Umenye requires short-term field support to assist in facilitating and monitoring the distribution and providing the distributors with near real-time feedback on their distribution activities. The project also requires support to conduct an audit to ascertain the usability of the project procured bookshelves, textbooks for P1, P2, and P3, as well as other reading materials in order to inform remediation and future procurements.  Finally, the Assistant District Advisor will provide support to the District Advisor to deliver Soma Umenye’s role in the MINEDUC school re-opening plan which will include a concentrated period of training delivered to teachers and school leaders.  We envisage that this training will be delivered at school level as a result of COVID-19 social distancing restrictions which will place greater management and administrative burden on Soma Umenye at the district level.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities 

Distribution

• Review the distribution schedule for the relevant district and coordinate with the distributor and headteachers to ensure adherence to the distribution calendar.
• Provide guidance to distributors and headteachers on the proper completion of requisite documentation (proof of delivery notes, assembly verification forms, etc.)
• Conduct a spot check of the of recently assembled bookshelves to ensure that the bookshelves are properly assembled (NB: depends on the district) and fit for purpose.
• On a daily basis, collect requisite documentation, provide quality assurance to ensure that it is completed correctly, and provide feedback to the distributor.
• Follow-up on the distributor’s implementation of the feedback provided.
• Collect all documentation and provide daily reports to the Kigali office regarding the progress of the distribution.
• Notify the Kigali office of issues relating to the distribution as they arise.

Text Book and Bookshelf Audit

• Develop district book and bookshelf audit schedule; coordinate and share the schedule with headteachers and teachers to ensure schools adhere to the developed plan and to ensure all books are available at the school.
• Visit sampled schools to conduct a physical count and determine the condition of P1-P3 Kinyarwanda textbooks, Teacher Guides, and Read Aloud Storybooks.
• Document any good practices from schools with regards to book care (reparation of damaged books, engagement of parents in books management and book use, etc.).
• Solicit the headteachers’ feedback from schools on book care and book use, document current student-to-textbook ratio, teacher-to-teacher guide ratio, and teacher-to-read aloud in every grade level.
• Verify that the abovementioned materials have school stamp and are numbered.
• Document any good practices from schools with regards to the maintenance of the bookshelves.
• Regularly upload and report on book audits daily through SurveyCTO.

Back to school

• Work with respective District Advisors (DAs) to organize orientation meetings for SEIs, and headteachers
• As part of the meetings, distribute various materials (videos and various forms/booklets) and ensure that all required documentation is properly completed.
• Coordinate with the DA to collect information/data on the number of classrooms, teachers (newly recruited teachers), school leaders, and students for P1- P3.
• Report and upload information in Survey CTO. 
• Support the District Advisor to plan and deliver training in advance of school re-opening.

Job Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (statistics, supply chain management, logistics, finance, and accounting, etc.)
• One year of experience working in supply chain and logistics management or relevant field.
• Previous data collection and reporting experience.
• Strong skills MS Office skills, with emphasis reading and entering information into Excel.
• Ability to receive and implement feedback.
• Ability to provide feedback and follow-up on the feedback.
• Ability to work under pressure and respect deadlines.
• Ability to provide pressure to outside parties in order to ensure they respect their deadline.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills.
• Fluent in Kinyarwanda; proficient in English.
• Preference will be given to people who are currently resident in the district.

Location of Assignment

The location of the assignment is in one of Rwanda’s 30 districts with travel throughout the district required.  Orientation and end-of assignment deliverable submission will take place in Kigali.

Duration of Assignment

The estimated duration of the assignment is four months (August 17-December 16, 2020).

Supervision

The Assistant District Advisor will report to the relevant District Advisor.

The deadline for applications is July 6, 2020.

Interested candidates should apply using this link: https://Chemonics-Soma-Umenye.formstack.com/forms/assistant_district_advisor