Community Engagement Coordinator

Job Overview

Project Background and Job Summary:

RTI International is implementing the USAID Transforming the Education System for Teachers and Students in Liberia (TESTS) Activity. This activity will work closely with and support the Liberian Ministry of Education (MOE) to improve the quality of teachers’ instruction in early childhood education (ECE) and primary grades. This position is based in Monrovia, Liberia. The successful candidate must possess excellent oral and written communication skills, including fluency in English.

The Community Engagement Coordinator will lead activities related to family and community engagement in early grade reading within the target Teacher Training Institutions (TTI) and corresponding demonstration schools, mobilizing support for learning from stakeholders including Parent Teacher Associations (PTA), community-based organizations, TESTS partners, and other stakeholders. This position will report to the GESI Director or his/her designee and work in close coordination with other project team members on ensuring the effective implementation of family and community engagement activities.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Coordinate the development and implementation of awareness campaigns and an approach to engaging communities and families to improve support, interest, and outcomes in ECE and primary education in Liberia through the Activity.
• Establish lasting parent and community relationships, engaging parents and communities in sustainable ways to generate and maintain desired ECE and primary education outcomes.
• Develop awareness and behavior-change campaigns on the use of nurturing care and right-age enrollment and encourage parents to provide extracurricular opportunities for student learning outcomes, building on activities implemented under the Read Liberia Activity to establish reading spaces and create time and space in homes for students to read and do homework. These campaigns will also focus on the importance of quality, safe, and equitable instruction and learning environments for girls and children with disabilities.
• Expand existing and research and identify additional opportunities to provide school feeding programs to TESTS schools.
• Collaborate with the TESTS Grants Specialist, the Technical Director, and other TESTS and RTI home office specialists to strengthen schools by establishing a competitive small grants program to support schools in carrying out multiple types of improvements.
• Regularly recruit and manage private sector partnerships to fund schools’ development priorities and to provide teaching and learning materials and equipment (such as assistive technologies) for learners with disabilities.
• Identify, enhance, and scale local approaches to supporting families in sending all children to school.
• Collaborate with the Grants Specialist and Technical Director to explore effective ways of using small grants programs to retain teachers in the profession.
• Coordinate the review of existing materials and approaches to community mobilization in Liberia, specifically for improving literacy and education outcomes in primary grades. With the Technical Director, adapt (or if needed, design and development) existing training and assessment approach and materials for PTAs, Disabled Persons Organizations (DPOs), and other groups and support and monitor their work.  
• Design and implement tools to be used by parents and communities to support the improvement of children’s learning outcomes.
• Implement approaches to classroom management practices that will create a safe and conducive learning environment and improve retention.
• Implement community-based approaches to promote accountability for students’ safety and to improve retention.
• Work closely with the program monitoring and evaluation specialist to design evaluation methodology and tools which measure the effectiveness of the community mobilization outreach.
• Train, mentor, and support community actors on methodology and tools to enable the sharing of results and encourage community participation and improved reading outcomes throughout target schools. 
• Support the sharing of best practices, tools, and materials so that non-target schools and other partner organizations may replicate the community mobilization package.
• Provide feedback to other program components on linkages between TTIs, demonstration schools, communities, and partners.

Qualifications:

• Masters degree and 3 years of experience or Bachelors Degree and 6 years of experience working directly with community actors including Parent Teacher Associations, School Management Committees, community-based organizations and other stakeholders to increase engagement and quality of ECE and/or primary education programs.
• Experience in meaningful collaboration with government and ministry counterparts and local capacity development.
• Experience with USAID project management policies, procedures and reporting requirements.
• Strong oral/written communication skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken English required.

Physical/Mental Demands

Physical and mental demands of this role include those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job, as outlined above.  Examples include:  remaining in a stationary position for long periods of time; operating a computer and other office machinery; thinking, learning, and concentrating effectively and frequently communicating with other people, both within RTI and outside of RTI; frequently moving about inside and travel between offices and beneficiary locations; ability to handle the stress associated in meeting frequent, multiple and tight deadlines; ability to work in excess of 40 hours per week as workload and deadlines may require; ability to have regular, reliable and predictable attendance.