Education and Child Protection Advisor

With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Employee Contract Type:

Job Description:

The Education and Child Protection Advisor provides technical leadership for World Vision Malawi (WVM)’s education and child protection work across 28 Area Development Programmes (ADPs) in 16 districts, delivered with local partners through sponsorship-funded, grant-funded and humanitarian programming, including Education in Emergencies and child protection in emergencies. As a member of the Business Development and Impact (BD&I) Unit’s technical team, the Advisor works closely with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL), Communications, other sector advisors and Operations. The role combines technical quality with resource mobilisation through donor positioning, opportunity development and proposal co-design.

• Maintain an education and child protection stakeholder map covering relevant government ministries, departments and district authorities; bilateral and multilateral donors; development banks; United Nations agencies; World Vision Support Offices; and local and international non-governmental organisations. Record each stakeholder’s priorities, programmes, funding mechanisms, contacts and potential areas for collaboration.
• Track relevant government policies, strategies, plans and funding priorities for education and child protection at national and district levels. Prepare concise updates on how these affect World Vision Malawi’s programmes, proposals and advocacy priorities.
• Develop and maintain an annual engagement plan identifying priority stakeholders, the purpose and timing of each engagement, World Vision Malawi’s proposed contribution, the responsible staff member and agreed follow-up. Review and update the plan with Business Development and Impact colleagues and relevant Operations teams.
• Build working relationships with relevant government counterparts. Arrange and prepare meetings with clear objectives and agendas; document decisions, commitments, responsible persons and deadlines; follow up agreed actions; and record progress.
• Identify and develop specific collaboration opportunities with government, including programme co-design, technical support and formal partnership arrangements. Work with relevant colleagues to develop or update memoranda of understanding and other partnership documents, and track their approval, implementation and renewal.
• Participate in relevant education and child protection coordination forums, donor meetings and government discussions to present World Vision Malawi’s experience, evidence and proposed contribution. Share funding and partnership opportunities promptly with the Business Development and Impact technical team, senior leadership team and relevant Operations colleagues.
• Work with local partners, other sector advisors, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning colleagues, and Communications to prepare or update education and child protection capacity statements, concept notes, briefs, presentations, case studies and other evidence-based materials for external engagement.
• Keep the engagement tracker current, including meetings held, opportunities discussed, commitments made, action owners, deadlines and outcomes. Use it to update the engagement plan and inform internal decision-making.

• Provide technical guidance to World Vision Malawi’s education and child protection programming across its 28 Area Development Programmes in 16 districts, and across grant-funded, sponsorship-funded and emergency interventions delivered with local partner organisations.
• Lead or facilitate technical consultations at national and district levels with relevant government ministries and departments, Operations teams and partners. Document technical priorities, implementation challenges and agreed actions, and share these with the relevant teams.
• Develop, adapt and support the use of sector guidance, practical tools and standard operating procedures that promote quality, safe, inclusive and gender-responsive learning and protective environments.
• Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning colleagues to develop and adapt education and child protection assessment, monitoring and learning tools. Ensure these capture relevant technical standards, indicators, inclusion and safeguarding considerations, and are practical for Operations teams and local partners to use.
• Contribute technical input to grant opening and management meetings. Review programme and donor reports for technical accuracy, evidence of progress and results, and clear reporting of challenges and learning.
• Facilitate after-action reviews and other learning activities with Operations teams and partners. Document findings and recommendations and support teams to apply lessons to improve programme quality.
• Work with Communications and technical colleagues to ensure programme evidence and learning are accurately presented in relevant materials.
• Promote the integration of safeguarding, child protection, gender and disability inclusion, and accountability to affected people across programme implementation and partner delivery. Escalate significant safeguarding, protection or quality risks through the appropriate channels.

• Lead or contribute to education and child protection context analyses, needs assessments and evidence reviews to inform programme design across sponsorship-funded, grant-funded and humanitarian programming, including work in Area Development Programmes and proposals for new funding opportunities.
• Use assessment findings, government priorities, donor strategies and emerging evidence to identify programme needs, design options and opportunities for World Vision Malawi. Ensure analyses are relevant to the specific funding opportunity or proposal and are completed in time to inform design decisions.
• Co-design programmes with local partner organisations, relevant government structures and technical institutions. Contribute to design workshops and develop theories of change, results frameworks, logical frameworks and proposal content.
• Translate evidence and effective approaches in teaching and learning, inclusive education, child protection and Education in Emergencies into practical programme innovations suited to the context, community needs and funding opportunity.
• Work with Business Development and Impact, Finance, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning, and Operations colleagues to develop technically sound, feasible and costed programme designs, with clear activities, targets, staffing and implementation arrangements.

• Represent World Vision Malawi in relevant national and sub-national education and child protection coordination forums, including the Local Education Group, the Education Cluster and Education in Emergencies coordination mechanisms when active, and the Protection Cluster and relevant child protection coordination mechanisms when active.
• Participate in relevant Ministry of Education and Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare working groups, technical working groups and sector review processes. Contribute to discussions on inclusive education, child protection, safeguarding and other priorities relevant to World Vision Malawi’s work.
• Present World Vision Malawi’s education and child protection programmes, evidence, results and technical expertise in coordination forums. Ensure that presentations and shared information are accurate, current and agreed with relevant Operations and technical colleagues.
• Coordinate responses to information and data requests from government, cluster and sector coordination bodies. Gather and validate inputs from relevant teams, submit them by agreed deadlines, and share relevant decisions, information and opportunities with the senior leadership team and operational counterparts.
• Identify coordination actions relevant to World Vision Malawi’s programmes, communicate them to the appropriate colleagues and follow up on agreed contributions.

• Identify and assess potential local partners, including their technical experience, geographic presence, organisational capacity and complementarity with World Vision Malawi’s work.
• Support partner due diligence, capacity assessment and onboarding in line with World Vision partnership guidance. Ensure partner roles, responsibilities and contributions are clearly reflected in programme designs, budgets and proposals.
• Develop and maintain relationships with local partner organisations, relevant government ministries and departments, and development, academic and technical institutions to identify opportunities for collaboration and co-design.
• Identify opportunities for formal collaboration and coordinate the drafting, review, approval and follow-up of memoranda of understanding with the appropriate World Vision Malawi leads.

• Master’s degree in Education, Social Work, Child Protection, Social Sciences, International Development or a related field.
• A relevant bachelor’s degree with substantial additional experience may be considered. Proficiency in Microsoft Office and standard programme design and reporting tools.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in education and/or child protection programme design, technical advisory, programme quality or partnership development.
• Demonstrated experience in donor and government engagement, needs assessment and proposal design, and representation in sector coordination forums.
•  Experience working with local partners and government structures in grant-funded, sponsorship-funded and/or humanitarian programmes.
• Knowledge of Malawi’s education system and child protection context, with experience in one or more areas such as foundational learning, inclusive education, child safeguarding, community-based child protection, child protection in emergencies or education in emergencies.
• Knowledge of Malawi’s education and child protection policies, strategies and coordination mechanisms; child safeguarding and referral systems; education in emergencies; inclusive and gender-responsive approaches; donor requirements; and results-based programme design, MEAL and adaptive management. Strong facilitation, analytical, writing and relationship-building skills.

Applicant Types Accepted: