Education Officer

Introduction

The Danish Refugee Council assists refugees and internally displaced persons across the globe: we provide emergency aid, fight for their rights, and strengthen their opportunity for a brighter future. We work in conflict-affected areas, along the displacement routes, and in the countries where refugees settle. In cooperation with local communities, we strive for responsible and sustainable solutions. We work toward successful integration and – whenever possible – for the fulfillment of the wish to return home.

The Danish Refugee Council was founded in Denmark in 1956 and has since grown to become an international humanitarian organization with more than 8,000 employees and also 8,000 volunteers, while managing a turnover of over 400 million Euro. Based in Copenhagen (Denmark) and present in forty countries, the Danish Refugee Council is a non-profit-making, politically independent, non-governmental and non-denominational relief organization. The Danish Refugee Council is Denmark’s largest humanitarian NGO and has been ranked the 3rd best NGO in the world in 2018 (for six consecutive years, the organization is among the top five of the NGO Advisor Annual List).

Our vision is a dignified life for all displaced. All our efforts are based on our value compass: humanity, respect, independence and neutrality, participation, and honesty and transparency.

Background

The Danish Refugee Council initiated its activities in the island of Lesvos in November 2015 due to the unprecedented influx of asylum seekers. Following new political developments and displacement dynamics in early 2016, DRC expanded its activities to the mainland to support the people living in several sites across the country. With offices in Athens, Larissa and Thessaloniki, it currently implements a wide range of activities, including Site Management Support, legal assistance, identification of individual needs and protection of highly vulnerable persons, access to services within and outside the hosting sites through cultural mediation, and non-formal education. DRC works closely with the refugee communities, the Greek authorities and other humanitarian actors to ensure a protective environment for refugees and asylum seekers in Greece.  

Purpose

DRC Greece is looking to recruit a qualified, flexible and enthusiastic professional to work for its Country Office as an Emergency/Education Officer. Under the day-to-day supervision of the Education Coordinator, the Emergency/Education Officer will support the development and supervision of high-quality and evidence-based education programmes in Long-Term Accommodation Centres (LTACs) across mainland Greece.

The Emergency/Education Officer will provide administrative and technical support to the Education team including to teachers, cultural meditators and volunteers working with children, youth and adult students, and will contribute to ensuring the application of child safeguarding, protection/gender mainstreaming and integration mainstreaming in non-formal education at DRC Greece.   The Emergency/Education Officer will also serve as an integral member of DRC Greece surge response capacity in Greece, supporting sub-offices with critical backstopping in times of new arrivals and/or increased needs.

Duties & Responsibilitie

Design of education activities and technical support: 

• Support the design and supervision of high-quality and evidence-based education programmes for children, youth and adults  
• Support in the development of curricula and activity schedules and in the identification of effective education tools and resources (including for online learning) 
• Review educational visit plans and documentation 
• Roll out and supervise mechanisms for student and parent feedback and analyse results to inform project planning 
• Gather lessons learned and best practices to inform programme harmonisation, quality assurance and programme design. 
• Adhere to DRC’s Code of Conduct and help to create and maintain an environment that prevents child safeguarding violations and promotes the implementation of DRC’s child Safeguarding Policy 
• Provide support to procurement procedures such as drafting of technical requirements for educational supplies and activities 
• Provide ad-hoc/surge support to field teams as assigned by the Education Coordinator and/or Head of Programmes in times of increased needs. 

Reporting and Education Information Management:  

• Contribute to the design, roll-out and follow up of standardised reporting tools for the tracking and reporting of education activities. 
• Ensure that relevant project data and Means of Verification are accurately collected and comply with internal and donor reporting systems 
• In coordination with the DRC Greece Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) team monitor the progress of education activities against project plans and timelines and against pre-defined objectives and indicators 
• Contribute to education needs assessments and conduct focus group discussions on NFE activities 
• Contribute to the preparation of timely and high-quality progress and donor reports. 

Programme Development: 

• Support in the identification, planning and delivery of capacity building opportunities for the Education team 
• Conduct lesson observations and provide feedback on quality and areas for improvement  
• Attend and participate in assigned meetings, activities, and trainings 
• Contribute to continual improvements in DRC programming and ways of working, through identification and communication of challenges, gaps, recommendations for improvements and lessons learnt. 
• In collaboration with the Education Coordinator, contribute to the development and design of DRC’s education program and activities including drafting of proposals.  

In addition to the above, the Emergency/Education Officer may be asked to carry out other duties requested by the Education Coordinator and/or Head of Programmes.

Required Qualifications

• At least 3 years of professional experience in education, teaching or with local or international education NGOs (required).  
• University degree in Education, Social Sciences or a related field (required) 
• Excellent verbal and written English (required), working knowledge of Greek is an added advantage
• Prior teaching experience with non-Greek speaking students will be considered an asset  
• Prior professional experience working with children will be considered an asset  
• Experience in delivering education trainings and/or mentoring education personnel will be considered an asset 

Required Skills & Qualities

• Core Competencies of DRC:
  • Striving for excellence
  • Collaboration
  • Taking the lead
  • Communication
  • Demonstrating Integrity

• Strong computer literacy skills
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills
• Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment 
• Strong sense of initiative and self-motivated, with a strong commitment to humanitarian principles
• Flexible, enthusiastic, and willing to learn from others
• Ability to multitask and cope with multiple competing demands under tight deadlines 
• Ability to work in a demanding working environment

Terms & Conditions

• The contract will be under the Greek Labor Law (this is a national position)
• All allowances will be provided to the employees (Christmas, Easter, Vacation bonus)
• DRC provides training opportunities to develop and strengthen the quality of its services as well as its staff members’ professional and personal development.
• The position will be based in Athens (Greece) and national terms and conditions apply

Application Process

Are you interested? Then apply for this position on line: www.drc.dk/about-drc/vacancies/current-vacancies. All applicants must send a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages). Both must be in English.

DRC provides equal opportunity in employment and prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. DRC encourages all applicants to apply and does not practice any discrimination in any recruitment process. However, applicants must be aware that DRC cannot systemically sponsor non-EU citizen or non-Greek resident for all the steps of legal process to get a work permit and/or a residency permit in Greece.

Applications close the 8th of  December 2020. Applications submitted after this date will not be considered.

Due to the urgency of the position, DRC has the right to recruit a candidate who matches the required profile before the above deadline.