Education advisor
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Background
Somalia is one of the harshest places on the planet, with an extreme environment that presents huge challenges to its people just in terms of simple survival. The combination of a hostile, predominantly arid environment, difficult terrain with settlements scattered over vast distances, the legacy of a nomadic way of life and a civil conflict that has shattered social structures has led to massive internal displacement of up to 1.5 million people. The displacement of people mainly into the North East Somalia has mainly been due to the relative stability and peace throughout the conflict in Somalia. Despite being relatively peaceful, the government and social infrastructures are very weak. The lack of central government in Somalia has rendered service provision, including education, the responsibility of individual regional or even district administrations who have limited capacity and resources to ensure children have access to basic quality education. Quality of education is poor with insufficient generally poor and inadequate learning spaces, absence of a standardised curriculum or medium of instruction, inadequately trained and poorly remunerated teachers, insufficient teaching and learning materials, large disparities in gender equity and a lack of a central education authority to regulate and coordinate education provision in the country. Save the Children has education programmes in the affected areas of the Somali-region. In response to the drought crisis and declared famine in some areas, Save the Children has intensified its support to Puntland (IDP communities as well as host communities) and Galgaduud in South Central Somalia.
Bossaso, Qardho and Garowe, though suffered a moderate level of physical destruction have to cope with poverty and environmental problems. Strongly affected by a large influx of IDPs, they have a limited absorption capacity because of their weak urban services. The local authorities lack capacity to provide basic services for its population. Hence, in towns like Bossaso and Garowe, there is limited space due to the influx of the IDPs, stiff competition for water resources, limited livelihood opportunities, limited access to basic schooling as well as access to basic health, sanitation and nutrition services. The net result is a major survival and well being gap among the IDPs who normally would have the last priority in accessing the above services. Save the Children has been supporting an integrated programme in Puntland with an outreach to 3,000 children in 10 schools. The EiE component of the programme has taken off well this year and a new phase of the integrated programme will be planned in December 2011. In Galgaduud Save the Children is supporting emergency education in the districts of Abudwaq and Himan & Heeb. The security situation in the two districts is relatively stable with traditional elders, community leaders and religious leaders playing a key role in the maintenance of peace and security in the area. However, the perennial problems of civil insecurity in the region have caused multiple waves of displacement for residents, loss of life, destruction of homes and local infrastructure, including schools and water sources, and the destabilisation of livelihoods patterns for the affected communities.
Himan & Heeb is a self proclaimed state, south of Galmudug which was established in 2008. It has a functioning government, with Mohamed Aden as president. The Saleban (sometimes referred to as Suleman) sub clan of the Sa’ad clan predominates in this area. Himan & Heeb is bordered by Abudwaq, Galmudug and stops just before Dhusamareeb. There has been extensive investment into this region by Somali diaspora, co-ordinated by Mohamed Aden, resulting in the building of schools, hospitals, houses and roads. There is an approximate population of 324,688 in Himan & Heeb, of whom 139,152 are school age. There are currently 25 primary schools in the district hosting 4,178 children (1,292 girls) which numbers to 3% of the school-age population. 124 teachers are teaching in these schools, 6 of whom are female. None of them have received any formal teacher training. There are still large areas of the district where there are no education activities at all.
Abudwaq, on the Ethiopian border, is administered by Ahlu Sunna. Abudwaq has been stable for the past 2 years, and is also greatly under resourced with a high level of IDP camps and constant influx of displaced people from Mogadishu. Abudwaq also has a functional airstrip. Reports from Somali staff suggest there are large scale humanitarian needs, with a particular need to support the fragile education system. 2,759 children are enrolled (1,249 girls). Data on the number of school-age children in the district is not yet available but estimates from the elders suggest a similarly low figure to that in Himan & Heeb (3%). There are currently 15 primary schools in the district, 5 of which are operating within IDP camps, and several of these, under trees. 63 teachers are employed in these 15 schools, including 5 females. 10 among the 63 have been formally trained but the majority have not gone further than secondary level.
Two recent rapid assessments (August & October) carried out by the education cluster in Somalia confirm the need for support to emergency education. Parents, teachers and communities list their priority needs as school feeding, teacher incentives, learning materials and construction/reconstruction of schools. Both surveys raised the concerns of substantial student drop-out rates in South & Central Somalia if education was not supported. Save the Children in Somalia has since the drought crisis boosted the response to emergency education focusing on aspects such as providing temporary/semi permanent learning spaces, teacher training, provision of educational material etc. With the increased support to EiE programming across the Somalia regions/zones additional technical support is required to support the implementation of programmes.
Objective of the mission
• Conduct assessment on EiE needs in Puntland and write a report
• Develop a proposal based on the findings of the assessment as appropriate
• Review the Mogadisho EiE assessment report and give feedback to the local partner
• Support the technical capacity development of programme staff as needed in South Central Somalia and Puntland
• Support the implementation of the education in emergencies programmes in South Central Somalia and Puntland
Mission outputs
• Progress on the EiE programmes in Puntland and South Central Somalia – documented in monthly progress reports
• Detailed report with practical recommendations for the implementation of the education components for 2012/2013
• Other work supported as required
More specific responsibilities
• Conduct assessment on EiE needs in Puntland and write a report
• Develop EiE proposal based on the findings of the assessment as appropriate and scale up our EiE work in CSS and Puntland
• Support the technical capacity development of programme staff as needed in South Central Somalia and Puntland
• Support the implementation of the education in emergencies programmes in South Central Somalia and Puntland
• Guide the EiE component of the ISVC programme both technically and strategically
• Support the integrated element of the ISVC programme (coordinated with child resilience and disaster risk reduction)
• Support and when necessary take part in coordination efforts to ensure that SCs interventions in Puntland and South Central Somalia are well coordinated with other EiE interventions in the areas
• Support the reporting and monitoring for the EiE programmes as necessary
• Provide any other support required to facilitate the EiE implementation process, as requested by management
• Reporting The Education Advisor will produce a short progress report every month and hand in an End of Mission Report to the line manager, Country director and SCD HO before completing the mission
End of mission appraisal
The line manager will be responsible for conducting a performance appraisal with the Education Advisor at the end of the mission
Save the Children is an equal opportunities employer and highly encourages women to apply.