Job Description
RTI is very interested in receiving applications from a diverse pool of applicants, for more information about our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity, please visit: here
The International Education Division within RTI’s International Development Group (IDG) has worked for nearly four decades to improve education globally. From addressing education delivery in historically underserved areas of post-apartheid South Africa, to expanding disability-inclusive education in Cambodia, to raising reading scores nationwide in Kenya and elsewhere around the world, RTI seeks to ensure that all children fulfill their potential. Working with and in support of local partners (government and non-governmental), we employ evidence-based approaches to strengthen education practice, management, and policy at every level—from classrooms to ministries, to improve education outcomes.
RTI is currently accepting applications for Technical Experts candidates for the anticipated USAID/Ethiopia Learning in Emergencies Activity. While the full solicitation has yet to be released, the activity is expected to focus on improving holistic foundational skills learning for children aged 7-14+ affected by crisis in Ethiopia. The core objectives of the activity will be to 1.) strengthen subnational capabilities to plan and implement education in emergencies service delivery; 2.) improve quality components (teachers, learning materials, school leadership) to improve learning; 3.) increase community and parental engagement in education recovery; and 4.) integrate mental health and psychosocial support in education service delivery. The positions will be based in the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and are contingent upon award and funding.
We are looking for expert personnel in education and development in the following areas:
- Accelerated Learning & Remediation
- Gender, Equity, & Social Inclusion (GESI)
- Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
- Education in Crisis & Conflict
- Psycho-Social Support
- Education Workforce Development
- Donor-Funded Project Finance & Operations
As a global employer of choice, RTI is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace and the communities and markets where we serve our mission. We value diversity of thought, culture, background and perspective and welcome applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, creed, citizenship status, disability, protected veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable discrimination laws or RTI policy.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Further information is available here.
RTI International is an independent, nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach and one that integrates expertise across the social and laboratory sciences, engineering, and international development. We believe in the promise of science, and we are inspired every day to deliver on that promise for the good of people, communities, and businesses around the world. For more information, visit www.rti.org.
As a global employer of choice, RTI is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace and the communities and markets where we serve our mission. We value diversity of thought, culture, background and perspective and welcome applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, creed, citizenship status, disability, protected veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable discrimination laws or RTI policy.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Further information is available here.
Vacant Positions
1. Call for Experts – USAID/Ethiopia Learning in Emergencies
- Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Deadline: May 31, 2024
- Apply now: click here
Roles & Responsibilities:
As this is a Call for Experts, this is not specific to one specific role, but rather is intended to solicit applications from various technical experts in the above fields.
Qualifications
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience with USAID development sector priorities and reporting requirements.
- Ability to work effectively, responsively, and collaboratively with government counterparts such as government ministries, development and private sector partners, civil society organizations, private sector, and academic/research institutions.
- Excellent management and organizational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal communication, writing, and oral presentation skills.
- Proven ability to work under pressure, and with multiple concurrent demands.
- Verbal and written English proficiency.
- Work experience in Ethiopia, or conflict-affected Sub-Saharan African contexts, is required. Ethiopian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.
2. Deputy Chief of Party – USAID/Ethiopia Learning in Emergencies
- Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Deadline: May 31, 2024
- Categories: Project Management
- Req ID: 11691
- Apply now: click here
Role & Responsibilities:
- Assist the COP in providing overall strategic direction and leadership for the project, ensuring alignment with USAID goals and objectives.
- Oversee implementation of the technical components of the project, ensuring the deliverables meet the required programmatic standards.
- Facilitate a collaborative approach between the project staff, technical experts, and stakeholders to develop and implement work plans, ensuring that project activities are carried out effectively and efficiently.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with relevant government agencies, civil society organizations, private sector partners, and other stakeholders to facilitate project implementation and promote sustainability.
- Support the COP in managing project budgets, ensuring effective financial management, and monitoring expenditure to achieve project goals within the allocated budget.
- Provide support on the development and submission of project reports, ensuring accuracy and compliance with USAID reporting requirements.
- Contribute to the development and implementation of knowledge management strategies to capture and disseminate project achievements, lessons learned, and best practices.
- Ensure integration of GESI considerations and other cross-cutting areas into program implementation.
- Support capacity-building initiatives for project staff and partners, promoting continuous learning and professional development.
- Serve as acting COP, whenever required.
Qualifications
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s Degree and 12 years of experience, Master’s degree and 10 years of experience, PhD and 6 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience and expertise in the implementation of large and complex projects relating to education, crisis & conflict, and/or related fields in Ethiopia
- 5 years of progressive senior management experience on international donor programs preferred.
- Five years’ substantive experience working with counterparts at various levels of government, private sector leaders, and other relevant sector stakeholders
- Experience working in Ethiopia is strongly preferred, with a demonstrated understanding of existing platforms and opportunities for education.
- Knowledge of USAID rules and regulations and/or experience working with USAID programming preferred.
- Demonstrated skills in building, mobilizing, and leading multidisciplinary teams.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
- Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
- Fluency in one or more languages of Ethiopia strongly preferred.
3. Finance and Administration Officer -Semera, Ethiopia
- Location: Semera, Afar-Ethiopia (Req ID: 11325) and Jijiga, Somali-Ethiopia (Req ID: 11324)
- Deadline: May 31, 2024
- Categories: Finance & Accounting
- Grade: k/9
- Reporting to: Area Program Coordinator (Semera and Jijiga)
- Apply now: Semera, click here and Jigjiga click here
Position Description
The Finance and Administration Officer will be responsible for assisting with financial management and the preparation and submission of financial statements and other cost-accounting reports. The Finance and Administration Officer also will be responsible for the office administration and procurements functions at field level. This position will be based in Semera, Afar, Ethiopia, and will report to the Area Program Coordinator.
Responsibilities
Your primary responsibilities will include but not be limited to:
Finance
- Ensures compliance with USAID’s/RTI’s policies and procedures and on-time financial processing of vendor invoices and project fund management.
- Ensure appropriate systems and procedures (cash management, vendor payments, budgeting and others) are in place to properly disburse, account, budget and report project funds which are cost effective, timely and have proper internal controls.
- Perform compliance review on all project expenditures.
- Audit systems and controls for the office.
- Manage advances and payable aging within the allowable time frame by closely following-up with requestors.
- Coordinate and consolidate the projection of biweekly cash requirements, monitoring cash flow and reconciles cash accounts in order to maintain appropriate cash balances.
- Manage and coordinate inventory control and tracking of project equipment including property logs, serial numbers and tags.
- Review the financial records, procedures and systems of contractors and grantees when necessary to ensure compliance with the work orders.
- Manage petty cash and record transactions.
- Prepare other financial and cost accounting reports, operations and analysis as required by management and RTI head office.
Administration and Procurement Functions
- Facilitates the approval, prioritization and sourcing process.
- Make sure all purchases made are considered necessary and reasonable, Features and quality of the product/services meet project requirements.
- Responsible for the adequate filing of all necessary documentation to ensure efficiency in vendor payments.
- Liaising with the respective project experts, facilitating technical verification of goods, and preparing goods inspection reports and payment requests to Finance for payment.
- Submit all procured items with appropriate documentation to the project partners and beneficiaries for onward handover to the respective requester/users;
- Establish procurement record checklist, maintain procurement data both in soft and hard copy i.e. (purchase request/need through the delivery stage); Maintain and update procurement records of the program for procurement review and audit purposes;
- Advice requisitioning experts and recipient entities on the full range of procurement issues, providing support and guidance at all stages of the procurement cycle.
- Coordinate all procurement activities, monitor the implementation of the procurement plan and prepare periodic status reports on the project’s procurement of goods/services and stakeholders’ procurement;
- Responsible for doing the follow-ups of getting quotations from regional and national vendors.
- Strategically identify alternative sources to support capacity/risk management, cost reduction, and quality initiatives;
- Strategically identify alternative parts/components to achieve the highest product value;
- Supervise and provide guidance for the procurement team.
- Work with multiple vendors to determine the best deals for the company, and have to evaluate the many pros and cons of each, based on price, quality, speed of delivery and other factors.
- Review invoice payments from vendors and compare them to the terms of the purchase order or contract to ensure vendor invoices are accurate before submitting them for payment.
- Create and maintain the project inventory list in coordination with project management.
- Coordinate the development of the local vendor list.
- Support project budget revisions by providing estimated pricing for goods and services.
- Support the scheduling, and management of conferences, meetings, workshops, trade fairs, training, field trips, visits, and other activities as needed;
- Handle incoming and outgoing correspondence/communications, including emails, phone calls, and mail.
- Facilitate communication with different departments regarding assigned office activities.
- Organize and coordinate meetings in the assigned office
- Provide support in the recruitment and onboarding process of regional staff
- Maintain records and handle basic HR functions;
- Implement and enforce organizational policies and procedures and ensure compliance with relevant regulations and laws.
- Provide support for additional administrative tasks as assigned by the Area Program Coordinator Prepare training facility/venue with the necessary equipment and supplies;
- Manage all office and house leases, renewal negotiations, maintain landlord contracts, construction, build-out, repairs, and maintenance support and information;
- Frequent travel to provinces and districts covered by the project.
- Perform other duties assigned by his/her supervisor or his/her delegate.
Qualifications
Job Requirements: Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in finance, accounting, management, business administration or related field and 3 years of experience, or a Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
- At least three (3) years of experience working for a USAID project is desirable.
- Excellent financial and analytical skills.
- Proven experience in office administration, property and supply chain management
- Proven ability to work under pressure, and with multiple concurrent demands.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Verbal and written fluency in English required.
- Ability to travel and work throughout Ethiopia in difficult terrain/conditions at times.
4. Crop Market System Officer
Position Description
The Crop Market Systems Officer – Hawassa will be responsible for assisting with designing and implementing crop/horticulture interventions and technical activities in the region This position will be based in Hawassa, Ethiopia, and will report to the Regional Manager, Hawassa Office.
Responsibilities
Your primary responsibilities will include but not be limited to:
- Assist in designing and monitoring program activities intended to achieve improved horticulture/crop contributions and quality for priority vulnerable populations.
- Oversee regional grantees and subcontractors.
- Ensure timely project implementation and technical reliability, monitor project activities, and ensure quality.
- Provide technical and/or operational guidance and serve as a subject matter expert.
- Support Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team on crop and/or horticulture value chain real-time data collection.
- Liaison between stakeholders such as government, private as well as donor programs who are directly or indirectly working in the crop and/or horticulture sector in and around Hawassa Regional Office Clusters.
- Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Qualifications
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Master’s degree and 3 years of experience working on crop and horticulture activities, or a Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Demonstrated experience in economic growth, value chain development, or agricultural development programs strongly preferred.
- Experience in crop and horticulture interventions required.
- Proven ability to work under pressure, and with multiple concurrent demands.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Verbal and written fluency in English required. Regional language preferred.
- Ability to travel and work throughout Ethiopia in difficult terrain/conditions at times.
5. Regional Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting Specialist
Position Description
RTI International is seeking a Regional Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Specialist – Hawassa for ECNA. The Regional CLA Specialist (Hawassa) will be responsible for overseeing collaboration and learning activities within Hawassa. The Regional CLA Specialist will have a key role in this approach by preparing and disseminating research and learning findings in interactive formats, and facilitating reflection, learning, and planning activities. The Regional CLA Specialist will report-out on learning in routine team meeting and disseminate highlights in written form, while including ensure knowledge management policies are followed for all research and learning deliverables. The Regional CLA Specialist will also provide supplemental analysis and data visualization of qualitative and quantitative research and M&E data and track adaptive management processes and outcomes for Hawassa.
Responsibilities
- Serve as primary point of contact for learning agenda activities in Hawassa, responsible for filtering learning needs and requests to the CLA Lead and Research Manager and carrying out CLA activities independently in the field.
- At the regional level, facilitate learning events, such as reflection sessions, interactive presentations and small group discussions, roundtable discussions, and synthesizing and communicating results effectively to the CLA Lead.
- Help to design facilitated learning activities, prepare templates and materials under the direction of the CLA Lead and Research Manager.
- Take meeting minutes, synthesize inputs from the learning activities and channel to CLA Lead using specified formats and platforms, as needed.
- Provide training to staff on the use of virtual collaboration and communication platforms, such as Mural, Miro, MS Whiteboard, Jamboard, etc.
- Provide assistance to the Research Manager with data quality oversight and data, liaise with and provide support to analysts in the research partner, as requested.
- Support and provide supplemental analysis and data visualization of qualitative and quantitative research and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data, prepare reports and presentations for learning events.
- Work closely with technical team members to gather and share necessary data for M&E reporting needs and CLA activities.
- Outline specific learning questions and activities and work closely with the technical staff to generate, validate, and present data in user-friendly format.
- Facilitate constructive and collaborative dialogue during regular Learning, Monitoring and Evaluation (LME) project reviews and biweekly team meetings.
- Track adaptive management decisions at the regional level.
- Follow knowledge management (KM) policies and ensure all data and reports are disseminated and processed accordingly.
- Prepare biweekly updates on tasks and deliverables.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree and 5 years of experience, Master’s degree and 3 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Knowledge of reporting procedures, best practices, guidelines, methods, and approaches for LME and CLA.
- Excellent management, communication, and organizational skills (attention to detail is required); demonstrated flexibility and capacity to multi-task.
- Proven ability to work under pressure, and with multiple concurrent demands.
- Strong leadership skills across various levels of staff and locations.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to work throughout Ethiopia.
- Fluency in English required.
- Additional fluency in regional language preferred.
6. Nutrition and Gender Officer
Position Description
RTI is seeking a Nutrition and Gender Officer – Jimma and Hawassa for Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture. This position is responsible for assisting the Nutrition Manager and Gender Youth and Social Inclusion Advisor with nutrition and gender specific interventions. This position will be based in Jimma and Hawassa, Ethiopia, and will report to the Regional Manager, Jimma and Hawassa Office respectively.
Responsibilities
Your primary responsibilities will include but not be limited to:
- Implement nutrition and gender interventions including collaboration with food security/agriculture and gender cross-sector initiatives. The gender and nutrition interventions are integrated within the regional work plan as a cross-cutting area that synergizes with the other components.
- Contribute to designing and monitoring regional nutrition and gender activities to achieve improved outcomes for priority vulnerable populations, that are sensitive to regional situations and align with the national strategies.
- Support nutrition and gender technical programming for all activities in the Food Utilization pillar in areas such as purchasing power, behavior and preferences, intra-household dynamics and vulnerabilities, preparation and waste, and hygiene.
- Support the regional Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team on measuring impact and reach of nutrition and gender activities with appropriate data collection tools.
- Provide the ongoing nutrition training and capacity building of program staff, grantees, and stakeholders.
- Provide technical support to grantees focused on gender, social inclusion, and nutrition.
- Provide technical support on the integration of gender equality into activity work plans.
- Provide input at regional level on nutrition and gender activity for reporting against priorities and indicators, including nutrition and gender success stories.
- Provide regular updates to the Nutrition Manager and Gender Youth and Social Inclusion Advisor on activity implementation plans and issues.
Qualifications
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Master’s degree and 3 years of experience, or a Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Local knowledge of the nutrition and gender environment in the specific region or cluster, with at least 3 years of experience supporting development programs.
- Proven ability to work under pressure, and with multiple concurrent demands.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Verbal and written fluency in English required. Regional language preferred.
- Ability to travel and work throughout Ethiopia in difficult terrain/conditions at times.