Technical Hub Coordinator (Deputy Team Leader) – Facility of the Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa Full Time NEW

Job Description

Mission description

Based in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, the Technical Hub Coordinator will lead the Africa Hub of the RTIA-Facility, which supports policy dialogue on teacher-related issues, provides technical backstopping to Facility teams, and builds strategic partnerships across the continent. He/she will play a key role in positioning the Facility as a credible and responsive actor in the field of teacher policy and professional development in Africa.

He/she will coordinate the Addis-based technical team, including four Technical Leads in Education (TLEs) and a pool of thematic Key experts (digital, gender, green education, etc.), and ensure the quality, timeliness, and relevance of technical support to partner countries and the Facility programme teams. He/She will also oversee the Knowledge Management teams and foster synergies across technical, learning and brokering activities, particularly to support the Facility’s advocacy role.

Representing the Facility as the Deputy Team Leader, he/she will work closely with the Team Leader and the Member State agency teams based in Europe to strategically promote the Facility on the African continent. In addition to leading high-level engagement with key stakeholders such as the African Union, IICBA-UNESCO, AFTRA, ADEA, Education International (Ei), and national Ministries of Education, he/she will contribute to internal coordination and ensure cross-window coherence and strategic alignment with continental education priorities.

He/she will also serve as acting Team Leader in the latter’s absence, ensuring continuity of operations, decision-making, and team management in line with established protocols and strategic objectives.

He/she will be assigned the following primary responsibilities:

Responsibility 1 : Strategic Representation & Policy Dialogue

• Monitor continental education frameworks (e.g., AU CESA, SDG 4) and recommend strategic adjustments to keep Facility activities fully aligned.
• Represent the Facility in Addis Ababa and across Africa, maintaining regular and close engagement with the other implementing partners of the Initiative (UNESCO, AUC), the Initiative’s partners (ADEA, ATRA, Ei), national Ministries of Education, and any other relevant stakeholders.
• Lead or co-lead policy-dialogue missions and consultations, translating continental priorities into actionable Facility support.
• Position the Facility as a trusted partner in regional teacher initiatives by brokering memoranda of understanding, joint workplans and high-level events.
• Participate in the ISC (Initiative Steering Committee), the TCC (Technical coordination Committee), Partnership and the PMU (Project Management Unit) meetings.
• Provide the Team Leader with briefings, talking points and technical inputs for Steering Committee, Technical Coordination Committee and Partnership meetings.
• Assume the role of the acting Team Leader in the absence of the Facility Team Leader to ensure the uninterrupted execution of tasks, decision-making, and team management in line with established protocols and objectives.

Responsibility 2 : Coordination of the Addis Ababa Technical Hub

• Line-manage the four Addis Ababa-based Technical Leads in Education (TLEs): set objectives, approve workplans and conduct performance reviews.
• Ensure that the Facility’s key cross-cutting priorities (digital, gender-transformative pedagogies, green education, foundational learning, etc.) are effectively integrated across all activities through the mobilisation of the thematic Key Expert pool.
• Allocate and oversee timely technical assistance and backstopping for Country Action Plans requested through the Facility’s three windows.
• Maintain a daily interface with the Europe-based Programme Coordinator to ensure seamless collaboration between Hub technical inputs and programme operations.
• Guide the development and quality assurance of technical tools, concept notes and country briefs produced by the Hub.
• Ensure Hub staff comply with Expertise France and EU standards on security, safeguarding, gender and environmental sustainability.
• Track Hub budgets, staffing levels and risk registers, proposing course corrections as needed.

Responsibility 3: Knowledge Management & Brokering, and Learning Agenda

• Supervise the Knowledge Management and Brokering (KMB) team, steering annual KMB workplans, budgets and editorial calendars.
• Capture lessons learned from policy dialogue and technical support, turning them into policy briefs, case studies and peer-learning events.
• Act as a bridge between evidence producers and decision-makers, ensuring that research and technical insights are translated into actionable policy recommendations.
• Link KMB outputs with MEAL data to feed evidence into programme design and policy advocacy.
• Measure uptake and impact of KMB products, adjusting strategies to maximise reach and relevance.
• Cultivate communities of practice among Facility staff, partner governments and regional bodies to share innovations in teacher policy and professional development.
• Facilitate matchmaking between countries, experts, and initiatives to foster South–South and triangular cooperation on teacher policy innovation.
• Support the positioning of the Facility as a regional knowledge broker by contributing to strategic partnerships with continental knowledge platforms and think tanks.
• Lead the Learning Agenda developed by the Initiative (Facility, UNESCO, AUC) to ensure that all partners identify and address priority and relevant issues aligned with the Initiative’s objectives.

Responsibility 4: Internal Coordination, Quality Assurance & Reporting

• Drive coherence between technical operations, KMB activities and programme implementation across all three windows.
• Consolidate Hub contributions to donor and internal reports, ensuring accuracy, completeness and compliance with EU requirements.
• Oversee progress-tracking against log-frame indicators for policy dialogue and technical assistance; flag deviations and recommend corrective actions.
• Lead internal quality reviews of technical outputs, with support from the pool of thematic Key Experts, applying Facility check-lists for gender, digital, climate and inclusion standards.
• Ensure timely entry of data and deliverables into the Facility Information Management System (Sharepoint, PMT, etc.).
• Support external evaluations and learning reviews, coordinating Hub inputs and follow-up.

Responsibility 5: Communication & Visibility

• Provide technical content for Facility communication materials (factsheets, social posts, press releases) related to Hub activities.
• Co-design and deliver visibility events, webinars and regional forums that highlight Facility achievements and lessons.
• Ensure all Hub outputs respect EU visibility guidelines and Facility branding.
• Mentor Hub staff in producing concise, audience-appropriate summaries of complex technical work.
• Track communication metrics (reach, engagement, downloads) and use insights to refine strategies and widen the Facility’s influence across Africa.

The described tasks involve the necessity to network and interact with a multiplicity of institutions from EU and Sub-Saharan countries and require readiness and ability to travel abroad when necessary.

Project or context description

The Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (RTIA), a programme funded by the European Union/European Commission (EU/EC) via the Education section (G3) of DG INTPA aims to improve learning outcomes and the socio-emotional development of children in Africa, by having a more competent, motivated and inclusive teacher workforce in basic education.

The RTIA (or Initiative), implemented by a consortium of three European member states (France, Belgium and Finland), UNESCO and the African Union Commission (AUC), especially seeks to achieve the following outcomes over the next 5 years:

1. Improve the governance, management, attractiveness, and gender balance of the teaching profession, with a strong focus on increased digitalisation and innovation.
2. Enhance the quality, relevance, and effectiveness of initial and continuous teacher professional development, notably through digital education, peer-to-peer learning approaches and regional collaboration.

Within RTIA, the Facility (RTIA-Facility) supports teacher policy and improve teacher education and professional development systems by i) providing capacity building at country level through on-demand technical assistance, ii) promoting innovation and scaling of effective teaching solutions; iii) increasing the production and use of data and evidence, and iv) promoting the use of regional frameworks, evidence-based practices, and joint learning at regional level.

The RTIA-Facility reaches the above-mentioned objectives through 3 types of instruments or “windows”: 

• one window to deliver on-demand technical assistance on teacher governance and teacher education and professional development based on the demand from eligible partner countries,
• one window on testing and scaling effective programs for teacher education and professional development in the thematic areas of digital skills, gender, green skills, and pedagogical skills, including in the context of refugees and displaced populations,
• a research window to create new evidence and support the integration of evidence in the policy making process and in the design of teacher education and professional development programs.

In addition to these windows the Facility’s knowledge management, MEAL, and communication activities further contributes to the sharing of knowledge, evidence, and best practices related to the overall Initiative outcomes.

The Facility is co-implemented by the Partnership formed by 3-member state agencies: Expertise France for France, Enabel for Belgium, EDUFI for Finland. Expertise France has been designated the Coordinating Agency for this Partnership. With the Facility governance scheme serving as the Initiative’s governance scheme, it is expected that the Partnership works closely with UNESCO and AUC, in charge of the other 2 components of the EU Initiative.

The Facility, with a budget of EUR 92 million, started in February 2024 and is scheduled to end on 31 January 2027.

Required profile

Required Skills : 

• Minimum Master’s degree in Education, Education Policy & Planning, International Development, or a closely related field.
• In-depth knowledge of teacher policy, teacher professional development systems, and education sector reform in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Proven ability to engage credibly with senior officials of governments, the African Union, IICBA-UNESCO, AFTRA, ADEA, Ei, and other regional stakeholders, and to translate policy discussions into actionable technical support.
• Strong capacity to lead and coach multidisciplinary, multicultural teams – —particularly remote teams – setting clear objectives and managing performance.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills for high-level representation, facilitation, and knowledge-product drafting.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesise complex information, identify risks, and propose pragmatic solutions in fast-moving environments.
• Full professional fluency in English and French is essential; knowledge of Portuguese and additional African languages is an asset.
• Confident user of standard office software and online project-management / knowledge-sharing platforms

Required Experience :

• At least 15 years of progressively responsible experience in education programmes, of which a significant share involves teacher policy and capacity development.
• Extensive professional experience in Sub-Saharan Africa – including substantial time spent working in or with African government or regional institutions. (African nationals are particularly encouraged to apply.)
• Demonstrated success leading or co-leading high-level policy dialogue processes, negotiating with ministries, regional organisations, or international partners.
• Hands-on experience designing, supervising, and quality-assuring technical assistance or capacity-building assignments for public education institutions.
• Experience coordinating multi-country or multi-partner programmes (preferably EU-funded), including work-plan development, budget oversight, and results reporting.
• Direct involvement in capturing lessons learned, producing knowledge products, or managing learning events within large development programmes.
• Proven track record of managing professional staff, consultants, technical experts or multi-disciplinary teams, including performance appraisal and mentoring.
• Familiarity with EU funding rules and reporting standards (or those of comparable multilateral donors).

How To Apply

Contract information :

The contract period is for 12 months starting as soon as possible in Addis Ababa (yearly renewable up to 5 years, covering the 2 phases of the Initiative). We offer an expatriate EF contract with a competitive salary and expatriation package.

Application :

Documents to be provided:

• A CV
• ­A cover letter
• Three business references including email and telephone contacts.

Deadline for application : 2025/11/16 23:55

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