Senior Technical Officer (Education)

Position: Senior Technical Officer (Education)
No. of Vacancy: 4
Functional Area: Program– Learn

Reports to Direct: Provincial Head

Matric (dotted): Provincial Education Specialist

Location: Janakpur, Madhesh Province

Travel required: Yes

Grade: C2

Type: Open for all applicants, Project-based employment until March 2026; based in Madhesh Province

ABOUT PLAN INTERNATIONAL NEPAL

Plan International is a development and humanitarian organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights and achieving equality for girls. With a presence in over 75 countries, we work alongside children, young people, supporters, and partners to create a just world. Our work is guided by core values such as transparency, accountability, collaboration, inclusion, and the overarching ambition to empower girls and young women as part of our legacy.

Plan International has been operating in Nepal since 1978, earning a strong reputation as a trusted development and humanitarian actor. Over the years, we have worked in 23 districts across the country, helping marginalized children, their families, and communities access their rights to health, education, economic security, and protection.

Committed to feminist leadership and a gender-transformative approach, Plan International Nepal collaborates with local partners to ensure sustainable impact and foster equality, particularly for girls and young women.

Plan International Nepal strives for an inclusive, just, and safe society that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. Our mission from 2023 to 2028 is to see All girls and young women standing strong enjoying their rights, and freedom with dignity in Nepal.

Plan International Nepal is looking for candidates who embrace feminist leadership, value diversity, and are driven to find innovative solutions to challenges. Ideal candidates should respectfully and boldly share their ideas, foster cross-department collaboration, practice active listening, uphold confidentiality, build trust, and demonstrate a strong passion for advancing children’s rights and promoting equality for girls.

ROLE PURPOSE

The Senior Technical Officer- STO (Education) will offer technical support for Anarma, Chandranagar, Sarlahi and Janakpur of Madhesh Province, providing embedded technical assistance to the local level governments in the implementation of education programme. S/he will work to strengthen the capacity of local level governments in education planning, budgeting, effective service delivery and monitoring mechanism. The role will focus on providing technical and strategic guidance to foster inclusive, equitable, and evidence-based education governance, while ensuring local ownership and accountability.

Description

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE

The STO (Education) will work closely with Education Development and Coordination Unit (EDCU), municipal education units, school leadership and community level stakeholders to ensure education sector interventions are locally relevant, data-driven and aligned with the provincial and national level policy, plan and priority programs. This role requires an education professional with strong field-level experience in current education governance, systems strengthening, and programme implementation. S/he will work closely with elected representatives, municipal education officials, school stakeholders and provincial counterparts to support effective and inclusive education service delivery at the assigned cluster level.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Technical Support and Education System Strengthening (60%)

• Provide hands-on technical support to local level governments and schools for the effective and inclusive implementation of education interventions, with a particular focus on foundational learning, inclusive pedagogy, and school improvement.
• Assist local level government in adopting strategies to improve student learning outcomes through establishment of robust teacher support mechanism including coaching and mentoring support to teachers on lesson planning, formative assessment and adopting learner-centred pedagogy.
• Work closely with local education officials to improve the use of Education Managment Information System (EMIS) data and a better system for flagging inconsistent resource allocation, supporting evidence-based planning, budgeting, and accountability in education services.
• Support local level government to equip tools for Out of School Children (OOSC) identification and enrollment in education with a retention strategy.
• Support local level government for timely utilisation of conditional grant like implementation of Recovery and Accelerated Learning (ReAL) Plan and non-formal and accelerated learning program followed by condensed curriculum to address local needs for ensuring all children have access to basic and secondary education.
• Promote GEDSI-responsive school improvement plan (SIP) preparation aligning with the local education plan to address the specific learning needs of girls, children with disabilities, and other marginalised groups.
• Support schools and municipalities to adopt and maintain adequate and gender-responsive and child friendly WASH facilities as part of gender responsive, inclusive learning environment and fostering girls’ retention in education and well-being of all children including children with disabilities.
• Collaborate with provincial and cluster teams across health, governance, GEDSI and Innovation, Evidence and Learning (IEL) teams to ensure coherence, integration and responsiveness in GEDSI responsive education service delivery.
• Undertake any other technical assistance support as assigned to support the effective delivery of Samartha in Madhesh Province.

Coordination and Government Engagement (15%)

• Serve as a focal link between cluster-level municipalities, EDCUs, and provincial authorities to align technical and operational support for education sector service delivery mechanism.
• Sensitise elected representatives on merits of broader inclusion in education sector governance.
• Provide technical guidance to local level government to access and utilise targeted grant opportunities, including PMT-based scholarships for marginalised students, assistive devices and data-based special education grants.
• Facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration among relevant sections working in health (including nutrition), WASH, women, children, social development, planning, finance, resilience — to foster integrated, multisectoral responses to community education needs.
• Facilitate ongoing dialogue and coordination between local level government and relevant education stakeholders to promote joint planning, sector coherence and evidence-based resource allocation.
• Facilitate coordination between the Samartha’s federal technical team and provincial/ cluster/ municipal stakeholders to promote effective communication and shared understanding.
• Support joint planning, implementation, reviews, learning-sharing and interaction with provincial and local level government stakeholders in the education sector.
• Coordinate with other British Embassy Kathmandu funded programmes and with other development partner programmes.

Evidence Use, Innovation and Learning, and Adaptive Management (10%)

• Strengthen LG capacity in adopting evidence-based planning and decision-making practices, ensuring local ownership and accountability.
• Assist local level government in tracking the implementation of key reforms (e.g. ReAL Plan, introducing retention strategies to decrease school dropout) and in using evidence to adapt interventions as needed.
• Support local level government for early screening, identification of OOSC, enrolment in education, and retention in collaboration with school administrators, communities, and municipal education units.
• Promote the use of disaggregated data to identify learning gaps, monitor equity outcomes, and guide targeting of resources to under-served schools and populations.
• Contribute to documentation of innovations, learnings, challenges and results from the cluster, feeding into broader programme learning and adaptation.
• Prepare regular technical reports that assess progress against predefined programme milestones and deliver a nuanced analysis of implementation barriers, bottlenecks and enabling factors at the ground level, including actionable recommendations for future improvement.

Capacity Building and Community Engagement (15%)

• Conduct participatory need assessment and provide needful capacity strengthening support to municipal education units.
• Design and deliver training, coaching and peer learning opportunities for teachers, with an emphasis on promoting inclusive education.
• Sensitise and support local level government for consultative and participatory planning processes and social accountability mechanisms to ensure active engagement of parents and voices of children from marginalised community groups being heard.
• Support local level government to establish and strengthen community feedback mechanisms to ensure accountability for service delivery.
• Provide technical assistance to local level government for implementing strategies to prevent and respond to student dropout, ensuring equitable and inclusive access and retention in the education system.

Other

• Carry out other related tasks assigned by the supervisor.

Ensures the full integration of Plan International’s global policies on Safeguarding Children, Program Participants, and Gender Equality and Inclusion (DEI) within their area of responsibility. This includes adherence to the policy principles, relevant Implementation Standards, and Guidelines. Key responsibilities involve ensuring that staff and associates are informed of and understand their obligations under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their specific roles, and that any concerns are promptly reported and managed in line with established procedures.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum 3 years’ experience with a Masters’ Degree or 5 years with Bachelors Degree Education, Educational Planning and Management or any other related field
• Proven experience in managing and working with partner NGO, implementing the activities including quality reporting.
• Proven experience in education sector planning, school governance, inclusive education, or clear understanding of Nepal’s education systems strengthening.
• Demonstrated experience working with local and provincial level governments on education service delivery, planning and budgeting processes or institutional capacity development.
• Experience with donor funded education programmes is preferred.
• Knowledge of basic MS Office including MS Outlook, MS Word and MS Excel.
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English and Nepali.

Skills (leadership/managerial if applicable)

• Sound understanding of Nepal’s education governance structure, policy frameworks, and public education financing mechanisms.
• Strong technical understanding of inclusive education pedagogy, education data use, equity-focused planning and school education governance.
• Demonstrated skills in stakeholder coordination, government engagement, and technical support for strengthening institutional capacity development.
• Ability to facilitate participatory planning processes and communicate technical content effectively to non-technical audiences, including community actors.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and report writing skills in both Nepali and English language; knowledge of local languages (e.g. Maithali or Bhojpuri) is an advantage.

Behaviours

• Demonstrable professional maturity and able to work independently.
• Willingness to be based in the field, with frequent travel across rural/ municipalities and schools within the assigned cluster or province.
• Candidates with a valid driving license is a distinct advantage.
• Strong personal commitment to gender equality, social inclusion and strengthening of public education systems through evidence-based approaches.
• Ability to work independently in complex and evolving political and institutional environments.
• Ability to apply good judgment and professionalism in the resolution of work-related problems.
• Honest, encourages openness and transparency.
• Efficient in meeting commitments and deadlines in achieving results.
• Ability to plan and organize work by identifying priority activities and adjusting priorities as required.
• Demonstrated approach to work that is characterized by commitment, motivation, energy and flexibility.
• Ability to relate to government authorities and other development/humanitarian actors and to build a rapport effectively.
• Commitment to Plan’s values including the rights and needs of children.

PLAN INTERNATIONAL’S VALUES

We are open and accountable

We create a climate of trust inside and outside the organisation by being open, honest and transparent. We hold ourselves and others to account for the decisions we make and for our impact on others, while doing what we say we will do.

We strive for lasting impact

We strive to achieve significant and lasting impact on the lives of children and young people, and to secure equality for girls. We challenge ourselves to be bold, courageous, responsive, focused and innovative.

We work well together

We succeed by working effectively with others, inside and outside the organisation, including our sponsors and donors. We actively support our colleagues, helping them to achieve their goals. We come together to create and implement solutions in our teams, across Plan International, with children, girls, young people, communities and our partners.

We are inclusive and empowering

We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge inequality in our programmes and our workplace. We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential.

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

This position is based in Madhesh Province, with frequent travel to project areas.

LEVEL OF CONTACT WITH CHILDREN

High level: Frequent interaction with children

“Say Yes ! To Keeping Children and Young people safe and Protected”

Application Deadline: Friday 25th July, 2025

Source: Kantipur Dainik, 12 July, 2025

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