Company Profile
Sabre Education is a well-established non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector. With 19 years of experience, we have actively collaborated with the Ghana Education Service on various impactful programmes.
Job Description
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The Role
- Position: Senior Manager, Advocacy & Policy Engagement
- Location: Accra, Ghana
- Reporting: Reporting to Executive Director
- Leadership: Member of the Senior Leadership Team- Ghana/UK
- Main working Sabre Education colleagues, Ministry of Education and GES officials, educationcontacts: sector actors, local government officials, university officials, civil society counterparts, policy actors, global stakeholders
Role Summary
The Senior Manager, Advocacy & Policy Engagement will lead Sabre Education’s advocacy and policy agenda in support of quality play based early childhood education. Of particular strategic importance is the national scaling of teacher training for Ghana’s new play based kindergarten curriculum.
The Senior Manager will report directly to the Executive Director and work closely with senior leadership to develop an updated advocacy strategy and plans for implementation.
With knowledge and experience of policy and advocacy work, you will build relationships with officials of the Ministry of Education and its agencies, ECE stakeholders, Development Partners and the wider sector to influence the national ECE agenda - and in particular the national roll out of the new ECE policy and plans – advocating for increased prioritisation and funding of quality play-based early childhood education in Ghana by government and private funders,.
You will have experience in the education sector and be familiar with Ghana’s education system, stakeholders, structures and agencies. Prior ECE specialisation is not a requirement but desirable.
You will work closely with Sabre colleagues across the organisation, including the technical, programmes, communications, fundraising and learning teams, to bring cross-functional collaboration and coordination to achieve Sabre’s advocacy goals.
You will effectively bring Sabre’s senior leaders into conversations when strategically important.
Sabre’s Communications team will support your work with persuasive messaging materials and you will in turn bring important advocacy issues into Sabre’s communications plans.
You are passionate about the importance of quality education in children’s lives, and will bring your commitment and energy to a growing charity with ambitious impact goals, including supporting the national scale up of quality play based kindergarten in Ghana, further increasing Sabre’s influence and profile in the education sector, sharing Sabre’s evidence of impact nationally and globally, ensuring Sabre’s voice is heard in key stakeholder engagements, and supporting Sabre’s expansion beyond Ghana.
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Role Description
Strategy Development and Implementation
- With senior leadership, develop an updated advocacy strategy to support increased prioritisation and funding of Early Childhood Education in Ghana, and the delivery of the ambitious national scaling plans for quality play-based ECE.
- Operationalise and implement workplans that support the advocacy strategy, prioritising activity that will have the most impact, setting clear objectives and goals for sustainable change.
External Relations
- Work to ensure alignment with and support for national ECE policies and goals, building relationships with the Ministry and Ghana Education Service, and across education agencies such as NTC, NaCCA, NaSIA, GTEC and others.
- Work with a wide range of influencers and stakeholders to maximise the positioning of ECE so that it is embedded as part of the SDG 4.2 pathway.
- Reinforce advocacy activity with supportive policy briefs and press statements, in collaboration with the Communications team.
- Alongside Sabre leadership, represent Sabre at national and international events and with the media.
- Engage with key policy instruments and policy frameworks as needed, in support of our technical team’s work.
- Engage with the global ECE sector, alongside Sabre leadership, for effective collaboration with partner organisations.
Internal Relations
- Work with and build the capacity of Sabre’s Programme implementation team to effectively advocate for ECE at the national, community and local government levels.
- Work with Sabre’s Learning team to ensure strategic dissemination of evidence of impact in support of advocacy goals.
- Play a leadership role across Sabre’s teams to bring together collaborative efforts in support of Sabre’s ambitious advocacy agenda.
- Strategically support Sabre’s impact growth, as a member of the Senior Leadership Team (across Ghana & UK)
- Work closely with the Communications Team to ensure our advocacy agenda is achieved externally and advocacy opportunities are maximised
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Required Skills or Experience
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You have strong abilities to:
- Make a compelling case for early childhood education (ECE) to a variety of target audiences.
- Influence across all levels of Government in Ghana, and support senior leadership to engage both national and global stakeholders (funders, NGOs, government actors).
- Demonstrate knowledge and a practical understanding of diverse forms of advocacy, and how Sabre Education can effectively influence systemic change.
- Building on Sabre Education’s successful track record on ECE in Ghana, develop and implement a proactive strategy for wider impact and national scaling.
- Translate the strategy into an achievable, tactical workplan to achieve advocacy objectives both within Ghana and internationally.
- Be politically astute and able to confidently navigate complex arenas with assuredness and clarity.
- Develop and maintain lasting relationships with key stakeholders and influencers across the sector and operate as a connector at different levels, working with civil servants, politicians, local government officials, policy makers, other NGOs, donors, and other stakeholders.
- Persuasively communicate the case for ECE, providing compelling information and sharing knowledge with a range of stakeholders.
- Be able to use research and evidence strategically and tactically to make the case for Early Childhood Education, with a particular focus on integrating key messages into briefings and presentations.
- You will enjoy a high level of responsibility for delivery within the organisation. Excellent presentation, relationship building and interpersonal skills are essential, along with the ability to write and present persuasively. Confidence in public speaking. Collaborative team player across Sabre’s teams. You would be happy to share your knowledge and experience with the wider team to benefit the organisation.
- Other tasks as they arise – You may be required to undertake tasks outside of your job description from time to time.
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Person Specification
Essential
- Substantial experience in education policy, advocacy and influencing.
- Understanding of the different advocacy channels, with an ability to synthesise these into an effective advocacy strategy.
- Experience developing and executing a successful advocacy strategy.
- Knowledge of Ghana’s education system and structures.
- Proven experience of securing demonstrable advocacy and policy outcomes.
- Excellent relationship building skills.
- Experience and confidence with influencers and politicians at a high level.
- Experience of writing successful policy briefs and positioning papers.
- Passionate about education and its impact on children’s lives.
- Excellent communicator, both written and oral – particular confidence in public speaking.
- Budget management experience.
- Experience working online with full Office applications.
- Able to work on own initiative, with flexibility and as part of a team.
- Fluent in spoken and written English.
- Excited to work in a small but growing organisation.
- Excellent organisational skills.
Desirable
Experience mentoring and coaching others.
Preferred Qualification and Experience
- A minimum of a University degree in Social Sciences or relevant discipline.
- 10-15 years of work experience, with at least 5-7 years in advocacy and policy engagement specifically.
- A Masters’ degree in relevant discipline with at least 4-6 years in a managerial role in an international NGO will be of added advantage.
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How To Apply
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