The Technical Advisor Economic Empowerment will provide technical support on economic empowerment in our programmes within a cluster of countries, principally (but not exclusively) in East Africa. This new role comes at an exciting time as we accelerate our work with local and national partners to support the inclusion of people with disabilities in economic empowerment programmes. Key duties will include:

• Providing technical advice and support on disability inclusive economic empowerment in new and existing projects
• Ensuring that Sightsavers’ economic empowerment programmes are informed by best available evidence and good practice, and effectively designed, implemented, and evaluated
• Strengthening Sightsavers commitment to disability inclusive, gender equality and the rights of women within economic empowerment programming
• Contributing to new funding opportunities, strategic initiatives and fostering innovative approaches in disability inclusive economic empowerment
• Contributing to the research, innovation, policy, advocacy, and communications agendas
• Contributing to the refinement and operationalisation of technical and thematic toolkits and guidance materials
• Identifying capacity strengthening requirements of country staff and partners and facilitate training and other initiatives
• Strengthening collaboration between other regional development and humanitarian actors
• Undertake representation of Sightsavers as an expert in disability inclusive, gender responsive economic empowerment

About you

To succeed in this role, you will need to be an analytical thinker with the ability to plan strategically. You will have excellent leadership, communication, networking and influencing skills, with the ability to represent the organisation and build collaboration and develop partnerships with external stakeholders, especially in consortia.

You will also have:

• A postgraduate qualification or equivalent experience in a relevant field (social work/social inclusion, disability studies, economics and public policy, financial inclusion, social protection, international development etc.)
• Significant and demonstrable experience of working in international development in the region and/or elsewhere
• Good knowledge of current issues and best practice in economic empowerment, livelihoods, social protection, and financial inclusion
• Extensive programming experience of a range of economic empowerment approaches in developing countries, that address some or all of the following: livelihoods, training, market-based interventions, inclusive and responsible supply chain management, poverty reduction strategies and private sector engagement
• Experience of designing/managing disability inclusive and gender responsive programmes designed to facilitate the inclusion of marginalised groups and promote their empowerment at district, national or international levels, particularly in economic empowerment
• Experience in developing and adapting programme guidance tools and other resource materials
• Experience in collating, synthesising, and disseminating best practice guidance and programme learning
• Experience of supporting capacity strengthening initiatives and programmes with people with disabilities in low-resource settings
• Willingness or experience in using participatory methodologies for planning, evaluation, or research
• An understanding of, and commitment to, equality of opportunity for people with disabilities and the inclusion of marginalised groups
• Experience of representing an organisation and providing an influencing role
• Excellent oral and writing skills in English
• French or Portuguese language skills would be an advantage
• The ability to travel for up to 16 weeks a year (regional and international)

Closing Date: 4 December, 2022

Principal Accountabilities: 

• Under leadership of the Global Technical Lead Education ECSA, providing technical advice and support to country office staff and partners on inclusive education in new and existing projects in ECSA, in close collaboration with other members of the global education team.
• Supporting the Global Technical Lead Education ECSA in ensuring that Sightsavers’ education programmes in ECSA are informed by best available evidence and good practice, and are effectively designed, implemented, and evaluated.
• Supporting Sightsavers commitment to disability inclusive, gender equality and the rights of women within education programming in ECSA, working closely with the global education team on disability and gender to develop the capacity of Sightsavers country office staff.
• Contributing to new funding opportunities, strategic initiatives and fostering innovative approaches in education in ECSA, as aligned with the education strategy.
• Contributing to the research, innovation, policy, advocacy, and communications agendas through close collaboration with country teams and key external stakeholders to ensure content is based on best available evidence and where possible, direct programme experience.
• Contributing to the refinement and operationalisation of technical and thematic toolkits, training and guidance materials for ECSA and globally, in close collaboration with the global education team.
• In close collaboration with the Global Technical Lead Education ECSA, identifying capacity strengthening requirements of country staff and partners and facilitating training and other initiatives accordingly.
• Strengthening collaboration between other regional development and humanitarian actors in order to consolidate and apply good practice on what works in inclusive education.
• To support and develop all safeguarding initiatives within ECSA.

The jobholder will be expected to be flexible and carry out any other related duties that are within the employee’s skills and abilities whenever reasonably instructed.

This is a highly varied and involved role and the above is not an exhaustive list of duties or required professional skills. Please see the Job Description for full details.

Jobholder Requirements

Knowledge (Education & Related Experience): 

• A postgraduate qualification or equivalent experience in a relevant field (inclusive education, education, social work/social inclusion, disability studies, social protection, international development etc.).
• Significant and demonstrable experience of working in international development in the region and/or elsewhere.
• Good knowledge of current issues and best practice in inclusive education.
• First-hand experience working with children with disabilities.
• Experience of designing/managing education, disability inclusive and gender responsive programmes designed to facilitate the inclusion of marginalised groups and promote their empowerment at district, national or international levels.
• Experience in developing and adapting programme guidance tools and other resource materials.
• Experience in collating, synthesising, and disseminating best practice guidance and programme learning.
• Experience of supporting capacity strengthening initiatives and programmes with people with disabilities in low-resource settings.
• Willingness or experience in using participatory methodologies for planning, evaluation, or research.

Skills (Special Training or Competence):

• Analytical thinking and ability to plan strategically from organisational perspective.
• Excellent leadership, communication, networking and influencing skills, with ability to represent the organisation and build collaboration and develop partnerships with external stakeholders, especially in consortia.
• Ability to build strong relationships across different internal departments and work collaboratively as a member of cross-functional teams.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in English.
• Strong ability to develop and adapt programming guidance tools and other resources materials.
• Skills related to training/capacity building, advocacy, project design and management.
• An understanding of, and commitment to, equality of opportunity for people with disabilities and the inclusion of marginalised groups.
• Able to travel for up to 12 weeks a year (regional and international)

Closing Date: 11 December, 2022