The Community Engagement & Inclusion Advisor will be responsible for ensuring that project Chief of Party (COP) and relevant staff are able to identify and constructively address the gender and social based constraints that may limit the ability of different social groups to benefit from project activities within their purview. This includes developing project interventions that build the capacity of Kyrgyz formal and informal educational intuitions to improve the reading, numeracy and math comprehension for all students in the communities they serve. In this capacity, the Community Engagement & Inclusion Advisor will be expected to work with and provide technical support to relevant staff to assist in the design or adaptation of training and capacity building packages and other project interventions, so they are better able to address the needs and improve the comprehension of a diverse range of students.
The Community Engagement & Inclusion Advisor, along with the COP, is also responsible for ensuring the project is conducted in a way that is gender sensitive and socially inclusive. This will include ensuring that marginalized group are able to participate in and benefit from project activities and to ensure the involvement of diverse and representational community members support improved early-grade reading outcomes for all students. He/she will be responsible for the design, implementation, and monitoring of inclusive community-level activities that address the gender and social based constraints that inhibit reading among select groups and encourage positive attitudes towards education and promote a culture of reading. S/he will work with project colleagues and Ministry counterparts to ensure a focus on transforming unequal gender and social norms that limit the ability of students to participate in educational activities, transform the attitudes of teachers who might track students based on gender or expectations of social norms and perceptions of disability and lack motivation of the support supervision and community oversight to hold them to delivering equitable outcomes to all their students. It is expected that well designed community engagement strategies will increase comprehension, hold teachers and educational programs accountable for delivering equitable learning outcomes, prevent attrition and counter violent extremism. S/he will work closely with community-based organizations in the design, delivery, and monitoring of gender sensitive and socially inclusive activities.
- Ensure that a gender and social inclusion assessment is conducted during start up to identify the key gender and social based constraints that limit the ability of all students from benefitting from project outcomes;
- Work with the COP and other relevant staff to design or adjust existing activities so they can constructively address the gender and social based constraints that limit the ability of all students from benefitting from project outcomes;
- Work with relevant staff to ensure that they know the gender and inclusion-related interventions under their purview, and know what outcomes are expected to result from them, as well as how these outcomes feed into the over-all project indicators;
- Build the capacity of all staff (including staff of the MOE and sub-awardees) to implement the project in a way that is gender sensitive and socially inclusive and promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in compliance with USAID’s policies and directives on inclusive and gender sensitive education;
- Design and ensure delivery of inclusive, evidence-based school-community engagement activities that support a culture of reading to improve learning outcomes for all students.
- Support the review, production, and implementation of training materials and guidelines to ensure they transform gender norms and are inclusive and encourage a culture of tolerance and promote the uptake of these materials as part of community mobilization and capacity building of civil society organizations (CSOs).
- Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with a wide array of project partners: community activists, PWD groups, youth leaders, CSOs, relevant government agencies, donors, other implementing organizations, FHI 360 colleagues, etc.
- Collaborate with ministry of education officials and other stakeholders to develop awareness campaigns about the importance of community support for out of school reading, different reading challenges in communities, and strategies to support extra-curricular reading.
- Support the project team and stakeholders to integrate inclusive, representative and participatory community-based approaches in inclusive education planning, intervention, monitoring and evaluation.
- Organize and facilitate participatory workshops to raise awareness and build capacity of Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and School Management Committees around community reading activities.
- Develop, implement and monitor a grant program for CSOs and PTAs to conduct community reading activities and strengthen their capacity to implement these activities on their own.
- At least 5 years of experience in community mobilization, including the development and implementation of behavior change communications strategies required, preferably in early grade reading.
- Experience engaging community members, school-management committees, parent-teacher associations and civil society organizations to support educational improvements required, preferably in early-grade reading.
- Experience in monitoring required grant activities, preferably in early-grade reading.
- Knowledge of USAID policies and procedures.
- Knowledge of the political, social, cultural, environmental, and development context of the Central Asia (Kyrgyz Republic) experience preferred.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills in Kyrgyz and Russian required, English preferred.
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