Team Leader (Punjab Education Sector Programme)

Job Description

About the Role 

Punjab has one of the largest and most challenging government run school systems anywhere in the world, with some 52,000 schools, 350,000 teachers and almost 11 million students. At the time of devolution in 2010, the sector had around 2 million children out of school, high teacher absenteeism, basic facilities were lacking in many schools, performance data were not being collected on time, nor used at any meaningful way, and management across the system was weak. Education outcomes were poor and assessments seen as largely unreliable. It was in this context that the UK Department for International Development (DFID) initiated the Second Punjab Education Sector Programme (PESP2), a £400 million intervention to improve education outcomes in Punjab, which began in June 2014. PESP 2 is implemented by a number of partners, including the Government of Punjab through the School Education Department and its agencies, particularly the Punjab Education Foundation, as well as two technical assistance teams, one focused on school infrastructure, and the other: Technical Assistance Management Organisation (TAMO), implemented by Adam Smith International and providing support to the government and other partners to help deliver the broader programme.

Over the past two years, TAMO has worked closely with the Punjab Government and DFID to deliver significant results including the transformation of all primary school learning materials, the successful execution of literacy and numeracy assessments, reform of the PEC exam, expansion of school leadership capacity and improving communication on reform. While much has been achieved, a considerable amount remains to be done. There is now an opportunity to build on what has been achieved and to adjust the implementation approach for the final two and a half years of the programme. As part of this, we wish to appoint a Team Leader to lead the TAMO team and represent the programme to key stakeholders.

The key responsibilities of the position are:

• Overall leadership of TAMO and primary accountability for timely delivery of quality results, providing strategic oversight as well as technical and tactical support to delivery
• Ownership of the overall project strategy, setting the direction of the TAMO team towards that strategy and ensuring it is reflected in work plans
• Overseeing implementation of work plans and deliverables, providing regular guidance to team members and ensuring deliverables are completed on time and to expected quality standards
• Holding senior relationships with Government of Punjab and DFID and other key stakeholders, acting as an ambassador for the programme, ensuring alignment of the team’s work with Government and DFID priorities and, together with the Senior Programme Manager, responding appropriately to requests for additional support
• Providing strategic counselling and thought partnership, including constructive challenge, to senior Government counterparts
• Ensuring effective coordination between workstreams
• Oversight of key programme risks and mitigation strategies
• Performance management of the TA team, together with the Senior Programme Manager
• Ensuring reporting requirements are met, together with the Programme Management Unit
• Leading an ambitious and hard-working team culture, conducive to the delivery of a world class programme

What We Offer You

We offer you the opportunity to lead a dynamic and friendly team on the UK’s largest education programme globally. We’ve built a culture to reflect our principles, full of likeminded professionals who are smart, passionate and great at what they do. We offer a highly competitive salary and excellent benefits.

Required Skills

About you

We are looking for a senior leader with the ability to build effective relationships with clients from a wide range of professional and cultural backgrounds and to work effectively in a politically sensitive and challenging environment. He/she should relish managing teams, should be innovative, energetic, positive, and genuinely committed to achieving lasting change in their work. Adam Smith International seeks the following skills and experience:

• Fluent English, Urdu and Punjabi language skills

Required Experience

• 15+ years’ experience working in increasingly senior positions in the Pakistan government, preferably with experience in the education sector
• Proven leadership experience
• A deep understanding of government and government systems in Pakistan
• Experience of leading large scale reform programmes in Pakistan or in similar contexts