Short-Term Technical Assistance – Physical Disabilities Officer

Job title: Short-Term Technical Assistance – Physical Disabilities Officer

Term: 150-day contract

Organization: World Bank, Rwanda

Reports to: World Bank’s IEI Task Team Leader and Director SN&IE at Rwanda
Basic Education Board (REB)

Manages: None

Usual base: Kigali, Rwanda with regular travel across Rwanda expected

Working closely with: Gender Mainstreaming Officer, Intellectual Disabilities Officer,
Sign Language Officer, Braille Officer, Early Childhood Education Officer,
Adult Education Officer, and SNE Engineer (REB ICT for Education Department)

BACKGROUND

To support the attainment of Rwanda’s vision of developing highly skilled human capital as one of the means towards attaining high-levels of socio-economic development for the country and its citizens, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) in Rwanda is mandated to ensure equitable access to quality education through providing world class learning facilities and learning institutions, with a focus on making policies and strategic decisions in the promotion of science and technology, combating illiteracy and making sure that universal inclusive education in Rwanda is achieved.

The Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) is an implementing agency of MINEDUC that ensures the access and delivery of high quality, free, and inclusive 12-years of basic education for all children of school-going age in Rwanda. REB achieves this objective through curriculum development, development and management of teachers and career guidance and counseling systems, promoting the use of information and communication technology in education, and a cross-cutting focus on system capacity on gender, special education needs and inclusion.

Led by a Director reporting directly to the Director-General of REB, the Special Needs and Inclusive Education Unit (SNIE Unit) works to implement REB’s mandate on mainstreaming gender and ensuring equitable access to high quality education for deaf students, blind students, and students with intellectual and physical disabilities. The SNIE Unit also implements REB’s mandate on early childhood and adult education.

The Inclusive Education Initiative (IEI) supervised by the World Bank (2021/2022) aims to strengthen the education sector’s responsiveness on inclusive education. Activities supported will build on and magnify ongoing efforts on sustainable, systemic change by government and development partners in inclusive education, with a focus on systems strengthening, capacity building, improving data systems, and scaling innovations on the implementation of the Marrakesh treaty in Rwanda.

This job description is for the role of a Short-term Technical Assistance – Physical Disabilities Officer in REB’s SNIE Unit funded by the World Bank’s IEI programme.

OBJECTIVES

As agreed with the Task Team Leader, the consultant will provide technical support to the REB SNIE Unit on programs benefiting students with physical disabilities by:

1. Providing advisory input on all matters concerning students with physical disabilities, including providing technical assistance support to districts and sector education officials on issues concerning students with physical disabilities
2. Performing internal and external coordination, data collection, knowledge management, research and monitoring and evaluation activities
3. Developing systems strengthening approaches, capacity building programmes, and tools for use by REB, the SNIE unit, districts, sectors and schools

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The holder of this position shall undertake the following duties and hold the following responsibilities:

Advisory input and technical assistance:

1. Developing and implementing annual work plans that advocate for and roll out the implementation of the SNIE policy and other relevant regulations and decisions at MINEDUC, REB and the SNIE Unit that concern support to students with physical disabilities
2. Being the internal REB resource and just-in-time technical assistance on all matters concerning support to students with physical disabilities, including providing technical assistance at the district, sector and school levels when required
3. Supporting cross-government efforts on identification, referral and remedial action on students with physical disabilities

Internal coordination:

1. Supporting the peers in the SNIE Unit to ensure that a focus on students with physical disabilities is always factored into joint planning and joint outcomes
2. Supporting the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Resources Department to ensure that activities the departments undertakes, and the products and services it produces consider inclusion from the point of view of students with physical disabilities
3. Supporting the Teacher Development & Management and Career Guidance & Counseling Department to ensure that activities the departments undertakes, and the products and services it produces consider inclusion from the point of view of students with physical disabilities
4. Supporting the ICT in Education Department to ensure that activities the departments undertakes, and the products and services it produces consider inclusion from the point of view of students with physical disabilities
5. Participating and providing input in all internal meetings at REB and MINEDUC as required

External coordination:

Coordinating and supporting development partners, the National Examination, Assessment and Selection (NESA), and other government agencies on the

1. implementation of joint or complementary activities with REB and the SNIE Unit that have elements of support to students with physical disabilities
2. Participating and providing advisory input in forums and discussions concerning inclusive education, including providing updates in technical working groups and committees, including the Technical Working Group on inclusion
3. Organizing and holding a quarterly meeting with government and non-government stakeholders focused on support for students with physical disabilities

Systems strengthening, capacity building and training:

1. Developing capacity building and training materials and to run at least one workshop a quarter for REB and the SNIE Unit members
2. Developing tools and materials on the advocacy and understanding of the SNIE policy from the point of view of students with physical disabilities and to organize district-level workshops at least once a quarter working closely with organizations and district education officials on a day-to-day basis on activities including the development of school infrastructure to make them socially and physically inclusive through addressing key priorities
3. Identifying ways and means of working with and embedding SNECOs as a support structure in capacity building and training at district, sector and school level
4. Supporting the adoption and rollout of relevant capacity building on inclusive education approaches to benefit students with physical disabilities, including through supporting teacher continuous professional development efforts

Data collection, monitoring and evaluation, research:

1. Strengthening the regular collection of data on students with physical disabilities, and strengthening monitoring and evaluation for the SNIE Unit and REB with a focus on activities supporting students with physical disabilities
2. Commissioning, undertaking and disseminating findings from relevant diagnostic studies and applied research that help to implement the SNIE Policy and to support the inclusion of students with physical disabilities in all activities undertaken by REB and its partners in strengthening education delivery at all levels, including in identifying and promoting the use of assistive devices

REQUIREMENTS

The holder of this position shall fulfill the following requirements:

Knowledge

• Bachelor’s Degree in SNIE, Educational Psychology, Sociology or Clinical Psychology or other general knowledge on disabilities
• Knowledge of the education sector delivery systems and SNIE Policy in Rwanda
• Minimum 5 years of experience working in the education sector in Rwanda
• Demonstrated experience in programming for students with physical disabilities
• Experience working with cross-functional teams, with development partners, and with governments ministries and agencies involved in supporting students with physical disabilities

Experience

 

• Minimum 5 years of experience working in the education sector in Rwanda
• Demonstrated experience in programming for students with physical disabilities
• Experience working with cross-functional teams, with development partners, and with governments ministries and agencies involved in supporting students with physical disabilities

Skills

• Good written and oral English and Kinyarwanda language skills
• Can work in a multidisciplinary team with minimum supervision
• Good interpersonal, analytical, communication and report writing skills
• Strong negotiating and influencing skills
• Strong workshop facilitation and capacity building skills
• Please email your CV and supporting documents to aali20@worldbank.org with a copy to lmutesi@worldbank.org and numwiza@worldbank.org
• Please make sure your application email is received before 5 PM Central African Time on 15th October 2021
• Please ensure the subject of your email is “Application for Short-Term Technical Assistance – Physical Disabilities Officer”

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Please use the following procedure to submit your application for this role:

• Please email your CV and supporting documents to aali20@worldbank.org with a copy to lmutesi@worldbank.org and numwiza@worldbank.org
• Please make sure your application email is received before 5 PM Central African Time on 15th October 2021
• Please ensure the subject of your email is “Application for Short-Term Technical Assistance – Physical Disabilities Officer”