KwaraLEARN (Leading Education Achievement and Reform Now) is a core new education programme by the Government of Kwara State to deliver dramatic improvements in learning outcomes in public schools for all children across Kwara State. KwaraLEARN will transform all government primary schools across the state into powerful public schools using an innovative technology and data-driven platform, coupled with high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching for teachers and school leaders, and technology-enabled support teams to create 360-degree support for learning outcomes.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Regional Manager, Schools

Location: Kwara
This role reports to: The Schools Director

Background

• Working for the technical implementing partner for the programme, you will work towards preparing Kwara and its youth for a bright future with a strong educational foundation.
• Being part of this transformative programme will be a challenging but fulfilling experience.
• You will have the opportunity to impact young lives and help build the future of Kwara and Nigeria.
• The programme is one of the most exciting and ambitious education programmes not only in Nigeria, but also across Africa.
• A quality education has the power to transform the opportunities for Kwara’s youth and the State.
• In joining us, you will join a group of dynamic and passionate Nigerians taking concrete action to help ensure a better future for the children of Kwara.
• The education crisis is one that requires urgent, collective, and concrete action to surmount. While Nigeria is said to have the largest number of out-of-school children in the world, the education crisis is not just about out-of-school children, but also about children who are in school and not learning.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, statistics say that 88% or almost 9 out of 10 children and adolescents will not be able to read proficiently by the time they are of age to complete primary and lower secondary Education. With Nigeria being the most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, this crisis impacts us the most.
• Bridge started operations in Nigeria in 2015, opening its affordable private nursery and primary schools targeted at providing life changing education for families living in low-income areas of Lagos State in parts of Ikorodu, Alimosho, Badagry, Ojo, Epe, and other local government areas.
• In 2017, Bridge further expanded its reach to the most marginalized and vulnerable communities by partnering with the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and the State of Borno to set up a public school serving out-of-school children and children from internally displaced communities. In 2018, Bridge became a technical partner to the Edo State government in its implementation of the Edo State Basic Education Sector Transformation program to reform its public primary and nursery school system.
• Today, Bridge works with both communities and governments to ensure hundreds of thousands of children have access to either a well-run, high achieving affordable private or free public school so that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 of Quality Education becomes a reality for the millions of children in Nigeria quickly.
• You will join a group of Nigerians taking concrete action to help address the education crisis in Nigeria and ensure a better future for the children of Nigeria.

Schools Group:

• Schools in the heart of Bridge. Schools are responsible for ensuring all of the work created by our expert teams, including Instructional Design, Leadership & Development, Technology, Communications, and Insight, are used in each school, and each school is managed to achieve its goal of ensuring every child enjoys a learning environment that develops her core skills, knowledge and confidence.
• The performance of the entire organization is led by the Schools Group, which works to strengthen school enrollment and student retention, by ensuring every school is regarded as the strongest school in its neighborhood and delivers on improved learning outcomes for children.
• Schools are the largest team in the organization, as this Group is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of each school. We engage with school leaders and teachers every day, ensuring ongoing professional development, performance management, and intensive coaching.
• Our investments in instructional design and teachers’ professional development are overseen by the Schools Group, and academics are at the forefront of our school programming. We are always seeking effective ways of ensuring every school is supported with data-driven practices.
• We measure our success through increased enrollments in the school, signaling strength in management and community engagement, and by the learning outcomes of the children in the classroom. We are performance-driven.

Schools Group:

• Schools ensure efficient management through an organizational structure that divides schools into regions within a territory, and oversight of a region to one Regional Manager.
• Each Regional Manager is responsible for the management and professional development of Supervisors.
• A Supervisor is responsible for the support and professional development of a group of schools
• Supervisors report to a Regional Manager who in turn is responsible for the success of that school region or territory. The Senior Regional Manager oversees all Regional Managers.
• Supervisors are in schools each day, providing ongoing mentorship, feedback, and ongoing group and personal training.
• They also engage with all stakeholders of the schools under their care, including government officials, parents, and community groups as may be required.
• Their role is the nexus of all that we do, ensuring the implementation and results of our overall programming, integrating school management, leadership & development of school staff, instructional design, and technology.
• Using big data that provides visibility into everyday teaching practices and school management, they work with school staff to improve performance – with the goal of pupil performance and character development in mind – and provide feedback on core programming to our design teams.
• In your role, you will lead your team of Regional Managers in relentlessly pursuing excellence through their Supervisors, and achieving their learning, operational, and school strength outcomes.
• You will provide oversight and mentoring to Regional Managers so that they can succeed in their oversight and mentoring for Supervisors.
• You will hold each Regional Manager accountable for meeting their targets while ensuring that they have the management skills to support the achievement of their Supervisors and school goals.
• You will also use big data to provide targeted feedback, and coaching to individuals on your team. Their success is your success.
• This team is laser-focused on outcomes, inherently collaborative in nature, loves fostering leadership in others, is unwaveringly committed to ensuring a quality education for our pupils, and is excited about creating incredible learning interventions that drive positive behavior and mindset change in adults.
• You will flourish on this team if you are: a team player, hyper-focused on results, flexible in a dynamic environment, and have fun while working hard.

Responsibilities
What you will do:

• Be responsible for the success of schools and all Regional Managers, including all aspects of learning outcomes, school management, and community and parent engagement.
• Ensure each Regional Manager delivers on their oversight of Supervisors and individual KPIs. Their schools should deliver the promise of learning and holistic development for children and have a strong and high-performing cohort of teachers.
• Provide Regional Managers with day-to-day oversight, guidance, and coaching. This includes facilitating regular touchpoints with Regional Managers, reading and responding to reports submitted by the Regional Managers, and providing feedback on their work.
• Provide Regional Managers with all training necessary for their success, including their onboarding, professional development, and “train the trainer” sessions for content that Regional Managers need to deliver to their Supervisors.
• Use data from multiple sources, including your own field visits, quality assurance audits, and big data on school staff behavior, and lead Regional Managers to improve their oversight, mentoring, and professional development for Supervisors.
• Coach Regional Managers in their use of data to provide data-driven oversight and guidance for Supervisors, and creation of Supervisor route plans.
• Be in schools 20% of the time, observing Supervisors and providing feedback to Regional Managers on ways the Regional Manager can further support the Supervisor on coaching the school leader and/or teachers.
• When observing or holding meetings, use rubrics or other documents to support structured observation and reporting.
• Support specific school events, including collaborating on programming for such events as school opening celebrations, parent-teacher conferences, and school closing celebrations, as well as community showcases and participation in co-curricular competitions.
• Through Regional Managers, ensure school staff and students are prepared to sit in government-proctored exams, as they may occur on a termly/semester basis, and with particular attention to national examinations.
• Through Regional Managers, ensure school strength and support enrollment efforts.
• Through Regional Managers, ensure local regulatory processes are followed, including environmental & social standards, as well as national regulations.
• Through Regional Managers, ensure that leadership & development sessions are delivered to schools during the course of the school year, and during induction training for new staff. Supervisors should use the materials and programming developed by the Leadership & Development team.
• Work with the Leadership & Development team and L&D Manager to provide, and facilitate ongoing professional development for Supervisors through Regional Managers
• Through Regional Managers, support schools through the transition of staff, including school leaders and teachers.
• Supervise budget and optimization, prevent fraud and ensure financial discipline among Regional Managers.
• Guide Regional Managers in assigning and overseeing a clear travel plan and workflow for each Supervisor.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements
What you should have:

• Bachelor’s Degree with superior academic performance.
• Proven management and leadership experience, leading teams of people to accomplish an objective
• Proven experience managing field-based teams
• Experience in mentorship and coaching of youth and adults
• Teaching experience a plus
• Belief in data-driven decision making
• Relentless focus on achievement for yourself and others
• Bias towards action
• Flexible and loves to work in a dynamic environment
• Collaborative leader with strong relationship-building skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Strong communication skills
• Undergraduate degree (or it’s equivalent) or Master’ Degree.

You’re also:

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, KwaraLEARN works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate – The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience, and value.
• A malleable learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, analyze it, and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.

Application Closing Date
30th September, 2022.