Activity Lead, Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE), CATALYZE
About Palladium:
Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and
deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the
globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build
enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to
address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over
90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse
staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.
This Opportunity:
CATALYZE,
the USAID $250 million 8-year program, is seeking an Activity Lead for its
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) activity. This person will be
responsible for designing, implementing, and continuously overseeing
interventions of the ECCE family of investments, which currently pilots
multiple models across Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and
South Asia.
The
CATALYZE Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) activity aims to enhance
access to low-cost and high-quality ECCE which unlocks inclusive development,
improving child outcomes, promoting women's economic empowerment, enhancing
family welfare, and driving overall economic growth. ECCE seeks to fill the gap
in education that nearly 593 million children below primary school age
currently experience; specifically, they lack access to appropriate childcare
in emerging economies, constraining human capital growth.
Meanwhile, women, who assume an estimated 75%
of childcare responsibilities worldwide are often unable to pursue economic
opportunities given care responsibilities. As a result, 606 million women worldwide
are excluded from the global labour force, with consequent impacts on
productivity and economic growth.
CATALYZE
is designed to mobilize $2 billion in private capital, especially to
underfinanced social sectors (such as education) and higher risk countries
(especially low-income and post-conflict countries) around the globe,
complemented by a cross-cutting inclusion of gender-lens investing. CATALYZE
will serve as a "platform of platforms" that will provide services to many
missions and bureaus that "buy in" to tap the CATALYZE investment and
pay-for-results project management expertise. Our aim is for investors to
explore and find commercially-viable opportunities and approaches to creating
jobs, developing sustainable social services, tightening, and rationalizing
supply chains, and advancing inclusive growth - ultimately, reducing the need
for development institutions to provide donor funding.
Location and Compensation:
The position is based in Palladium's
Washington D.C. office. Highly-qualified
remote candidates may be considered.
For our
prospective employees in the United States, please note that the full-time
equivalent annual base salary for this position is expected to range from $100,000
to $150,000 and successful candidates may also be eligible for additional,
variable incentive compensation dependent on the role.
Please be advised that a final salary offer will be based on
various factors, including but not limited to your qualifications, education,
experience, skills, seniority, performance, and Palladium's business or
organizational needs.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the compensation
for this position, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We value your
interest in our company and appreciate the opportunity to discuss this
opportunity with you.
You and Your Career:
If you are passionate about early childhood development, women's
economic empowerment, creating and leading innovative and high-value
public-private partnerships, and blended finance, and if you have expertise in
international education, learning, and early childhood development, the care
economy, project management, and/or social impact, then we are interested in
hearing from you.
We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities
from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and
guidance to chart a fulfilling career!
Reporting Lines:
This position will report to the Chief of Party of CATALYZE or her
designee.
The Activity Lead, ECCE will supervise multiple managers on the
ECCE team, including some who work full-time and others who work part-time on
the team.
Primary
Roles and Responsibilities:
Manage and oversee ECCE programs in USAID priority countries that increase women's economic empowerment and private sector investment in ECCE, and that strengthen education, learning, and early childhood development outcomes.
Lead and take responsibility for all activity work planning and budgeting, project management and implementation, achievement of results and performance-based fee, and monitoring evaluation and learning across the ECCE activity
Lead and manage the CATALYZE ECCE relationship with USAID
Oversee and manage subcontractors, grant recipients and consultants to ensure that their performance meets or exceeds technical requirements
Design and develop new buy-ins for ECCE as they emerge. This includes developing the performance work statements, work plans, monitoring and evaluation plans, and other foundational documents
Provide technical assistance and guidance to the ECCE team and its partners throughout the co-creation and implementation processes
Manage and oversee a team of technical and program specialists in the ECCE sector and in countries where Palladium is implementing the ECCE work. These specialists may be Palladium employees, consultants, or grantees
Contribute to research, analysis, and publication of technical studies, case studies, policy, and program briefs to demonstrate thought leadership
Utilize an adaptive management approach to advice project senior management to quickly adopt and scale cost-effective strategies and activities
Ensure agile program implementation in line with MEL findings through leadership of a collaborate, learn, and adapt (CLA) approach
Other duties as required
Essential
Criteria:
Demonstrated experience and expertise in one or more of the following areas: childcare, care economy, early childhood education, innovative financing, women's economic empowerment, and/or blended finance
In-depth knowledge of the existing ECCE body of research and best technical practices.
Established relationships with key donors and stakeholders in the ECCE space
Demonstrated experience convening diverse stakeholders and driving innovative partnerships
Experience managing donor-funded projects
Strong experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning
Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written, to fulfil the diverse technical and managerial requirements of the project
Knowledge of USAID programming in the education sector and key policies including the private sector engagement policy, education policy and USAID terminology, processes, and tools
Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in English
Willingness and ability to travel and work in developing countries (and elsewhere) a minimum of 6-13 weeks per year, when travel and health conditions allow
Desirable
Criteria:
Proficiency in Spanish
Master's degree or higher in education, business administration, finance, or another relevant field
At least eight years of relevant work experience, ideally in education, finance, and development
Equity,
Diversity & Inclusion
- Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and
inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of
society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity,
success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve
diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive
equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal
characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic
background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity,
sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous
status.
Should
you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or
you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email
our team at ******** and we will
be in touch to discuss.
Safeguarding
- We define
Safeguarding as "the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our
people, clients and the communities we work with from harm". We are committed
to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium
are treated with respect and are free from abuse.
All successful candidates will be subject to
an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a
rigorous due diligence process.
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