job
Regional Education in Emergencies Advisor- PlayMatters
Organization International Rescue CommitteeLocation UgandaType FULL TIMEPosted 18 May 2026Deadline 17 Jun 2026
Program/Project ManagementEducation
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Full Description
**BACKGROUND:**
The International Rescue Committee’s mission is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded over 90 years ago, the IRC is a leading humanitarian and development organization with presence in more than 40 countries. Across contexts, the IRC is committed to delivering innovative, high-impact programs tailored to the needs of communities affected by crisis.
The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting refugees, vulnerable host communities, and various institutions in the country notably the government, community-based organizations, civil society, and the private sector. Currently, the IRC in Uganda has a presence across five sub-regions and six refugee settlements, implementing programming in the sectors of health, protection and rule of law (PRoL), women’s protection and empowerment (WPE), economic recovery and development (ERD), and education. IRC Uganda also implements cross-cutting programming focused on systems strengthening and accountability to affected persons.
**Job Overview/ Summary:**
PlayMatters (PM) phase 3 is a 4-year education initiative (2026-2030) with a goal of improving the well-being and holistic learning outcomes of pre-primary and primary school aged children (ages 3-12+), including those who are affected by conflict and crisis, in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda by strengthening education systems to deliver quality education services using active teaching and learning through play. PM prioritizes strengthening education systems to be resilient and scaling impact by working with and through existing systems rather than establishing parallel systems. PM has three main outcomes: Outcome 1: Education systems have increased capacity, uptake, and coordination of Learning through Play (LtP) as a teaching method; Outcome 2: School-aged children in refugee hosting and post-crisis recovery zones have increased access to quality learning opportunities in safe environments; Outcome 3: School-aged children's holistic development is protected in times of acute crisis.
Under the supervision of the Deputy Project Director – Technical, PlayMatters and with technical support from the IRC Global Practice Lead for Foundational Learning and the Senior Technical Advisor for Education in Emergencies, the Regional EiE Advisor for PlayMatters will oversee the PM Crisis Modifier (CM) and EiE strategy. This will be done in collaboration with PM Country Project Management Committees (PMCs) – comprised of the project coordinators from appropriate PM consortium partner organizations. The Regional EiE Advisor will lead the development of the Crisis Modifier strategy, capacity strengthening, technical quality assurance, and learning from the implementation of the CM in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda. The PM CM will include preparedness activities, anticipatory action, rapid multisectoral response, and transition activities to ensure humanitarian-development coherence, ensuring that children’s continued access to quality education and holistic development is protected in times of acute crisis.
The Regional EiE Advisor will be part of the PM Regional Technical & Evidence Team, comprising technical experts from across the PM Consortium (led by the IRC in partnership with Plan International and War Child Alliance) to provide a coherent strategy, technical support, and quality implementation across PM implementation countries. The Regional EiE Advisor will also be involved in overall technical quality assurance of the broader project, including the project’s education systems resilience approaches, coordinating go/no go crisis activation decision, and adaptation of diverse EiE delivery modalities.
**Major Responsibilities:**
**Program Strategy**
- Develop and execute the PM CM strategy, including crisis response activation and implementation, that includes guidance on quality and monitoring, and update as needs evolve. This strategy should integrate Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness, Anticipatory Action, Multisectoral Rapid Response, Humanitarian-Development Coherence, and Sustainability.
- Develop and execute a context-appropriate, outcome-focused EiE strategy for PlayMatters that includes guidance on quality and monitoring, and update as needs evolve.
- Sit on each PM CM Steering Committee (one per country) to ensure proper implementation of the CM.
- Advise and assist in designing preparedness plans and rapid response plans, including identifying co-funding opportunities, supporting the conceptualization/design of program activities, drafting or providing substantial input into technical response plans, designing M&E systems, partner capacity assessments and budgets, and responding to any requests for additional information as needed.
- Assist in adapting teacher education and training materials for EiE contexts
- Liaising with and tracking IRC global, regional and national C
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