Expertise France recrute 01 Project Coordinator – Technical Assistance Facility, Vocational Education and Training
The volume of expertise required for this position is 60 months residential. The position will be based in Brussels, with sporadic missions outside of the country (mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where project operations will be implemented).
The Technical Assistance Coordinator will be in permanent contact with his/her line manager : the Project Manager at Expertise France, based in Paris, to support him/her in carrying out his/her tasks.
Subordinate relationships :
- Opportunity-VET interventions Officer (48 months) – Based in Brussels
- Opportunity-VET interventions Officer (36 months) – Based in Brussels
- Opportunity-VET interventions Facilitator (Back-stopping expertise along the project) – Based in Brussels
The following list is not exhaustive. The missions and activities listed are not limitative and may evolve according to needs.
Under the supervision of the Project Manager (based in Paris) the Technical Assistance Coordinator (based in Brussels) and in collaboration with 18 other team members (recruited by EF, ENABEL, EDUFI and GiZ) will :
Coordination of the TA Facility :
- Participate in the preparation phase for TA (eligibility and selection criteria, as well as validation of guidelines and processes for submissions of TA interventions) in consultation with the consortium;
- Provide strategic guidance for the implementation of the TA facility, with a particular focus on ensuring adequate engagement with the private sector
- Coordinate and distribute interventions among all agencies, with a focus on co-implementing interventions whenever possible and relevant
- Ensure accountability, quality control, and work division among agencies under this Pillar;
- Ensure geographical distribution of interventions, as much as possible;
- Undertake technical advisory missions independently or in collaboration with other TEI staff
- Liaise with EUDs and EU MS in intervention countries;
- Follow-up of Technical Assistance Facility implementation missions
- Monitor the activities of the teams under his/her supervision as well as manage and organize work among pillar staff
- Steering of reviews and capitalization process
Coordination with other team members and other pillars
- Regular exchange with Team leader and other Pillar Coordinators to ensure that implementation experiences inform and complement activities in other Pillars (this applies particularly for Pillars 1 and 2)
- Provide reporting/feedback to TL/Hub and implementing agencies on regular basis
Representation
- Represent the TA facility (partnership) in external events and ensure its visibility for (potential) partners and liaise with EUDs and EU MS in SSA countries
Project or context description
This recruitment process is undertaken for the purpose of the TEI OP-Skills and VET project, which aims to strenghten the training offer based on concrete employment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This 75M € project will be implemented for a period of 60 months, starting from February 2024 until December 2028, by a consortium of European partners, namely :
- Enabel (Belgium)
- Expertise France (EF, France)
- Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI, Finland)
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ, Germany)
Overall Objective of the Project : Skills and VET provisions in Sub-Saharan Africa addresses the skills needs of the EU Global Gateway and other flagship initiatives while enhancing the employability of women and men in SSA.
Specific Objective : Skills and VET interventions are oriented towards decent employment opportunities in selected sectors and value chains under Africa-Europe investment initiatives, including the Global Gateway (GG).
Results / Outputs :
Pillar 1 (Technical Assistance Facility) – EF-led
- R1: Decent employment opportunities in (sub-) sectors and value chains, notably those responding to EU Global Gateway priorities, are identified and assessed at country level.
- R2: Improved capacities of VET actors for development of VET services relevant to identified decent employment opportunities.
Pillar 2 (Organization of regional events promoting PPPs in VET) – Edufi-led
- R3: Increased exchange between the private sector, VET actors and the public sector on partnerships for opportunity-driven VET at country and regional level.
Pillar 3 (Call for proposals of projects supporting the opportunity-driven approach in VET) – GiZ-led
- R4: Improved range of opportunity-driven VET measures in specific (regional) value chains and Global Gateway initiatives.
The TA Facility aims at supporting EUDs and EU MS agencies to better (re)orient their sector-specific or skills, VET or PSD projects/programmes towards concrete employment opportunities (paradigm shift from supply to opportunity-driven approach) notably those created by the Global Gateway Investment Package.
Pillar 1 will be coordinated by Expertise France. The support provided consists of two steps, which will be addressed jointly or separately based on the needs:
- Step 1: To assess and identify employment opportunities in (sub-) sectors and/or value chains (Result 1) supported by the Global Gateway and other EU-Africa flagship initiatives, with the involved private sector partners and authorities. Possible activities of the facility under this result include an analysis of value chains and/or sectors with highest needs and employment potential across countries in SSA. The assessment will be closely linked to existing and/or planned interventions under the GGIP (and other flagship initiatives). The monitoring activity will be maintained throughout the TA facility implementation time to ensure the TA responds to identified opportunities.
- Step 2: To formulate recommendations for better conceptualisation, implementation and monitoring of responsive skills and VET measures by using identified opportunities, to provide advisory support how to implement required change processes and develop and customize respective tools if necessary and not yet available (Result 2). In particular, the opportunities arising from the Global Gateway Investment Package activities and other flagship initiatives are of key importance.
Building on the support provided under Result 1, or on similar work done by other partners and stakeholders, the TA facility will analyse the existing TVET offer in a given sector and formulate recommendations and tools targeted towards TVET stakeholders to adjust their training provision to be more responsive to the private sector needs and job opportunities created by the Global Gateway. Activities supported by the TA facility under Result 2 intend to identify pathways for operationalising the paradigm-shift in TVET.
The TA Facility will respond to specific requests of EUDs and EU MS, in consultation with national/regional partners, which intend to harness employment opportunities emerging from Global Gateway and other initiatives and focusing on specific (sub-)sectors and value chains. Operational guidelines for the TA facility will be developed in the start-up phase of the project (from February 2024 to June 2024)
In this context, Expertise France is recruiting a Technical Assistance Coordinator whose mission will be to ensure the global coordination of the TA Facility as well as its smooth running over the entire duration of the project (5 years).
Required profile
Qualifications :
The profile sought is that of a candidate with higher education (minimum Master’s degree) in public policy / employment and professional integration policy / vocational training / or any other degree related to the position.
Competences :
- Proven in-depth knowledge of vocational training and employment in international contexts, particularly in Africa
- Ability to manage multicultural teams and networks of public and/or private stakeholders
- Perfect command of spoken and written English (working language of this post)
- Proven ability to write, argue, organize and summarize in English
- Good command of spoken and written French (working language of Expertise France’s HQ)
- Excellent management and interpersonal skills, high flexibility, ability to work under pressure
- Ability to work on simultaneous services/tasks, to manage time and priorities, to work under pressure and to take on increased workloads from time to time
- Institutional relations skills, ability to analyze and summarize, ability to work under pressure, good command of office software
Required experience :
- At least 10 years’ professional experience particularly in the fields of vocational training and employment in Africa
- Proven experience as a manager of multidisciplinary and international teams
- Demonstrated experience in advising organisations (public or private) and providing technical assistance
- Professional experience as a technical adivsor to public / private organisations on topics such as VET and employment would be an asset Knowledge of the EU’s procedures would be an advantage