Education Mission Director

Education Mission Director

Nairobi, Kenya

Overview

Pharo Foundation (“the Foundation”) is a mission-driven, non-profit organisation that designs, funds, and operates economic development programmes to achieve its vision of a vibrant, productive, and self-reliant Africa. Over the next decade, our goal is to create maximum impact towards three critical missions:

1. Empowering the next generation: Our education mission is to ensure that all students have an opportunity to access a high-quality, affordable education, and become productive citizens of a rapidly-changing world.


2. Eliminating barriers to employment and productivity: Our productivity mission is to identify and eliminate health, financial, and structural barriers to employment and productivity for working people.


3. Solving water scarcity: Our water mission is to ensure that people and communities across Africa have access to a safe and affordable source of water.

We are a diverse, multicultural, and passionate organization, with over 450 employees in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Somaliland. Our headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, and we have a liaison office in London, UK, which is home to our parent organisation, Pharo Management.

Opportunity

We are seeking an Education Mission Director to drive the strategic development of the education mission and lead the Foundation’s network of Pharo Schools,  ensure all schools are centers of academic excellence and achieve their financial KPIs. This is a critical position in our organisation, which requires a high calibre individual with a strategic mindset, experience in Eastern Africa and a proven track record to lead schools to academic excellence and financial sustainability.

As a member of the global senior leadership team, reporting directly to the CEO, the Education Mission Director will spearhead the multi-country and multi-year strategy for the Education Mission. Pharo’s diverse and vibrant education portfolio consists of a network of schools (K-12 / day and boarding schools), transformational education projects and PPPs in some of the most challenging regions within eastern Africa and a tertiary scholarship programme aiming to educate Africa’s future leaders.

The Mission Director will oversee the Pharo Schools and is the custodian of the Pharo Hallmark, the operating manual for all schools. As such, the Education Mission Director will drive advancement of academics in all schools, implement effective operations and financial sustainability and focus on holistic child development in a safe environment.

The Mission Director is the direct supervisor to the Education Programme Lead, works closely with the School Principals and has a functional relationship with the Education Mission Heads based in our Country Offices across four countries.

In this exciting role, the ideal candidate will have an opportunity to leverage their experience, leadership, and strategic outlook to influence the path of an ambitious and expanding organisation that is committed to making a positive impact in the lives of millions of people across Africa.

Key relationships

Role:                                                                                  Education Mission Director

Location:                                                                          Nairobi, Kenya

Reporting to:                                                                   Chief Executive Officer  

Direct Reports:                                                                Education Programme Lead

Functional relationships:                                                Chief Research and Evaluation Officer

                                                                                          Chief Operating Officer

                                                                                          Country Directors

                                                                                          Heads of Education

                                                                                          School Principals 

                                                                                          Key stakeholders and regulators

Duties and responsibilities

Strategy

• Set the strategic vision for the education mission, develop a strategic framework and cascade the goals and objectives down to measurable and relevant metrics for country and school teams.


• Expand the network of Pharo schools in the region and develop the multi-year expansion strategy into new geographical areas.


• Ensure new programmes are impactful and fully mission aligned.


• Assess impact of the existing programme portfolio lead strategic decision making about programme growth or exit.


• Lead the design and development of new education programmes in collaboration with the Chief Research and Evaluation Officer, Country Directors and the education team. Ensure that all programmes are aligned in strategy with the education mission.


• Partner with the CEO and other senior leaders to represent the Foundation to external stakeholders, including community, governmental, and private organisations.

Pharo Schools

• Oversee the project management for launches of new Pharo schools, including construction and acquisition projects.


• Provide leadership to school principals with the goal, to drive efficiency in workforce planning for teaching and non-teaching staff.


• Review, update and maintain the Pharo School Hallmark and define necessary standards and requirements to achieve high level of academic performance in all schools.


• Develop continuous personal development strategies for all teaching staff and school leadership.


• Evaluate and assess the curriculum in local and global context and make improvements where necessary through blended learning and extracurricular activities.


• Set policies and frameworks for the School Leadership to ensure child protection and safeguarding and an overall conducive and safe school environment.


• Follow and evaluate emerging trends in pedagogy and coordinate implementation where necessary to ensure that Pharo Schools stay ahead of the curve.


• Align the school system with other international curricula and form partnerships with exam centers and certification bodies (SAT, IELTS, etc.) to enhance the value proposition for the community and important stakeholders.


• Provide leadership during the budgeting process to drive the Pharo School portfolio towards financial sustainability.


• Collaborate with the Director of Communications and Partnerships to develop a strong network of partners that support school operations, student experience and professional development for the teachers and school leadership.


• Integration of a school management system across all schools.

Education programme portfolio

• Oversee the foundations programme portfolio in all countries and work with the education teams in country to monitor;
  
  
  
  • Compliance of programme implementation with approved programme design.
  
  
  • Budget compliance.
  
  
  • Adherence to timeline and milestones.
  
  
  • Validate programme beneficiaries against target group.
  
  
  
  


• Foster cross-learning across different country offices and programme team with regards to programme design and implementation.


• Provide frequent updates to the Monitoring and Evaluation team about programme KPIs and quarterly updates to the board of trustees.

Compliance

• Ensure all programme activities operate consistently, legally, and ethically, within the mission and values of the Foundation. 


• Collaborate with country-level leadership to ensure compliance of Pharo Schools with the operating standards of the Foundation and requirements of national and international regulators.

Management and Leadership

• Provide leadership to direct reports, dedicate time to coach and mentor leaders to perform to their full potential and act as a role model for culture and values.


• Provide visionary leadership to all members of the education department and Pharo Schools to align the programme and school operations with the Vision, Mission and Values of Pharo Foundation.


• Reporting of programme progress and programme KPIs to the board of trustees.


• Regular reporting on school performance, headcount and academic data.

Qualifications and requirements

• Minimum eight years of professional experience, with a minimum of four years in senior leadership


• Experience in for-profit schools or group of schools is strongly preferred.


• A solid academic background and a minimum of a relevant professional master’s degree.


• Strong familiarity with Africa and its diverse needs and cultures, with an emphasis on East Africa.


• Strong relationship builder and communicator with experience leading diverse work teams, developing an organisation-wide strategy for programme excellence.


• Demonstrates integrity, strives for excellence in her/his work, and has experience of leading others to new levels of effectiveness and programmatic impact.


• Passionate about the Foundation’s vision and mission with the ability to promote and communicate the philosophy, mission, and values of the Foundation to external and internal stakeholders.


• Ability to travel 25 percent of the time to provide on-site leadership.

Personal attributes

• Great attention to detail and a flexible approach to work. 


• Hands on problem solver with a can-do attitude and willingness to roll up her/his sleeves.


• High professional and ethical standards.


• Structured and data-savvy. 


• Excellent time and project management skills with the ability to balance multiple priorities.


• Motivated to learn and perform and not be afraid to ask questions.


• Willing to challenge the status quo and add value by introducing positive change.


• Excellent communicator and comfortable to work in a team environment.


• Positive and outgoing personality with solid leadership, interpersonal and diplomatic skills.

Application procedure

We will review completed applications on a rolling basis. In the event that we identify an outstanding candidate early in the process, we reserve the right to appoint before the deadline. For this reason, we encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible. Due to the high volume of applications, we regret that we will only contact shortlisted candidates. For your application, please provide:

• A detailed CV and cover letter (in your letter, please state where you heard about this position or saw it advertised e.g. website, LinkedIn).


• A one-page list of six references with current addresses, phone numbers, and email contacts (the list should contain at least 2 peers, 2 direct reports and 2 former supervisors).


• Shortlisted candidates will be required to work on a case study as part of the interview process.