Programme Coordinator, Nigeria

Overview

The Programme Coordinator will contribute to pioneering education outcome funds, focused on revolutionizing how education and skills development are funded and executed. This role offers the chance to foster systemic changes on a large scale while collaborating within a mission-driven, high-performance team.

About the Organization

Operating from Geneva, UNOPS assists in achieving the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by partnering with governments, UN agencies, and others to deliver quality services, integrated solutions, and strategic management support. This includes platform support and hosting key initiatives on health, nutrition, water, sanitation, sustainable cities, environment, energy, climate, and trade. UNOPS is a trusted partner within the UN system in Geneva, providing fund management, advisory services, hosting solutions, and operational support to global initiatives and partners.

Role Purpose

The Coordinator will work under the Country Lead to oversee programme execution, engage stakeholders, manage governance, monitor performance, and verify results to ensure effective delivery of the EOF-LEAF programme and its goals around education access, retention, learning outcomes, and strengthening systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist the Country Lead in cultivating influential government relationships for informed decision making and active promotion of outcomes-based approaches aligned with EOF evidence.
• Help maintain strong engagement with implementing partners throughout the programme lifecycle.
• Support partners in overcoming implementation challenges by facilitating communication, compiling issue summaries, and escalating concerns as appropriate.
• Encourage broad stakeholder collaboration involving the Nigerian government, donors, partners, ensuring alignment with programme objectives.
• Aid in preparing governance meeting logistics and content under the Country Lead’s supervision.
• Gather intelligence on donors and partners in the education system to identify and influence future funding opportunities such as GPE and other donor programmes.
• Coordinate programme activity schedules and monitor progress against established plans and milestones.
• Conduct site visits for implementation observation, feedback collection, safeguarding assessment and producing compliance reports.
• Help coordinate results verification processes involving data management, fieldwork, schedules, and payments working with evaluators and partners.
• Support operational aspects including cost verification, financial reviews, travel arrangements, and procurement coordination with EOF’s operations team.
• Assist in deploying the programme's communications and knowledge sharing strategies to publicize accomplishments and narratives.

Educational Qualifications

• Mandatory: Secondary school completion.
• Preferred: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in fields like International Development, Public Policy, Education, Business, Economics, Political Science, Finance or similar, which may substitute experience requirements.

Experience Requirements

• At least 7 years relevant experience with secondary education, or minimum 3 years with bachelor’s degree in project or programme management, ideally in Nigerian development or education sectors.
• Demonstrable experience engaging and managing stakeholders, especially within Nigeria’s education system.
• Experience with donors and international organizations in Nigeria’s development sector is essential.
• Preferred: Familiarity with results-based financing, innovative finance models, or outcome funds.