Job Title:   Federal Lead

Role Location: Abuja

Reports to: National Team Leader

Programme: PLANE (PARTNERSHIP FOR LEARNING FOR ALL IN NIGERIAN)

Contract Duration: One (1) year with the possibility of an extension

Type of Contract: Full Time Contract 

Background

Nigeria PLANE is a seven-year programme (2021-2028) funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). It represents one window of intervention in a broader package of investment intended to enable a more inclusive and effective basic education system. It seeks to do this by unlocking governance bottlenecks that hinder education service delivery, to improve teaching and learning in the public and non-state sectors, and to unlock improvements in foundational skills (reading, writing, and mathematics). PLANE is working with the Federal Government as well as the State Governments of Kano, Kaduna, and Jigawa as well as taking regional approach in the South West

The programme is approaching its mid-point, and is currently focused on four primary outputs:

I.            Teaching & Learning: Evidence-based teaching and learning approaches & materials in use in better-managed performance-focused schools and teaching colleges;

II.           Governance of state systems: Improved planning, personnel management, and public financial management practices;

III.         Governance of non-state systems: Improved management and performance of the non-state sector; and,

IV.          Improving the use of Evidence and Communication: Effective generation, communication, and use of evidence to inform citizen engagement and improve service delivery.

The PLANE programme is shifting its focus from service delivery to the provision of SMART technical assistance, aiming to support the Nigerian government in enhancing the delivery of its education vision.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Federal Lead plays a critical role in the PLANE team. They manage day-to-day interactions with the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education, drawing on the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader as required. The Federal Lead is responsible for developing and managing the federal strategy and work plan for PLANE, leading key engagement activities, and coordinating and collaborating with the Output Leads and Technical Advisors to deliver the reform initiatives agreed upon with the Federal Ministry of Education and the attached agencies.

To be successful, the Federal Lead needs to have both technical knowledge and the ability to think and work politically with the Federal Government. It is the Federal Lead's responsibility to work with technical advisors to shape the provision of smart technical assistance that supports reforms designed to strengthen federal-level education systems. The Federal Lead will work closely with all Output Leads to ensure that the key components of the programme required at the federal level are effectively delivered.

In addition, he/she will ;
 

Develop and maintain strategic relationships with federal government counterparts. Success is the ability to have robust conversations with federal government colleagues, identifying where PLANE needs to flex and when PLANE should push back on government requests;

Taking overall responsibility for the operation and delivery of federal-level activities, including managing the work planning, budgeting and delivery of federal-level activities.

Maintaining relationships with other relevant stakeholders, including civil society, other reform programmes and development partners 

Demonstrate the utility of using rapid, evidence-based learning and adaptation approaches to implementation, and support the federal government to learn from these approaches;

Facilitating possible issue-based approaches to resolving specific service delivery problems with a connection to governance as models for governance reform and improved service delivery;

Facilitating and delivering regional governance reform activities whilst ensuring governance reforms are owned and delivered by the federal government under their agenda;

Take responsibility for facilitating engagements with the federal government, focusing on reform, knowledge management, the use of data and evidence, to support governance reform in the education system;

Working with the central knowledge management unit and ensuring cross-learning at the federal level and between the national and state levels, through the identification of existing networks, and the development of new peer learning platforms and locally-developed tools

Overseeing monitoring of implementation and supporting result tracking for federal activities under the guidance of the PLANE monitoring and evaluation team;

Ability to manage and develop a small team to deliver more than the sum of their parts.

Reporting to and liaising with senior management, serving as the primary focal point for federal work;

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

A Master’s degree, preferably in education, public policy and/or economics.

At least 10 years of experience in the development sector, preferably with FCDO-funded programmes.

Demonstrated experience of working and influencing reforms with senior government and political office holders at the federal or state levels. 

Demonstrated ability of supporting government to unlock governance bottlenecks in education or a related sector.

Experience of collaborative work with other donor agencies to deliver support to government systems

Demonstrated understanding of Nigeria’s education sector.

Extensive professional experience in Africa, particularly Nigeria.

Experience of working with government and donor counterparts.

Knowledge of management of change and organisation development in the public sector.

Meeting facilitation and on-the-job training experience.

Proven experience with relationship-building and team-building skills.

Demonstrated experience of work in politically sensitive and volatile environments.

Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports.

Proven experience with relationship-building and team-building skills.

Proven experience working at the Federal Level in the education sector. 

METHOD OF APPLICATION:

Qualified candidates should please send their CV to ng_recruitment@dai.com on or before 5pm on the 30th of July 2025 using the Job Title as the subject of the email. Applications from women, people with disabilities and young people who meet the above qualifications are encouraged to apply.

DAI will only contact candidates that are successful at this pre-qualification stage.
More information about DAI can be found on the DAI website; www.dai.com