This was a very informative exercise. I got to read
about so many interesting developments and such amazing things that
organisations are doing all around the world. It really opened my eyes to how
many good things are being done but at the same time how much need there is all
over the world. The three organisations that I appealed to me the most were to
do with educating children.
Save
the children operate not only America but also
globally. They reach many underprivileged children and families with their
services. Education is part of what they offer to uplift and support these
communities. They work with families and caregivers of the children to help
them to with the journey through education. They offer home visits and work
with Head Start and Early Head Start programs to provide these children with
educational opportunities that they would otherwise never had had. They focus
on school readiness and preparing children and their families for demands and
expectations of future education. This really resonated with me because in my
Community of Practice I will be focusing on educating families of the children
and helping them to help and support their school going children. I firmly
believe that when children are supported and they feel that their caregivers
are genuinely interested and involved, there is a far bigger chance at
educational and emotional well-being.
My second choice was the Global Education Fund. This organisation aim to improve the lives
of children living in poverty by providing them an education. Together with
funding and educational support they reach out to communities that would
otherwise not receive education and resources for quality schooling. I liked
the fact that they support the educators and families within the community and
look at the issue in a holistic approach.
Education is a human right with the immense
power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom,
democracy and sustainable human development.
— Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General for the U.N.
My third organisation that chose to share is Educational Support Partnership. This
is a British based charity organisation, one of its kind, that provide support
for mental health and wellbeing of teaches and educational workers. I feel that
this is an essential issue that needs to be addressed global and sadly there is
not enough emphasis on this in South Africa. They recognise the many strains
and stresses of working in education and state that three out of five
educational workers report that they have suffered as a result of stress,
health issues and even depression. This organisation not only recognise these
issues but aim to support educational workers in order to avoid burn outs and
excess stress.
While surfing the net and finding some fascinating websites
I came across two vacancies that I found very interesting. If my circumstances
were different and I was young and single, I would give them a go for sure!
The first one is for save the children based in
Bangladesh.
The
role is of Education
Sector Coordinator.
Basically you would need to ensure a coherent and effective response to
education needs being addressed by agencies engaging in Education interventions. She/he will lead this initiative by working
closely with the education stakeholders (children, families, communities,
authorities, education institutions and INGOs and UN agencies) to provide an
effective, timely and strategic collective response to the current situation at
Cox’s bazar.
The
Education Sector Coordination will work impartially, serving the needs of all
members of the education sector and should work closely with UN OCHA, Inter
Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) from our co-lead (UNICEF). The Education
Sector is accountable to the ISCG through the lead agencies (Save the Children
and UNICEF).
Qualifications and experience
·
Prior
experience of working within cluster coordination
·
Previous
first phase emergency response experience is essential
·
Education
to MSc/MA/ level in Education (or a related field) or equivalent field
experience
·
Excellent
communication skills, including ability to facilitate diverse groups.
·
Excellent
negotiation and conflict-resolution skills
·
Politically
and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
·
A high
level of written and spoken English
·
Demonstrable
ability to work and represent views across different stakeholders taking part
in the Education Cluster.
·
Experience
of high level co-ordination and chairing of meetings.
·
Demonstrable
understanding of international humanitarian response and co-ordination
mechanisms.
·
Understanding
of opportunities to provide integrated or cross-cutting humanitarian
interventions with other sectors and Clusters
·
Understanding
of opportunities to support the World Humanitarian Summit Agenda such as
localisation and development-humanitarian nexus
·
Understanding
of the Education Can Not Wait Multi-Year Fund Process and other funding
mechanisms
·
Experience
of applying INEE Minimum Standards and other relevant frameworks and standards
in education in emergencies)
·
Experience
in assessing Education Sector partners’ capacities to inform the development
and roll out of capacity building plan to improve quality of the
·
The
capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in
difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
The second role I found interesting was based in
Nashville, USA.
This
was the role of a Program
Specialist, Early Childhood Development .
The Early Childhood Specialist will help to provide training and
management support to program partners to ensure standards are met and programs
are implemented in the interest of the children. Save the Children is focussed
on children and family education, this position would focus on prenatal to five
years old.
References
Save the Children International.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.savethechildren.net/
HOME. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.globaleducationfund.org/
Education Support Partnership.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.educationsupportpartnership.org.uk/
