icddr,b is a Bangladesh-based international health research institute that strives to solve key public health problems through high-quality scientific research and innovation. icddr,b, as a values-based organization, encourages women and people with disabilities.

Despite global efforts to improve smooth transitions and school readiness through early childhood care and education programmes, children often enter primary school with varying levels of preparedness. This project builds on previous successful work in Bangladesh, Nepal and Tanzania, that focused on the readiness of both children and caregivers to enter the preschool education programme, through an initiative called Every Newborn-Reach Up Early Education Intervention for All Children (EN-REACH). This new project will support the adaptation of the EN-REACH programme to incorporate key components on teacher readiness to facilitate easy transition to pre-primary education (EN-REACH-ED).

Position Description:

The Assistant Programme Manager reporting to the Assistant Scientist will plan, organize and implement research with the objective of conducting high-quality research within the guidelines of the research protocol of “Bridging Gaps and Scaling Up: A School Readiness Programme for Child-Parent-Teacher Triad in Bangladesh” and organizational values and guidelines.

Major responsibilities include:

• Liaise with the government stakeholders at the relevant ministry in Bangladesh supporting early childhood education for conducting the project and consult with them about the project activities;
• Plan data collection activities in the field;
• Collect and translate (if necessary) all the ECD/preschool educational materials used in government preschools in Bangladesh;
• Assist in developing the teacher’s training manual, translating it into Bangla and piloting it on sampled teachers;
• Provide inputs in modification of the existing EN-REACH curriculum;
• Train master trainers on the child-parent-teacher triad curriculum that includes both the EN-REACH school readiness parenting package and the teachers’ manual.
• Observe and evaluate the training sessions in selected sites (schools);
• Observe the child-parent-teacher triad sessions at schools;
• Provide assistance in baseline and post-intervention evaluation;
• Participate in bi-monthly meetings with the partners in Tanzania, Nepal and UK;
• Collect and manage large data sets safely and securely;
• Monitoring and evaluation of the programme.

Required qualifications and experience:

• Master’s in relevant subject; However, Master’s in Education/Psychology will be given priority;
• Minimum 5 years of work experience in relevant field;
• Excellent knowledge on country pre-school education curriculum and experience in managing previous education projects;
• Experience of teaching children with special educational needs and disabilities;
• Ability to work and maintain excellent relationships with the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and other key stakeholders in pre-school education e.g. teacher training, etc.
• Excellent spoken English and report writing skills;
• Strong inter-personal skills – ability to converse with different audiences (government, district officers, community)

Location: Dhaka

Number of Positions: 1

Contract Type and Duration:

• Short-Term Contractual Service Agreement basis ; duration will be 7 months with a possibility of extension subject to availability of funds and performance.

Salary & benefits:

• Tk.1,27,664/-per month (consolidated) inclusive of house rent and conveyance allowances;
• Festival bonus, income tax paid by icddr,b and subsidized canteen; Transport and daycare facilities are subject to space availability.

Notes of attention:

• Only short-listed candidates shall be invited for written test/interview;
• icddr,b does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.

Interested candidates who fulfil the requirements should submit online applications using icddr,b website: career.icddrb.org by August 25, 2024.