Director ALforEducation

African Leadership Academy

African Leadership Academy

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See open jobs at African Leadership Academy.
Chicago, IL, USA
Posted on Friday, May 26, 2023

DIRECTOR, ALforEDUCATION

About the Academy

African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by identifying, developing and connecting a new generation of young leaders who will lead the continent towards lasting peace and shared prosperity for all. Since our inception in 2008 we have worked to lay the foundations of this audacious mission by identifying and developing a group of exceptional young leaders who will work together to shape Africa’s future.

About the ALforEducation

ALforEducation is a growing network of education leaders who work to foster excellence in African education, and who are demonstrably improving learning outcomes for African children. These leaders are driving the conversation about what young Africans should know and be able to do, and how schools must be organized to achieve those outcomes. They are building and testing these ideas and sharing lessons in ways that help others implement their learning. To enable this, ALforEducation operates programs that seek to advance learning outcomes in communities across the African continent. We bring extraordinary talent into Africa’s education sector, and we support the advancement of extraordinary schools serving communities across Africa.

Position Overview

ALforEducation seeks a Director to oversee the development of our effort to transform education outcomes in Africa through investing in education leaders. Today, we oversee programs that seek to attract extraordinary talent into education and advance the most promising early-stage organizations in the sector. We aim to harness our broad, pan-African network and transmit learnings to amplify our impact on education in Africa.

The ALforEducation Program Director will operationalize a recently revised strategy for ALforEducation and drive the partnerships required to execute on that strategy. The Program Director will lead an excellent and diverse team of professionals driving program delivery, oversee fundraising efforts, and manage partnerships and communications. The Program Director will work with ALA’s executive team and key stakeholders including the Future Fund for Education and its Advisory Board to bring an important vision to life.

Position Responsibilities

  • Refine Strategy: Build upon a new strategy to maximize our impact on education and learning outcomes in Africa.
  • Oversee Programs: Oversee the strategic development of a portfolio of programs for emerging talent and high-potential entrepreneurs.
  • Grow the Network: Develop and implement an effective network engagement strategy that will enable diverse stakeholders to connect and collaborate consistently to innovate and improve education in Africa.
  • Build Funder Partnerships: Lead partnership development and fundraising by maintaining relationships with existing funders and leading reporting, as well as building fundraising strategies and relationships with prospective donors.
  • Build Employer Partnerships: Build a network of employer partners in the education space across Africa eager and willing to take on high potential, early career interns and employees.
  • External Communications: Articulate the philosophies and approaches of ALforEducation programs and the resulting impact of network members on the wider educational ecosystem in Africa. Represent ALforEducation in global conferences, talks and education networks to share learnings, build relationships and grow the network.
  • Get stuck in: Participate in program design and delivery, providing coaching, program facilitation and other engagement as necessary for program success and as a means of engaging network members.

Profile of the Ideal Candidate

  • Strategic leader: you identify, evaluate, and execute on high-impact opportunities.
  • Education Expert: you hold strong, substantiated positions about the nature of teaching & learning and can evaluate ideas through the lens of experience and research.
  • Context Agility: you have experience translating and applying educational practices in different contexts
  • Highly organized project and people manager: you build and lead highly effective teams with diverse experience and expertise and enjoy bringing new programs to life.
  • Partnership builder: you build win-win partnerships and have the experience of fundraising for non-profit and/or for-profit organizations.
  • Passionate about building relationships and networks, especially in the education field.
  • Builder of highly effective teams with diverse cultural backgrounds, experience, and expertise.
  • Experience managing complex projects with multiple workstreams
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience with public speaking and publishing written work, and/or developing communication strategies and plans.

Desired Experience

  • 10+ years of experience working in or advising impactful education organizations. Experience in founding and/or growing schools in particular is a plus.
  • Knowledgeable of the challenges of education in Africa and engaged in reading and developing related research. Passionate and eager to engage in continuous learning in the field.
  • Deeply knowledgeable and experienced in organisational change, strategy and leadership development.
  • Dedicated to shaping the future of the education sector.

Reporting: This role reports to the Chief Programs Officer

Start Date: 1 August 2023.

Location: Strong preference for candidates based in Johannesburg or willing to relocate. Exceptional remote candidates (based on the African continent) will be considered. Remote candidates will be expected to spend extended periods working from our campus in Johannesburg.

This job is no longer accepting applications

See open jobs at African Leadership Academy.