Education and Early Childhood Development; ECD) Technical Advisor – MENAU

Position: Education and Early Childhood Development (ECD) Technical Advisor – MENAU
Location: Greater London

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities.

A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Background The IRC’s Technical Excellence department helps achieve that aim by generating evidence, sharing learning, and providing technical assistance to IRC’s country program staff. Technical Excellence is comprised of Technical Units (TUs) – Health;
Economic Recovery and Development (ERD);
Education; and Violence Prevention and Response (VPR) – including Global Practice Teams, regionally aligned technical teams, and supporting units for MEAL, policy and advocacy, and partnerships and program  2025, the IRC reached over 600,000 children and youth in 20 countries with early childhood development and education programs, ensuring that even the hardest to reach children in the most challenging places are able to go learn, develop and thrive.

The Middle East, North Africa & Ukraine (MENAU) region is one of IRC’s largest and most complex areas of operation, encompassing protracted conflict, displacement, and recovery contexts across multiple country programs. Regional TU teams provide dedicated, context-relevant technical assistance to these country programs across the program cycle, aligned with the IRC Technical Assistance model and service charter.

Position Overview The IRC is seeking an Education & Early Childhood Development (ECD) Technical Advisor to provide temporary coverage during a period of parental leave. This is a fixed-term, 6-month assignment (September 1, 2026 – March 1, 2027) focused exclusively on the Middle East, North Africa & Ukraine (MENAU) region. IRC’s MENAU region includes Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

The role is focused on education and early childhood development (pre-natal through age
8), which is closely aligned with the Nurturing Care Framework and has key interlinkages across multiple sectors. The Education & ECD TA will provide direct technical support to MENAU country programs identified as strategic priorities for Education and ECD innovation, growth, and research, in close collaboration and coordination with the regional Education TA and other sector-specific TAs relevant to ECD (Child Protection, Nutrition, Primary Health, Mental Health, Economic Recovery and Development, Women’s Protection, Governance, etc.).To

ensure quality programming and impact for young children and families affected by conflict and crisis, the Education & ECD TA will: support country program staff to design programs and projects aligned to IRC’s outcomes and evidence framework / theories of change / core indicators; review technical quality of proposals; input into proposal go/no-go decisions; analyze data to inform course correction;

conduct technical trainings and ongoing technical coaching; share cross-context learning with country program staff; design, review, and share program-level tools (e.g., assessment frameworks, M&E templates, proposal materials); and support senior technical country program recruitment and capacity-building. Development, adaptation, and quality assurance of Education and ECD content and curricula sit with the ECD Content Specialist, and the ECD TA is expected to route any content-related country requests accordingly rather than duplicate that work.

As the Education and ECD Technical Advisor for MENAU, you will be responsible for ensuring high-quality technical assistance to Education and ECD projects across the MENAU region, including…