View Vacancy – Policy and Partnerships Coordinator, Grade- SEO, Islamabad

Note : All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the complete online application form including the employment, educational details, behavioural and technical/ professional skills questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the application forms only with all the required details and the shortlisting is not basis CV/ cover letter. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.’’

Main purpose of job:
The work of the British High Commission (BHC) in Pakistan is focused on six main workstreams – Regional Stability; Threats; Health and Education; Climate, Resilience and Humanitarian; Open Societies; and Economy and Trade.  

BHC Islamabad is looking to recruit a suitably qualified and experienced Policy and Partnerships Coordinator for a fixed term until August 2028. The post is based within the Health and Education Group (HEG) team in Islamabad. The HEG team supports Pakistan’s human capital improvement, with effective, inclusive and resilient health and education systems providing quality services for all, with a special focus on women and girls, for a healthier and more literate population. 

This role is based within the education team which is headed by an Education Team Leader (G6) and has 10 members. The Group is well resourced with a team of advisers and programme managers to ensure effective delivery of the UK’s policy and programme portfolio.

Education, particularly of girls and most marginalised children, is a top priority for the UK. Our support in education in Pakistan combines the FCDO, the British Council and the Department of Business and Trade, which provides an end-to-end education offer within the sector. It ranges from foundational learning, through primary and secondary school, to higher education and vocational skills. 

Ongoing UK bilateral assistance in education includes the following:

• Girls and Out of School Children: Action for Learning (GOAL) programme, designed to build more inclusive education systems delivering better quality learning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab
• Data and Research in Education (DARE), designed to strengthen and standardise education governance data systems nationally, strengthen local research capacities, and to produce robust high-quality research to guide policy decisions in the long run.

Multilateral funds being implemented in Pakistan with significant contribution from the UK include:

• Global Partnerships for Education (GPE): GPE is supporting all the four provincial governments to strengthen their education systems, thereby improving collaboration and development partner coordination to improve education outcomes. These include better learning quality, better access for girls and marginalised children, and gender-sensitive education policy-making.
• Education Cannot Wait (ECW): ECW is supporting education continuity in Pakistan through Multi-Year Resilience planning (MYRP), First Education Response (FER) particularly following the devastating 2022 floods, and most recently the Anticipatory Action pilot. Pakistan is one of the two countries globally being supported by ECW for Anticipatory Action
• Centrally managed programmes (CMPs) with a presence in Pakistan include the What Works Hub for Global Education, EdTech hub, and others.

Development coordination and engagement with the Government takes place at the Federal and Provincial levels. Most Development Partners (DPs) are working in certain provinces or within certain districts within one province. The major organisations active in the education space include, but are not limited to, FCDO, the World Bank, USAID, JICA, along with NGOs and the UN agencies such as UNICEF who work across multiple provinces and with the Federal Government. A key coordination platform is the National Education Development Partners Group (NEDPG) which is currently co-chaired by FCDO and JICA in collaboration with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT). 

The GPE provides a variety of grants within most provinces and each grant has a Grant Agent (GA). The GA is responsible for design and implementation of the activities.  Within each province, there is also the coordination body of Government, donors and civil society called the Local Education Group (LEG) which looks at the implementation of the grants and provides inputs and a vital M&E role as well as document approvals. 

The GPE also requires each province to have its own Coordinating Agency (CA). This role is important and multifaceted. Each province will decide on a governance structure with the GPE, and all parties contribute through these various roles.  

The jobholder will provide support to the FCDO in its coordination role as a co-chair of the National Development Partners Group (NEDPG) and if it is successful, taking on the role of CA in up to 2 provinces. The role of CA is of particular importance in promoting mutual accountability around the Compact set out in the GPE Charter through the GPE 2020 objective of inclusive sector policy dialogue and monitoring. Effective dialogue is facilitated when there is government ownership and broad participation from all partners and stakeholders supporting education, and the relationships and communication among these partners are built on clarity and transparency. It is promoted by the CA in sector level processes and dialogue, as well as in relation to GPE grants. 

It is important to note that, while there are particular expectations of the CA in relation to GPE-specific processes, the main focus of the CA role is to support effective and harmonized dialogue between development partners and the government around the country-owned policy cycle, while promoting the inclusion of key stakeholders such as civil society and teachers in policy dialogue. The CA leads coordination and communication between the GPE Secretariat in Washington, the Pakistan Provincial Governments, and Grant Agents (GA).  The CA has the main responsibility, supported by the GPE Secretariat, for promoting sector coordination and inclusive, effective Local Education Groups (LEGs). Overall, there are three key areas in which the CA plays a pivotal role to promote mutual accountability relative to the GPE Charter and Compact: a) sector coordination; b) GPE grants; and c) communication. 

The role, therefore, requires excellent communication and team working skills and the ability to work with a diverse set of people on operational, programmatic and policy issues. It will also necessitate strong interpersonal and networking skills to build and maintain working relationships with all partners in the education sector.   The role will also work on policy coherence, coordination, facilitation, and other administrative duties that support the UK’s GOAL and other bilateral and centrally-managed programmes in Pakistan, as well as development partners within the National Education Development Partners Group (NEDPG), and the GPE projects in Punjab and KP provinces. The job may also involve coordination support to the education team on other key policy priorities and relationships that matter for GOAL and wider portfolio such as the UK’s engagement with the Prime Minister’s Education Taskforce. 
This is an exciting opportunity to join the Health and Education Group of the British High Commission.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?
The successful candidate will: 

• Work closely with the FCDO education team to promote policy coherence across GOAL’s strands of work, coordinate work between bilateral assistance programmes, CMPs, ECW, and GPE, with a view to avoid duplication and build complementarities.
• Support processes related to FCDO’s contribution to GPE and donor coordination platforms, notably the Local Education Groups (LEGs) in KP and Punjab as well as the National Education Development Partners Group (NEDPG) and the Prime Minister’s Education Taskforce.
• Convene meetings with the aforementioned groups in close collaboration with FCDO education team, share relevant evidence and lessons learned (contextual as well as global),
• Strengthen planning and evaluation processes for LEGs in KP and Punjab as well as NEDPG and PM Education Taskforce at the federal level;
• Facilitate and ensure timely GPE-supported Joint Sector Reviews and regular stakeholder engagement for both, GPE and NEDPG
• Guide the process to diversify membership of these governance groups by including more impactful grassroots civil society organisations as well as encouraging active engagement from various development partners
• Develop effective communication mechanisms to keep GPE LEG and NEDPG members informed of key developments, changes in government interlocuters as they happen, as well as sharing achievements and lessons learned
• Design and implement initiatives to challenge development partners to coordinate efforts better to build efficiency and deepen impact, with close guidance and supervision of the core FCDO education team
• Track policy decisions and implementation, alerting FCDO team on key interlocuters and their priorities, bureaucratic transfers, and possible opportunities and risks that arise
• Support Local Education Groups and the KP and Punjab provincial education departments to comply with GPE requirements as a secretariat focal person within the Coordination Agency. Final agreement on areas of support will be finalised in first 3 months of the assignment and will include elements set out on the GPE website for CA roles and responsibilities
• Facilitate LEGs and NEDPG to create a supportive and well-informed community of practice with frequent policy dialogue, sharing case studies, successes, and lessons learned and engaging the private sector to share best practices, as needed
• Work closely with the core FCDO education team to foster a culture of mutual respect, accountability, and inclusion on the education governance groups and within Centraly Managed Projects (CMPs) support in Pakistan.
• Record meeting minutes, track decisions and next steps among partners and provide timely sharing and documentation related to above tasks.

• Master’s degree in a development, policy, or education related subject
• At least 5 years of work experience in the development sector in Pakistan with a preference for experience working in the education sector
• Familiarity with the education sector and policy context at the federal level as well as provincial (Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular) is strongly desirable
• Knowledge of GPE programming and Grant Agent and Coordinating Agency roles will be a bonus but is not mandatory
• Knowledge of broader aid and development infrastructure in Pakistan including development, particularly education, portfolios of FCDO, World Bank, JICA, ADB, and others
• Excellent communication skills in English and Urdu (Pashto is strongly desirable)
• Ability to deliver at pace, see the big picture, and use evidence to guide conversations and processes
• Excellent stakeholder management, networking, and conflict resolution skills
• Ability to build partnerships and consensus among different interest groups
• Excellent drafting and writing and interpersonal skills.
• Good research and analytical skills including the ability to search and organise information, critically assess data and present findings succinctly and coherently.
• Ability to work and deliver outputs and outcomes, with multiple diverse partners, within fixed deadlines.

Language requirements: 

Language: English

Level of language required: Fluent