Project Officer - TVET Capacity Strengthening (NPSA 9)

The Project Officer supports the country-level implementation of activities to strengthen selected TVET providers' capacity to deliver inclusive, quality-assured, employer-linked, and labour-market-relevant training pathways under the MASAR project in Iraq. The role involves coordination, capacity assessments, quality assurance support, and monitoring of TVET providers to improve training delivery and inclusivity.

Responsibilities

• Support planning, coordination and day-to-day implementation of ER1 activities in Iraq, ensuring alignment with the overall MASAR workplan, project objectives and guidance from the National Project Coordinator.
• Support engagement and maintain effective working relationships with selected TVET institutions, including leadership teams, technical departments, quality assurance focal points, inclusion focal points and operational staff, to ensure ownership, responsiveness and timely implementation of agreed activities.
• Support coordination of implementation partners, local consultants, service providers and technical experts supporting ER1 delivery, ensuring clear deliverables, timely follow-up, quality outputs and alignment with MASAR procedures.
• Support institutional capacity assessments of selected TVET providers using agreed diagnostic tools, including assessments of governance, quality assurance, management systems, delivery capacity, inclusion, employer engagement and operational readiness.
• Support the development and updating of provider institutional strengthening plans, ensuring that each plan is realistic, sequenced, results-oriented and linked to the delivery of revised curricula, modular pathways and work-based learning arrangements.
• Support selected TVET providers to establish or strengthen internal quality assurance systems, provider management procedures, staff roles, planning tools, timetabling, workshop management, consumables planning and other operational systems required for effective training delivery.
• Support provider-level measures to improve inclusive access, participation, safeguarding, disability accessibility, learner retention and progression, with particular attention to women, youth, displaced persons, returnees, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
• Support the establishment or strengthening of trainee and graduate tracking systems, provider performance dashboards and improvement monitoring tools covering enrolment, attendance, completion, certification, WBL participation, employer feedback and graduate outcomes.
• Support the identification, planning and implementation of targeted upgrades to training environments, workshops, equipment and operational systems, ensuring that investments are functional, cost-effective, inclusive and sustainable.
• Monitor provider performance, implementation risks, partner follow-up and progress against ER1 targets; proactively identify bottlenecks and propose practical solutions to the National Project Coordinator to keep delivery on track, while documenting lessons learned, sustainability requirements and operational good practices for institutional embedding and future replication.
• Perform other duties as required.

Requirements

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in international development, economics, education or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in the above subjects in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of two (2) years of progressively responsible experience in project or programme management, coordination, implementation, administration or a related area is required.
• Experience supporting institutional capacity assessments and improvement planning desirable.
• Experience with institutional self-assessment tools, such as ETF ISATCOVE or SELFIE, or comparable approaches desirable.
• Experience working with providers in construction, hospitality or tourism desirable.
• Fluency in both Arabic and English is required.
• Knowledge of Kurdish is an asset.
• Applicants must be authorized to work in the duty station where the position is located.

Skills

• Project Management
• Programme Coordination
• Project Implementation
• Project Administration
• Institutional Capacity Assessment
• Improvement Planning
• Institutional Self-Assessment Tools
• Quality Assurance
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• TVET Capacity Strengthening
• Labour Market Analysis
• Training Delivery Improvement
• Inclusive Training Programs
• Employment Engagement
• Economic Development
• Education Sector Knowledge
• International Development
• Arabic Language
• English Language

Languages

Arabic, English