Learning and Scaling Lead, South Africa

The Learning and Scaling Lead supports the Country Lead to develop and implement a learning, scaling, and evidence synthesis agenda that translates programme evidence into operational insights and actionable policy recommendations. The role involves coordinating evidence generation, supporting program scale-up, and fostering collaboration among partners to improve education outcomes in South Africa.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to design of a Learning, Scaling and Evidence Synthesis Agenda by defining learning priorities, research questions, decision cycles and validation mechanisms.
• Develop tools, dashboards and systems to track progress against learning and scaling milestones.
• Recommend and help set-up tools to standardize reporting and data collection for real-time evidence sharing across program partners.
• Coordinate with government counterparts, independent evaluators, implementing and technical partners to collect data and generate evidence on program delivery and lessons learned.
• Synthesize monitoring, evaluation, research and operational data into clear, policy-relevant insights to support program adaptation and decision-making.
• Support collection and analysis of data on outcomes-based contracts' influence on organizational practices and system collaboration.
• Facilitate cross-partner knowledge exchange through peer-learning workshops and documentation of insights, challenges and adaptive practices.
• Draft reports consolidating cross-partner evidence into actionable recommendations for EOF strategic decision-making and government planning.
• Support dissemination of key evidence and learnings through sector-wide dialogues and identify coordination opportunities.
• Participate in evaluation meetings and link learnings from baseline and endline reports.
• Assist in identifying learning and sustainability priorities aligning data collection and research outputs.
• Identify opportunities for scale and analyze system readiness for program expansion through desk research and market assessments.
• Produce reports outlining risks, mitigation strategies and recommended actions for scale-up.
• Coordinate multi-stakeholder learning, design and policy sessions related to program scale-up and future conceptualization.
• Develop frameworks and strategies for scaling successful interventions and models.
• Identify key drivers of program success and assess scalability across geographic and operational contexts.
• Support internal and external teams in adapting evidence-based approaches for expansion.
• Monitor and document scaling efforts, capturing lessons and emerging evidence.
• Present findings, recommendations, and learning products to leadership, donors, government stakeholders, and partners.
• Build partnerships with research institutions, universities, and sector stakeholders to strengthen evidence generation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Public Policy, Education, Business, Economics, Political Science, Finance or similar.
• Master’s degree in International Development, Public Policy, Education, Business, Economics, Political Science, Finance or similar (desired).
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience with bachelor’s degree, or a minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience with master’s degree in education, skills-for-employment, development and/or policy programs.
• Experience working with national and/or provincial governments, preferably within the education, skills-for-employment or broader development sectors.
• Strong understanding of education and/or skills-for-employment policy and systems strengthening, including pathways for program scale-up and sustainability (desired).
• Proven track record of producing high-quality analytical reports, policy briefs and evidence-based recommendations (desired).
• Experience with innovative financing mechanisms (particularly outcomes funds), performance management frameworks or large donor-funded programs is an asset (desired).
• Experience working in the Early Childhood sector and familiarity with ECCE data and indicators (desired).
• Experience should ideally include evidence generation, policy analysis, system reform or scaling innovative practices.

Skills

• Education Policy Evaluation
• Skills-for-Employment Programs
• Programme Scale-Up
• Evidence Generation
• Policy Brief Writing
• Analytical Reporting
• Performance Measurement Frameworks
• Innovative Finance Mechanisms
• Donor-Funded Programme Management
• Systems Strengthening
• Early Childhood Education
• Data Analysis
• Stakeholder Collaboration
• Operational Insights
• Policy Recommendations

Languages

English