Position Summary
Teach For All is actively seeking a seasoned senior leader to grow the impact of our fastest-growing region, Sub-Saharan Africa. In your role as Head of Region - Africa, you will be responsible for growing our network on the continent (currently there are 25 prospective partners in the pipeline); supporting African network partners (currently 10) to scale with quality; fostering a deeply interconnected learning network among the staff members, teachers and alumni across Sub-Saharan Africa; and developing the external relationships and environment necessary to amplify their impact. In this pursuit you will lead a regional team of 8 members and collaborate closely with Teach For All’s global teams that also work in support of these objectives.
The Head of Region role offers a unique chance for someone with outstanding leadership, strategic, and interpersonal skills to significantly contribute to the mission of developing collective leadership to ensure all children can fulfill their potential and to influence the educational framework in the region. The ideal candidate will be adept at crafting a clear vision and strategic direction, fostering a positive culture, inspiring results through others, and forming robust relationships. Essential for this position is extensive experience living and working in the region, along with a deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.
This role reports directly to Teach For All’s Chief Executive Officer.
Outcomes
- Growing Regional Impact. There should be meaningful, increased impact within the region, evidenced by relevant metrics for our desired outcomes including scale of the network and of the partners, student learning and development, leadership development, and system change.
- Partner Engagement and Connectivity. Our regional partners should be learning from and supporting each other and the wider network. This will be measured through our annual partner survey and continuous evaluations of each partner's plans and reflections on our partnership strength.
- Developing Regional Presence Goals. Our network’s staff members, teachers, alumni, and students should be contributing to the regional discussion about improving education. Moreover, there should be growing visibility and funding partnerships for our network.
- Team Development. Our regional team should be exercising leadership, deeply engaged, and continuously learning. They should be deeply invested in our shared vision for regional impact and supporting each other in this pursuit.
As the Head of Region, you will be carrying out the following and/or similar responsibilities:
- Regional Vision and Strategy
- Work with the CEO, regional team and partner CEOs to create, refine, and implement a strategy for advancing Teach For All’s global priorities in the region
- Growth and Impact
- Identify the needs of our partners and prospective partners, determining the best strategies to utilize network resources for addressing regional challenges.
- Identify ideas, best practices, and innovations in the region that can be surfaced and further built upon across the region and globally.
- Develop the team of portfolio leads to support network partners and prospective partners in tackling complex issues and maximizing impact.
- Offer direct support and strategic advice to advance strategic clarity and support CEOs, their leadership teams, and prospective organizations to navigate complexity and grow impact.
- Provide support to our network partners in their local fundraising initiatives, including planning and participating in fundraising support visits within their countries.
- Assist partners in fortifying their governance structures and frameworks, ensuring their organizations are primed for success.
- Interconnected Learning Network
- Foster an inclusive, supportive, learning culture across the continent.
- Create opportunities for learning and leadership development among current and prospective partner CEOs, staff, teachers and alumni.
- Foster the development of an Africa Advisory Committee among network CEOs to foster their ownership and leverage their insights and leadership.
- External Engagement
- Craft a strategy for establishing a strong presence in Africa, boosting our visibility, and growing our funding sources.
- Strengthen ties with regional, bi-lateral, and multilateral organizations across Africa to enhance our regional impact.
- Represent Teach For All’s Africa region externally, speaking and writing at global and regional levels
- Actively seek and cultivate new funding opportunities for our operations in Africa and our network partners, in collaboration with the Global Development team and the Multilateral team
- Team Leadership
- Coach and lead regional staff members to ensure high performance, leadership development, strong culture and effective allocation of financial and staff resources across the region to maximize regional impact.
- Contribute to Teach For All's global strategy
- Work with the CEO, other regional heads, and global team leads to inform the culture, priorities, and resource allocation of the global organization.
As the ideal candidate, you will bring:
- Proven experience in senior leadership roles, with the ability to guide and manage teams effectively, and to inspire and mobilize both internal teams and external partners.
- Demonstrated ability to craft and implement effective strategies, particularly in the context of education and social entrepreneurship in Africa.
- Exceptional skills in building and nurturing relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including network partners, funders, and government entities.
- Deep understanding of the African region’s diverse cultural, social, and political landscapes. Must have lived and worked extensively in the region.
- Experience in fundraising and resource development, with a track record of securing funding from diverse sources.
- Experience with ways of working that center diversity, equity, and inclusiveness; foster the leadership of all staff members; and encourage agility.
- Strong analytical abilities to assess needs, identify opportunities, and measure outcomes effectively.
- Focused on continuous learning and development, both for self and for team members.
- Exemplifies Teach For All’s core values and a commitment to Teach For All’s mission:
- Reflects a sense of possibility in mindset and vision.
- Believes in the value of being locally rooted and globally informed.
- Drives toward constant learning and improvement.
- Convinced of the necessity of diversity and inclusiveness in our work.
- Believes in the interdependence between us and our partners in solving this global problem.
What Teach For All Offers
- Commitment to cultivating a culture in which all staff members feel they belong, are valued for their contributions, and have an impact on our organization’s progress.
- Professional and personal enriching experiences that will allow ample opportunities to make a positive impact to the work of Teach For All and beyond
- Comprehensive benefits package designed for your well-being and work-life needs.
- All roles are 100% remote, with the option for in-office collaboration in some locations.
- Generous time off and flexible work arrangements
- And much more!
Compensation
Salary for this position is competitive and dependent on country of hire, prior work experience and includes a comprehensive benefits package.
Work Authorization
Please note, this position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship. All candidates must possess local permanent work authorization/permit in order to be considered.
Travel and Hours
Travel expected, approximately 50%, mostly within the Africa region to provide direct support to partner organizations and prospective organizations, or to attend regional gatherings, with some travel out-of-region. Given that we work across all time zones, some non-traditional hours for very early or late-night calls are an expectation of this role.
Applications Instructions
If this opportunity sounds like the next best step in your career, please submit your resume or curriculum vitae (CV) and a one-page letter of motivation in English directly online. Your letter should summarize motivations for your application and how your skills and experience align with this opportunity. We look forward to learning about you and your passion for ensuring educational opportunity for all!
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Therefore, candidates are encouraged to apply at their earliest convenience.
About Teach For All
Teach For All is a global network of 60 independent, national partner organizations and a global organization committed to developing collective leadership to ensure all children fulfill their potential. Each network partner recruits and develops promising leaders over diverse academic backgrounds to teach in their nations’ under-resourced schools and communities and, with this foundation, to work with others, inside and outside of education, to ensure all children have the education, support, and opportunity to shape a better future for themselves and all of us. Teach For All’s global organization works to increase the network’s impact by fostering commitment to our shared purpose, values, vision, unifying principles, and standards; supporting the development of new organizations; fostering collective learning; providing coaching and consulting; contributing to the leadership development of partner staff, teachers and alumni and enabling access to global resources.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusiveness
We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization that inspires individuals of all backgrounds – across nationalities, races, ethnicity, religions, political views, economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, physical disabilities, languages, ages, genders and prior experiences – to bring their full selves to the work of ensuring educational opportunity for all.
In order to maximize our effectiveness in fulfilling Teach For All’s mission, we also feel it is important to focus on increasing representation and inclusiveness with respect to two dimensions in particular: we prioritize diversity of geography because this can help us quickly understand and connect with the diverse cultures and geographies of the world. We also prioritize increasing the representation and inclusiveness of team members who themselves have experienced the inequities we’re working to address and share the background (e.g. economic, racial and ethnic, religious) of the most disadvantaged groups in their countries.
