The Education Director serves as Partners of the Americas’ (POA’s) senior technical lead for the USDA McGovern-Dole Honduras education portfolio. The position provides strategic direction and technical oversight for all school-level and education system–strengthening interventions, ensuring alignment with national priorities and USDA requirements. The Education Director offers expert guidance across key areas, including pedagogy and learning, teacher professional development and coaching, the production and classroom use of learning materials, school leadership and supervision, and interventions to improve enrollment and retention—such as early warning systems, flexible education pathways, and social and behavior change (SBC) campaigns. The role also promotes healthy WASH and nutrition practices through schools and supports school feeding sustainability by strengthening the engagement of parents, communities, and school administrators in commodity management and food preparation within the school system.

The Education Director ensures that all interventions are evidence-based, contextually relevant, and locally owned by government, civil society, and private-sector partners. The incumbent manages a multi-level technical team (with at least three direct reports) and works in close coordination with the Ministry of Education, departmental and municipal directorates, teacher training institutions, and partner organizations. Reporting to the Chief of Party (COP), the Education Director collaborates closely with the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP), MEL Director, and Operations Team to ensure technical coherence, quality assurance, and cross-sectoral integration. As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), the Education Director represents the project with national and subnational authorities, as well as key local stakeholders.

Roles and Responsibilities

Strategic and Technical Leadership 

• Define and lead the education strategy, ensuring the technical coherence, quality, and integration of all education-related interventions across the project.
• Represent POA in policy dialogues and technical working groups with the Ministry of Education (MOE), USDA, and other donors.

Pedagogy and Teacher Professional Development

• Lead the design and implementation of teacher training, coaching, and continuous professional development programs that improve foundational literacy and numeracy instruction, promote inclusive practices, and strengthen school leadership.

Learning Materials and Curriculum Integration 

• Oversee the development, printing, distribution, and classroom use of student books, teacher guides, and remedial materials, ensuring alignment with national curricula and effective classroom utilization.

Enrollment, Retention, and Inclusion

• Guide interventions to increase enrollment and reduce dropout, including early warning systems, flexible education pathways, pre-primary expansion, and targeted social and behavior change (SBC) campaigns.

School Health, WASH, and Nutrition 

• Oversee school-based interventions promoting healthy behaviors, nutrition education, hygiene, and food safety.
• Supervise rehabilitation of WASH infrastructure and the distribution of food preparation and storage equipment to ensure hygienic and safe school environments.
• Ensure WASH and nutrition topics are incorporated into curricula and teacher training activities.

School Feeding and Community Engagement 

• Lead efforts to strengthen school feeding governance and sustainability.
• Oversee the training and certification of School Feeding Committees to ensure meal preparation aligns with PNAE and USDA standards, integrates U.S.-provided and locally procured foods, and follows safe commodity management practices.
• Promote the increased use of local and regional products in school menus to enhance nutrition and community ownership.

Systems Strengthening and Institutionalization 

• Collaborate with the MOE, departmental and municipal directorates, and teacher training institutions to institutionalize training, coaching, supervision, and early warning systems.
• Support MOE-led working groups to integrate project models and tools into national education frameworks and policies.

Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships 

• Build and maintain partnerships with government entities, municipalities, private sector actors, and civil society organizations to advance project objectives and sustainability.
• Represent POA in coordination platforms, donor meetings, and technical working groups to promote evidence-based models and policy uptake.

Monitoring, Learning, and Adaptation 

• Use MEL data to inform adaptive management and improve education outcomes.
• Document best practices and lessons learned for program learning and donor reporting.
• Serve as the technical lead for measuring key education indicators, including student learning outcomes, enrollment, and improvements in teaching practices.

Leadership, Management, and Supervision

• Supervise education technical staff, partners, and consultants implementing education interventions, fostering collaboration, accountability, and professional growth.
• Serve as a member of the Senior Management Team, contributing to strategic planning, adaptive management, and cross-sectoral coordination with MEL, Operations, Supply Chain, and Communications.
• Ensure compliance with USDA and POA standards, safeguarding policies, and Honduran labor regulations.
• Develop staff capacity through coaching, mentoring, and succession planning to ensure long-term sustainability of education leadership in Honduras.

Subgrants and Partnership Oversight 

• Oversee grants and subcontracts with local organizations, ensuring technical quality, compliance, and alignment with project goals.
• Negotiate terms, define goals and scopes of work, provide technical support to partner teams, and ensure sub-grantees’ activities are fully aligned with the programmatic objectives and work plan of McGovern-Dole Honduras.

Qualifications and Minimum Requirements

• Master’s degree in Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Governance, or a related field.
• Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible experience managing and implementing large-scale education, school-strengthening or governance programs in developing country contexts.
• At least 5 years in a senior technical leadership role overseeing education teams, subrecipients, and consultants.
• Demonstrated expertise in two or more of the following areas: foundational literacy and numeracy, teacher professional development and coaching systems, education governance, school leadership and supervision, youth reintegration and dropout prevention, or pre-primary education.
• Knowledge of education assessments (classroom, formative, or standardized) and a demonstrated commitment to innovative, evidence-based approaches that go beyond traditional training methods to measurably improve learning and enrollment outcomes.
• Proven experience integrating school health, WASH, and nutrition interventions to improve attendance and learning outcomes.
• Knowledge of school feeding programs, including committee training, food safety, commodity oversight, and use of U.S.-donated and locally procured foods (LRP).
• Strong record of collaboration with Ministries of Education, local governments, teacher training institutions, and donors to institutionalize and scale education models.
• Excellent understanding of the Honduran education context and policies related to PNAE, literacy, and school management.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, manage budgets, and coordinate across MEL, operations, and supply chain functions.
• Full professional fluency in Spanish and working proficiency in English; willingness to travel frequently to project sites in Intibucá and La Paz (up to 35%).

Preferred: 

• Prior experience with USDA or other major donor-funded education programs.
• Familiarity with Targeted Instruction, GANE guides, or similar structured pedagogy and remedial learning models.
• Experience promoting public–private partnerships to strengthen education and school feeding systems.
• Full professional fluency in English.

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter by November 5, 2025 to the following email address: [email protected] with the subject line “Education Director MGD Honduras – Candidate First and Last Name”. Please note that only finalists will be contacted.

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This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.