Senior Associate, Program Delivery and Training (PD&T) - Zambia

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Position: Senior Associate Program Delivery and Training (PD&T)

Reports to: Provincial Coordinator

Languages: English and at least one Zambian local language

Location: Zambia (Copperbelt)

Deadline: 29th January 2026

TaRL Africa Initiative

TaRL Africa initiative is hosted by Empower Learning Africa, a not-for-profit organization registered and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with teams in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Zambia and locally registered offices in Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire. TaRL Africa began as a joint venture by Pratham and J-PAL in 2019, with the goal of supporting governments and organizations across Africa to accelerate children's foundational skill learning using the evidence-based "Teaching at the Right Level" (TaRL) approach. TaRL Africa's vision is for every child across Africa to have foundational skills so that they can have a better future. Our mission is to ensure education systems effectively equip children with these foundational skills.

We support governments and organizations in over 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to design, deliver and scale impactful TaRL program while learning and sharing how the approach can be improved for different contexts. Together with partners, TaRL Africa has reached over five million children with TaRL programming.

About TaRL Africa’s work in Zambia

Since 2016, the Ministry of Education in Zambia, with support from TaRL Africa, VVOB, UNICEF, World Vision, and other partners, has been implementing the Catch Up program using the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach. The program has expanded to nine of the country’s ten provinces, reaching over 7,000 schools, and the ministry has expressed its vision to extend Catch Up to all remaining schools. Beyond geographical scale, efforts are also underway to embed Catch Up into core education systems, such as pre-service teacher training, to ensure long-term sustainability.

Summary of the Role:

The Senior Associate PD&T at TaRL Africa plays an integral role in supporting the Ministry of Education to coordinate delivery of the technical aspects of the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach as well as other foundational literacy and numeracy innovations implemented by the organization in Zambia. To support the diverse learning needs and operating realities, they should have expertise in supporting teams, leading implementation and improving program delivery and training to ensure high quality literacy and numeracy outcomes.

The role requires a shift from traditional project implementation thinking (“getting schools to do the intervention”) to a systems-improvement approach, where success is defined by providing technical assistance to the government that results in high quality training and program implementation, structured CPD and integration within government processes.

Under the line management of the Regional Manager PD&T, the incumbent will provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Education at provincial and district level, to support the implementation of the TaRL program delivery and training activities in the assigned province.

Key Responsibilities:

1. System Diagnosis and Landscape Mapping (15%)

• Develop a deep understanding of in-service teacher professional development systems, monitoring and coaching systems, and materials development systems at school, district, and provincial levels across assigned geographies.
• Identify opportunities to embed Catch Up / TaRL into existing CPD systems, monitoring systems, and material development systems, avoiding the creation of parallel processes.
• Use system diagnosis findings to inform the design of feasible, contextually appropriate, and system-aligned CPD and coaching plans.
• Maintain a good understanding of the system by keeping informed about initiatives and policies that relate to teacher professional development, coaching and monitoring, and sharing this information with other TaRL Africa staff.
  
  

2. Programme Strengthening (30%)

• Develop a deep and evolving understanding of the TaRL approach through training, field visits, and engagement with technical teams.
• Visit schools and government offices to deeply understand implementation challenges and successes
• Provide insights and feedback to TaRL Africa colleagues and to government officials that inform strategic and operational delivery approaches.
• Review and co-develop best practices for program delivery and training.
• Contribute to the development of programme delivery guidelines for use by country and partner teams.
• Participate in the design/adjustment of programs with the central and country team and government so that they can be delivered effectively while being sustainably scaled.
• Provide valuable insights on the strengthening of programme design and training processes (including scale-up and sustainability) to the country team.

3. Training & ongoing capacity building of partners and country teams. (50%)

• Develop an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of provincial government actors supporting teachers
• Strengthen the TaRL technical skills of government counterparts on an ongoing basis through targeted support, collaboration and mentorship.
• Work alongside government officials to tailor tools and processes such as training content, teacher guides, and classroom material to the context in the Copperbelt.
• Establish strong working relationships with the TaRL Africa country team, government officials, and partner organizations, providing ongoing technical support and mentoring.
• In collaboration with the Regional Manager PD&T and country team, identify areas for improvement in program delivery & methodology, and develop strategies to address them.
• Lead/support training workshops for general and targeted support on programme delivery and training for government officials, partner organisations, and the TaRL Africa country team.
  
  

4. Team development and capacity building. (5%)

• Contribute to building capacity of internal TaRL staff on the methodology and other innovations related to TaRL program delivery.
• Contribute and participate in the implementation of TaRL innovations such as the bootcamp and fellowship.
• Provide mentorship support on the implementation and review of interventions in the field (this includes classroom practice, regular classroom visits, sustained commitment to pedagogical practices with a view to continuous improvement).

Minimum Requirements

• Degree in Education or related field.
• 3-5 years’ work experience in Zambia in education or a related field.
• Strong interpersonal skills with an ability to collaborate and work with others to create
• trusted client relationships.
• Excellent organisational skills to manage multiple projects/programs and competing priorities.
• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English and Bemba.
• Can effectively communicate and be comfortable both in the academic world and in a dynamic, fast-growing organisation.
• Ability to think critically and analytically and identify and troubleshoot potential issues before they arise.
• Experience supporting the delivery of education programmes is essential Prior experience working on and supporting TaRL programs is an added advantage.
• Interest in children’s learning and quality education.
• Experience working internationally, particularly in Southern and Eastern Africa, is a plus.
• Effective stakeholder engagement and management.

TaRL Africa Values

1. We place children's learning first.
2. We are always learning, improving, and innovating.
3. We are locally rooted for high-quality delivery and sustainable impact.
4. We are kind, respectful and collaborative.
5. We are proactive, committed to integrity and doing our best each day.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

TaRL Africa provides a nationally peer-benchmarked compensation package aligned with organizational salary scales, taking into account both qualifications and professional experience.

TaRL Africa is an equal-opportunity employer committed to having a diverse workforce.