Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

As I continue to explore the international community of early childhood in addition to the ones I explored in my previous blog, I have been inspired to dream big.
 

One of the organizations that I had not previously explored is the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) (http://www.issa.nl/index.html). I am glad that Walden resources brought me to this site. This organization is an ideal community of practice for professionals and organizations working in the field of early childhood development and education. It is their vision to empower each child with values of social justice and equity to reach their full potential and their mission to ensure greater family inclusion and community involvement in the children’s education and learning that appealed to me greatly. Especially since the topic for my capstone project focuses on active family participation in education process, ISSA would connect me to other professionals and organizations who share common interests. Being passionate about teaching and early child development, I aspire to advocate for policy reform for families and young children in the early childhood. ISSA supports individuals with the necessary advocacy tools that are intended to influence such reforms. I therefore hope to make use of the free of charge membership to ISSA’s Online Community which would access me to an online library, discussion forums and collaborative initiatives focusing on years from birth through primary school.
 

 Another organization that I came across, again thanks to Walden resource is Academy for Educational Development (http://www.aed.org/en/index.htm). In its commitment to improve lives in lasting ways, they bring together an expert team across disciplines and geographies to address the full range of human development needs. What appealed to me is their global workforce and its commitment to professional development. It might be interesting to look into their internship program once I finish this course at Walden to reach my highest potential both personally and professionally. It would be give me a valuable experience needed to fulfill different roles in the early childhood field. It was through this site that I was able to find out about the Educate a Child (EAC) initiative which has implemented 26 projects in 17 countries including Doha which is a neighboring gulf country. They did have a job vacancy for a Technical Advisor in Doha. Though I do not meet the requirements for the position, the job description seems something I might like to look forward to in the future.
 

Job of a Technical Advisor mainly involves: 

•  Provide technical leadership by defining and developing solutions to challenges such as accurate data collection and reporting as well as the drawing comparisons across projects that may or may not be similar.
• Contribute to planning and making recommendations
• Support and review the design and scope of evaluation studies and protocols for showing the impact of EAC on out-of-school children worldwide.
• Review, analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the EAC initiative and make recommendations for enhancements.
• Represent EAC to external entities at professional meetings, events and conferences.
• Maintain collaborative relationships with EAC partner organizations, relevant government agencies, bilateral and other NGOs

Minimal Requirements:

• Master’s degree or international equivalent in education, education psychology, evaluation or related field; PhD preferred
• Expert in quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methods research methods, statistical design and analysis, particularly as applied to program evaluation
• Experienced in the design, development, and maintenance of monitoring and evaluation systems as well as educational research that focuses at a program (rather than project) level
• Experience with meta-evaluations and systems preferred
• At least 15 years’ professional experience working with international donors, government ministries, civil society organizations, and education policy makers in the field of education
• Experience working across the international donor community

Another site that I found interesting was Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm). It is an independent organization committed to accountability, innovation and collaboration in creating a lasting difference in the lives of children around the world. Its mission is to resolve everyday challenges that children face such as natural disasters, poverty, illiteracy and diseases. They have a lot of job opportunities in different parts of the world but nothing in UAE. However, they did have several leadership and development opportunities program which would help to improve skills, advance careers and develop every early childhood professional to reach their full potential. What really appealed to me is the fact that they offer opportunities for being advocates on behalf of children. Such involvement would help us save children’s lives and make a positive difference in the world we live in.

       

Exploring these several organizations has inspired my thinking, given me a wider perspective of roles an early childhood professional could get involved, and compels me to move outside, to engage with the world around us.