Program Officer

**Job Description**:
Position Title: Program Officer - Special Programs and Advocacy

Location: Head Office, Karachi

Positions: Two available.

**Background**:Zindagi Trust believes that only a holistic model of education can help children develop into the conscious, caring and creative citizens of tomorrow that Pakistan and the world need.

Special Programs are a host of initiatives introduced at Zindagi Trust managed schools aimed at enabling students to (i) explore their talents and interests and (ii) become the best versions of themselves. They include programs in art, sports, music, chess, wellness and child protection, as well as exploratory summer camps, targeted bootcamps (e.g. in robotics or environmental activism), fellowships and exchanges.

Advocacy is another core aspect of our model which aims to bring the best practices from our experience in school reform to benefit all children of school-going age through advocacy with the relevant stakeholders, viz. political leadership, bureaucracy, media, relevant community and general public.

**Purpose & Scope**:The Program Officer will play a key role in designing and delivering Special Programs at the trust’s schools and in growing the impact of the school reform program through policy advocacy. She will be based in the Head Office with regular visits to the schools and will work under the guidance of the Head of Special Programs and Advocacy.

The Program Officer will fulfill the following roles and responsibilities:
Special Programs
- Co-design new activities for and create implementation plans for Special Programs
- Where possible, integrate new and existing special programs with core academics in coordination with the Programs Team
- Lead program implementation/execution at the school level and carry out basic monitoring and evaluation, coordinating with the management of the schools as needed
- Make monthly visits to each school to support and stay updated on each of the regular programs
- Research and connect schools to external opportunities (trainings, competitions, technology, etc.) related to Special Programs for students and staff
- Keep all communications on special programs up to date and, when needed, prepare progress reports for all special programs for internal or external use

Advocacy
- Conduct background research on the various advocacy goals of the organization (e.g. preventive approach to child protection, art in every school)
- Develop working relationships with local and international organisations having expertise in the relevant areas of focus for the trust’s advocacy goals
- Develop advocacy briefs, position papers and infographics with the support of the Manager of Communications
- Liaison between organization, external consultants and government institutions
- Represent the organization on public forums such as talk shows or conferences
- Conduct regular school visits for external visitors for various purposes and train other internal staff to do the same
- Support program related on-ground interventions which are related to the advocacy goals (e.g. child abuse awareness programming)

Program reporting, outreach and other related communications
- Draft concept notes, project proposals, program briefs and advocacy briefs
- Design and draft rich communication (e.g. awareness campaigns, newsletters, etc.) about the trust’s special programs and advocacy goals
- Write regular narrative project reports, website updates or other communications material as needed
- Write and disseminate press releases
- Assist in building relationships with relevant potential allies in media and academia