Closing date: Friday, June 13, 2014

The Learning Trust is a non-profit, conduit funding organisation that makes grants and provides capacity development support to emerging organisations whose focus is to improve the educational experience of South African learners while strengthening local communities.

The Learning Trust

Opportunity type:Learning Trust: Programme Officer

Employment The Learning Trust seeks to build capacity in outstanding, emerging, community linked education organisations by providing 2 – 5 year grants together with in-house, capacity building support for all grantees. The Learning Trust works closely with a range of dynamic donor partners in supporting the grass-roots, embryonic organisation, education sector.

The Learning Trust seeks to extend and improve learning opportunities for young South Africans growing up in conditions of poverty and exclusion. Based on research into what makes children and youth succeed, The Learning Trust seeks out and funds outstanding grassroots education initiatives. As a funding organisation, we differentiate ourselves by working alongside local partners to strengthen governance and improve quality and impact through the provision of in-house capacity building support, taking young organisations that demonstrate significant potential towards self-reliance. We are building a community of donors interested in collaborating to support and grow the most exciting educational interventions in South Africa.

The Learning Trust seeks to appoint a second Programme Officer, based in Cape Town.

Responsibilities:

•Conduct one on one capacity building support sessions with The Learning Trust’s grantees (currently 40 organisations) in the areas of strategy, monitoring and evaluation;
•Assist in identifying potential grantee partners and conducting various levels of initial and ongoing due diligence;
•Build strong relationships with The Learning Trust’s stakeholders, including grantees, the Trust’s donors and Board members;
•Assist in managing the Trust’s grant disbursement process as well as in relevant areas of reporting to donor partners;
•Undertake ongoing research into the education sector in South Africa to inform the Trust’s strategy;
•Assist in ensuring the Trust’s marketing objectives are realised.
Requirements: •Post-graduate qualification with relevance to monitoring and evaluation;
•Deep interest in and understanding of the education and/or development sectors;
•Ability to work in a small team and willingness to travel independently;
•Minimum of five years working experience;
•Experience in building relationships with local partners, donors and team members;
•Proactive, creative, analytical and methodical;
•Fluency in English as well as another South African language (preferably isiXhosa);
•Excellent writing skills are essential.

Salary: Competitive market related salary, dependent on experience will be offered.

To apply, submit a CV (maximum two pages) and motivation letter to charles@thelearningtrust.org.