Position Overview

Educate!, the largest youth skills service provider in East Africa, is seeking a dynamic, strategic, and high-performing Policy Design and Learning Specialist to support education system reform and drive impactful program design at scale. As we continue to strengthen our influence across government systems and expand our reach to more youth, this role requires a professional who can combine strategic thinking, technical expertise in education, and strong stakeholder engagement.

The Policy Design and Learning Specialist will be responsible for shaping and refining program design, supporting policy alignment, and driving continuous learning to improve outcomes. This includes collaborating closely with government partners, supporting teacher training and capacity building efforts, contributing to advocacy initiatives, and ensuring programs are responsive, relevant, and impactful for students and youth.

This role demands someone who is proactive, adaptable, and solutions-oriented, with the ability to navigate complex systems, influence stakeholders, and translate insights into action. As we scale, this role is critical in ensuring our programs remain effective, aligned with national priorities, and deliver sustained impact.

What You’ll Do🌟

Government Workshop Co-Design and Coordination- 35%

• Lead the design of innovative and high quality materials for all government engagement workshops, including strategy documents, workshop agendas, concept notes, facilitation guides, education system analyses, talking points for policymakers, benchmarking reports and policy briefs.
• Participate in and support the design and facilitation of government engagement workshops, such as multi-stakeholder dialogues, learning experiences and co-design workshops, to influence government policy.
• Lead retrospective sessions post-workshops to assess what went well, what didn’t, and how future workshops can be improved.
• Develop clear next steps and action plans from workshop outcomes to inform and
• enhance future designs and materials.
• Establish a robust feedback loop to continually refine and elevate the quality and impact of materials and workshop designs.
• Provide a leadership role in quality assurance, ensuring that all materials are thoroughly vetted and meet the highest standards of accuracy, clarity, and effectiveness.

Digital Learning Design and Technology Systems- 30%

• Build and manage structured learning journeys on the LMS. Take approved curriculum content and translate it into a sequenced digital experience: organizing modules, setting progression logic, defining milestones, and configuring the platform so teachers move through content in an order that builds knowledge and skills incrementally. You own the learning architecture inside the platform, not just the content sitting in it.
• Apply instructional design principles to make LMS content accessible and actionable for teachers with varying subject knowledge. Use Tanzanian-context examples and activities that address diverse learning styles and backgrounds.
• Monitor LMS and virtual learning data, including usage, completion rates, drop-off points, and assessment performance, to identify gaps and inform improvements in content, sequencing, and platform configuration.
• Design and build structured learning journeys within platforms ensuring clear sequencing, milestones, and progression logic.
• Pull, analyze and translate data and reports from LMS and digital or virtual learning spaces to inform design decisions
• Design feature mock-ups, dashboards, and visual representations of design briefs to guide technical and product teams in developing data systems and platform features.
• Coordinate with technical and product teams to ensure platform features support effective learning, data tracking, and teacher engagement.

Policy, Standards & Systems Design - 20%

• Develop and maintain curriculum frameworks, policy guidelines, assessment standards, teacher orientation materials, and training curricula that align with government reforms and evidence from program implementation.
• Develop policy and curriculum frameworks that translate government education reform priorities into actionable implementation guidelines for schools and teachers. This includes drafting scope and sequence documents, syllabi, teacher orientation frameworks, training curricula, and assessment standards that can be adopted or adapted by ministry partners.
• Lead engagement with government and stakeholders through technical working groups, co-design sessions, and review meetings to ensure materials remain aligned with national standards and priorities.
• Turn program evidence into design decisions. Use data from classroom observations, teacher feedback, assessment results, and partner evaluations to identify gaps in existing frameworks and drive targeted revisions to policy documents, technical standards, and curriculum architecture.
• Design process management: Own and manage the end-to-end content design process by maintaining a central design tracker,deliverables, timelines and review stages, ensuring version control and quality assurance, and coordinating feedback loops to deliver high-quality outputs on time.

Curriculum Content Development & Co-Design - 15%

• Design and develop subject-specific curriculum materials including lesson plans, learner guides, textbooks, workbooks, teacher guides, and digital content aligned with Tanzanian standards (NECTA, TIE) and Educate!’s instructional approach.
• Develop content from both scratch and existing drafts, adapting to project needs (e.g., full textbooks, term lesson plans, teacher facilitation guides, or digital modules) while ensuring clarity, usability, and coherence.
• Facilitate structured co-design processes with government stakeholders, subject experts, and teachers to co-create, test, and refine materials. This includes leading working sessions, synthesizing feedback, and making clear decisions to ensure both quality and stakeholder ownership.
• Design project-based formative assessments aligned with PBA methodology, including student tasks, rubrics, and teacher guidance, to evaluate learners’ understanding and application of subject content.

Who You Are 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

You bring a strong user-centric mindset, using feedback to design relevant solutions that meet user needs. You have experience driving behavior change in collaboration with government partners and building strong relationships across teams and senior stakeholders. You are a decisive and adaptable problem-solver, able to navigate complex environments, secure buy-in, and lead effective implementation. You hold a relevant degree and align with Educate!’s cultural tenets, Learn more by looking at Educate!’s culture deck here

Terms

The location is in Dar es salaam, Tanzania with frequent travel to program locations. 

What We Offer 

• A vibrant, mission-driven environment with a supportive and fun team. 
• Competitive salary based on experience.
• Learning & growth opportunities  

Application Process: Rolling basis, interviews happening soon!

About Imagine Worldwide Tanzania

Imagine Worldwide Tanzania (Imagine-TZ) is a non-profit organization affiliated with Imagine Worldwide (IW), a global NGO committed to transforming education through innovative technology. Imagine-TZ seeks to demonstrate that children — when provided with access to personalized, tablet-based learning — can acquire foundational literacy and numeracy skills with minimal adult supervision. By leveraging evidence-based digital learning solutions, IW partners with governments, schools, and communities to expand access to quality education for underserved children across the country.  Literacy and numeracy skills are the basis for a better life and the positive benefits to health, wealth, and social outcomes are multi-generational. However, 9 out of 10 children across Sub-Saharan Africa cannot read and understand a simple text by age 10. Imagine works with partners worldwide to confront this crisis, using data and research to continuously refine and scale its foundational learning solution.

Imagine- TZ has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), the President’s Office - Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) in Zanzibar to implement a program known as MsingiTek. This program will be rolled out in five regions of mainland (Morogoro, Manyara, Shinyanga, Tabora, and Ruvuma) as well as across 11 districts of Zanzibar. The first phase of the program, launching in May 2025, will reach 533 public primary schools (500 in mainland Tanzania and 33 in Zanzibar) over the course of 15 months. If MsingTek  demonstrates improvements in literacy and numeracy outcomes, it will be scaled nationwide in close collaboration with the government. This initiative has the potential to transform the learning journey for millions of children across Tanzania.

About the Role

The Director of Government Partnerships will play an instrumental role in carrying out Imagine’s mission, to design, deliver and scale tablet-based learning solutions that enable children to become literate and numerate in Tanzania, and secondly institutionalizing the program within the government for long-term sustainability. The Director will join a highly committed and collaborative team that is working together to empower every child, everywhere to achieve their full potential. They will work directly with the Executive Director of Imagine Tanzania and Imagine’s Head of Government Partnerships, to manage Imagine’s path to the national adoption of our edtech program, in Tanzania. 

Mission and Objectives

Lead and manage all interactions with government entities to ensure alignment, compliance, and strategic collaboration for program implementation, policy influence, and institutionalization

Key Responsibilities

The responsibilities of this role include, but will not be limited to, the following:

Collaboration between Imagine Tanzania and MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT:

• Develop government engagement plans, setting clear objectives, and activities;
• Setup regular meetings with different government stakeholders to discuss program progress and resolve any challenges with implementation;
• Support and facilitate functional teams or working groups between IM, MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT and ensure effective joint planning and delivery of activities between the  IM, MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVt personnel to build government capacity;
• Oversee workstreams, assess resource requirements and plan adequately to support government engagement activities;
• Support the Executive Director engagement with MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT officers at different levels to ensure capacity building and ownership of the program;
• Support program implementation governance arrangements and ensure they operate efficiently between the program and the government;
• Collaborate with the  MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT to implement the program with a clear goal of devolving power and ownership to government actors over time.

Institutionalization of the Program:

• Uphold principles of system strengthening where Imagine plays a temporary role in program implementation with a clear goal of driving  MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT full ownership of the program;
• Lead in-country government engagement strategies in liaison with Imagine Worldwide to ensure continued alignment with Government on key program related matters;
• Liaise with  MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT  's policy and planning units to drive integration of program activities in the Ministry's primary operating systems for enhanced support;
• Contribute to designing metrics and criteria to measure, monitor and report on progress towards institutionalization goals;
• Explore critical partnerships within the government education delivery system and secure their alignment and support for the program.

Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate closing with global Imagine Worldwide on government engagements and efforts to manage stakeholders;
• Develop and manage detailed stakeholder mapping of all relevant government stakeholders and categorise each stakeholders potential influence and impact on our programs and the institutionalization thereof;
• Contribute to and maintain systems (equivalent to a customer relationship management system) to manage stakeholder contact information and track engagements and required actions to enable proactive and considered engagements and mitigate against disruptions in relationships with key government stakeholders;
• Develop and implement engagement plans with prioritized stakeholders to solicit support and secure buy-in through meetings, school visits, special events, hosting workshops, making financial and non-financial contributions to government projects, supporting local edtech hubs etc.

Advocacy and Policy Alignment:

• Develop networks and relationships with key stakeholders in  MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT and other relevant ministries whose decisions or influence has a bearing government’s buy-in to the program such as curriculum pedagogy and energy;
• Organise and coordinate itineraries of school tours for government stakeholders, donor visits and special guests;
• Build and maintain local political and industry relationships to support the program;
• Raise Imagine Worldwide local profile and stature with government bodies and other key education stakeholders through thought leadership and proactive engagement;
• Keep abreast of relevant policy developments in Tanzania and conduct research as required to guide country office program roll out activities;
• Lead advocacy for new policies or policy changes required to enable long-term sustainability of our programs; 
• Support local engagements with multilateral organizations such as GPE and World Bank; 
• Support dissemination of project outcomes and learnings with stakeholders.

Program Implementation:

• Lead collaboration with government stakeholders to achieve alignment on the program implementation, management and governance processes; 
• Support ISP’s presence at district levels to direct program monitoring in collaboration with  MoEST, PoRALG and MoEVT and the District Education Offices;
• Leverage government relationships to manage project risks with creative problem-solving and escalations as required.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications

• Advanced degree in political science, education, or social science; 
• A minimum of ten (10) years of working experience in government affairs, preferably in a leadership role within international multicultural organisations (commercial or non-profit).

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Ability to take knowledge and link governments and policy influencers with the technical resources and messages needed.
• Significant experience in government relations, an extensive knowledge of federal politics, legislative process, and administrative actions on education, climate and/or energy.
• Able to identify viable administrative pathways for implementation priorities as well as major challenges, and develop effective, creative strategies to influence government stakeholders.
• Ability to listen, communicate, and develop trusting relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders to bring together multiple perspectives into a cohesive effort.
• A skilled internal and external relationship builder, with the ability to construct and maintain strong networks of policy influence within the industry and governing institutions.
• Experience in a global environment working with governments and government agencies; in the policymaking process with a strong record of leading and delivering effective results.
• Sincere commitment to work collaboratively with all constituent groups, including staff, board members, RSPO members, stakeholders and other supporters.
• High energy, maturity, and leadership with the ability to serve as a unifying force and to position communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.

Additional Skills 

• Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision
• Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Strong writing and communications skills
• Relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to ‘manage by influence’
• Team-oriented, collaborative, flexible, adaptable, and comfortable working in an inclusive, low-ego, matrix-management environment
• Self-starter, able to work independently, and enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives.
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• High integrity, conscientious and willing to take responsibility

Qualities

•  Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision 
•  Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Passion for project management
• Demonstrated ability to think independently and solve problems
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to work in a fast-paced, changing environment

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Location

The Director of Government Partnerships must be based in Dar es Salem, Tanzania.

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Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.