Role Title: Deputy Country Director – Programmes
Location: Ndola or Lusaka, Zambia.
Travel:
Up to 30% travel to regions and schools to provide oversight to the operations of the school network, will also periodically be required to abroad to represent PEAS at meetings, conferences, symposiums.
Direct Report: Country Director for PEAS Zambia
Line Management: This is a senior management role, line managing 3-5 employees
Salary: Competitive
About Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS)
PEAS is transforming education across sub-Saharan Africa. We support over 225,000 young people each year in marginalised communities across Uganda, Zambia, and Ghana, helping them succeed from their first day in school through to secondary graduation. We believe every young person should have access to quality education that equips them with the knowledge and skills to lead fulfilling, successful lives after school. PEAS operates one of the largest school networks in sub-Saharan Africa, with a strong focus on secondary education. Over 20,000 students attend our 38 schools annually.
Beyond our own schools, we apply over 16 years of practical experience to support and improve education in more than 300 partner schools, extending our reach to 225,000+ learners every year.
Our award-winning programmes are designed and delivered by Africans for Africans. Evidence shows that our students, many from the vulnerable households, make faster learning progress, while our girls grow in confidence and are better prepared for life after school.
Join Us in Transforming Education in Zambia
Are you a strategic, mission-driven leader with a passion for improving education outcomes in underserved communities? PEAS Zambia is looking for a Deputy Country Director – Programmes to lead the design, delivery, and growth of our education programmes. This is a unique opportunity to play a key leadership role in shaping the future of secondary education in Zambia, while working with a dedicated, impact-oriented team committed to ensuring every child can unlock their full potential.
Role Summary
As the Deputy Country Director – Programmes, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for PEAS Zambia’s education programmes, ensuring they are impactful, scalable, and aligned with national priorities. You will oversee the design and delivery of school improvement initiatives, manage programme performance and learning, and collaborate closely with government stakeholders, donors, and implementing partners. A key part of your role will involve building the capacity of our education and school support teams, strengthening data-driven decision-making, and contributing to national education dialogue. You will work alongside the Country Director and the wider senior leadership team to steer PEAS Zambia’s vision and drive systems-level impact in education, all while maintaining a strong focus on equity, inclusion, and sustainability.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership, Strategy and Planning
Active member of the PEAS Zambia Senior Management Team, providing input and thought leadership on topics across the organisation.
Ensuring programme coherence across primary and secondary levels of PEAS Zambia’s work
Build a highly accountable Education team and invest in building the capacity of managers and education/school support specialists across the PEAS Zambia network, government partnership programmes, child protection and MEL to deliver effectively and drive positive change in their areas of work.
Responsible for the programme design and implementation for driving Access, Quality and Sustainability across the PEAS Zambia school network, utilising support from others where required.
Co-leading on the design of PEAS’ technical assistance programme and wider system strengthening strategy.
Managing the process of annual planning and strategy development across the School Network, Education and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning teams and System Strengthening teams.
Actively living and role modelling PEAS’ values and providing guidance and mentorship to colleagues on how to incorporate values into their work.
Actively supporting teams to understand strategic priorities and ensuring programmes remain strategically aligned.
Support the smooth ways of working across teams, including between the PEAS Global and PEAS Zambia team, to ensure we achieve our strategic goals.
School Network Support & Supervision
Deliver PEAS Zambia’s ambitious goals of student enrolment, student demographics, student exam results, cost management and fee collection.
Shaping PEAS Zambia’s high-quality school support & supervision approach across the network – including the design and implementation of teacher training and school leadership development, supporting schools with driving improvement in school fee collection and budget management, developing curriculum for life skills for students, and leading school inspections.
Actively spend time developing tools and resources for the PEAS Zambia network of schools and tailoring selected tools for sharing with government and other education providers.
Build highly accountable Senior School Support Officers and School Support Officers with the capacity to implement PEAS school support & supervision on the ground, building the capacity of school leaders to make insightful data-driven decisions that balance progress towards key Access, Quality and Sustainability outcomes.
Build strong morale across the School Network team and schools, and role model a culture of collaboration, dedication, and organisation across the team, encouraging team members to approach challenges with a growth mindset.
Organise and oversee regular programme reviews / meetings with the aim of assessing progress against targets, understanding implementation challenges, and developing quick approaches to achieve results.
Lead on ensuring compliance to internal PEAS school network and government regulations and policies regarding school operations to minimise school level risk.
Government partnership programmes and system strengthening
Oversee high quality design, delivery, and expansion of government partnership programmes (including the TIEEZ programme)
Ensure that, as programmes scale, quality is consolidated and identify opportunities to strengthen implementation and design on and ongoing basis
Build a highly accountable and motivated team, equipped with the skills and support to drive positive change in government schools
Maintain a strong focus on sustainability of programming, including identifying cost effective and efficient approaches that could be replicated by government in the long term
Identify strategically aligned opportunities to take learnings from the PEAS network into the government system
Build and maintain strong relationships with government officials at district, provincial and national level to build buy in and support to achieve long-term system strengthening goals.
With the Country Director and Global Technical Team, work with MoE to design and then realise sustainable roadmaps to achieving system change
Be a champion and represent PEAS at events and conferences, identifying advocates across other education organisations, civil society organisations and corporate institutions looking to develop socially responsible education delivery practices.
Champion Safeguarding
Oversee case management and reporting of safeguarding incidents
Driving and monitoring adherence to safeguarding standards and identifying areas to strengthen measures across the school network, government partnership programmes and PEAS Zambia organisation
Execution of PEAS zero tolerance approach to serious breaches of policy across the school network. Working closely with SSOs, drafting, refining and dissemination of the Country Office policies and implementation guidelines, and ensure full awareness and continuous capacity building across the school network.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)
Oversee implementation of PEAS’ global MEL frameworks across PEAS Zambia
Drive the effective and efficient delivery of the ‘data cycle’ whereby data is collected, consolidated, and analysed so that key insights can be drawn to drive strategic decisions in all areas across Access, Quality, Sustainability & System Change.
Model and promote the use of evidence to identify areas for improvement and drive positive change in how we deliver our work in PEAS Zambia network and government partnership schools.
Lead and champion PEAS Zambia’s efforts to maximise use of data and insights in all strategic decisions related to programming
Donor Management and Grant Delivery / Reporting
Contribute to the design of new grant applications, ensuring that activity commitments are aligned with programmatic and strategic priorities to drive maximum impact for PEAS’ beneficiaries
Lead on implementation of activities within project periods as defined by specific grants and ensure team members are supported to achieve contractual deliverables and swiftly respond to urgent requests
Timely input into funder reports and co-ordinating delivery of key milestones materials, gathering and quality assuring inputs from colleagues where required
Take keen interest in understanding donor compliance issues for each grant and contract and ensure compliance across PEAS Zambia grant delivery
Who We’re Looking For
At PEAS Zambia, we are seeking a dynamic, experienced, and values-driven education leader to join our team as Deputy Country Director – Programmes. The ideal candidate will bring a deep understanding of education in low-resource contexts, strong programme leadership skills, and a commitment to driving transformational change through quality, inclusive education.
Minimum Requirements
Education and Qualifications
A Master’s degree in Education, Development Studies or a closely related field.
Additional certifications in project management, education leadership, or monitoring and evaluation are an added advantage.
Professional Experience
Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in education programme management, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role.
Demonstrated experience in primary and/or secondary education delivery, particularly in low-resource or rural contexts.
Experience working in Zambia or in a similar education sector environment.
Proven ability to design, implement, and scale education programmes with measurable impact.
Experience collaborating with government ministries, donors, and education stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.
Strong track record in capacity building, training, coaching, and leadership development of school and programme staff.
Experience managing programme budgets, operations, and timelines.
Skills and Competencies
Deep understanding of the Zambian education system and curriculum.
Excellent skills in strategic planning, data analysis, and evidence-based decision-making.
Strong communication skills—able to convey complex ideas clearly in both spoken and written English.
Demonstrated ability to influence, motivate, and manage teams within and beyond direct reporting lines.
Comfortable with technology and able to support others in adopting tech-based solutions.
High levels of integrity, professionalism, and a commitment to equity and inclusion in education.
Personal Attributes
Passionate about improving the life chances of all children through educational opportunity.
A strong champion of PEAS’ values, including impact, equity, and integrity.
Entrepreneurial and innovative—comfortable challenging the status quo and trying new approaches.
Adaptable and resilient in the face of change or ambiguity.
Collaborative and open committed to shared success across teams and stakeholders.
Self-motivated and committed to continuous learning and improvement.
Other Requirements
Willingness and ability to travel frequently to field locations across the country.
Commitment to child safeguarding, anti-corruption, and ethical leadership.
Fluency in English (written and spoken).
Desirable Criteria
Experience working with or for international NGOs or education-focused social enterprises.
Familiarity with alternative learning models, education leadership programmes, or teacher development initiatives.
Knowledge of donor reporting, proposal development, or fundraising.
Understanding of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) systems.
Demonstrated commitment to inclusive education, gender equity, and local capacity strengthening.
Our Commitment
PEAS is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children in our programmes and to maintaining high standards of integrity in all our operations. We promote safe recruitment practices, including thorough background checks and safeguarding training. We operate a zero-tolerance policy toward misconduct or corruption.
PEAS is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds.
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