Social Work, Development & NGO Sector
Education Programme Officer
Education access and quality programmes
What this life looks like
You work to ensure every child in Africa gets the education they deserve. Education Programme Officers in development organisations and NGOs design, manage, and evaluate programmes that expand access to quality education — building schools, training teachers, providing scholarships, designing inclusive curricula, and addressing the barriers — poverty, distance, disability, gender — that keep children out of school. It is development work with perhaps the longest-lasting impact of any intervention.
What she actually does
You design education access and quality programmes based on evidence about what works, manage implementing partners and school-level activities, monitor enrolment, attendance, learning outcomes, and programme quality indicators, conduct teacher training support, coordinate with Ministry of Education at national and district level, manage programme budgets and donor reporting, engage communities and parents, and evaluate programme impact.
Where you can work
| Sector | Places in Africa |
|---|---|
| Education NGOs | Camfed Africa, Room to Read Africa, Teach For All Africa, BRAC Africa schools, Street Child Africa |
| UN Agencies | UNICEF Education, UNESCO Africa, Education Cannot Wait, GPE (Global Partnership for Education) |
| Development Finance | World Bank education, USAID education, DFID/FCDO girls' education challenge — major education funders |
| Government Partners | Ministry of Education programme units — NGOs work closely with government to align with national systems |
Why it matters in Africa
Africa has made dramatic progress in school enrolment, but 250 million children are still out of school or in school but not learning. Girls' education remains significantly below that of boys in many countries. Children with disabilities are systematically excluded. Teacher quality is inadequate. Education programme officers who can design and manage programmes that close these gaps — particularly for the most marginalised children — are doing work that reshapes the trajectory of entire communities.
Your pathway in
- Study Education, Development Studies, Social Work, or Public Policy
- Develop understanding of education systems — how they are financed, managed, and delivered — alongside programme management skills
- Build monitoring and evaluation competency specifically for education: learning assessment tools, enrolment tracking, and teacher performance monitoring are core skills
- Connect with FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists), Camfed, and Education Cannot Wait for the most important networks in African education development
- Gain field experience in schools and education programmes — understanding education from the classroom up is essential
Skills you will need
- Education programme design
- Teacher development support
- Learning assessment and monitoring
- Education system partnership
- Budget management
- Community engagement on education
A woman in this field
Angeline Murimirwa
Zimbabwe
Angeline is a globally celebrated Zimbabwean education executive and grassroots advocate who has spent over two decades pioneering girls' education and post-school transition pathways across sub-Saharan Africa. She serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education). Angeline's unique authority comes from her lived experience; she was one of the first girls in rural Zimbabwe to receive a CAMFED secondary school scholarship.
Take your first step
- Research Camfed at camfed.org — their model, evidence base, and annual reports show what highly effective African girls' education programming looks like, and their publications are among the most useful free resources in African education development
- Study the Education Cannot Wait fund at educationcannotwait.org — they fund education in emergencies across Africa and their publications explain both the education crisis and the programming approaches being used to address it
- Research the CAMA (Camfed Association) alumni network — it is one of the most innovative peer-support and mentoring models in African education, and understanding it gives insight into what sustains girls' education outcomes beyond school completion
- Visit schools in both urban and rural areas in your country and observe the realities of teaching and learning — effective education programme officers need to understand what classrooms actually look like, not just what programme reports say