Impact and Innovation Manager

 Global Schools Forum (GSF) is a collaborative community of non-state organisations working to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged children in low and middle-income countries.  Our vision is that all children can realise their potential through safe access to quality education.  

Since our establishment in 2017, we’ve grown our community to 183+ community members spanning 70+ countries from India, to Uganda to Brazil, collectively running or supporting over 1.39m schools and centres and providing education to well over 139million children.  

Our community comprises standalone schools, such as MAIA Impact working with Mayan girls in Guatemala; school networks working within or across countries, including organisations like Hippocampus working in India and organisations providing core support services to non-state schools, such as EdPartners Africa that provides financial services to schools in Kenya. 

We are a small, fully remote global team with colleagues based in the UK and across Africa and Asia, reflecting the communities in which we work. 

Role Purpose  

The Impact & Innovation Manager will support Global Schools Forum’s mission to accelerate effective childcare and education solutions through impact measurement, learning, and evidence generation across its innovation and scale programmes. Working across the Impact at Scale Labs, the Impact Accelerator, innovative financing initiatives, and diffusion efforts, the role will operationalise GSF’s MEL strategy to ensure timely, meaningful data collection while also codifying and sharing actionable learning from across the portfolio to support replication of effective scale strategies. 

Impact Measurement, Learning & Evidence 

A: Measuring GSF’s impact 

GSF has recently refreshed its strategy and Theory of Change. As part of this work, we have also refined how we are measuring our impact over time. We intend to strengthen this further by ensuring we are collecting data using nimble and rigorous processes on the metrics that matter the most. This includes developing systems that are consistent across programmes, streamlining data processing, and allowing data to be analysed and compared over time to inform improvement to our programmes.

B. About GSF’s Innovation Programmes 

 The Impact at Scale Labs  

GSF launched the Impact at Scale Labs to support promising, locally led education organisations to scale their impact. The programme systematically sources, screens, contracts, funds and supports high-potential solutions particularly those providing solutions for early childhood development and foundational learning. The Labs provide technical support to strengthen evidence, build sustainable models and partnerships, and develop pathways and networks for scale. Since 2021, the Labs have supported 14 organisations across three cohorts—two global calls and one national call in Kenya—with two additional calls planned for 2026.

The Labs offer includes:  

• Flexible Funding: selected organisations receive up to $200,000 to implement and accelerate their scale plans;  
• Tailored technical support and coaching: organisations receive 18 months of tailor-made support to test new pathways to scale and build a foundation for sustainability; 
• Evidence-building activities: organisations are supported to build appropriate mechanisms to collect data and evidence to support their decision-making;  
• Access to ecosystem partners: organisations actively engage with the global GSF member base and wider network to build partnerships for scale;  
• Wide platform of peers: organisations access a platform to share evidence and encourage replication of impactful solutions.  

Full details about our labs can be found in the Candidate Pack available on our website - https://www.globalschoolsforum.org/about-us/careers

Role Responsibilities 

In the first year, the key responsibilities of the Impact & Innovation Manager will include: 

1. Support the implementation of GSF’s impact measurement processes.  

• Support the collection and analysis of organisational KPI progress data, generating insights that inform reflection, learning, and decision-making
• Lead or support the design, administration, and analysis of annual progress and impact surveys
• Maintain and refine impact measurement tools and databases
• Develop and enhance dashboards and reporting systems
• Oversee data quality assurance and version control

1. Coordination and execution of technical support across the Labs and Accelerator programmes, including:  

• Onboarding and supporting organisations through a diagnostic to understand their challenges, needs and priorities to ultimately prepare an individualised programme journey. 
• Supporting the planning and execution of an offsite for the participating organisations. 
• Portfolio managing organisations and collaborating with internal GSF teams and external consultants
• Providing coaching to participating organisations in core programme pathways
• Facilitating connections with the wider GSF community and network to support scale-up of promising solutions. 
• Providing advice on finding the appropriate methodological means to evaluate their solutions, impact on beneficiaries, and potential scale pathways.  
• Supporting organisations to develop research questions and testing plans, and overseeing testing process 
• Research design, quantitative & qualitative data analysis, insights generation, synthesis and reporting. 
• Leading monitoring and reporting from grantees
• Supporting organisations with data-led insights for iterative & adaptive learning 
• Using periodic feedback for improving programme design. 
• Gathering data from organisations and developing various evidence and knowledge products and collaborating with internal GSF teams on diffusing evidence to the wider education community.  

Person Specification  

• A good understanding of K–12 education and early childhood education and care (ECEC), including childcare systems preferably in LMIC contexts 
• Extensive project management experience
• Ability to manage multiple external stakeholders independently. 
• Skilled at synthesising and communicating complex ideas and evidence in accessible formats tailored to diverse audiences (e.g. practitioners, funders, policymakers).  
• Strong learning design and facilitation skills, with the ability to create interactive and engaging learning materials.  
• Practical experience designing theories of change and associated MEL frameworks.  
• Practical experience designing and implementing evaluations, including choosing the right-fit evaluation research design, determining appropriate sample sizes, evaluating the quality and appropriateness of data collection tools, and analysing data.  
• Knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative methods.  
• Familiarity with evaluation methodologies appropriate for education innovations  and longitudinal studies.  
• Practical experience designing appropriate research questions and using data to inform shifts in organisational strategy and documenting learnings.  
• Familiarity with education metrics, (esp. child development and learning outcomes), and costing.  
• Previous experience providing technical support or coaching in MEL.  
• Advanced Excel skills
• Experience developing and maintaining data management and reporting systems
• Strong capability in survey design, administration and analysis
• Experience with basic statistical or data analysis software (e.g., R, Stata, SPSS) or a demonstrated aptitude to learn. 
• Ability to produce concise, data-driven reports, fact sheets and visual outputs
• Excellent attention to detail and data accuracy
• Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills,
• Ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks independently  

Personal characteristics  

• Proactivity and solution orientation – You are a self-starter, work independently and are solution oriented
• Planning and organising – You have strong planning and time management skills
• Attention-to-detail – You are someone who prides yourself on getting the details right
• Strong interpersonal skills – You can build, maintain, and manage productive relationships with diverse stakeholders.  
• Tech literacy – You are proficient in working with the Microsoft 365 suite and remote working tools
• Flexibility - You’ll be comfortable working in a young, fully remote organisation. You are quick to adapt to changes in priorities and tasks.  
• Communication – You have excellent written and oral communication skills
• Collaborative team player – You value others’ ideas, skills, perspectives and contributions
• Commitment to continuous improvement – you are committed to actively developing and sharing your knowledge and skills
• Honesty and transparency – you share information and updates in a clear and transparent way 
• Passion and motivation - You’ll be passionate about education

Terms and Conditions 

Salary: £23,500 - £41,250 per annum. GSF uses location-based salary bands to ensure fair and equitable pay across regions. We offer a range of benefits which can viewed in the Candidate Pack - https://www.globalschoolsforum.org/about-us/careers

Contract: Two-year fixed term with possibility of extension.  

Hours: Full Time, typically 9-5 in your time zone, but with significant flexibility. 

Location: We are a fully remote organisation. We welcome with a preference for a time zone between GMT-2 to GMT+5:30. Candidates who work in East Africa or are prepared to relocate or to travel extensively to the region will be given priority. 

Anticipated Start Date:  As soon as possible, subject to any notice periods. 

Responsible to: Senior Manager 

How to Apply 

For full details on how to apply, visit - https://www.globalschoolsforum.org/about-us/careers

If you apply, we will process your personal data for recruitment purposes only and in accordance with our Data Privacy Policy.  

GSF is committed to cultivating a fair and inclusive workplace, where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of race, age, disability, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or faith.