The Moment You're Joining
SHOFCO is in the middle of its most ambitious expansion to date. Two flagship programs, each backed by $60 million in long-term investment, are running simultaneously. The Integrated Investment in Vulnerable Children (IIVC), supported by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, is targeting 181,000 children in education, the management of 100,000 GBV cases, and clean water access for 100,000 new users across 15 high-need counties. Youth Voice and Empowerment (YVE), supported by the Mastercard Foundation, is engaging 2.1 million young people in civic life and aims to place close to a million of them in dignified work by the end of its five-year term.
At the same time, SUN is scaling across every county in Kenya, building toward a national civic organizing platform that currently gives 2.5 million community members the organized power to hold government accountable, shape county budgets, and win on the issues that matter most to their lives. In 2025 alone, SUN-led advocacy was instrumental in the removal of a KES 1,000 fee on lost National IDs and bringing youth mental health into Kenya's Universal Health Coverage framework.
The CPO is the executive who makes all of this real. This is not a strategy role, a fundraising role, or an externally-facing one. SHOFCO's CEO and Advancement team carry the funder relationships and external positioning. The CPO carries delivery: building and running the operational machinery that turns community power into measurable change at scale.
This is a role for someone who is as comfortable sitting with a program director to interrogate a lagging indicator as they are reading a quarterly MEL report or navigating a WASH licensing process with the county water authority. The CPO's credibility comes from deep technical competence in program delivery, financial management, and evidence systems, not from speaking at conferences or writing thought pieces.
You will be the executive most responsible and accountable for whether SHOFCO meets its multi-year commitments to:
- 181,000+ children kept in school
- Hundreds of thousands of children are protected from violence
- Clean, affordable water for 100,000 households
- Close to 1 million young people are placed in dignified work
- A national civic network that shapes how Kenya is governed
The Portfolio You Will Lead
SHOFCO's programs are integrated by design. A girl stays in school because she also has access to clean water, a safe home environment, and a mother with enough economic stability to keep her enrolled. The CPO is accountable for the quality, delivery, and continuous improvement of all five program areas.
SHOFCO Urban Network (SUN)
SUN is not a program in the traditional sense. It is SHOFCO's theory of change manifested. With more than 2.5 million members across 40 counties, SUN organizes communities to set their own agendas, elect their own leadership, and collectively demand accountability from government at every level.
In 2025, SUN held 41,000 youth forums reaching 1.2 million young people. Advocacy coordinated through SUN removed the KES 1,000 National ID fee, a policy win that directly benefited millions. A Youth Agenda presented to the Council of Governors brought mental health into Kenya's Universal Health Coverage framework. Twenty-nine county governments incorporated community priorities into their development plans.
The CPO's mandate for SUN is not just scale. It is power: ensuring that the 2.5+ million organized members translate into a coordinated civic force that shapes how Kenya is governed at the community, county, and national levels.
Education
SHOFCO is the largest non-government scholarship provider in Kenya. The Education program currently supports 181,000+ students, with specific focus on preventing poverty-driven dropout for the most vulnerable girls. The program delivers scholarships and bursaries, menstrual hygiene products, uniforms, and scholastic materials that remove the everyday barriers pushing girls out, teacher capacity-building, and STEM and ICT lab upgrades in public schools.
Delivery in partnership with the Ministry of Education at national, county, and sub-county levels means that SHOFCO's education work builds government capacity, not parallel systems. 97% of students in SHOFCO-supported schools met or exceeded KPSEA national expectations. Teen mothers supported through the program ran at nearly double the year-one target.SHOFCO also runs two girls leadership academies in Kibera and Mathare.
Gender Equality and GBV Protection
This program is a movement to end gender-based violence in Kenya's informal settlements, not just respond to it. In 2025, the team managed 26,749 GBV cases with full psychosocial and legal support. More than 28,630 adolescent girls participated in ROC (Rights of Children) clubs. Legal aid partnerships are fast-tracking defilement cases for prosecution through the courts.
1,553 gender champions and male allies are now embedded within SUN governance structures, reaching 100,000+ people through community-led prevention. This shift from NGO-delivered response toward community-owned prevention is one of the most important strategic movements in the program, and one the CPO will be responsible for deepening and sustaining.
WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)
SHOFCO pioneered the aerial water piping system in Kibera in 2016, delivering clean water at 60% below the cost charged by private vendors. Today, the system serves 37,500 people daily. The program includes water kiosks and ATMs, solarized treatment plants, gender-segregated school latrines, community sanitation blocks, and behavior-change programming in 64+ schools.
Research by the African Population and Health Research Center documented a 31% reduction in waterborne illnesses among children under five in communities served by SHOFCO water infrastructure. The next milestone is historic: SHOFCO is in the process of becoming the first licensed water company serving an informal settlement in Kenya, a step that would extend safe, affordable water to 100,000 households. This licensing process requires active navigation of regulatory and policy pathways with national and county water authorities.
Health and Wellbeing
SHOFCO's health program reached 470,105 household members in 2025. Its clinics in Kibera and Mathare have achieved a 0% mother-to-child HIV transmission rate, against a national average of 15%. When multiple nearby clinics closed following the USAID funding drawdown, SHOFCO's facilities absorbed a 70% surge in demand without interrupting services, demonstrating the value of community-rooted health infrastructure that is not dependent on international funding cycles.
Health is delivered as part of a whole-family model, integrated with WASH, gender programming, and education so that the underlying determinants of poor health are addressed alongside clinical services. Mental health, through peer networks and trained community ambassadors (12,000 trained to date), is embedded throughout.
Key Responsibilities
Program Strategy and Delivery
- Lead the strategy and implementation of all programs across all geographies, ensuring consistency, quality, and alignment with SHOFCO's organizational priorities
- Own delivery against SHOFCO's multi-year commitments across IIVC, YVE, and all program areas, ensuring that reported results are accurate and that targets are met or exceeded
- Work alongside the COO to identify and resolve delivery bottlenecks, risks, and operational challenges in real time
- Ensure ethical, accountable, and community-centered delivery across all sites, with safeguarding embedded in every intervention
- Scale the SUN organizing platform into new counties and communities while protecting the depth of trust and member ownership that makes it effective
- Convert community scale into influence: ensure SUN's 2 million members translate into a coordinated, credible advocacy force shaping policy, budgets, and service delivery at county and national level
- Build SHOFCO's policy and government-engagement capability so that programmatic evidence feeds directly into advocacy positions, with organized communities driving the conversation
Program Quality and Impact
- Establish and lead a culture of continuous improvement across all program areas
- Define and own clear performance metrics and outcomes for every program, tied directly to multi-year funder commitments and SHOFCO's strategic targets
- Use SHOFCO's MEL infrastructure (approximately 20,000 interviews per quarter, 15 large-scale surveys annually, research partnerships with Oxford, Busara, KEMRI, IDInsight, and others) to improve delivery approaches, not just report on them
- Lead regular performance reviews to assess progress, identify gaps, and drive concrete improvements
- Ensure that reported results meet the standards for accuracy and credibility that major funders including CIFF and the Mastercard Foundation require
Team Leadership and Management
- Lead and develop a high-performing team of program directors across Education, Gender, WASH, Health, and SUN
- Build strong leadership capacity within program teams, with clear accountability and ownership at every level of the organization
- Oversee recruitment, onboarding, and retention across a large, multi-site program workforce spanning 40 counties
- Foster a culture of ownership, execution, and learning across all teams
- Create clear structures for communication, decision-making, and escalation across geographies
Financial Management and Program Sustainability
- Oversee program budgets across a portfolio that currently includes two $60M flagship programs, in close partnership with Finance
- Ensure strong financial discipline, identifying variance early and managing resources efficiently across all geographies
- Provide accurate and timely reporting on program performance and financial status to funders, the board, and senior leadership
- Ensure programs are delivered in a financially sustainable and operationally efficient manner
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
- Own SHOFCO's MEL function, setting the standard for data quality, evidence generation, and accountability that a movement serving 2.5 million people requires
- Ensure robust systems for data collection, verification, and analysis, including baselines, results frameworks, data verification plans, and integrated reporting dashboards, so that reported results are accurate and defensible
- Translate data into insights that change how programs are designed and delivered, not only how they are reported to funders
- Strengthen systems for capturing and sharing learning across teams and geographies
- Ensure program outcomes are clearly documented and communicated to funders, partners, and government counterparts
Integration and Coordination
- Deepen coordination across program areas so that the person receiving services experiences SHOFCO as one integrated offer, not five separate programs
- Ensure alignment between program teams, operations, and other internal functions
- Support integrated, community-centered delivery approaches that treat the household, not the intervention, as the unit of change
Government Partnership and Funder Reporting
- Maintain strong working relationships with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, county water authorities, and other government counterparts whose systems SHOFCO programs operate within or alongside
- Provide the Advancement team with accurate, timely, and complete program data and evidence to support funder reporting and donor communications; the CPO is the source of the evidence, not the lead on its external presentation
The Person We're Looking For
- SHOFCO is looking for a deeply technical program strategist/operator who has built their career running complex, multi-sector delivery at scale in Kenya. This is a role defined by execution, financial discipline, and evidence rigour. Candidates whose primary strength is fundraising, external relations, or advocacy are unlikely to be the right fit.
- Minimum 10 years of senior experience in program management and delivery in East Africa, with a demonstrated track record managing complex, multi-sector programs at scale across multiple geographies; previous C-suite or equivalent senior leadership experience preferred
- Proven ability to manage large program budgets across multiple funders and reporting frameworks; hands-on experience overseeing budgets of comparable scale to IIVC and YVE (each approximately $60M) is a strong advantage
- Technically proficient in monitoring, evaluation, and learning: experience designing and running rigorous MEL systems, including results frameworks, data verification plans, baselines, and reporting dashboards; must be comfortable interrogating data directly, not just receiving summaries
- Proven track record managing large, geographically dispersed teams with clear outcomes, accountability structures, and strong retention
- Deep knowledge of Kenya's government structures from the national level through county and sub-county, and the ability to build operational partnerships with Ministry counterparts in Education, Health, and Water that support SHOFCO program delivery
- Experience working directly in Kenya's informal settlements or underserved rural communities; this is not a preference but a near-requirement for someone who will be accountable for programs running at the community level across 40 counties
- Experience in community organizing, civic mobilization, or community-led service delivery is strongly preferred, given that SUN is both SHOFCO's largest program and its theory of change
- Genuine alignment with SHOFCO's values of community-led change, accountability, and the belief that communities already hold the power to change their circumstances, and need the right systems to act on it
Role Overview
The School Counselor at Sankoré is responsible for advancing student well-being, belonging, and holistic development across a diverse and complex school community. This role operates at the intersection of academic success, social-emotional health, and community context.
Working under the Head of Support and Belonging, the counselor plays a central role in ensuring that every student is known, supported, and equipped to navigate both school and life. The position requires a practitioner who can operate across individual counseling, systems-building, and community engagement—while remaining grounded in Sankoré’s values of dignity, equity, and student agency.
Core Responsibilities
- Student Counseling and Direct Support
- Provide individual and small-group counseling to students across grade levels, addressing:
- Social-emotional development
- Mental health challenges (e.g., anxiety, trauma, stress, identity)
- Behavioral concerns
- Peer relationships and conflict
- Develop and implement individualized student support plans where needed
- Maintain accurate, confidential records of all counseling interactions
- Identify early warning signs and intervene proactively
2. Safeguarding and Student Protection
- Serve as a key point of contact for student safeguarding concerns
- Identify, document, and escalate cases of abuse, neglect, or risk in line with school policies
- Work closely with leadership and external partners where necessary
- Ensure all safeguarding practices are trauma-informed and culturally responsive
3. Whole-School Social-Emotional Programming
- Design and deliver structured social-emotional learning (SEL) programming
- Integrate well-being practices into the broader school culture
- Support the development of life skills including resilience, emotional regulation, and decision-making
- Collaborate with teaching staff to embed SEL into classroom practice
4. Student Belonging and Inclusion
- Actively contribute to a school culture where all students feel safe, respected, and included
- Support students navigating identity, marginalization, and exclusion
- Work with the Head of Support and Belonging to implement inclusion strategies across the school
- Facilitate student voice initiatives related to well-being and belonging
5. Family and Community Engagement
- Engage families as partners in student well-being, particularly in complex or sensitive cases
- Provide guidance to caregivers on supporting children’s emotional and behavioral needs
- Navigate diverse family contexts with cultural sensitivity and respect
- Connect families to relevant external resources when needed
6. Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS)
- Contribute to the design and implementation of tiered student support systems:
- Tier 1: Universal well-being and SEL programming
- Tier 2: Targeted small-group interventions
- Tier 3: Intensive individualized support
- Use data and observation to inform interventions and track progress
- Participate in regular student support reviews with school leadership
7. Collaboration with Staff
- Serve as a resource to teachers on student behavior, well-being, and classroom dynamics
- Provide training or guidance on trauma-informed and inclusive practices
- Participate in multidisciplinary meetings to coordinate student support
- Support staff in responding appropriately to student needs
8. External Partnerships and Referrals
- Build and maintain relationships with external service providers (mental health, social services, health systems)
- Refer students and families to specialized support where appropriate
- Coordinate follow-up and continuity of care
Contextual Expectations
The Sankoré School Counselor must be able to operate effectively within a diverse and high-need community, where students may face:
- Economic instability
- Family stressors
- Exposure to trauma
- Gaps in access to services
- Complex identity and belonging dynamics
This requires:
- Cultural competence and humility
- Strong ethical judgment
- The ability to balance empathy with clear boundaries
- Comfort working across school and community ecosystems
Reporting Line
Reports directly to the Head of Support and Belonging
Qualifications and Experience
- Degree in Counseling, Psychology, Social Work, or a related field
- Professional certification or licensure in counseling
- Minimum 3–5 years of explicit counseling experience working with children or adolescents in schools. International Schools preferred.
- Experience in school-based and/or community-based settings strongly preferred
- Demonstrated experience working with diverse or underserved populations
Core Competencies
- Strong counseling and interpersonal skills
- Ability to build trust with students from varied backgrounds
- High level of discretion and professionalism
- Systems thinking: able to operate beyond one-on-one counseling
- Clear communication with students, staff, and families
- Crisis management and safeguarding awareness
- Organizational and documentation rigor
Success in This Role Looks Like
- Students feel seen, supported, and safe
- Early interventions reduce escalation of student challenges
- Teachers are better equipped to support student well-being
- Families are engaged as partners, not external observers
- The school demonstrates a coherent, structured approach to student support
- Belonging is not abstract—it is visible in student experience
- is this the case? Not sure if it is for this one
- up to you - this was in to stave off that one parent who was going to be applying but a certain person who is (kind of?) our boss didn't want to hire.
- CV.
- Cover letter highlighting the experience in the area of specialization.
Application Deadline: 9th June 2026
Send applications to: recruitment@shofco.org
Subject Line: School Counselor
School Nurse
About Sankore International School
Sankore International School is a new, mission-driven school being established by SHOFCO in Nairobi. Opening in 2026, Sankore will serve early years through primary and expand one grade per year toward full capacity. The school combines an adapted international education with a strong Kenyan identity, access, diversity, inclusion, and community-rooted excellence.
Sankore is building a joyful, rigorous, and diverse learning community where scholars are known, supported, and safe. Rooted in the values of Consciousness, Curiosity, Courage, Continuous Growth, Creativity, and Community Care, Sankore prepares young people to shape a better world for themselves and all of us.
Role Overview
The School Nurse will lead day-to-day health care, first aid, emergency response, health records, and wellness support for Sankore’s founding school community. This role is central to creating a safe, caring, and well-organized environment where scholars can learn with confidence and families can trust that health needs are managed with professionalism and discretion.
The School Nurse will manage the school clinic, provide basic medical care to students and staff, support children with allergies, chronic conditions, and individual health needs, maintain accurate, confidential records, and coordinate with families, staff, external providers, and emergency services when needed.
As part of a founding team, the School Nurse will also help build Sankore’s health systems from the ground up, including clinic protocols, medication procedures, immunization tracking, health and safety routines, referral pathways, and preventive health education.
Core Responsibilities
1. Student Health Care and First Aid
- Provide first aid, basic medical care, and initial assessment for students and staff during school hours.
- Respond calmly and effectively to injuries, illness, accidents, and medical emergencies.
- Assess when a student can return to class, requires rest, needs family contact, or should be referred for further medical care.
- Administer prescribed medication in line with school policy, parental consent, and professional nursing standards.
- Support students with allergies, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and other chronic or ongoing health needs.
2. Clinic Management and Medical Readiness
- Set up, maintain, and manage the school clinic as a clean, safe, child-friendly, and well-equipped space.
- Maintain appropriate first aid supplies, medication storage, emergency equipment, and clinic inventory.
- Develop and follow protocols for injury response, illness management, medication administration, infection prevention, and referrals.
- Ensure health equipment and supplies are stored, monitored, and replenished appropriately.
- Support health readiness for school trips, sports, events, and other off-site or higher-risk activities.
3. Health Records, Confidentiality, and Compliance
- Maintain accurate, confidential, and up-to-date student health records.
- Track medical histories, allergies, chronic conditions, medication permissions, emergency contacts, and care plans.
- Monitor immunization documentation in line with Ministry of Health expectations and school requirements.
- Prepare appropriate reports for school leadership while protecting student confidentiality.
- Ensure clinic documentation supports continuity of care, safeguarding, compliance, and responsible decision-making.
4. Emergency Response and Health and Safety
- Serve as a key responder during medical incidents, accidents, drills, and emergencies.
- Coordinate with the Business Manager and school leadership on health, safety, and risk management.
- Liaise with nearby health facilities, ambulance providers, and emergency services when escalation is required.
- Support development and implementation of emergency medical protocols.
- Participate in health and safety audits, risk assessments, evacuation drills, and incident reviews.
5. Safeguarding, Child Protection, and Student Wellbeing
- Uphold Sankore’s safeguarding and child protection policies at all times.
- Identify and report health-related concerns that may indicate neglect, abuse, emotional distress, or other safeguarding risks.
- Work closely with school leadership, teachers, and relevant staff to support students’ physical, emotional, and developmental wellbeing.
- Maintain professional boundaries, confidentiality, and child-centered practice.
- Help ensure that every student feels treated with dignity, care, and respect.
6. Family, Staff, and Community Partnership
- Communicate clearly and respectfully with families about student health concerns, incidents, medication, follow-up care, and preventive health needs.
- Partner with teachers and staff so they understand relevant student health plans and emergency procedures.
- Provide practical guidance to staff on first aid response, hygiene, infection prevention, and health-related classroom considerations.
- Support family engagement around wellness, nutrition, hygiene, immunization, and child development.
- Build trust with families through professionalism, discretion, and consistent follow-through.
7. Health Promotion and Preventive Education
- Support school-wide wellness initiatives related to hygiene, nutrition, physical health, mental health, puberty education, infection prevention, and healthy routines.
- Contribute to age-appropriate health education in partnership with educators.
- Monitor patterns in student illness or injury and recommend preventive actions.
- Promote a culture of health, safety, and care across the school.
- Support public health preparedness, including communicable disease prevention and response.
8. Founding Systems and Continuous Improvement
- Help design Sankore’s clinic procedures, forms, logs, referral systems, and health communication templates.
- Recommend improvements to school health policies and operating routines.
- Use data from clinic visits, incidents, and health trends to strengthen prevention and response.
- Work with the Business Manager to ensure health systems are practical, compliant, and sustainable.
- Contribute to a founding team culture of learning, reflection, accountability, and care.
Qualifications and Experience
Required
- A diploma or degree in Nursing from a recognized institution.
- Current registration and a valid practicing license with the Nursing Council of Kenya.
- 2–5 years of clinical nursing experience, preferably including experience in a school, pediatric, family health, emergency, or community health setting.
- Current certification in First Aid and CPR; Basic Life Support certification strongly preferred.
- Strong knowledge of child health, common childhood illnesses, medication administration, infection prevention, and emergency response.
- Experience maintaining confidential health records and communicating with families.
- Fluency in English; Kiswahili strongly preferred.
- Commitment to safeguarding, inclusion, confidentiality, and child-centered care.
Preferred
- Prior experience in an international school, private school, pediatric clinic, or multicultural education environment.
- Experience supporting students with allergies, asthma, chronic conditions, neurodevelopmental needs, or individual health plans.
- Training in child protection, mental health first aid, public health, nutrition, or adolescent health.
- Familiarity with Ministry of Health expectations, immunization records, and school health protocols in Kenya.
- Experience setting up or improving clinic systems, health logs, medication procedures, or emergency protocols.
Core Competencies
- Clinical judgment: Assesses symptoms, injuries, and risks accurately and knows when to treat, monitor, refer, or escalate.
- Emergency readiness: Responds calmly, quickly, and professionally during urgent health incidents.
- Child-centered care: Builds trust with young learners and treats every child with dignity, patience, and respect.
- Confidentiality and ethics: Handles sensitive medical and family information with discretion and professionalism.
- Family communication: Explains health concerns clearly and respectfully to parents and guardians.
- Organization and documentation: Maintains accurate records, reliable systems, and orderly clinic operations.
- Safeguarding awareness: Recognizes and reports concerns appropriately while following school policy.
- Collaboration: Works effectively with teachers, operations staff, leadership, families, and external health providers.
- Preventive mindset: Uses health data, observation, and education to reduce risk and promote wellbeing.
- Founding-school adaptability: Builds systems, solves problems, and works flexibly in a growing school environment.
Success in This Role Looks Like
- Sankore’s clinic is safe, well-stocked, organized, and ready to serve students and staff from the first day of school.
- Student health records, medication permissions, emergency contacts, and care plans are accurate and current.
- Medical incidents are handled calmly, documented properly, and communicated appropriately.
- Students with chronic conditions, allergies, or specific medical needs have clear care plans understood by relevant staff.
- Families experience the nurse as professional, responsive, discreet, and caring.
- Staff understand basic health procedures, emergency protocols, and when to refer students to the clinic.
- Health, hygiene, and safety routines are embedded into the daily life of the school.
- The School Nurse contributes to a founding culture where students feel seen, supported, and safe.
Why Join Sankore?
Joining Sankore means helping build a new model of education in Kenya from the ground up. As a school nurse, you will do more than run a clinic. You will help create the systems of care, trust, safety, and well-being that allow children to learn fully and families to feel confident in the school community.
This is an opportunity to bring clinical expertise into a founding school committed to access, excellence, diversity, and community care.
How To Apply
Interested candidates should submit:
- CV
- Cover letter highlighting the experience in the area of specialization
PE Teacher and Sports Coordinator
About Sankore International School
Sankore International School is a new, mission-driven school being established by SHOFCO in Nairobi. The school opens in 2026, serving early years through primary, expanding one grade per year toward full capacity. Sankore combines an international curriculum with a strong Kenyan identity and a commitment to access, including a significant proportion of tuition-free students.
Sankore is designed as a deliberately diverse learning community where students build the skills and strengths of character to create a better world for themselves and all of us. Physical education and sport will be central to that vision: building confidence, teamwork, wellbeing, discipline, joy, and a lifelong relationship with movement.
Role Overview
The PE Teacher and Sports Coordinator will lead physical education and sports programming for students at Sankore International School. Reporting to the Head of Teaching and Learning, this role combines direct PE teaching with the development of Sankore’s broader sports, movement, and extracurricular athletics program.
The role will design inclusive, age-appropriate PE lessons, build foundational movement skills, coordinate after-school and extracurricular sports opportunities, manage external sports and activity vendors, and develop Sankore’s participation in fixtures, competitions, and partnerships with other schools. The primary PE and sports coach role should emphasize inclusive PE instruction, fundamental movement skills, confidence, teamwork, school competitions, sports clubs, and safe participation for all children.
Because this is a learner-facing role, safeguarding is central. International school safeguarding guidance treats child protection as a whole-school responsibility and emphasizes safer recruitment, secure records, staff training, and vigilance across all adult roles working with children.
Core Responsibilities
1. Physical Education Teaching and Learning
- Plan and deliver engaging, inclusive PE lessons for students.
- Develop students’ fundamental movement skills, coordination, balance, strength, agility, spatial awareness, and confidence.
- Introduce students to age-appropriate games, athletics, movement activities, team sports, individual challenges, cooperative play, and fitness practices.
- Differentiate PE instruction for students with varied physical, developmental, language, sensory, and learning needs.
- Build a positive culture where all students can participate, improve, and experience joy in movement.
2. Sports Program Development
- Build Sankore’s foundational sports program as the school grows.
- Develop age-appropriate pathways from PE lessons to clubs, teams, friendly fixtures, and competitions.
- Identify priority sports and activities suited to Sankore’s facilities, student interests, staffing, and growth model in partnership with the Business Manager.
- Establish standards for training, participation, sportsmanship, safety, and student development.
- Create systems for team selection, practice schedules, attendance, equipment, permissions, transport coordination, and parent communication in partnership with the Business Manager.
3. Extracurricular Activities and Vendor Management
- Coordinate all extracurricular sports and movement-related vendors.
- Identify, vet, onboard, schedule, and supervise external providers in alignment with Sankore’s standards in partnership with the operations team.
- Ensure vendors follow safeguarding, child protection, safety, attendance, communication, and professional conduct expectations.
- Monitor quality of instruction and student experience across extracurricular offerings.
- Maintain records of vendor agreements, schedules, student participation, incidents, and feedback.
- Work with the Business Manager and school leadership on vendor budgets, procurement, and service quality.
4. Fixtures, Competitions, and Inter-School Coordination
- Identify appropriate competitions, leagues, festivals, friendly matches, and sports networks for early years and elementary students.
- Coordinate with other schools to arrange fixtures, shared events, and future competitive opportunities.
- Manage logistics for school participation, including schedules, permissions, transport, supervision, uniforms, equipment, and communication.
- Prepare students for competitions in ways that emphasize effort, teamwork, confidence, respect, and healthy competition.
- Represent Sankore professionally with peer schools, event organizers, families, and external partners.
5. Safeguarding, Safety, and Student Wellbeing
- Uphold Sankore’s safeguarding, child protection, and student wellbeing policies at all times.
- Maintain safe ratios, supervision, routines, and boundaries in PE, sports, changing areas, travel, fixtures, and extracurricular activities.
- Conduct basic risk assessments for PE lessons, sports events, vendor activities, equipment, and off-site participation.
- Respond appropriately to injuries, incidents, well-being concerns, or child protection concerns.
- Promote healthy attitudes toward bodies, ability, competition, effort, confidence, and inclusion.
- Ensure all students feel safe, respected, and able to participate.
6. Equipment, Facilities, and Operations
- Maintain PE and sports equipment, storage systems, inventories, and replacement plans.
- Set up and pack down spaces safely and efficiently for PE lessons, practices, events, and extracurricular activities.
- Monitor the condition of sports areas, play spaces, equipment, and related facilities.
- Coordinate with operations staff to ensure safe, clean, and ready-to-use physical activity spaces.
- Support procurement planning for sports equipment, uniforms, first-aid materials, and program growth.
7. Assessment, Documentation, and Communication
- Track student participation, progress, skill development, and engagement in PE and sports.
- Provide constructive feedback that supports confidence, effort, and improvement.
- Communicate clearly with teachers, families, leadership, vendors, and students.
- Maintain calendars, schedules, permission records, attendance lists, incident records, and sports program documentation.
- Contribute to reporting, showcases, family communication, and school events as needed.
8. Culture, Values, and Founding-School Contribution
- Model Sankore’s values of Consciousness, Curiosity, Courage, Continuous Growth, Creativity, and Community Care.
- Build a sports culture grounded in participation, respect, discipline, teamwork, and joy.
- Help establish traditions, routines, and expectations for athletics at Sankore.
- Collaborate with classroom teachers, arts staff, operations staff, and leadership to support whole-child development.
- Contribute to a founding-school environment where adults build systems, solve problems, and care for students together.
Qualifications and Experience
Required
- Diploma or bachelor’s degree in Physical Education, Sports Science, Education, Coaching, Kinesiology, Exercise Science, or a related field.
- Teaching qualification, coaching certification, or demonstrable experience teaching PE to children.
- At least 3 years of experience teaching PE, coaching school sports, or coordinating youth sports programming.
- Experience working with early years, primary, or elementary-aged children.
- Strong knowledge of child development, fundamental movement skills, safe physical activity, and inclusive PE practice.
- Experience organizing sports clubs, practices, fixtures, competitions, or extracurricular activities.
- Ability to manage schedules, vendors, equipment, communication, and logistics.
- Commitment to safeguarding, child protection, inclusion, and professional boundaries.
- Strong English communication skills.
Preferred
- Experience in an international school, independent school, IB PYP, inquiry-based, or progressive education setting.
- First aid, CPR, child safeguarding, lifeguarding, or sports safety certification.
- Experience managing external coaches, vendors, or after-school activity providers.
- Experience in building a school sports program from an early stage.
- Experience coordinating inter-school fixtures, competitions, festivals, or leagues.
- Coaching experience in one or more age-appropriate sports such as football, athletics, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, netball, tennis, dance, or movement games.
- Experience supporting inclusive sports participation for diverse learners.
Core Competencies
- PE instruction: Designs safe, engaging, developmentally appropriate lessons that build movement, confidence, and well-being.
- Sports program leadership: Builds structured pathways from PE to clubs, teams, and competitions.
- Student-centered coaching: Develops skill, effort, sportsmanship, and resilience without overemphasizing performance at young ages.
- Vendor management: Selects, coordinates, supervises, and evaluates external providers effectively.
- Operational discipline: Manages schedules, equipment, permissions, records, logistics, and communication reliably.
- Safeguarding judgment: Maintains safe supervision, professional boundaries, and prompt escalation of concerns.
- Inclusion: Ensures all students can participate meaningfully, regardless of ability, confidence, or prior exposure to sport.
- Collaboration: Works well with teachers, families, school leaders, vendors, and peer schools.
- Communication: Gives clear instructions, communicates calmly, and builds trust with students and adults.
- Founding-school mindset: Brings flexibility, initiative, and systems-building discipline to a new school environment.
Success in This Role Looks Like
- Students experience PE as safe, joyful, inclusive, and confidence-building.
- Early years and elementary students develop strong foundational movement skills.
- Sankore has a clear, age-appropriate sports program that can grow over time.
- Extracurricular sports vendors are well-managed, safe, reliable, and aligned with school values.
- Students begin participating in appropriate inter-school fixtures, festivals, and competitions.
- Families receive clear communication about sports activities, schedules, permissions, and expectations.
- Equipment, spaces, schedules, and records are well organized.
- Sankore develops a sports culture rooted in teamwork, discipline, courage, respect, and care.
Why Join Sankore?
This is an opportunity to build the physical education and sports culture of a new school from the beginning. The PE Teacher and Sports Coordinator will help students discover what their bodies can do, how teams work, how confidence grows, and how movement can support learning, wellbeing, and belonging. At Sankore, sport will not be only about competition; it will be part of how children learn courage, community, discipline, and joy.
How To Apply
Interested candidates should submit:
- CV
- Cover letter highlighting the experience in the area of specialization
Music Teacher
About Sankoré International School
Sankoré International School is a new, mission-driven school being established by SHOFCO in Nairobi. The school opens in 2026 serving early years through primary, expanding one grade per year toward full capacity. Sankoré combines an international curriculum with a strong Kenyan identity and a commitment to access, including a significant proportion of tuition-free students.
Sankoré is designed as a deliberately diverse learning community where students build the skills and strengths of character to create a better world for themselves and all of us. Music will be central to that vision: helping students develop creativity, confidence, cultural identity, collaboration, discipline, listening, performance skills, and joy.
Role Overview
The Music Teacher will lead music instruction and help build the music culture of Sankoré International School from its founding stage. Reporting to the Head of Teaching and Learning, the teacher will design and deliver developmentally appropriate music learning for early years and elementary students, integrating singing, rhythm, movement, instruments, listening, music theory, composition, performance, and cultural exploration.
This role will also support choirs, instrumental learning, school performances, extracurricular music opportunities, vendor coordination, and production needs for assemblies, showcases, celebrations, and community events. The program should emphasize age-appropriate instruction, music theory and performance, curriculum integration, singing, instrumental activities, movement, student creativity, assessment, and participation in concerts, assemblies, and community celebrations.
The ideal candidate is a skilled musician and educator who can teach young learners, build systems, collaborate with classroom teachers, and establish traditions that make music visible and valued across the school.
Core Responsibilities
1. Music Teaching and Learning
- Plan and deliver engaging, inclusive music lessons for early years and elementary students.
- Teach age-appropriate singing, rhythm, movement, listening, composition, improvisation, instrumental exploration, and foundational music theory.
- Build students’ musical confidence, creativity, listening skills, collaboration, memory, coordination, and expressive capacity.
- Introduce students to a wide range of musical forms, traditions, instruments, artists, composers, and performance practices.
- Differentiate music instruction for learners with varied language, developmental, sensory, physical, and learning needs.
- Create a classroom culture where all students can participate, take risks, and experience joy in music.
2. Curriculum Planning and Integration
- Develop a coherent music curriculum progression for early years through elementary school.
- Align music instruction with Sankoré’s learning goals, values, and broader curriculum.
- Design and run co-curricular music offerings aligned with the Sankoré portrait of a learner.
- Collaborate with classroom teachers to connect music with units of inquiry, language, storytelling, movement, culture, STEAM, social studies, and community themes.
- Use inquiry-based and project-based approaches that help students create, perform, respond, and reflect.
- Maintain clear lesson plans, learning objectives, assessment practices, and materials lists.
- Contribute to long-term planning of the music program as Sankoré expands grade by grade.
3. Choir, Voice, and Ensemble Development
- Establish and lead age-appropriate singing opportunities, including classroom singing, choir, assemblies, and school performances.
- Teach healthy vocal habits, pitch awareness, rhythm, diction, listening, ensemble discipline, and expressive performance.
- Build student confidence in singing individually and as part of a group.
- Develop simple ensemble opportunities using classroom instruments, percussion, recorders, ukuleles, keyboards, or other age-appropriate instruments.
- Prepare students for performances in ways that are joyful, developmentally appropriate, and inclusive.
4. Instruments, Music Theory, and Creative Musicianship
- Introduce students to foundational music theory, including rhythm, melody, tempo, dynamics, notation, form, and musical vocabulary.
- Build practical musicianship through percussion, voice, movement, body percussion, tuned and untuned instruments, and accessible classroom instruments.
- Support students to compose, improvise, arrange, and respond to music creatively.
- Maintain and organize instruments, equipment, sheet music, digital resources, and classroom materials.
- Advise school leadership on instrument procurement, maintenance, storage, and long-term music program needs.
5. Kenyan, African, and Global Music
- Integrate Kenyan and African music traditions into the curriculum in respectful, age-appropriate, and meaningful ways.
- Help students explore music as a source of identity, memory, culture, community, and storytelling.
- Introduce students to global music traditions, encouraging curiosity, respect, and cultural appreciation.
- Work with families, artists, community members, or vendors where appropriate to enrich student learning.
- Avoid tokenistic cultural representation by connecting music to context, meaning, practice, and lived experience.
6. Performances, Productions, and School Events
- Plan, rehearse, and coordinate student music performances for assemblies, showcases, family events, celebrations, and school milestones.
- Support production needs such as sound checks, microphones, backing tracks, staging, cues, music selection, and rehearsal schedules.
- Collaborate with arts, PE, classroom, operations, and leadership teams on interdisciplinary performances and school events.
- Ensure performances are inclusive, well-organized, age-appropriate, and aligned with Sankoré’s values.
- Help establish musical traditions that strengthen school identity and community.
7. Extracurricular Music and Vendor Coordination
- Develop, run, and and support co-curricular music opportunities, such as choir, percussion ensemble, instrumental clubs, music production, songwriting, or performance groups.
- Coordinate external music vendors, instructors, artists, or coaches where needed.
- Help identify, vet, onboard, schedule, and monitor external providers.
- Ensure vendors follow Sankoré’s safeguarding, professionalism, quality, attendance, communication, and child protection expectations.
- Maintain records related to extracurricular participation, schedules, vendor performance, and student engagement.
8. Safeguarding, Inclusion, and Student Wellbeing
- Uphold Sankoré’s safeguarding, child protection, and student wellbeing expectations at all times.
- Maintain professional boundaries and safe supervision during lessons, rehearsals, performances, extracurriculars, and vendor-led activities.
- Build a music classroom where students feel safe, respected, included, and confident to express themselves.
- Follow school procedures for concerns related to wellbeing, safety, behavior, or child protection.
- Promote healthy performance culture, avoiding shame, comparison, exclusion, or excessive pressure.
- Protect student dignity in rehearsals, performances, recordings, photographs, and public showcases.
9. Assessment, Documentation, and Communication
- Assess student growth through participation, process, performance, listening, creativity, reflection, and skill development.
- Provide constructive feedback that helps students improve while sustaining confidence.
- Maintain simple records of student progress and communicate relevant insights to classroom teachers and school leaders.
- Contribute to family communication, student reports, exhibitions, and school showcases as needed.
- Document curriculum plans, repertoire, performance schedules, vendor arrangements, and resource needs.
Qualifications and Experience
Required
- Diploma or bachelor’s degree in Music Education, Music, Performing Arts, Education, Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, or a related field.
- Teaching qualification, music education training, or demonstrable experience teaching music to children.
- At least 3 years of experience teaching music, leading children’s choirs, facilitating ensembles, or delivering school music programming.
- Experience working with early years, primary, or elementary-aged children.
- Strong musicianship, including voice, rhythm, basic music theory, performance, and at least one instrument.
- Ability to design inclusive, age-appropriate lessons for diverse learners.
- Experience preparing students for performances, assemblies, concerts, or school events.
- Commitment to safeguarding, child protection, inclusion, and professional boundaries.
- Strong English communication skills.
Preferred
- Experience in an international school, independent school, IB PYP, inquiry-based, Montessori, Reggio-inspired, or progressive education setting.
- Experience integrating music with inquiry-based or transdisciplinary learning.
- Experience leading choirs, instrumental groups, ensembles, music clubs, or extracurricular programs.
- Knowledge of Kenyan, African, and global music traditions.
- Ability to play piano, keyboard, guitar, percussion, or other classroom-friendly instruments.
- Experience with sound equipment, microphones, backing tracks, basic recording, or event production.
- Experience coordinating external instructors, vendors, artists, or performers.
- Familiarity with inclusive music education for diverse learners.
Core Competencies
- Music instruction: Designs engaging lessons that develop singing, rhythm, listening, theory, creativity, and performance skills.
- Child-centered pedagogy: Understands how young children learn through movement, repetition, play, imitation, exploration, and practice.
- Creative musicianship: Helps students compose, improvise, perform, listen, and respond with confidence.
- Cultural grounding: Integrates Kenyan, African, and global music respectfully and meaningfully.
- Performance leadership: Plans rehearsals and performances that are organized, joyful, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate.
- Curriculum collaboration: Works with teachers to connect music to broader learning and inquiry.
- Vendor coordination: Manages external instructors or music providers with clear expectations and safeguarding standards.
- Inclusion: Ensures every student can participate meaningfully, regardless of prior exposure, ability, confidence, or learning profile.
- Safeguarding judgment: Maintains professional boundaries and protects student safety and dignity.
- Founding-school mindset: Builds systems, traditions, routines, and culture in a new school environment.
Success in This Role Looks Like
- Students experience music as joyful, rigorous, inclusive, and connected to their identities and communities.
- Early years and elementary students build confidence in singing, rhythm, movement, listening, instrumental exploration, and performance.
- Sankoré has a coherent, age-appropriate music curriculum that can grow over time.
- Choir, instrumental, and extracurricular music opportunities begin to take shape.
- Kenyan, African, and global music traditions are meaningfully embedded in student learning.
- Performances, assemblies, and showcases are well-organized, inclusive, and aligned with school values.
- Instruments, music resources, schedules, and production needs are well managed.
- External music vendors, if used, are safe, professional, reliable, and aligned with Sankoré’s standards.
- Music becomes a visible and valued part of Sankoré’s founding culture.
Why Join Sankoré?
This is an opportunity to build the sound and spirit of a new school from the beginning. The Music Teacher will help students discover rhythm, voice, listening, discipline, creativity, and confidence. At Sankoré, music will be more than performance; it will be a way for children to understand themselves, connect with others, and participate in the life of the school.
How To Apply
Interested candidates should submit:
- CV
- Cover letter highlighting the experience in the area of specialization
Visual Arts Teacher (Part- time)
About Sankore International School
Sankore International School is a new, mission-driven school being established by SHOFCO in Nairobi. The school opens in 2026 serving early years through primary, expanding one grade per year toward full capacity. Sankore combines an international curriculum with a strong Kenyan identity and a commitment to access, including a significant proportion of tuition-free students. The school is designed as a deliberately diverse learning community where students build the skills and strengths of character to create a better world for themselves and all of us.
At Sankore, visual arts will be part of a joyful, rigorous, and relevant learning experience. Students will use art to explore identity, culture, imagination, observation, problem-solving, and self-expression.
Position Summary
The Part-Time Visual Arts Teacher (2-3 days per week) will design and deliver engaging, developmentally appropriate visual arts instruction for early years and elementary students. Reporting to the Head of Teaching and Learning, the teacher will help students build creativity, visual literacy, confidence, technical skill, and reflective thinking through drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, design, and other age-appropriate art forms.
This role is ideal for an educator who can work across age levels, create a safe and inspiring studio culture, and collaborate with classroom teachers to connect visual arts with broader units of inquiry. The teacher will also have the opportunity to offer specialized visual arts instruction and private lessons outside of core teaching responsibilities.
Essential Job Functions
1. Visual Arts Teaching and Learning
- Plan and deliver engaging visual arts lessons for early years and elementary students.Introduce students to age-appropriate techniques, materials, artists, traditions, and visual forms.
- Support students to explore drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, printmaking, mixed media, and other creative processes.
- Build student confidence, imagination, observation, fine motor skills, and artistic voice.
2. Curriculum Planning and Integration
- Collaborate with classroom teachers to align visual arts instruction with Sankore curriculum.
- Connect visual arts to units of inquiry, Kenyan identity, African artistic traditions, global cultures, nature, storytelling, and STEAM.
- Differentiate instruction for diverse learners with different language, developmental, sensory, or learning needs.
3. Kenyan, African, and Global Visual Arts
- Integrate Kenyan and African artistic traditions into the curriculum in respectful, age-appropriate, and meaningful ways.Docusign Envelope ID: CB477926-3CEF-8A28-81A0-86C174C2D47C
- Help students explore visual arts as a source of identity, memory, culture, and storytelling.
4. Exhibitions, Displays, and School Events
- Plan and coordinate student art exhibitions, displays, and contributions to school events and showcases.
- Collaborate with classroom and leadership teams on interdisciplinary projects and events.
5. Safeguarding, Inclusion, and Student Wellbeing
- Uphold Sankore safeguarding, child protection, and student wellbeing expectations at all times.
- Build a visual arts classroom where students feel safe, included, and confident to take creative risks.
Minimum Requirements
Required Experience
- Diploma or bachelor's degree in Art Education, Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Design, Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, or a related field.
- Teaching qualification, arts education training, or demonstrable experience teaching visual arts to children.
- At least 2 years of experience teaching or facilitating visual arts with early years, primary, or elementary-aged learners.
- Commitment to safeguarding, child protection, inclusion, and professional boundaries.
- Strong English communication skills.
Preferred Experience
Experience in an international school, IB PYP, inquiry-based, Reggio-inspired, or Montessori setting.
Familiarity with African, Kenyan, and global artistic traditions.
- Experience designing exhibitions, student showcases, art clubs, or extracurricular artsprogramming.
Basic digital art, photography, design, or multimedia skills.
Core Capabilities
Creative teaching practice: Designs lessons that help children explore, imagine, make, reflect, and grow.
Visual arts expertise: Brings strong knowledge of artistic processes, materials, techniques, and visual language.
Inquiry-based facilitation: Encourages questioning, experimentation, and student-led discovery.
Inclusion and differentiation: Adapts instruction so all learners can participate meaningfully.
Safeguarding judgment: Maintains professional boundaries and acts promptly on student safety concerns.
- CV
- Cover letter highlighting experience in the area of specializations
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