Education Specialist (Sokoto) at the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) – For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Education Specialist, P3 – #108777

Job Number: 519301
Location: Sokoto
Work Type: Fixed Term Appointment

Job Descriptions

• The Specialist supports the development and preparation of the Education (or a sector of) programmes and is responsible for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting the progress of education programmes/projects within the country programme. The Specialist will particularly provide technical assistance to monitoring and evaluation.
• The Specialist provides technical guidance and management support throughout the programming processes to facilitate the administration and achievement of results on education programmes/projects to improve learning outcomes and equitable and inclusive education, especially for children who are marginalized, disadvantaged and excluded in society.
• The Specialist contributes to achievement of results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM), as well as UNICEFs Strategic Plans, standards of performance, and accountability framework.

Job Responsibilities
How can you make a difference?

Support to programme development and planning:

• Support the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis for the education programmes to ensure that current and comprehensive data on education issues is available to guide UNICEFs strategic policy, advocacy, intervention and development efforts on education programmes.
• Help supervisor set priorities, strategies, design and implementation plans. Keep abreast of development trends to enhance programme management, efficiency and delivery.
• Participate in strategic programme discussion on the planning of education programmes. Formulate, design and prepare programme proposals for the sector, ensuring alignment with UNICEFs Strategic Plans and Country Programme and coherence/integration with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Establish specific goals, objectives, strategies and implementation plans for the sector using results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare required documentations for programme review and approval.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies, and to determine national priorities to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable results.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes and to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programmes/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated.

Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results:

• Provide overall technical leadership and guidance on Monitoring and Evaluation such as technical assistance to programme development and management by data collection, analysis and monitoring; development and support to the Monitoring and Action Plan; design of the programme M&E framework, e.g. school level individual pupil tracking, EMIS/annual school census and community mapping; and support to strengthening government M&E system, data collection, reporting, school record keeping and EMIS.
• Plan and collaborate with internal colleagues and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results for the assigned sector on education programmes.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Prepare and assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in programme management.
• Identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Actively monitor programmes/projects through field visits and surveys, and exchange information with stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems, and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Monitor and verify the optimum and appropriate use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity, ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Prepare regular and mandated programme reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

Technical and operational support to programme implementation:

• Provide technical guidance and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and country office partners and donors on interpretation, application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices and approaches on education and related issues to support programme management, implementation and delivery of results.
• Arrange/coordinate availability of technical experts with Regional Office/HQ to ensure timely and appropriate support throughout the programming process.
• Participate in education programme meetings including programme development and contingency planning to provide technical and operational information, advice and support.
• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use.

Networking and partnership building:

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with relevant government counterparts, national stakeholders, global partners, donors, and academia through active networking, advocacy and effective communication to build capacity, exchange knowledge/expertise and to reinforce cooperation to achieve sustainable and broad results on education programmes.
• Prepare communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and support fund raising for education programmes.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) discussions on education and related issues to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF planning and preparation of programmes/projects ensuring organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:

• Apply and introduce innovative approaches and good practices to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, and implement best practices in education management. Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.
• Organize and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on education and related programmes/projects.

Recruitment Qualifications
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

Education:

• An advanced University degree in one of the following fields is required: Education, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Psychology, Sociology, or another relevant technical field.

Experience:

• A minimum of five years of professional experience in programme planning, management, monitoring and evaluation and/or research in education is required.
• The following are considered a strong asset: 1. demonstrated skills in the use of data analysis packages (Excel, SPSS, and Access), and 2. competence in relational database design such as MS-Access or MS SQL Server with broad understanding of information management systems and technology, extensive knowledge and skills of computer program applications, particularly in the area of database management system (e.g.: SQL programming).
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

• UNICEFs core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Application Closing Date
21st March, 2019 at 23:55:00 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time).

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