Chief Adolescent &Youth, P-4, Fixed Term, Unicef Amman, Jordan Country Office

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 127,176 USD and 163,967 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Development

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is leader in the region for the rights of its children. Working closely with the Government of Jordan, civil society, the private sector and communities, UNICEF Jordan Country Office aims to sustain results achieved for children to date, and strive to further improve policies, national institutions and programmes, for the well-being of every child in Jordan, in line with Jordan's Vision 2025 and the National Human Resources Development Strategy (2016-2025) towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Our programmes focus on improving the lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in the Kingdom, irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion or background. Our main pillars include: Child Protection; Education; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Adolescent and Youth Engagement; Health and Nutrition; Social Protection; and Operations.

How can you make a difference?

The Chief, Adolescent and Youth reports to the Deputy Representative for general guidance and direction. The Chief supports country office programming processes by providing expert technical advice and operational support to country office colleagues and internal and external partners and stakeholders to ensure that adolescent development and participation established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international treaties/framework and UN intergovernmental bodies, are integrated in UNICEF’s advocacy, policies, programmes and humanitarian work. The main focus of the programme is young people’s skills activation (Learning to Earning programming, young people’s volunteering for social impact, and young people’s civic engagement). The chief will promote and coordinate collaboration with UN agencies working on the young people’s agenda, including notably ILO, UNDP and UNFPA. This position will also be working on humanitarian programmes both in the Syrian Refugee camps as well as in host communities where vulnerable Jordanian, Syrian and refugees from other nationalities reside. Specific tasks and responsibilities are highlighted below :

Country programme planning and development:

• Participate and/or conduct/update situation analysis and assessments to establish age and sex disaggregated evidence-based data for UNICEF advocacy and development of policies, frameworks and programs to promote adolescent and youth development and participation in the country.
• Assess national/regional/international development priorities to identify opportunities and strategies and courses of action to enhance the delivery of services and achievement of objectives on adolescent and youth development and participation. Work in coordination with Child protection, SBC, Gender, Communication, Education, Health, Nutrition, Social policy, Social Protection, WASH/Climate, Planning, Emergency and Monitoring & Evaluation to support development of strategic framework for adolescents and young people.
• Participate in CO program formulation, planning and preparation to provide input, advice and operational support on the integration of cross sectoral policies and framework that promote adolescents’ and young people’s development and participation. This includes the processes of SMR and CPD formulation. Ensure alignment of adolescent policies, frameworks and interventions with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and coherence/integration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), and regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Lead on establishing specific goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans for adolescent and youth development and participation programs/projects across all sectors using results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare relevant documentation for program review and approval.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal/external colleagues and partners and stakeholders to discuss strategies and methodologies that enhance the realization of adolescents and young people’s rights across all sectors and to promote partnerships and alliances on adolescent development and participation including partnerships with adolescents and young people themselves, and partnerships with the private sector
• Ensure that the voices of adolescents and children are systematically taken into consideration in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme cycle.

Program management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Provide technical leadership to generate knowledge on the situation of adolescents and youth, support sector specific analysis of data on adolescents and improve utilization of sex and age disaggregated data within UNICEF monitoring and evaluation tools and among partners.
• Submit/prepare proposals, program/project reports to donors and other partners to raise resources for adolescent and youth interventions with focus on young people’s transition from learning to earning, volunteering for positive social impact and civic engagement, and keep donors informed on program progress and critical issues.
• Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish age/sex disaggregated benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programs and projects.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action/interventions to achieve results for adolescents.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Plan, monitor and oversee the use of program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity.
• Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.

Advisory services and technical support

• Lead on providing technical advice and strategic guidance to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on adolescent development and participation to support program development, conceptualizing, planning, implementation and delivery of results in young people’s learning to earning transition and civic engagement.
• Participate in strategic discussions, meetings and other international/national meetings and workshops to provide evidence-based papers and inputs on adolescent development and participation to influence policy and agenda setting. This will include close technical collaboration with specialized agencies such as ILO and international financial institutions such as the World Bank.
• Lead on preparation of policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and consideration in development discussion and planning relating to youth and adolescents.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Lead advocacy and policy drive for adolescent rights and programming within the country office, with other UN and government and non-government partners based on improved evidence and data. In collaboration with UNCT Youth group, lead on the initiation of a Public-Private-Youth Partnership to support young people’s learning, skilling, social inclusion and transition to decent work.
• Work in close collaboration with the UNICEF Regional Youth and Adolescents’ team and the global UNICEF Generation Unlimited team to generate learning and evidence to support further fundraising and mutual learning.
• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organization, research institutes, youth led organizations and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on UNICEF’s adolescent development and participation initiatives.
• Contribute to the preparation of advocacy and communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and to ensure that adolescent development and participation programs and initiatives are adequately resourced and supported.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on adolescent development and participation to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDCF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues the UNSDCF planning and preparation of programs/projects including emergency preparedness.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote, document and disseminate critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on adolescent and youth development and participation initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services, with focus on young people’s learning to earning transition and civic engagement.
• Foster and nurture an “intrapreneurial” and innovation-focused mind-set in the team, in partnerships with other sections and the wider UN and private sector partnerships, actively exploring, developing and promoting promising new ways of addressing bottlenecks in young people’s skills activation and civic engagement,
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting-edge practices on adolescent and youth development related issues with focus on skills activation. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned to support development, planning, implementation and scale up.
• Contribute to the development of policies, procedures and programmes and introduce innovation and best practices that promote the rights of adolescents and youth and enhances their development and participation as active members of society and their community. This includes innovative partnerships with the private sector and exploring possibilities for innovative/impact financing.
• Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of a wide range of internal and external partners/stakeholders to achieve sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programs and initiatives.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Education: An Advanced University Degree in anthropology, psychology, sociology, education, medicine, public health, behavior communication or other social science field is required .
• Experience: A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in social program development planning and management in adolescent development related areas at the international level some of which preferably were served in a developing country is required. Demonstrable, documented experience in program/project development and management in the areas of young people’s transition from learning to earning and young people’s civic engagement is required. Evidence of “intrapreneurial” mindset, experience in developing innovative programming approaches and internal and external partnership building strongly desired. Experience in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Languages: Oral and written proficiency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or Arabic is an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.