Consultancy - French-Speaking Skills & Employment Program Manager, Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), London, UK, 11.5 months, REQ

Contract

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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, education...

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on girls and underserved populations, including those in the hardest to reach rural areas. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today's youth.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education, focusing attention and realigning systems on the most challenging but most important measure of a program's performance: whether it is improving lives. Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement, with huge potential to increase learning outcomes for children and youth around the world, though improved aid effectiveness and government spending.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish the two largest outcomes funds to date in developing countries, mobilising ~$50M for these programs.
• Established itself as a leading global player in RBF, and the only dedicated center of expertise for RBF in education and skills.
• Become the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations within UNICEF, as a scalable platform to partner with governments around the world.
• Established a major partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to develop a scale portfolio of RBF programs in early childhood across a diverse range of countries, as well as to amplify the movement and ecosystem of partners around this approach.
• Had our innovative approach featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, FT, Economist, Brookings, and more.
• Built our institutional capacity to contract and implement large-scale outcomes funds more efficiently and effectively than historic impact bonds.
• Established a strong culture of performance and an active focus on ongoing professional development for all our team.
• The next chapter of EOF’s growth is particularly exciting, as we look to build on this foundation in the coming years. We will shift focus towards implementation of our first large scale programs, developing public goods and policy insights on ‘what works’ both in education and RBF. We will develop new RBF models that can be replicated and scaled across regions, as well as continuing to roll out our existing models. Ultimately, we want to improve the way governments and donors fund and implement education programs around the world.

How can you make a difference?

Our skills-for-employment portfolio of programs has been rapidly growing, and we are seeking to recruit a high-calibre French-Speaking Program Manager to lead the scoping, design and launch of our programs together with governments, donors and a wide range of partners, whilst exploring new opportunities in the pipeline.

The manager will become a core part of EOF, working closely with governments, donors, and service providers/impact investors to design and implement programs, as well as build on EOF’s thought leadership in this space. The Skills & Employment Manager will report to EOF’s Chief Programs Officer and work in collaboration with the rest of the Program Team, overseeing the team working in this portfolio.

DESCRIPTION OF ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITES

Program Scoping & Design:

• Manage scoping and feasibility studies to assess the opportunity for Results-based Financing (RBF) programs and outcomes funds, identifying the barriers to outcomes and the value add of the RBF mechanism.
• Engage government stakeholders and donors to secure interest and financial commitment to fund the programs.
• Lead the technical design process of outcomes funds, including the selection of outcome metrics, evaluation methodologies, target setting, pricing, and financial model, and apply EOF’s approach to the context and objectives of the program in a solution-oriented and creative manner.
• Build strong relationships with government partners and co-outcome funders as the primary point of contact. Engage with providers and investors to refine the design of programs and generate interest from the market.
• Engage the EOF Executive Committee (ExCom) on the design for approval.
• Lead the selection of providers, investors, and evaluators, as well as the contracting process using EOF’s templates. Establish the governance structure, management unit, and relevant management processes to support program implementation.
• Manage the workplan and delegate tasks to team members as appropriate, ensuring quality control of work produced by more junior team members.
• Contribute to the Program Team’s discussions and brainstorming sessions to strengthen the design of other EOF programs. ·

Pipeline development and fundraising:

• Proactively manage relationships with key funders (foundations, bilateral and multilateral organizations) and partners. Maintain regular contacts to build strong trust-based relationships and identify opportunities for partnerships taking into account the strategic priorities of each organization.
• Support the partnerships team to identify and pursue opportunities for the development of EOF programs.

Support to EOF’s team:

• Support EOF’s communication and advocacy strategy through publications and participation in relevant events
• Contribute to EOF’s operations and recruitment processes as a core member of the team in support of EOF’s goals
• Ensure the line management of junior members of the EOF team and external consultants, providing regular feedback and promoting their growth and development, and conducting mid-year and end-of-year reviews
• Promote a culture of learning across the organization and ensuring that key findings are informing ongoing planning and decision-making

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

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in economics, international development, education, or a related field. A Bachelor’s degree may be considered with two additional years of experience.
• 5-8 years of professional experience, including experience designing and implementing programs, preferably in the international development context.
• Experience in innovative financing, in particular with RBF instruments or incentive structures, is preferred.
• Experience in education or skills & employment programs is preferred.
• Experience working in the Middle East and North Africa is preferred but not required. International experience is required.
• Previous experience managing teams is required.
• Relevant experience includes, but is not limited to, the following sectors: International development; Charity or public sectors; Strategy consulting; Think tanks/research institutes; Investment or development banking.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergencies is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English and French is required. Proficiency in Arabic is preferred. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Duty Station

London, United Kingdom

Duration 11.5 months

Proposed Payment Schedule

Payments will be made monthly. The proposed rate should inclusive of all professional fees, daily allowances, living allowances, and other administrative costs and should assume a full-time commitment.

Insurance: Consultants and individual contractors are fully responsible for arranging, at their own expense, all insurance, such as life, health and other forms of insurance, covering the period of their services as they consider appropriate. They are required to certify that they are covered by medical/health insurance.

How to Apply:

Qualified candidates are requested to upload a cover letter, resume/cv, and their proposed fees (monthly rate in British Sterling) by 31 July 2022. Please also indicate your availability in your cover letter.

Applications submitted without a financial proposal will not be accepted.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

• Think and act strategically
• Nurture, lead and manage people
• Innovate and embrace change
• Manage ambiguity and complexity
• Demonstrate self-awareness and ethical awareness

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.