Early Childhood Development Officer, P-2, FT, Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Section, Programme Group, NYHQ

Contract

This is a P-2 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 2 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 108,633 USD and 147,551 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 Programme Group is currently undergoing organizational changes; therefore, the exact location of the post is likely to move from New York. Selected candidates will commence duties in New York but will likely be expected to relocate to Nairobi during the initial contract or assignment period.

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

Early Childhood Development (ECD), as a multisectoral area, addresses children under 8 years of age, to give them the best start in life. ECD features as a transformative factor in the Global agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG), and UNICEF is recognized at global, regional and country levels as the reference agency for it, leading on this agenda to scale up programmes, implement policies, and promote awareness on the importance of investing in early years. A global call for action has been made to boost national investments and engage communities and families in the demand for integrated packages of interventions to ensure a fair start for all young children. This has led to a steady increase in early stimulation, responsive care, early learning and pre-primary programmes and policies around the world.

Although an increasing number of countries have been prioritizing ECD in their national development agenda, much remains to be done. Only 71% of children 36–59 months of age are developmentally on track, and 57% of children in UNICEF Country Offices are receiving early stimulation and responsive care as of 2021, both critical for young children to realize their full potential. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the dire situation by causing large-scale disruptions of early childhood services, forcing parents and caregivers to become frontline responders with their own well-being also at risk. The global health crisis, compounded with one of care and learning, has highlighted the need to prioritize ECD, even in emergencies, to address increased demand for parenting support to sustain their own well-being and ability to provide nurturing care for children.

As custodian agency for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.2.1 (% of children aged 24-59 months developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex), UNICEF also has a key role to play in the development and use of measurement tools and evidence building to reaffirm the ECD agenda and take best practices to scale to accelerate results for the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups of young children and their parents/caregivers.

The ECD team is currently anchored in and works closely with the Nutrition and Child Development team, while ensuring coordination of results for early childhood development across multiple sectors and programs (including Health, Education, Child Protection, WASH/Climate change, Social Protection, gender and disability). The team leads the implementation of the nurturing care framework to ensure that younger children have good health, adequate nutrition, opportunities for learning, are safe; and parents equipped to provide responsive caregiving.

How can you make a difference?

The ECD Officer reports to the ECD Specialist (P4) in charge of nurturing care, public financing for ECD and partnerships for general guidance and direction. The Officer will support the entire ECD team in all nurturing care needs including interactions with external partners, donors etc. and work in close collaboration with the Nutrition and Child Development team to leverage the impact of ECD programming globally.

The ECD Officer will provide technical, operational, and administrative assistance throughout the programming process, with a special focus on the following issues: operationalization of the nurturing care framework, caregiver’s mental health and well-being and children with disabilities. That will involve contribution in the design, monitoring, implementation and documentation of global proposals/initiatives, as well as budget management issues, with strategic focus on achievement of the Nutrition and Child Development section’s organizational priorities.

The ECD Officer will work in close collaboration with various teams (Nutrition, Health, Child Protection, Social Protection, WASH/Climate Change, Communication and Advocacy, and Partnerships), country and regional offices, UN agencies, academic institutions and donors to ensure successful programme implementation.

Specifically, the ECD Officer will be responsible for:

1. Scale up of nurturing care programs

• Support preparation of required program documentation/materials/data for technical assistance and programme development and implementation, with focus on nurturing care, caregiver’s mental health and children with disabilities issues.
• Support development of parenting toolkit, in close collaboration with relevant sections and divisions.
• Organize internal and external knowledge and learning exchange sessions on nurturing care
• Support country offices on programme design, implementation, evaluation and monitoring, and capacity building efforts on nurturing care.

2. Tracking program progress, budget and results

• Monitor/track progress of the nurturing care framework including scaling up of the Playful Parenting Programme through regular meetings and calls with focal points across UNICEF country and regional offices, HQ sections and divisions, as well as donor, and partner organizations.
• Support monitoring and reporting on use of ECD program resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation/goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity.

3. Resource mobilization, partnerships and grants management

• Support resource mobilization, including preparation of concept notes/proposals, and donor financial and narrative reports.
• Support launch of new grants, including assisting in development of contracts, workplans, theories of change, timelines, and budgets as per donor requirements.
• Support UNICEF’s participation in key partnership planning meetings and events.
• Liaise with partnerships and fundraising teams on grant management issues.
• Assist in establishment of partnerships and contractual agreements with academic institutions, donors, and other civil society partners.
• Support and collaborate with nutrition and child development teams to design and implement child development programs.
• Support integration and implementation of nurturing care in health, nutrition, child protection and social policy platforms under key partnerships (e.g. with WHO, ECDAN, LEGO Foundation etc).

4. ECD data and evidence

• Support new research initiatives, including organization of technical consultations and preparation of technical briefs/reports.
• Support analysis, knowledge management and dissemination of existing and new evidence with focus on parenting, caregiver’s mental health, nurturing care, and children with disabilities.

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

• An advanced university degree in early childhood development, education, public health, psychology, sociology or other social science field is required.
• A minimum of three (3) years of international/regional/country level professional experience in early childhood development related areas is required.

• Relevant experience in program/project development and grants management in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language 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…

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

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:

Priority will be given to all the eligible candidates participating in the 2022 Mobility Exercise and to Staff on Abolished posts.

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.