Early Childhood Development Programme Specialist

Volunteering Teaching & Training

Overview

Support the implementation of early childhood development initiatives in Egypt.

You have:

• Experience supporting programme implementation, coordination, research, or technical assistance.
• Experience working with early childhood development interventions in community and/or nursery setting.
• Prior engagement with government institutions, UN agencies, or NGOs in policy advocacy or program implementation is an asset.
• Experience working with children, caregivers, healthcare providers, or community-based interventions is an asset.
• Experience supporting trainings, facilitation, or development of technical materials is desirable.
• Knowledge of nurturing care, developmental screening, and integrated ECD approaches is an asset.
• Experience with research, literature reviews, report writing, and data analysis.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Strong drafting and reporting skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and coordination skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Familiarity with UNICEF programming and the UN system is an asset.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

This assignment is part of a UNV-funded initiative designed to bring fresh, diverse talent into UN programmes from countries that are currently unrepresented among UN Volunteers. It offers a unique opportunity to help ensure that global volunteering truly reflects the world we serve, while giving participating UN Volunteers meaningful, hands on experience with leading UN partners. As such, the initiative targets candidates from the following nationalities: Andorra, Croatia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Slovenia.

At UNICEF, we communicate and advocate to realize the rights of every child, especially the most marginalized, in every country. UNICEF Egypt Child Survival and Development section aims to ensure all young children, from conception to school entry, especially the most vulnerable, achieve their full potential through nurturing care and equitable access to quality services. Established in 1946, UNICEF is mandated to advocate for the protection of children's rights, help meet their basic needs, and expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

The goal is to address early childhood needs in Egypt from conception to early childhood in support of national efforts to provide quality services for all. The objectives include supporting parents with positive parenting, improving health, nutrition, and protection, promoting early learning through community-based programs, and strengthening national policies and programs to support child developments.

The UN Volunteer assignment will support UNICEF Egypt’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) programming within integrated health, parenting, education and child development initiatives. UNICEF works in close collaboration with National Committee for Children and Mothers (NCCM), Ministry of Social Solidarity, Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) and other key stakeholders to strengthen nurturing care services for young children and caregivers.

The UN Volunteer will get the experiential learning opportunity from an experienced and expert team in an international development organization environment and contribute to delivering results for children in Egypt.

This assignment offers a unique opportunity to contribute to UNICEF's mission of improving early childhood development (ECD) in Egypt. Under the supervision of the Early Childhood Development Manager at UNICEF Eastern and Central Office (ECO), the United Nations (UN ) Volunteer will support the implementation, monitoring, and advocacy of early childhood development initiatives.

Key responsibilities include: Program implementation & support: • Work in close coordination with the Child Survival and Development team and relevant sections in UNICEF to execute the Child Survival and Development Workplan 2025-2026, focusing on ECD. • Support research and analysis of regional and national political, social, and economic development trends impacting ECD. Collect, analyze, verify, and synthesize information to facilitate program development, design, and preparation. • Support procedures to ensure smooth program implementation, including documentation, budgeting, minute-taking, and close follow-up with colleagues and implementers.

Program monitoring and delivery of results: • Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews, and annual program reviews with government and other counterparts; prepare minutes/reports on results for follow-up action by higher management and other stakeholders. • Monitor and report on the use of ECD program resources (financial, administrative, and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocations/goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures, donor commitments, and standards of accountability and integrity. Report issues to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders and follow up on unresolved issues. • Prepare inputs for program and donor reporting. • Undertake field visits and surveys and/or collect/share information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress, provide technical support, or refer issues to relevant officials for resolution. Report critical issues, bottlenecks, and potential problems for timely action to achieve results. Stakeholder Coordination: • Support building and sustaining effective working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active information and knowledge sharing to facilitate program implementation and build stakeholders' capacity to achieve and sustain results on ECD programs/projects. • Participate in technical working groups and inter-agency platforms related to early childhood development.

Other tasks may include: • Support the coordination and implementation of UNICEF Egypt's Early Childhood Development activities and partnerships. • Assist in organizing meetings, workshops, trainings, and stakeholder consultations. • Support communication and coordination with government counterparts, implementing partners, consultants, and other stakeholders. • Contribute to the preparation of reports, presentations, briefs, and program documents. • Support documentation of program activities, lessons learned, and good practices. • Assist in conducting background research, literature reviews, and information gathering related to ECD initiatives. • Support monitoring, follow-up, and reporting on program activities and timelines. • Contribute to knowledge management and organization of relevant program resources and materials. • Participate in field visits and support follow-up on action points and coordination efforts. • Provide administrative and operational support related to ECD program activities as needed.

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organising • Professionalism • Self-management

• Experience supporting programme implementation, coordination, research, or technical assistance; • Experience working with early childhood development interventions in community and/or nursery setting • Prior engagement with government institutions, UN agencies, or NGOs in policy advocacy or program implementation is an asset. • Experience working with children, caregivers, healthcare providers, or community-based interventions is an asset; • Experience supporting trainings, facilitation, or development of technical materials is desirable; • Knowledge of nurturing care, developmental screening, and integrated ECD approaches is an asset; • Experience with research, literature reviews, report writing, and data analysis; • Excellent oral and written communication skills; • Strong drafting and reporting skills; • Excellent interpersonal and coordination skills; • Ability to work collaboratively in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams; • Strong organizational and time-management skills; • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); • Familiarity with UNICEF programming and the UN system is an asset.

Note:

This Description of Assignment is part of a targeted UNV initiative and is open exclusively to candidates with the following nationalities: Andorra, Croatia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Slovenia. Applicants from the above countries who do not fully meet the minimum professional experience requirements for a UN Volunteer ‘Specialist’ assignment are still encouraged to apply; if selected, they may be recruited under the Conditions of Service applicable to UN Volunteer ‘Associate’ assignments.

Cairo, Egypt is a family duty station with a wide range of services (health, education and leisure) and good living conditions. It has long been a center of the region’s political and cultural life, with high levels of tourism. Like other similar cities, Cairo offers good quality of life in terms of access to shopping centers, banks, medical services, educational facilities, cultural events, etc. The Arab Republic of Egypt has a unique geographical position in Northeast Africa, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and its connection to Sub Saharan Africa through the Nile Valley.

International UN Specialist Volunteer gets the following package: • Volunteer Living Allowance (around USD 2,456/Month) • Entry Lump-Sum = USD 3,500 • Exit Lump-Sum upon completion of contract. • Medical and life Insurance premium/Cigna (100%) and dependents policy. • Access to UNV E-Campus for training and learning including access to LinkedIn learning.

You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos

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Added 15 days ago - Updated 18 hours ago - Source: unv.org