Early Childhood Development Specialist (Evidence and Knowledge Management), P-3, FT, ECD, PG, NYHQ (#113257)

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 140,639 USD and 184,155 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.

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. At global, regional and country levels, UNICEF is leading on this agenda to scale up programmes, implement policies, and promote awareness on the importance of 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 the inclusion of early stimulation, responsive care, early learning and pre-primary programmes and policies around the world.

Although an increasing number of countries around the world have been prioritizing ECD in their national development agenda, much remains to be done. Only 71% of children 36–59 months of age developmentally on track, and 57% of children in UNICEF Country Offices receiving early stimulation and responsive care as of 2021, both critical for young children to realize their full potential. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated a 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 (% children aged 24-59 months developmentally on track in literacy-numeracy, physical, learning and social emotional skills), 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 works closely with the Nutrition and Child Development team and also ensures coordination of results for early childhood development across multiple sectors and programs (Health, Education, Child Protection, WASH/Climate change, Social Protection).

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF’s Programme Group is currently undergoing organizational changes and the location of the post is anticipated to move from New York. Selected candidates will commence their assignment in New York but will likely be expected to relocate to a new location during the initial contract period.

The ECD Specialist for Evidence and Knowledge Management reports to the Senior Advisor (P-5), ECD, for general guidance and direction. The Specialist will also closely support the Associate Director (D-1) and the entire ECD team’s Evidence and Knowledge Management needs, including interactions with senior management, the Global Technical teams, external partners, conferences etc. The ECD Specialist works in close collaboration with the Nutrition and Child Development team to provide effective management of evidence and knowledge as one of the key strategies to leverage the impact of ECD programming globally.

The key functions and responsibilities of the ECD Specialist are as follows:

1. Strategic Management of ECD Knowledge and Evidence

• Provide technical coordination to establish an ECD knowledge management strategy/action plan, effective generation and dissemination of latest ECD knowledge and evidence to leverage the impact of ECD programming impact globally
• Promote systematic collation and management of a wide range of knowledge products, on ECD, parenting and early stimulation
• Keep abreast of research, benchmark and collate best practices on early childhood development. Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned with Regional Offices (ROs) and Country Offices (COs) on parenting and early stimulation; in collaboration with Nutrition and Child Development teams
• Facilitate timely and effective dissemination of ECD knowledge, evidence and technical guidance to support Regional Offices (ROs) and Country Offices (COs)
• In collaboration with Nutrition and Child Development teams, coordinate and finalize Global Annual Results Reports (GARR) and other corporate reports/publications to ensure that relevant and latest ECD knowledge and evidence are reflected
• Develop ECD newsletters/news flashes, briefs and key outreach materials summarizing experiences from the field
• Lead the development of a background document on key competencies and skills required for front-line health workers in ECD services, and scope available training tools tailored to health providers in ECD services
• Provide technical support and inputs to the development of national guidelines and training materials on ECD services (e.g. parenting counselling, care group activity and home visiting) for country programmes (focus on China)

2. Planning, Monitoring and Delivery of ECD Programme

• Coordinate planning of evidence and knowledge management activities for HQ ECD Programme Work Plans
• In collaboration with the Nutrition and Child Development Planning teams, support analytical inputs to annual and other periodical programme reviews to identify key achievements, gaps, strengths/weaknesses in terms of ECD evidence and knowledge management, identify lessons learned
• Prepare ECD regular/mandated programme/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.
• Contribute to development of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for country programmes on ECD at a large scale, including short-, medium-, and longer-term impact assessment (e.g. China)

3. Capacity development

• Provide technical and coordination supports for relevant ECD data collection, research and evaluation initiatives
• Plan and develop learning and capacity building opportunities for UNICEF staff and partners to promote sustainable results on ECD related programmes, including through thematic webinars, AGORA, massive open online courses (MOOC) and other online learning platforms
• Apply/introduce innovative approaches and good practices to build capacity of UNICEF staff and partners and to support implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results on ECD
• Provide timely support to ROs and COs to facilitate adoption and roll out of global knowledge goods, including measurement for child development

4. Cross-sectoral coordination and partnerships

• Coordinate with other Programme Group (PG) sections, HQ Divisions and other concerned parties to ensure integration and coherence of ECD knowledge and evidence agenda in respective SP Goal Areas and sectors
• Contribute to effective generation and use of knowledge and evidence to advance the equity agenda with focus on disability-inclusive and gender-responsive ECD programming
• Coordinate international resources and expertise in ECD capacity building, and adult training methodology and/or implementation research to support country programmes (especially in China)

5. Collaboration on Nutrition-Child Development Initiatives

• Support the Global Technical team on Parenting for ECD
• Support evidence and data for integration of early stimulation and parenting in Nutrition platforms and support monitoring of progress towards results in key partnerships (e.g. partnership with the Government of Netherlands on Nutrition and Child Development)

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: education, public administration, public health, nutrition, economics, psychology, sociology, human development, child development, family studies or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience relevant to knowledge management, planning and monitoring in early childhood development or other related areas is required.
• Experience in coordinating development of global evidence-based packages in ECD is desirable.
• Working experience at the international and/or in a developing country is highly desirable.
• 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 (CRITA) 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…

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

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 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.

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 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

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 may also be 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.