Education Manager, P4, Fixed Term, Kinshasa, DRC

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 146,826 USD and 189,301 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.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Number of researches and evidence have shown that investing in education contributes to the development of human capital and societies. However, the West and Central Africa Region (WCAR) lags behind with regard to both development indicators and education indicators. While most countries in West and Central Africa have made impressive gains in access to education since 2000, improvements in quality have not followed the same trend. What and how much students learn has a crucial impact on how long they stay in school and how regularly they attend. As such, investing in quality education system, in innovative ways, at all grade from preprimary to secondary (including alternative learning schools) has become instrumental to improving student learning outcomes.

For every child, Education

The Education Manager GJP is to be used in a large Country Office (CO) where the Representative is at the D2/D1 level and the Education Program is a full/comprehensive component of the Country Program (or UNDAF). The Specialist reports to the Chief, Education Section who is at Level 5.

Under the overall guidance and direction of the Chief, Education Section level 5 the Education Manager supports the Chief in managing the Section, contributing to knowledge development/innovation and developing and preparing education programs/projects. The Education Manager provides authoritative technical guidance/operational support throughout all stages of programming to facilitate the management and delivery of results on strengthening national education systems to improve learning outcomes and to promote universal access to and equitable and inclusive primary/early childhood education, especially for children who are marginalized, disadvantaged and excluded in society. The education manager contributes to achievement of concrete and sustainable programs/projects results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework. The education manager’s main duty regarding all above topics is quality in education from primarily to low secondary including alternative learning.

As a manager in a large country/area office, the incumbent is accountable for provision of support to the chief education Level 5 on managerial leadership and policy guidance for achievement of effective programme management, delivery of results and staff capacity development. The education manager give support to ensure management of staff under its supervision for cost effective, quality and efficient programme/projects in compliance with the organization's programmatic strategies and targets, administrative, policy, procedures, rules and regulations.

How can you make a difference?

1. Management and advisory support to the Chief

• Provide advice to the Chief in establishing the annual work plan including developing strategies and determining priorities/targets and performance measurements, especially on quality and learning, but not only. Coordinate work progress monitoring and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards and report to Chief critical issues for timely action.
• Provide technical assistance/advice to colleagues in the Section on all aspects of programming and implementation to enable colleagues to achieve program/performance objectives
• Perform the full duties of the Chief in his/her absence.

2. Program development and planning

• Plan and/or provide technical assistance and operational support to the preparation/design and conduct/update of quality learning opportunities situation analysis to ensure that current comprehensive and evidence based data on education issues are available to guide UNICEF’s strategic policy advocacy, intervention and development efforts on quality and learning and to set program priorities, strategies, design and implementation plans.
• Keep abreast of national/regional/international development priorities on quality education and learning outcomes to enhance program management and delivery.
• Participate in strategic program discussion on the planning of education programs/projects. Formulate, design and prepare programs/projects proposal for the sector, ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and Country Program and coherence/integration with UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies related to quality and learning in education.
• Establish specific goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans for the sector/s using on results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare required documentations for program review and approval.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies and to determine national priorities/competencies to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable results.
• Provide authoritative technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programs/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated.

3. Program management, monitoring and quality control of results

• Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results in education programs, especially on quality education and learning outcomes.
• 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.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Monitor programs/projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Plan, monitor and control 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.
• Submit/prepare program/project reports to donors and other partners to keep them informed on program progress and critical issues.

4. Advisory services and technical support

• Provide technical advice to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on quality education and other related issues to support program development planning, implementation and delivery of results.
• Coordinate/ensure the availability of technical experts (with Regional Office/HQ) to ensure timely support throughout all stages of programming/project processes.
• Participate in strategic discussions to influence policy and agenda setting for combating poverty and all forms of discrimination against women/children by advising on and advocating strategies and approaches to promote universal access to and equitable and inclusive quality education and learning outcomes for children in the country.
• Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and consideration.
• Participate in country discussions on quality in education in emergency preparedness, programming and contingency planning to ensure proactive and appropriate response are in place to meet onset of emergencies nationally or other designated locations.

5. Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• 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 and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on quality education and learning outcomes.

• Prepare communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances for sustainable results and support fund raising for UNICEF and Country Office education programmes and emergency interventions.

• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on quality in education and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues UNDAF planning and preparation of programs/projects including emergency preparedness.

6. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote critical thinking and innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable quality education programs/projects initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.

• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting edge practices on education management and information systems, including learning outcomes assessment. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned.

• Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.

• Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on quality education and related programs/projects.

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

• An Advanced University Degree in education, economics, psychology, sociology or other social science field is required.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressively responsible relevant work experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education at the international level, some of which preferably in a developing country is required. Experience working in the UN system agency or UN organization is an asset. Familiarity with emergency response is an asset.
• Fluency in English and French is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Selection Criteria:

• The staff should be able to work efficiently and manage in a highly complex environment and rapidly changing context
• The staff oversees quality of education and should be ready in terms of knowledge skills to support learning outcomes
• The capacity to supervise partnerships negotiations with government counterparts and NGOs is key.
• The staff should have strong manager capacities.
• Capable to show initiative in all situation and particularly when the chief of section is not available.
• The staff should be available to work as a strong team with his supervisor and more widely with the education team and the CO team

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.

The competencies required for this post are….

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

Functional Competencies

• Analyzing
• Deciding and initiating action
• Applying Technical Expertise

View our competency framework here

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

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

For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEF’s Entitlements’ page. If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online Salary Estimate Calculator

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

Due to COVID19, office physical presence and travel restriction might be in place at the duty station. In this regard, it is expected that the selected incumbent will have the resources to work remotely as long as it is required.

Once COVID19 restrictions are lifted, it is expected that the incumbent will be physically present in the position duty station. Specific circumstances will be discussed during the recruitment process.

Please note that some entitlements related to relocation will be effective once the official travel to the duty station takes place.