Education Officer (Emergency), Colombo, Sri Lanka

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 contracts.

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, H****ow can you make a difference?

Background :

Sri Lanka has experienced some of the longest COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures in the world. Despite significant efforts by governments and partners to expand remote learning through various modalities, nation-wide prolonged school closures for most of 2020-2021 in Sri Lanka have impacted all the 4.8 million children and adolescent. Prolonged school closures have worsened the already-existent learning crisis, generating further learning loss and widening the learning disparities, with the most marginalized and younger-aged children most affected.

As gradually moving to recovery from the covid-19 emergencies, since early 2022 Sri Lanka has been hit by its worst economic and political crisis since independence. The sharp inflation, alongside supply shortages and significant increases in fuel and food prices has been leading to that persisting inequalities are being widened, and disproportionately affecting the poorest, most marginalized and vulnerable children and their families. The current economic and political crisis has, once again, disrupted children’s learning with schools either fully or partially closed and school attendance severely constrained due to lack of fuel and transportation, critical shortages of educational resources, and extended economic burdens on parents that limit their ability to secure continued learning for their children.

To address the mentioned challenges, UNICEF Sri Lanka Humanitarian Action for Children

Appeal ( Sri Lanka Appeal | UNICEF) and the Sri Lanka Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan (Sri Lanka Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan | United Nations in Sri Lanka), were launched in June 2022 for immediate support required to the priority actions. UNICEF co-leads the Education Cluster and closely works with the MoE and provincial education authorities to provide emergency response support, targeting the most vulnerable, in the areas of: 1) continuous learning and learning recovery; 2) provision of educational materials; 3) preschool meals programme; and 4) psychosocial support. UNICEF also supports strengthening real-time monitoring, data and evidence generation and use for advocacy in the crisis context, so that the limited resources are directed to address the priority needs of children in escalated poverty and vulnerability.

Purpose:

Under the supervision of the Chief, Education, the Education Officer (Emergency) provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for education and education emergency programmes/projects within the Country Programme from planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

key functions/accountabilities:

Humanitarian Coordination (Education)

In close coordination with the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), UNICEF Country Office (CO) emergency focal point and the Education Cluster partners, assist the Chief of Education and contribute to the enhanced coordination and effectiveness of the Education Cluster mechanism, including in the planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting. Support UNICEF CO’s planning, implementation and monitoring of the education emergency response and recovery activities.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) & Knowledge Management in Education (including Emergency M&E)

In liaison with the UNICEF Sri Lanka Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) section, contribute to the reporting, data and evidence generation, and data and knowledge management in the education sector. This includes sector analysis, education research, studies and evaluations as well as required reporting pertaining to the UNICEF education programme. This will also entail emergency reporting, M&E and documentation of good practices and lessons learned.

Support Delivery of Basic Education Services

Assist the implementation of the Education Programme, especially in the delivery of basic education services, both in development and emergency contexts. In coordination with the relevant UNICEF staff and the implementation partners, provide support in the planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring and reporting of the programme activities.

Communication

Support communication and documentation of the progress and effects of Education Programme’s interventions (both in development and emergency contexts) in schools and communities, including programme evaluation and those for donor reporting, fundraising and advocacy purposes.

Other Tasks

Support communication and documentation of the progress and effects of Education Programme’s interventions (both in development and emergency contexts) in schools and communities, including programme evaluation and those for donor reporting, fundraising and advocacy purposes.

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

• A Bachelor’s degree in one of the following fields is required: education, psychology, sociology or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education is required.
• Experience working in a humanitarian context is considered as a strong asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Fluency in Sinhala and/or Tamil is required.

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 (1)

▪ Works Collaboratively with others (1)

▪ Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)

▪ Innovates and Embraces Change (1)

▪ Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)

▪ Drive to achieve impactful results (1)

▪ Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

EXPECTED START DATE: 01 November 2022

DURATION OF CONTRACT : 364 days

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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

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. Appointments are 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, medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

If you think this position might be for you, please take the time to review our Country Office Mutual Agreements before you apply.

If you believe you can team member that can uphold these everyday, then we look forward to receiving and reviewing your application