Education Officer, NOB, Montevideo, Uruguay

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, education

UNICEF has been present in Uruguay since 1992. Since then, it has provided technical cooperation and financial assistance to the Government and to the society in different areas to promote the rights of children and adolescents and generate opportunities for all of them to achieve the full development of their abilities. UNICEF work is based on a cooperation program that is agreed with the government every five years. A new cooperation program between UNICEF and Uruguay's Government started in March 2021.

UNICEF provides technical assistance and advice for monitoring, supporting and promoting children's rights on the following areas within the country:

- Support policies to reduce levels of poverty affecting children with special focus on early child development.

- Prevention of non-communicable diseases on children under five.

- Improve graduation rates in upper secondary education.

- Guarantee the access of children with disabilities to inclusive education.

- Reduce the number of children and adolescents living in institutional care.

- Prevention of violence against girls and boys.

- Empower adolescents to participate in decision making processes.

- Improve alternatives to deprivation of liberty for adolescents in conflict with the law.

- Raise awareness about child rights among Uruguay's general public and the engagement of the private sector, civil society organizations (CSOs) and academic institutions in promoting, protecting and monitoring child rights.

How can you make a difference?

Strategic office context

The Education Officer at the NOB level reports to the Programme Manager who is at level P3. The Education Officer is responsible for the education and early childhood development components of the Uruguay Country Programme Document (CPD) 2021 – 2025.

Purpose of the Position

Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, the Education Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for education and early childhood development programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development 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 Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

- Support to programme development and planning:

- Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design and management of education and early childhood education related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (economic, social, health, etc.) and data for use in programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results.

- Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of education and early childhood education and other related information for development planning and goal setting.

- Support the development, implementation and monitoring of sectoral gender-sensitive programmes in alignment with UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan for the promotion and achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

- Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results.

- Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results:

- Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues.

- Suggest solutions on routine programme implementation and submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.

- Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders.

- Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.

- Prepare draft inputs for programme/donor reporting.

- Technical and operational support to programme implementation:

- Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and refer to relevant officials for resolution.

- Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.

- Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education and early childhood education related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.

- Networking and partnership building:

- Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education and early childhood education programmes.

- Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fund raising for education and early childhood education programmes.

- Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings and events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of education and early childhood education programmes/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.

- Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

- Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:

- Contribute to identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.

- Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.

- Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.

- Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholder.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate:

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

Experience: A minimum of two years of relevant professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education is required.

Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.

Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

Education: A university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, psychology, sociology or another relevant technical field.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Spanish is required. Knowledge of another official UN working language is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

Core Values: Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability,

Core competencies: Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1), Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1), Drive to achieve impactful results (1), Innovates and Embraces Change (1), Manages ambiguity and complexity (1), Thinks and Acts Strategically (1), Works Collaboratively with others (1), Nurtures, leads, and manage people (1).

Functional competencies: Analyzing (2), Learning and Researching (2), Planning and Organizing (2), Applying technical expertise (2).

View our competency framework in the file attached:

• Competency Framework Brochure.pdf

Remarks:

Click on the following item to view the complete Job Profile: NOB Education Officer (SJD).pdf

**This vacancy is open to Uruguayan nationals only****.

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.

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.

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

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