Education Officer (Quality and System Recovery), NO-2, Mekele (For Ethiopian Nationals Only)

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

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

Watch a video about "Determined to study beyond disability" Here

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the job

Join our team to provide support for curriculum related issues and system strengthening and recovery interventions in the Tigray Region. This involves technical support for the Regional Education Bureau to monitor and make improvements during the roll out of the condensed curriculum (ensuring the incorporation of appropriate teacher training and a strengthened framework for learning assessments are considered), and preparations and administrative support throughout the contextualization of the new curriculum (planned to be launched in between 2025 – 2026 in the Tigray region).

III. Key functions, accountabilities, and related duties/tasks

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support to programme development and planning
2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results
3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation
4. Networking and partnership building
5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Support to programme development and planning

• Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design, and management of education related programmes/projects with a specific focus on learning outcomes, curriculum development, accelerated education, teacher training and development, gender, and inclusive education.
• 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 other related information for humanitarian and development planning, contingency planning, and goal setting.
• 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 learning assessments, curriculum reform, accelerated education, teacher training and development, inclusive education, and gender responsive education.
• Suggest solutions for 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 planning exercises with federal and regional 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.
• Draft regular/mandated education program/project reports for management, donors, and partners to keep them informed of program progress.

Technical and operational support to Quality and System Recovery interventions under the Education programme

• 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 related issues to support programme implementation, operations, and delivery of results.
• Liaise with Regional and Country Office colleagues across the education and protection sections on issues related to curriculum reform, learning assessments in recovery contexts, accelerated education, teacher training, inclusive education, and gender transformative approaches towards education.
• Support the innovative approach of quality interventions programme implementation of (Assessment for Learning, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Digital and Distance Learning strategies for emergency contexts).
• Actively participate and engagement with General Education Quality Improvement Programme
• Where needed, undertake field visits and surveys, and conduct action research, analysis, advocacy tools and policy briefs to inform and share information with stakeholders to assess progress to improved coordination, planning, monitoring and refer to relevant officials for resolution.
• Support the Education Specialist to conduct capacity needs assessments and analyze the education systems functionality at regional, woreda and kebele levels, and provide inputs to inform capacity improvement plans and develop training materials as required by UNICEF.

Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with regional government counterparts (College of Teacher Education, Universities, Teacher Associations, Youth and Women’s Association, and Zonal and Woreda Education Offices) and national stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education and the national education cluster/EiE TWG.
• Draft communication and information materials for the Education Specialist to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fund raising for education programmes.

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/stakeholders.

Work modalities:

• Base: The staff member will be based in the Mekelle Field office in the Tigray region of Ethiopia with required missions to the Shire sub-office for planning/coordination meetings. In addition, the staff member will undertake field monitoring and to affected zones across the region on regular basis.
• Work arrangements: The staff member will work closely with the Education Specialist (P3) based in Mekelle and the education programme team, in addition to the Education Specialist (NOB) based in Shire, the Country Office Education Programme Staff, as well as child protection programme staff at the field office, sub office and country office level.

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

• Bachelor's degree in education, psychology, sociology, or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of 2 [Two] years of relevant professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education is required.
• Relevant experience of designing or reviewing curriculum content and education sector planning is considered is desirable.
• Understanding of key issues and best practice in relation to inclusive education and equity-based education sector planning is an desirable.
• Relevant experience of designing and implementing accelerated learning modalities and teacher’s capacity building in an emergency context is an asset.
• Relevant experience of working in UN system is considered as an asset.
• Experience of working in Tigray region and fluency in local language is considered an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• 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...

Core Values:

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability

Core Competencies:

• 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)

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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. Female candidates who meet the requirements of the post are highly encouraged to apply.

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 are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.

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