Education Officer, TA, NO2, Manaus, Brazil

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.

Education Officer, NO-2, TA, Manaus

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

Brazil has made steady progress in all education-related indicators regarding access, permanence and quality of learning. Quality is one of the remaining challenges to universal access to and permanence in school and it is a national priority as stated in the SDG 4 (SDG). The access to primary education is well balance among boys and girls, but for secondary education, especially in rural areas, the girls are more likely to do not access and drop out more than boys. The access to basic WASH at school level remain a challenge in the intervention areas.

Through the Selo UNICEF, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Semiarid and Brazilian Legal Amazon, with the aim of reducing the inequalities of these regions in relation to the rest of the country. In urban centers, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities through the Agenda Cidade UNICEF. The amazon area is the most challenging region of the country regarding education indicators.

How can you make a difference?

The Education Officer reports to the Chief Field Office Manaus and to the Chief Education as a second supervisor responsible for technical oversight and guidance. The Education Officer provides professional technical, operational, and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for education programs/projects within the Country Program from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative program tasks to facilitate program development, implementation, program progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting. The Education Officer also provides technical support to the Amazon States covered by the Manaus, Belém and São Luís field offices, both in programmatic issues and in strategic partnerships. The Education officer will be responsible for:

1. Support to program development and planning

• Contribute to the preparation/update of situation analysis for the program sector/s for development, design and management of education related programs/projects.
• Contribute to the development/establishment of sectoral program goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of education data and other related information for development planning and priority and goal setting.
• Participate in Annual Work Plan and Work Plan process construction.

2. Program management, monitoring and delivery of results.

• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations and/or alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decision. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.

• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess programs/projects and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of program management.

• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral program resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation/goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on critical issues/findings to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Participate in strategic internal meetings like GT (working group) of Education area, Climate Change GT and field offices foruns.
• Draft regular/mandated sectoral program/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of program progress.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing/administering a variety of technical, program, operational and administrative transactions, preparing related materials/documentations and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support program planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results.

3. Technical and operational support to program implementation

• Conduct regular program field visits and surveys and/or exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support, take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or 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 related issues to support program implementation, operations, and delivery of results.

4. 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 program implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programs.

• Draft communication and information materials for Country Office program advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for education programs.

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

• Support the office, whenever necessary, in all intersectoral articulations, such as the UNICEF Seal and the UNICEF City Agenda, acting as an Office in Charge, and responding to all demands from partners and government bodies.

5. 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 program results.

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

• Participate as resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.

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

• A University Degree in education, psychology, sociology or other social science field is required.
• A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in education, social development and management in education at the national and/or in a developing country is required.
• Relevant experience in related areas, program/project development and management in a UN system agency is an asset.
• Fluency in English and Portuguese is required. Working knowledge of Spanish is an asset.

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: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

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 from vulnerable populations are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments are also 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.

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