Education Specialist (Data) P3, Kabul, Afghanistan #124797 (Open to Non-Afghanistan nationals only)

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 110,481 USD and 144,666 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.

For every child, Education

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.

Forty years of war in Afghanistan, recurrent natural disasters, chronic poverty, drought, and the COVID-19 pandemic have been devastating for the people of Afghanistan. The recent political transition has only exacerbated needs and further complicated an extremely challenging operational context.

The past twenty years of progress and investment in education resulted in a tenfold increase in the participation of girls and boys. These gains are now at risk to be fully reversed as schools throughout the country face major challenges to remain functional, as schools have been closed for most of the time since March 2020 due to COVID19, reduced funding available in support of the public system due to frozen external support and delays in reopening schools for all children, in particularly at secondary levels. These challenges come on top of existing and structural weakness of the public education system.

In this context, UNICEF stepped up to be the vehicle to ensure continued support to both public and community-based education, to ensure continued learning of children. UNICEF’s Annual Workplan for 2023/24 is around USD 200 mln/per year from different donors[1] and focusses on the following priority interventions:

• support to Community Based Education
• pre- and in-service teacher training,
• the provision of textbooks and basic teaching and learning materials and,
• infrastructure works at school level

UNICEF’s priorities in the coming two years focus on ensuring that schools remain operational for girls and boys and that once girls and boys return to school that they receive a quality learning to provide them a lifeline for their survival and further development. Key interventions are around i) payment of teacher incentives, ii) procurement and distribution of teaching and learning materials, iii) consolidation and expansion of Community Based Education, and iv) roll out of pre-service and in-service teacher training. These priorities are aligned with the Afghanistan Education Sector Transitional Plan (AESTF).

A systematic approach to data collection and management is key to support programming, implementation, and monitoring, as well as accountability towards different donors for results. Program implementation involves 27 Implementing Partners and are managed by different staff members at national and sub-national levels

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the Education M&E specialist, the Data Specialist is responsible for the engineering of information management systems and dashboards that relate to education specific programs: management of CBE data base, GATE database, public school supply monitoring database, and setting up other ad hoc databases related to the training of teachers, real-time monitoring of access to education and construction projects.

The data specialist will systematize data collected at sector level (for example through the school-based survey) and triangle public school data with data from different program dashboards (CBE, Supplies and teacher training)

At the same time, it will be important to ensure a direct link to grant monitoring against these programs that are funded by different donors (including those from the WB, ADB, EU, ECHO, GPE and ECW) that are managed by different staff members to ensure management of data in terms of financial transactions, implementation progress, and results against the agreed reporting requirements of each of the donors.

This role includes, pro-actively working with and build the capacity of the field offices and Kabul team in the area of data collection, management and usage – linked to UNICEF’s overall education program as well as to each specific program intervention, targeting per location and reporting against budget, implementation progress and results etc.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Identification, development and implementation of data solutions and associated digital tools for data collection, verification and analysis as well as data visualization approaches in education:
2. Capacity building, innovation and knowledge management

Training, documentation and capacity development of the Implementing Partner staff and in ongoing data collection:

• In collaboration with the relevant Section stakeholders, identify training, documentation and capacity development requirements to support data collection using RTM, data visualization tools digital engagement tools
• Identify existing training, documentation and capacity development resources available or develop training, documentation and capacity development tools that may be required
• Deliver training and other capacity development activities (e.g., CBE Information Management Clinics, workshops, webinars) online and in person as agreed with the relevant Section Colleagues and their counterparts
• Capture any lessons learnt from the training and capacity development activities to enhance and improve future activities.
• Support initiatives for promote critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on grant management within the organization as well as with externals to ensure effective and efficient grant implementation.
• Further to analysis of supply spend and related procurement strategies, support initiatives to ensure local market development where relevant.

3. Programme Management, Budgeting and Reporting
4. Collaboration with program team and implementing partners.
5. Reporting

• Support M&E Specialist to integrate ActivityInfo dataflows into a centralized monitoring dataflow with a view to achieve Sector-wide reporting

• Support Result Managers to prepare Financial reports for each grant and quality assured

• In collaboration with KM Officer, support the preparation of (donor) reports, ensuring the accurate and timely submission of high-quality, evidence-based reports.

Expected Results

The ability of the Data Specialist to successfully plan, manage and oversee the effective and efficient generation of data and data information systems, that support the implementation of key education section interventions, will directly impact on program goals and results for children especially for delivery of 2022/23 HAC/AWP. This in turn contributes to maintaining/enhancing the credibility of UNICEF as an effective and responsible manager of funds entrusted to the organization and to furthering UNICEF image as a competent organization for delivering cost effective and sustainable program results for children.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Computer Science, Information Technology, public administration, or any other relevant studies. A minimum of 5 of relevant professional experience in:
• Data systems development and management,
• Working in Emergency Settings

• Capacity development of staff and partners

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

• Fluency in English is required, and local languages (Dari & Pashto) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, 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...

• 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. 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 women are encouraged to apply.

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

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). 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.

Eligible UNICEF International Professional (IP) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to a Temporary Appointment, which is dedicated to L3 (or L2) Response, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and their current tour of duty, and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.

[1] The programs are funding by different funding sources: including WB, ADB, EU, ECHO, GPE, DANIDA, ECW – each of them with different timelines, conditions, etc. Having unified dashboards that bring this together is the only way to ensure coherency and, above all, continuity for children’s support and learning.