Education Specialist (Digital Learning), P-3, Amman, Jordan, Regional Office for the Middle East & North Africa, 364 days

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 104,359 USD and 136,650 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, hope

Since 2011, the MENA region has undergone a dramatic transformation. What was once a middle-income region, where UNICEF was implementing mostly upstream work, has now become the region with the greatest concentration of humanitarian needs in the world. Countries in conflict have experienced a collapse of systems resulting in 15 million children aged between 5-14 years old are out-of-school, and around 12 million children currently in school, are at risk of dropping out. In other words, 3 out of 10 children are either out-of-school or at risk of dropping out.

Since March 2020, the ability to physically attend schools across the 20 countries in the MENA region varied, impacting an estimated 110 million children and youth. The sudden disruption of education and learning for children posed significant challenges for education systems, however, education systems in MENA quickly mobilized with the launch of hybrid learning modalities to ensure continuity of learning of children. While significant progress has been made, reaching the most vulnerable children with hybrid learning opportunities for continued learning remains a challenge.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the closure of schools as a preventive measure, UNICEF in collaboration with Microsoft and the University of Cambridge at the global level launched the Learning Passport to support establishment of country level online/distance learning platforms. The Learning Passport Platform has been developed with full online and offline functionalities and is able to provide a digital educational experience to all children and youth globally, even if they are in an unconnected and resource poor environment. The platform offers educators and trainers with ability to track progress of learners and access to national curricula learning materials, teacher guides and supplementary content such as digital skills trainings.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of the Position

Under the guidance of the Regional Education Advisor, Education Specialist and the global Learning Passport team, the Digital/Distance Learning Specialist is expected to manage the digital/distance learning portfolio in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region, which includes supporting the implementation of the Learning Passport in addition to identifying other potential inclusive learning solutions in the region.

The Specialist plays a key role in bringing innovation to the development, implementation and monitoring of digital/distance learning programmes.

As such, the Specialist provides quality technical support and guidance to advance Country Offices in the region in developing and identifying inclusive digital and hybrid learning solutions that support continuation of learning, particularly for the most vulnerable children and in contexts of limited ICT infrastructure and Internet connectivity. This includes providing technical assistance in assessing country office requirements, localising the technology, curating content and ensuring that it is contextualized and can be effectively used in respective country offices. The Specialist promotes critical thinking and innovative approaches and good practices for better and sustained results for children, particularly those affected by crisis.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

• Support to Progamme Development and Planning:
• Provide technical assistance and advice to Colleagues in the section on all aspects of programming and implementation to enable them to achieve performance objectives, in the field of digital and distance learning.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies and to determine national priorities/competencies to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable results.

• Aid in the development of country-level programme implementation plans and activities, leveraging best practices and leading technical approaches, in coordination with Country Office teams, partners, and governments.

• Program management, monitoring and quality control of results:

• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results. Provide guidance on programmatic and technical data.

• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely interventions.

• Technical and operational support to program implementation:

• Provide technical guidance and operational support to country office partners/donors on interpretation, application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices and approaches on education and related issues to support program management, implementation and delivery of results.

• Arrange/coordinate availability of technical experts with Regional Office/HQ to ensure timely/appropriate support throughout the programming/projects process.
• Participate in education program meetings including program development and contingency planning to provide technical and operational information, advice and support.
• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and/or consideration.
• Support ongoing roll out of Learning Passport platforms in MENA within the contexts of Education, Adolescents and Development and Generation Unlimited (GenU) and participate in regular calls with global Learning Passport team.

• Troubleshoot technical, platform-level hardware and software issues with country teams and in coordination with global Learning Passport team and engineering resources.

• Networking and partnership building:

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with relevant counterparts and global partners/allies/donors/academia through active networking, advocacy and effective communication to build capacity, exchange knowledge/expertise and to reinforce cooperation to achieve sustainable and broad results on education programs.

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

• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:

• Apply/introduce innovative approaches and good practice to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results.

• Keep abreast, research, benchmark and implement best practices in education management. Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.
• Organize and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on education and related programs/projects.

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

• Advanced degree in education, information technology, statistics, communication, engineering, social sciences or other relevant field.
• At least 5 years of professional work experience in Technology for Development (T4D) and/or information system development, including mobile and web-based applications, with manifested capacity to manage programmes involving many stakeholders.
• Specific experience on ICT for learning or digital learning is an advantage.
• Experience managing user-driven design processes for UX/UI.
• Experience in digital learning design.
• Proven training and capacity building skills for a range of stakeholders.
• Good technical understanding and familiarity with information management systems.
• Knowledge of at least Teams, SharePoint, GitHub, Trello, Jira, Aha.
• Excellent communication abilities, in both written and oral forms.
• Demonstrated ability and experience in coordination.
• Fluency in English is a requirement, knowledge of Arabic is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness
• Works Collaboratively with others
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships
• Innovates and Embraces Change
• Thinks and Acts Strategically
• Drive to achieve impactful results
• Manages Ambiguity and complexity

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.

Remarks:

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/

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

This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/ assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.