Education Specialist P3 - Project Coordinator- TA, 364 days, Bamako-Mali

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 115,781 USD and 151,606 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

Despite Mali's efforts to commit to Education for All by 2015, the country has fallen behind in achieving this goal. To date, Mali still has 2 million children out of school, and at risk of dropping out of school (primary and lower secondary school age). In addition, demographic trends suggest that this figure will increase in the near future. While school exclusion in Mali is caused by multiple structural factors associated with demand as well as barriers on the educational supply side, the OOSC problem is magnified by a weak education management system.

The complex crisis facing Mali since 2012, which includes political instability, armed conflict and recurring floods and food insecurity is adding difficulties and increasing barriers to access to education. As of March 2020, more than 1,200 schools were closed in Northern and Central regions of the country due to insecurity (threats and direct attacks against infrastructure and personals) affecting more than 370,000 children. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of all schools since mid-March 2020 (early June only the examination classes have reopened).

Half of the country is affected by insecurity and the entire country by COVID-19. In this context it becomes needed to strengthen and increase the education in emergency capacity of the education team to support the COVID-19 response.

The Global Partnership for Education has granted support to the government of Mali by offering a GPE grant using the World Bank as grantee. The government decided to outsource part of this grant to UNICEF – namely on education in emergencies and COVID-19.

Canada funds several programmes of UNICEF, including “ Back to School” and COVID-19 related programmes.

The education section is seeking a programme coordinator to oversee the management and implementation of these grants and possible some related grants.

How can you make a difference?

Project Management

• Demonstrate strong project ownership and responsibilities.
• Develop and manage end-to-end project plans in collaboration with other team members, identifying in­terdependencies that will result in integrated actions and ensure on-time delivery.
• Provide hands-on project management during the project’s implementation and post implementation phases.
• Perform risk management on the project. Manage project risk and escalate issues to the appropriate level when needed.
• Provide day-to-day coordination and quality assurance for projects and tasks.
• Drive internal and external process improvements across multiple teams and functions.
• Interface with technical teams, donors and government for project requirements and scope.
• Actively track and monitor the project tasks performed by government, colleagues and implementing partners .
• Create and maintain major project documentation including, but not restricted to: Gannt Chart, Risk Log, Budget, Run Rate, Resourcing logs, Workbooks and project calendars.
• Define and document the completion of all phases of the project implementation. Create and maintain project management artifacts such as project scope, WBS, status reporting, etc.
• Conduct meetings with project sponsor, stakeholders and project team.
• Prepare briefing notes to project stakeholders, including Project Board.
• Track the project budget.
• Monitor, coordinate and provide guidance in the resolution of any upcoming problems
• Maintain positive team atmosphere.

Project Implementation

• Oversee the execution of work streams’ planning, implementation and evaluation to reach integrated results.
• Develop and update project work plans, submitting them to the leadership team for agreement and approval.
• Liaise with all project stakeholders, ensuring views of all parties are considered, verified and vali­dated, and appropriately prioritized to meet project objectives.
• Participate in leadership meetings and provide progress reports on functions implemented and up­dates on the implementation of the solution.
• Assists government at national and local level to plan to implement the activities.
• Undertakes monitoring missions as necessary.

Knowledge Management

• Ensure that the project, when formally closed, has lessons learned and appropriate documentation to support implemented processes.
• Project records and documents are properly handed over to business and technical leads with clear descriptions of ongoing roles and maintenance activities.
• Any other activities assigned by chief of education or education in emergencies specialist

Expected Deliverables

The Project Manager will accomplish the objectives of the project by producing the following deliverables:

• Overarching project plan for achieving results - project plans developed in collaboration with team members and stakeholders, with defined synergies when possible to ensure integrated actions and on-time delivery.
• Project risks identified and managed, and issues flagged when appropriate.
• Project requirements and scope analyzed and implemented.
• Major project documentation created and maintained, e.g. Gannt Chart, Risk Log, Budget, Run Rate, resourcing logs, workbooks and project calendars, etc.
• The completion of all phases of the project implementation defined and documented with pro­ject management artifacts created and maintained, such as project scope, WBS, status reporting etc.
• Briefing notes to project stakeholders prepared.
• The project budget tracked on regular basis.
• Project work plans developed, regularly updated and submitted to leadership team for agree­ment and approval.
• The integrated planning processes, accountability matrixes designed and closely monitored for progresses and results, risks managed.
• Progress reports on functions and final reporting implemented, and updates on the implementation of the solu­tion provided to the leadership.
• Lessons learned and appropriate documentation of the project ensured to support implemented processes.

• Project records and documents gathered with clear descriptions of ongoing roles and mainte­nance activities.

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

• Master’s in social sciences, Education, Humanitarian assistance or related technical field, preferably with specialization in education policy and development, Programme planning, monitoring and evaluation or emergencies.
• At least 5 years professional experience in project management with UNICEF / UN agencies or international development institutions. Prior experience in managing Education projects is an asset.

*A First university degree with 2 additional relevant work experience may be considered.

Additional requirements:

• Essential professional knowledge of Education/Basic Education programs in emergency in Mali.
• Technical Knowledge of theories, principles and methods in areas of: Education in Emergencies, distance learning, protective learning environment, Conflict and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Good knowledge in Excel and Microsoft Office, knowledge in monitoring and reporting.
• Minimum of five years of relevant professional experience at national and international level in Education in Emergency, education program management, planning, monitoring and evaluation in a related field, strong skills in analysis.
• Experience, knowledge of Mali education system and stakeholders will be an asset.
• Fluency in French and English required. Good knowledge of one of the local languages of the duty station is highly desirable

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

Core Competencies

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Innovates and embraces change
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others
• Nurtures, leads and manages people

UNICEF Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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:

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