Education Strategic Advisor, Beirut Lebanon (126 days)

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy 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

UNICEF leads the implementation of the programme to Reach All Children with Education in Lebanon (RACE) which is coming to the end in June 2021. At the same time, the Country Programme Document for UNICEF Lebanon is being extended until the end of 2022. Therefore the LCO is in a key strategic planning moment for its work to ensure access to and quality of learning for Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian children in the country continues. A senior strategic and technical resource is needed to help the Education Team determine the strategic direction of the programme; as well as to determine the revised modalities that will be needed to effectively implement it together with all partners. An Education Strategic Advisor is needed to lead and facilitate internal and external strategic discussions relating to the future of UNICEF Lebanon’s education programmes and support the team in the review of strategy notes, proposals, reports and workplans. In the context of COVID-19, this work will be conducted with a mix of remote and mission work.

Overall, there are four key deliverables:

1) Contributions to internal capacity needs and structure of the Education Team;

2)Finalisation of a revised programme strategy note for the last two years of the country programme;

3) Enhancements and contributions to the Distance Learning Plan from MEHE; and 4) Contribution to an Education strategy post -RACE.

How can you make a difference?

More specifically, this role involves:

- Undertaking analysis using available (cross-sectoral) data and information to best understand the depth of vulnerabilities for children of all nationalities in Lebanon; after the multiple crises that have impacted the country

- Facilitate discussions and workshops with all relevant colleagues to:

o construct a clear bottleneck analysis of barriers to quality education for the most marginalized children in Lebanon

o construct possible education programme interventions in response; using a clear understanding of UNICEF’s mandate and value add in the current context of Lebanon

o derive potential cross-sectoral programmes that will aid the education of marginalized children in Lebanon; with adequate recommendations for partnerships with other UN agencies and NGOs of similar mandate

o ensure that UNICEF LCO’s strategic policy, advocacy, intervention, and development efforts on education programmes are fit to context o ensure synergy, integration, coherence with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities, donors’ development strategies, and national priorities

- Support the setting and documentation of programme priorities, strategies, and implementation plans.

- Support the timely preparation of related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Programme revision, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s overall Strategic Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.

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

• An advanced university degree Masters in the field of Education *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience in the area of Education, including strategy and policy, in Emergency and Devleopment Contexts
• Expert in formal and non-formal education – access, quality and systems
• Proven experience supporting Education strategy setting with government counterparts, partners and across teams
• Excellent strategic thinker, with ability to bring together complex goals across multiple stakeholders
• In depth understanding of education systems and modalities for effective implementation of complex education programmes.
• 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.
• Knowledge of Lebanon and the Lebanese context and the region a plus

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.

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The application will be reviewed under the best value for money principle, thus only applications with financial proposal will be considered (including the total fees in USD)