Expression of Interest (EOI) - Social Policy Specialist P3, Belize City, Belize

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 74,649 USD and 97,747 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, an opportunity

The UNICEF office was established in 1981, the same year Belize gained its independence. However, our commitment to Belize dates back to 1954 with our early efforts to improve environmental health, vector control, supporting school feeding programs and providing primary school textbooks.

Since then, UNICEF has shifted its focus from direct service delivery for families and children to capacity building. We care for children by supporting child service providers, policymakers and members of the Belizean community.

UNICEF Belize's 2017-2021 Country Programme focuses on the following areas:

• Protecting children from violence and abuse, and strengthening national efforts for violence prevention
• Strengthening the child justice system
• Improving access and quality of Early Childhood Education and development services
• Improving access and quality of primary and secondary education
• Strengthening the social protection system
• Supporting greater and better social investments for families and children
• Child rights monitoring and reporting
• Generating evidence and data for improved policymaking for children
• Enhancing national emergency preparedness, response and disaster risk reduction efforts targeting families, particularly children
• Reducing Multidimensional Poverty and Child Rights Monitoring (including Social Protection, Data Strengthening and Child and Adolescent Participation)
• Lifelong Learning (including Early Childhood Development, Adolescent Health, Nutrition, School Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)
• Safety and Justice for Children (including Violence Prevention)

Integrated into all of these priority areas is support to enhance emergency preparedness planning and response

How can you make a difference?

The Social Policy Specialist at the P3 level reports to the CO Representative who is at level P5. The position is aimed to support the Office in the achievement of UNICEF's Priorities within the country, according to the Belize Country Programme Document (CPD) 2017 - 2021 and beyond.

The Social Policy Specialist reports to the CO Representative for general supervision and direction. The Social Policy Specialist supports the Representative on the overall management of the CO and coordinating closely with the different programme sections on all phases of the Country Programme, from formulation to delivery of results in accordance with UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework, ethics and integrity.

The Social Policy Specialist will also be responsible for the coordination of the Social Inclusion interventions ensuring the linkages across sectors to address the inequities and diverse deprivations faced by the most vulnerable groups across social service sectors.

Key Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Improving data on child poverty & vulnerability for increased use for policy and programme action
   • Supports the collection, analysis and user-friendly presentation of data on multidimensional and monetary child poverty, including strengthening national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.
   • Provides timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, and development; facilitates results-based management for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up specific social policy initiatives to reduce child poverty.
   • Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impact on social development, emerging issues and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effects of social welfare policies on the rights of children
2. Strengthening social protection coverage and impact for children

• Supports the development of social protection policies, legislation and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention the most marginalized. Identifies, generates and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.
• Promotes strengthening of integrated social protection systems, providing technical support to partners to improve the design of cash transfers and child grants and improve linkages with other social protection interventions such as health insurance, public works and social care services as well as complementary services and intervention related to nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation and child protection.

• Undertakes improved monitoring and research around social protection impact on child outcomes, and use of data and research findings for strengthening programme results.

  3. Improving use of public financial resources for children

• Undertakes budget analysis to inform UNICEF’s advocacy and technical assistance to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to improve equitable allocations for essential services for children. Works with sector colleagues to build capacity to undertake costing and cost effectiveness analysis on priority interventions to help inform policy decisions on child-focused investments.

• Supports the identification of policy options for improved domestic financing of child-sensitive social protection interventions.

• Undertakes and builds capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to support transparency, accountability and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, including through support to district level planning, budgeting and public financial management as well as facilitating community participation

  4. Strengthening capacity of local governments to plan, budget, consult on and monitor child-focused social services.

• Where national decentralization processes are taking place, collaborates with central and local authorities to improve policies, planning, budgeting, consultation and accountability processes so that decisions and child-focused service delivery more closely respond to the needs of local communities.

• Collaborates with the central and local authorities to strengthen capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of essential social services, with emphasis on community participation and accountability.

  5. Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social policy

• Supports correct and compelling use of data and evidence on the situation of children and coverage and impact of child focused services – in support of the social policy programme and the country programme overall.

• Establishes effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.

  6. UNICEF Programme Management

• Manages and coordinates technical support around child poverty, social protection, public finance and governance ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.

• Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: economics, social sciences, international relations, government and public relations, public policy, social or community development, political science or another relevant technical field. *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 5 years of relevant professional experience that combine technical and managerial leadership in programme development, implementation and management.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required and knowledge in Spanish or a local language is an asset.

In line with the DHR announcement on prioritization of internal candidates and freezing on external recruitment, UNICEF staff holding TA contracts, individual contractors, full-time consultants and United Nations Volunteers (UNVs) are also considered "internal candidates" for this recruitment.

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:

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

The Functional Competencies are:

• Analyzing (3)
• Persuading & Influencing (2)
• Planning & Organizing (3)

To view our competency framework, please view file attached:

• Competency Framework Brochure.pdf

Remarks:

Click on the following item to view the complete Job Profile: Social Policy Specialist Level 3.pdf

Effective date of this post will be 14.06.2021 and is subject to approval by UNICEF Executive Board.

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.

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

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