Health & Early Childhood Development Officer (NOB) Santiago, Chile

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 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, Health & DEvelopment

The Early Childhood Development (Health & ECD) Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance to develop interventions, from development planning to delivery of results. The Health & Early Childhood Development Officer is expected to prepare, execute, monitor and implement a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate results related to early childhood development and health issues in children, affecting the various sectors (e.g. education, protection, etc.) with a greater focus on mental health, social determinants of Health, nutrition, non-communicable diseases, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, response to the migration crisis, early childhood development and nurturing care through parenting. Finally, he/she is expected to identify and analyze priority areas related to public health for the future Country Programme.

How can you make a difference?

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support to ECD programme development and planning 2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results 3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation 4. Networking and partnership building 5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building 1. Support to ECD programme development and planning

 Conduct the situation analysis for the development, design and management of health and early childhood development related programmes. Research and report on development trends (e.g. political social, economic, health) for higher management use to enhance programme planning, efficiency and delivery of results.  Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral and cross-cutting programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning through analysis of health and ECD needs and areas for intervention and submission of recommendations for priority and goal setting, with a particular focus on mental health, social determinants of health, nutrition, non-communicable diseases, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's health and development, design, implementation and monitoring of UNICEF's response to the migration crisis, early childhood development and nurturing care through parenting.  Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support results-based planning, monitoring and evaluation of results.  Prepare required documentations and materials to facilitate the programme review and approval process.

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

 Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss ECD operational and implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations, and/or to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.

 Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts to assess ECD and Health programmes and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of programme management.

 Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), and verify compliance with approved allocation and goals, organizational rules, regulations, procedures, as well as donor commitments, standards of accountability, and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.

 Prepare regular and mandated sectoral programme/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

 Bring support and be prepared to supervise United Nations Volunteers (UNVs), consultants and implementing partners.

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

 Conduct regular programme follow-up, support across different sectors and assist in sharing information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress, providing technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.

 Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices on health-related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.

4. Networking and partnership building

 Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with health sector and other relevant government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to enhance programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to deliver concrete and sustainable results.  Assist in drafting communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances, and support fund raising for health programmes.  Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) on health programmes to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, operational planning and preparation of health programmes/projects related to children, and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.

 Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

 Contribute to identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders, focusing on how to address the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic and other eventual similar emergencies.

 Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.

 Assist with oversight of research and health related studies to ensure results are available for use in knowledge products.

 Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

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

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: public health/nutrition, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology, psychology, sociology or anthropology of health, or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of professional relevant experience in one or more of the following areas is required: public health/nutrition planning and management, maternal and neonatal health care, early childhood development policies, pediatric services, or health emergency/humanitarian preparedness.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Experience working in a developing country and emergencies is considered as an asset
• Fluency in Spanish and English is required.
• Additional requirements: Chilean Nationality is Required for this position. National Professional Officers are nationals of the country in which they are serving, and their functions must have a national context, i.e. functions that require national experience or knowledge of the national language, culture, institutions, and systems.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and 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…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

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 diversity profile are encouraged to apply.

[If Applicable] 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.