Individual Consultancy - Executive Support Consultant to Director, Education Outcomes Fund, London, UK (3 months w/possible extension)

Contract

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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...

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth by supporting governments to utilise a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

Our Director, Dr. Amel Karboul, leads EOF’s work at the cutting edge of innovative development funding. This includes setting the strategic direction of our small but mighty team, and engaging on a daily basis with stakeholders at the highest levels across government, the international development community, the private sector, and civil society.

EOF is looking for an outstanding Executive Assistant to support our Director, and to assist with coordination of the wider EOF team. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in similar roles in fast-paced, dynamic and international settings. This position is initially being offered as a three-month contract, which will be extended for those successful in the role.

How can you make a difference?

We are seeking to recruit a high calibre Executive Assistant to provide crucial support to our Director, and the wider EOF team.

By taking responsibility for managing the Director’s inboxes and diary, you will act as a gatekeeper, ensuring that her time is being leveraged effectively and efficiently – and therefore contributing to EOF’s the mission.

You will provide crucial logistical and administrative support to the Director and EOF including coordinating the Director’s complex multi-destination travel itineraries, and organising important EOF governance meetings.

We are looking for a proactive and capable Executive Assistant who combines tenacity, attention to detail, and an affinity for working in fast-paced and fast-moving environments. As a key go-to person for EOF’s stakeholders, you will have excellent communications skills and a customer service mindset. The most successful Executive Assistants will also demonstrate an interest in – and solid grasp of – the content of EOF’s work and our stakeholder / operating environment.

• Liaising with a wide range of senior stakeholders (including high-level leaders across government, business, and civil society) to schedule meetings and calls.
• Drafting emails and other correspondence on behalf of the Director.
• Managing the Director’s diary – including meeting preparation (for example preparing and setting agendas, ensuring correct attendees and managing meeting logistics).
• Participates in, and serves as notetaker, for internal staff meetings and senior management meetings; and, ensures timely circulation and follow-up action.
• Pro-actively managing the Directors email inboxes – including the prioritization of correspondence, communicating key messages, drafting responses and ensuring appropriate follow-up.
• Sending approved correspondence to senior stakeholders – exercises quality control for all outgoing documents; proofreads and edits text for adherence for format, grammar, punctuation and style.
• Support the Director and Chief of Staff in the logistics and administration of international travel – including complex multi-destination itineraries & international events (e.g. United Nations General Assembly), with demanding and evolving schedules.
• Researching background materials to produce preparatory briefs for the Director for key meetings, engagements and speeches.
• Managing and processing the expenses of the Director and some administrative support for the wider team.

• Supporting the Director maintain her public profile, for instance updating her website.

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

• Bachelor degree, with courses in business administration or equivalent specialized training in operations and administration desirable.

• A minimum of 2 years of relevant work experience in operations with solid responsibility as an assistant at Director / Executive / Director / Chair level.
• Fluency in English is required, French and / or Arabic is desirable.

Additional Skills:

• Be passionate about organizing other people’s lives and managing processes to ensure the team can work efficiently and effectively.
• Work at a fast pace while keeping attention to detail.
• Be a confident communicator - the candidate must pro-actively communicate their areas of responsibility.
• Have a high attention to detail, ensuring emails are being read and followed up to meet all stakeholder needs.
• Be able to effectively prioritize a complex set of tasks (with input from the team as needed) and communicate progress as required.
• Be comfortable working with a remote team who are often travelling across multiple time zones.
• Be adaptable and able to manage challenging circumstances. Given the complex nature of EOF’s work, we would like someone comfortable handling unknowns, is adaptable in rapidly changing circumstances and will find solutions to issues as they arise.
• EOF is a dynamic and entrepreneurial organization, and this role is in a high-powered Director’s office; the successful candidate will need to be flexible with working hours to meet our ambitious goals
• Be fluent with technology (e.g. Microsoft Office suite, Zoom, Google Drive, Trello, & Team) with the ability to learn new tools quickly - a flair for technological solutions is desirable.
• Have experience in senior stakeholder engagement and navigating highly political environments which require an awareness of sensitivities and protocols.
• Ability to manage upwards, this includes providing input and feedback on how to improve aspects of the project.
• An interest in or knowledge of international development, the global education sector and international aid is 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

• Communication
• Working with People
• Drive for Results

Functional Competencies

• Leading and Supervising
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts
• Analyzing
• Relating and Networking
• Persuading and Influencing
• Entrepreneurial Thinking

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 safe guarding 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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

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.

Remarks:

PAYMENT SCHEDULE:

Select proposed methodology Monthly Payments will be made monthly. The proposed rate should be inclusive of all professional fees, daily allowances, living allowances, and other administrative costs.

Applicants are invited to include a cover letter of interest, CV, and are required to submit a financial proposal. Indicative range of gross annual fee: £37,500 – £42,500 for applicants based in London, to be adjusted based on the place of residence of the selected candidate.

Applications submitted without a proposed fee will not be accepted.

Duty Station

Home-based. International travel to deliver project objectives is expected once the Covid-19 travel restrictions have been lifted.

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.

EOF is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure that provides strategic guidance and oversight to its investments. EOF’s day-to-day activities are carried out by a Secretariat under the direction of the Education Outcomes Fund, Director. If selected for this post, the resulting appointment will be limited to EOF, a UNICEF hosted fund.