Individual Consultancy - Executive Support to Director, Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) (Remote UK time zone) 3 months w/ possible extension REQ

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...

The Education Commission and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment came together to create the Education Outcomes Fund for Africa and the Middle East (EOF), an initiative to improve the education of 10 million children and young people. EOF aims to pool $1 billion in aid and philanthropic funds, to support governments to pay for results in education and youth employment over the next decade. It will partner with governments around the world to strengthen education systems, harnessing the capacity and capability of partners to improve the effectiveness of expenditure and help deliver on the promise of quality education for all.

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 EOF Director.

The executive support consultant will support the Director and broader EOF organization.

How can you make a difference?

The Executive Support consultant will support the Director by managing administrative tasks in a timely and high-quality manner. Responsibilities of the role are primarily administrative but require a solid grasp of the content and our stakeholder / operating environment in order to be effective.

The Executive Support consultant will ensure that the EOF Director’s time is being leveraged – supporting EOF and our mission.

Tasks

• Liaising with a 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 inbox – 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.

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 CEO’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.

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

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:

Applicants 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.

Applicants asked to submit a covering letter, a one to two page CV and proposed fees (monthly in British Sterling) to undertake the above TOR. Applications submitted without a proposed fee, will not be accepted.

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

The duration of this contract is for three (3) months with potential to be extended.

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Monthly payments: Lump sum payment will be made monthly, inclusive of all professional fees, daily allowances, living allowances, and other administrative costs.

Individual Contractors who are working in a full-time capacity (for a minimum of 1 full month) and with the same working schedule as staff at the duty station (generally office-based, working five weekdays per week and following the office hours) receive Paid Time Off (PTO) credit at the rate of one- and one-half days (1.5 days) for each full month of service. Please refer to Paid Time off for Individual Contractors for further information.

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 consultancy, the resulting appointment will be limited to EOF, a UNICEF hosted fund.