Internal & External Vacancy - Education Officer, NOB, Kolkata, India, SAR Post # 117919 (This post is open only to Indian Nationals)

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,

Click here to learn more about what makes us proud working for UNICEF!

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. Our workplace policies promote flexible work arrangements, to support all staff in maintaining a healthy life balance, both in and out of the office.

We are the first United Nations agency to be awarded the EDGE certification – the leading global standard for gender equality in the workplace.

For more information on UNICEF EDGE Certification, kindly view the video here.

UNICEF prides itself on fostering a multicultural and harmonious work environment, guaranteed by a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, and on any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

For Every Child, AN ADVOCATE:

In an effort to measurably improve UNICEF's ability to deliver better results for children, there is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Job organizational context and Justification

UNICEF Kolkata Field Office needs increased technical capacity in education programme to effectively support and deliver the increasing needs of children in West Bengal, the only high burden state with only one education staff especially with the COVID context increased and the challenge in terms of issues such an increase in the number of out-of-school children, drop outs, learning loss, digital divide which has further widened the gaps and left the marginalized all the more deprived.

Being a high burden state, the Education program looks after diverse issues to cater and reach the most deprived and marginalized children of the state by working closely with the School Education Department (SED), ICDS, Madrasa Board, Department of Mass Education, Expert Committee as well as technical partners and CSOs on out-of-school children, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), Early Childhood Education (ECE), Life Skills Education, etc. In addition, all the mentioned interventions are getting upscaled by the concerned departments partly due to UNICEF engagement and there is a need to engage and support closely to ensure quality implementation and monitoring of the same.

Within the current context and given the level of complexity in programming as well as the scale of the interventions in the state, a NOB is proposed/recommended to support the delivery of the education programme.

How can you make a difference?

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

Key functions, accountabilities, and related duties/tasks:

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support to 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

Support to programme development and planning

• Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design and management of education related programmes/projects.
• Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of education and other related information for development planning and goal setting.
• Provide technical and administrative 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 programme planning, results based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results.

Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to collect, analyze, and share information on implementation issues.
• Suggest solutions on routine programme implementation and submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders.

Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and 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, to support programme implementation, operations, and delivery of results especially on education for marginalized children including working children, out-of-school children, and girls.

Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and state stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programmes.

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

Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, economics, psychology, sociology, or another relevant technical field.

Experience: A minimum of two years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education is required.

Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.

Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

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 (Level 1)

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

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Technical Competencies:

Specific Technical Knowledge Required [ for the job ]

• Behavior change approach with the education context.

Common Technical Knowledge Required (for the job group)

• Education as a method of prevention of child labour.
• Education data analysis and presentation.
• Ability to interact confidently with government officials as well as experience working directly with community-level partners.

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 does NOT charge any fees or request money from candidates at any stage of the recruitment process, nor does it concern itself with bank account details of applicants. Requests of this nature allegedly made on behalf of UNICEF are fraudulent and should be disregarded. Candidates should apply to this position only directly through UNICEF’s careers web site, which is the only official portal for applications.

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

Remarks:

• This position is based in Kolkata (India).
• Selected applicant will have an initial 364 days Temporary contract, with possibility of extension subject to satisfactory performance.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.