Internship - Education Unit - Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, Italy - 6 months

Internship Teaching & Training Programme & Policy Monitoring & Evaluation

Contract

This is a Internship contract. It usually requires 0 years of experience, depending on education. More about Internship 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, answers

UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight (UNICEF Innocenti) is looking for 4 interns for six months - full time - starting in November 2024 to join the Education unit.

UNICEF Innocenti explores emerging issues, identifies research gaps, brings together existing researchers, and supports or undertakes research and data collection to address critical questions and to inform policy dialogue and implementation at country level. Education is a key focus of UNICEF Innocenti. Working with UNICEF Headquarters, regional and country offices as well as universities and international partners, the Education unit supports 45+ countries worldwide in conducting evidence-based reviews and field research through multi-country studies.The UNICEF Innocenti Education unit is recruiting interns to join the following research programmes:

Teachers and School Leadership: UNICEF Innocenti has two ongoing research programmes – Teachers for All (T4A) and Women in Learning Leadership (WiLL) – which aim to expand the evidence base on educators in Africa. T4A explores how the recruitment and deployment of primary and pre-primary schoolteachers may be optimized to improve equity in learning outcomes and is currently active in 13 countries across Africa. The WiLL mixed methods research explores the barriers preventing more women from becoming school leader, examines the differences in learning outcomes for schools led by women compared to men and understands the behaviors and practices women adopt that contribute to these differences. It is currently active in 5 countries across Africa.

Data Must Speak (DMS) research programme aims at co-creating policy-relevant evidence that would shed light on what works at country and community level to improve Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN). The research identifies positive deviant schools (i.e., schools that outperform even though they operate with equivalent resources and contexts). The research explores why these positive deviant schools are outperforming others and investigates how the related positive deviant behaviors/practices could be scaled up in lower performing schools. DMS uses a co-creation and co-implementation mixed-methods approach combining quantitative, qualitative, and participatory implementation research as well as behavioral and scaling science, to improve uptake, replicability, and sustainability. The research is being undertaken in 15 countries across three continents.

The programme strengthening research workstream embeds implementation research into programmes, innovations, and initiatives, to understand what works, and how they work to inform improvements in programme delivery and design in real time. Research is undertaken across several different types of programmes focused on improving foundational skills including, accelerated and differentiated learning programmes, education technologies (EdTech), early childhood education, and inclusive education for children with disabilities. The programme strengthening workstream is looking for two interns: (1) to work on research related to early childhood education (ECE) and inclusive education and (2) to work on research related to accelerated, differentiated and EdTech programmes.

In your cover letter, please specify clearly which workstream you would be the most interested and suited for: (A) Teachers and School Leadership, (B) Data Must Speak, and (C) Programme Strengthening Research.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Innocenti aims to select four interns to support the production and use of high-quality mixed-methods education research for supporting education system and project strengthening as well as policy dialogue at country level and addressing the learning poverty, for the most vulnerable children.

The interns will support the smooth implementation of the Education unit’s research programmes described above and will perform the following activities:

a. Research and dissemination (90%) • Support the implementation of quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies for research. This may involve the cleaning, coding, and analysis of survey, interview, and focus group discussion data. • Contribute to the production of written outputs tailored to specific audiences, including policy reports, working papers, blog posts, and policy briefs. This may involve undertaking literature and policy reviews, conducting comparative analyses, writing up findings, and working with a team of copyeditors and graphic designers. • Contribute to the identification of potential funding opportunities and development of new research proposals on education systems and projects focusing on learning at local level (in and outside the school). • Support research dissemination. This may include supporting the organization of dissemination events (remote or onsite), the development of background documentation (e.g., concept notes, invitations, media products, infographics, slide decks, etc.), and supporting the Education team with the development of advocacy strategies.

b. Contribution to the UNICEF Innocenti work programme and support to the cross-cutting research agenda (10%) • Contribute to the overall research activities of the office. • Support interdisciplinary research through involvement in selected cross functional teams and consultations and participation in office seminars.

For further information, please see the full Terms of Reference: UNICEF Innocenti Education Internships 2024 ToR EXT.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will:

• Be enrolled in a master's or Ph.D. programme at an accredited institution or be a recent graduate (have graduated within the past two years at the time of application) in Education, Economics, Statistics, or other fields in Social Sciences related to the work of UNICEF.
• Have strong academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records or, if not available, a reference letter from an academic supervisor.
• Have some experience in supporting qualitative, quantitative, or participatory research.
• Be fluent and have excellent reading and writing skills in English. Knowledge of French, Spanish and Portuguese will be considered an advantage.
• Have no immediate relatives (father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother) working in any UNICEF offices in the world.
• Have comprehensive health insurance coverage for the entire duration of the internship (UNICEF does not arrange health insurance for interns).

Required competencies: • Technical - strong understanding of various quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methodologies and analysis. • Technical - strong research and analytical skills and ability to conduct critical literature reviews. • Technical - excellent knowledge and command of Excel, statistical software (e.g., Stata, SPSS, R…), or qualitative data coding software (e.g., Nvivo, Atlas TI…). • Communication - effectively presents thoughts and ideas including complex technical concepts, in a clear, concise, and readily understood manner, both verbally and in writing. Listens to and acknowledges others’ perspectives and views. • Managing resources – be efficient and effective. The candidate is comfortable with organizing and managing time and information to achieve defined goals and optimum results, working to strict deadlines. • Flexibility - works effectively on multiple assignments simultaneously and adapts to changing demands and circumstances. • Flexibility - ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, 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.

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 may also be 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.

Apply now

Added 3 hours ago - Updated 3 hours ago - Source: unicef.org