Programme Specialist (Digital Research), P-3, GORaF, Florence, Italy, TA, 364 days

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 74,649 USD and 97,747 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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 is the dedicated office for research and foresight at UNICEF.

• UNICEF Innocenti undertakes and commissions research on emerging or current issues of relevance for children and child rights. The office links research and global trends analyses to influence policies, programming, and advocacy, as well as innovations, and to drive future strategies and vision of the organization and the child rights agenda more broadly amongst governments, private sector, and other institutions.

• UNICEF Innocenti uses foresight to set the agenda for children uncovering emerging trends and deepening understanding of key issues facing girls and boys and serving as a go-to office for advising UNICEF and a diversity of actors, including governments, the United Nations, private sector, civil society and children and young people themselves in the face of the continually changing global economy, political and security environment.

• UNICEF Innocenti also strives to lead global discourse by creating an enabling environment and platform for children and young people along with global influencers and decision-makers to transform their contributions into future strategies, policies and actions of UNICEF and the world. Thereby positioning children and UNICEF at the centre of the global conversation through prominent external engagement, communication, and influence.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Innocenti has a dedicated research team focused on producing high-quality evidence on children’s rights in a digital age. Since 2015, the team has been leading and supporting primary data collection around the world, to understand the risks and opportunities children face online. The current portfolio of work involves past and future research in more than 40 countries, primarily in low- and middle-income countries. The two largest data collection efforts managed within the unit’s portfolio are the Global Kids Online and Disrupting Harm research projects.

The Programme Specialist (Digital Research) role will primarily support the implementation of the Disrupting Harm project, which is the unit’s largest research project and one of the flagship activities undertaken by the team.

Disrupting Harm is a mixed-methods, multi-country research project to understand children and young people’s experiences of online sexual exploitation and abuse, and to assess how national protection systems are responding to these forms of violence. The first round of studies was completed successfully in 13 countries in 2022 and a second round of studies is now underway in 12 more countries. The project implementation is highly complex and involves conducting 6 research activities in each of the 12 countries where the data is being collected. The project is a partnership between UNICEF, INTERPOL and ECPAT International, with UNICEF Innocenti acting as the coordinating partner for the entire project. This means that UNICEF Innocenti is responsible for coordinating the work among all project partners and ensuring completion of all project deliverables and outputs within the allotted timelines and budget.

Given the complex and multi-faceted nature of this project – and with UNICEF’s role as coordinating partner – the Programme Specialist (Digital Research) will be a central part of the team implementing this project in 12 countries and will be responsible for ensuring the timely and successful completion of the project by 2025.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

The Programme Specialist (Digital Research) will be responsible for applying PRINCE2 principles of project management to ensure the timely completion of project activities within Disrupting Harm project through consistent and effective planning, monitoring, and evaluation of project progress and deliverables. This role will be responsible for monitoring project scope and budget, timeline management, resource planning and forecasting, donor reporting, monitoring and evaluation, and liaising with project partners to ensure smooth delivery of key milestones and deliverables.

Duties and Tasks: The Programme Specialist (Digital Research) will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Project Planning & Coordination • Establish workplans for all stages of the Disrupting Harm research project (preparation, design, training, data collection, data analysis, etc.), in consultation with team members. • Collaborate with UNICEF country offices and national stakeholders to establish country-specific workplans and timelines for each of the four research activities led by UNICEF Innocenti under the Disrupting Harm project. • Coordinate with team members and operations unit and support with contracting throughout the project including recruitment of local research teams and contracting of other vendors to produce research outputs.

2. Monitoring and Reporting • Create and periodically update project documentation (Gantt charts, risk logs, results frameworks). • Perform regular monitoring and evaluation of project activities and milestones against planned timeframes and scope. Identify and report any weaknesses/strengths in project coordination and implementation, compile key lessons learned, and use this to recommend timely course-corrections needed to reach project goals. Prepare, oversee, and regularly update project budgets and risk mitigation strategies. Support in managing the allocation and disbursement of project funds, ensuring that funds are properly planned, coordinated, monitored, and liquidated. • Support research uptake and collate relevant documentation related to research impact. Support independent research impact evaluations as needed. • Ensure timely preparation of periodic donor reports and liaise with project partners as needed for timely submission of reports. • Prepare regular project updates to be shared with country offices, regional offices, and other relevant stakeholders. • Prepare regular project progress reports to be shared with the Research Manager and Research Specialist, including any foreseen delays, project risks, or budgetary issues with proposals on how to manage such delays. • Complete internal mid-year and annual reporting for the Digital Engagement and Protection unit.

3. Stakeholder Engagement & Communications • Build strong collaborations with internal and external counterparts, including those at UNICEF country offices, partner organizations, national and regional stakeholders to ensure smooth and effective delivery of project deliverables. • Work closely with the Research Specialist and UNICEF country offices to identify key national stakeholders and decision makers in child (online) protection. Build and update stakeholder engagement plans for each country that identify key moments and strategies to build and maintain buy in around the project and its recommendations. • Coordinate with communications focal points at UNICEF Innocenti and project partners to develop and implement a communications and advocacy strategy for the Disrupting Harm project, to ensure that messaging around the project is effective, streamlined, and adapted to the relevant audiences at country, regional, and global levels. • Act as focal point for report production and report launches and coordinate with vendors as needed.

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

Education

• Advanced university degree in social sciences

Experience

• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national or international levels as a project assistant or project manager. • PRINCE2 certification (or equivalent) in project management required. • Experience coordinating complex, multi-partner, multi-country research projects is a strong asset. • Experience coordinating research projects on child online protection is a strong asset. • Extensive experience working with a range of project management tools. • Experience working in low- and middle-income countries desirable. • Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment; experience working in the United Nations or other international organization an asset.

Language requirements

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) and/or Italian is a strong asset.

Competencies

• Knowledge of project management best practices. • Extensive experience of budget monitoring, including through Excel and SAP software (e.g., VISION) • Strong organizational and time management skills. • Excellent writing and verbal communication skills. • Commitment to achieving high standards for quality of work. • Good leadership and management skills. • Innovative thinker and problem solver. • Ability to work well as part of a team and in a multi-cultural environment. • Commitment to UNICEF’s core values of care, respect, integrity, transparency and accountability.

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.

Remarks:

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). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.