Programme Specialist, Planning, P-3, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), New York, USA #106143 (REQ#554578)

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 140,639 USD and 184,155 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, education

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. We support quality education outcomes for refugee, internally displaced and other crisis-affected girls and boys, so no one is left behind. ECW works through the multilateral system to both increase the speed of responses in crises and connect immediate relief and longer-term interventions through multi-year programming. ECW works in close partnership with governments, public and private donors, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and other humanitarian and development aid actors to increase efficiencies and end siloed responses. ECW urgently appeals to public and private sector donors for expanded support to reach even more vulnerable children and youth. ECW is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations; operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure.

How can you make a difference?

The main purpose of this job is to provide coordination and support to ECW's work planning, governance and accountability operations, working closely with members of the ECW Secretariat and external stakeholders, and ensuring adherence to UNICEF's established rules and procedures. The post holder will provide expert advice on, and deliver coordination of, all aspects of ECW's corporate work planning. S/he will lead work to ensure that ECW firmly delivers on the objectives and commitments set out in its forthcoming Strategic Plan 2023-2026.

The key responsibilities of this role are largely cyclical in nature. During quieter moments in the annual governance and planning cycle, the postholder will support other functions within the Strategy, Planning and Accountability Team, namely risk, safeguarding and strategy.

The Programme Specialist, Planning will report to the Head of Section, Chief of Strategy and Planning.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Coordinate ECW Secretariat's planning and coordination work

• Coordinate ECW's work planning process: develop an annual workplan to effectively capture workstreams, objectives, key activities, deliverables and timelines.
• Coordinate the monitoring of ECW progress against its annual workplan through quarterly reviews.
• Support the coordination of an annual ECW Team Retreat and annual ECW Workplan Retreat.
• Coordinate the mid-year and annual review of ECW by key donors (incl. the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) and coordinate follow-up as required on recommendations.

2. Manage and support key governance and accountability processes

• Coordinate the external quality assurance process of ECW programming investments. This involves i) annual contracting and contract management of the External Review Panel (ERP) members; ii) managing the ERP review of all relevant ECW programming (chiefly Multi-Year Resilience Programmes); and iii) coordinating the submission of final programme documentation to the ECW Executive Committee.
• Coordinate the delivery of ECW’s Management Response to ECW’s first Organizational Evaluation (2022), ensuring the Secretariat’s timely delivery against commitments made.
• Manage all enquiries directed to the Strategy, Planning and Accountability Team from ECW Executive Committee members.
• As required, support the strategic and smooth functioning of ECW’s Acceleration Facility investments.
• As required, support the Executive Office to plan and delivery high-quality governance meetings of ECW’s Executive Committee and High-Level Steering Group.

3. Provide support to key strategy and accountability processes

• Support the P4 Risk and Compliance Manager and the Senior Safeguarding Specialist consultant with critical tasks as required. This may include: supporting the annual review of ECW’s Corporate Risk Framework; refreshing ECW’s approach to portfolio risk data collection; and reporting to ECW’s Executive Committee with updates on our risk and safeguarding work.
• Support the Chief of Strategy and Planning with critical tasks as required. This may include: attending and taking minutes at bilateral meetings; supporting the development of ECW’s work on Climate and the production of a Climate Strategy; recruiting and managing interns.

4. Support the smooth functioning of the Strategy, Planning and Accountability Team

• Lead the development and delivery of the team’s Terms of Reference and annual workplan.
• Coordinate team meetings and monitor delivery of team tasks.

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

• Advanced University degree in one or more of the following disciplines: international development, international relations, social sciences, business or public administration, government, public policy, or other related fields.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in planning or coordination, preferably in a United Nations or development organization.
• Strong interpersonal skills in being able to develop and maintain effective working relations with a diverse range of stakeholders. (required)
• Ability to set out and deliver user-friendly systems and frameworks to support effective planning and coordination, with limited supervision.(required)
• Ability to work in a lean structure, which requires flexibility and proactivity.(required)
• Ability to respond to tight deadlines with a good attention to detail.(required)
• Very strong written and oral communication skills – the ability to summarize complex information in ways that engage and motivate colleagues, and the ability to create high-quality Word, Excel and Powerpoint document to communicate key information.(required)
• Ability to manage upwards, coordinating inputs and engagement from more senior colleagues as needed.(required)
• Excellent organizational skills: ability to proactively manage different time-sensitive processes and tasks at the same time. (required)
• Strong competence with the following Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, Powerpoint. (required)
• Experience of working on a Strategic Plan for a UN organization (asset)
• Experience working in an emergency context (asset)
• Experience working on education programming, especially Education in Emergencies programming (asset)
• Experience working on risk and/or safeguarding and/or strategy development (asset)
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• 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 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.

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 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:

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

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.

Your appointment is limited to ECW, a UNICEF hosted fund. While UN staff regulations and rules, as well as UNICEF policies and procedures, apply to you during your appointment, certain provisions therein may apply to you differently due to the limited scope of your appointment. In particular, you will not be subject to rotation exercise as per the Executive Directive on Staff mobility and rotation (CF/EXD/2015-002) or any revision thereof. In addition, during your appointment in ECW, you will not be considered eligible for conversion to a Continuing Appointment as per UNICEF Administrative Instruction on Continuing Appointment (CF/AI/2017-002) or any revision thereof. In the event that your post is abolished, the priority granted and other support provided to staff on abolished posts in staff selection processes will only be extended to posts within ECW and not to other posts in UNICEF.

UNICEF candidates: To return to a UNICEF appointment outside ECW, you will need to be selected in a competitive recruitment exercise. Upon selection for a UNICEF post outside of UNICEF-hosted funds, the period you have served with the UNICEF-hosted fund will count towards the calculation of the tour of duty in your duty station and eligibility for a continuing appointment.

External Candidates: To secure a UNICEF appointment outside ECW, you will need to be selected in a competitive recruitment exercise. Upon selection for a UNICEF post outside of UNICEF hosted funds, the period you have served with the UNICEF hosted fund will count towards the calculation of the tour of duty in your duty station and eligibility for a continuing appointment.