Social Policy Officer (NO-2), Tashkent, Uzbekistan #124258 (Open to Uzbekistan nationals only)

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, protect.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. 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:

Within the Social Policy Section and under the supervision of the Chief of Social Policy, the Social Policy Officer will liaise with Government, national think tanks and key stakeholders such as the World Bank and other UN agencies, to contribute to the nationwide policy discussions and program implementation affecting child wellbeing.

Purpose for the job:

Promoting and sustaining inclusive growth requires building coherent social protection systems, ensuring complementarity between initiatives, coordination across sectors, sufficient scale for addressing needs as well as strengthening effective and efficient service delivery systems. In order to ensure a long term, sustainable implementation of social protection programs, strong evidence generation, engagement at a macro level, and assessment of impacts to inform policy design are necessary.

Under the general guidance of the Chief Social Policy, the Social Policy officer TA will be accountable for effective engagement in the social policy dialogue with national and international partners, Government, parliament, think tanks on efficient and effective social protection system and child poverty reduction program that promotes equity in outcomes for children. The officer will support social policy areas aimed at a) strengthening governance and accountability measures, referrals and social workforce to increase the quality, equity, and coverage of social services, b) refining and using digital solutions, social and beneficiary registries to deliver social benefits and services to the children in most effective and efficient manner c) improving public policies to reduce child poverty. This encompasses both direct programmes work with government partners as well as linkages and support to teams working on education, health, child protection, disability and inclusion. Finally, the Social Policy Officer will contribute to generation of evidence, policy advocacy, strategic partnerships and capacity building promoting enabling environment.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Strengthening integrated social protection and impact for children

• Supports wider engagement in the development of social protection policies, legislation and programmes that contribute to child wellbeing. Identifies, generates, and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.
• Supports strengthening of integrated social protection systems by contributing to development of social service delivery mechanisms, e-case management, defelopment of referral protocols, procedures supporting linckages with other workforces in Education, Health, Child Protection, includion, etc.
• Support promotion of disability inclusive and shock responsive social protection policies for children
• Supports digitalisation agenda, consolidation of digital platforms and creation of interoperability with other Management information systems.
• Provides technical support to partners to improve the design of cash transfers and child grants and improve linkages with other social protection interventions, including in times of shock.
• Supports improved monitoring and research around social protection impact on child outcomes and use of data and research findings for strengthening programme results.

2. Improving data on child poverty & vulnerability for increased use for policy and programme action

• Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impact on social development, emerging issues and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effect of social welfare policies on the rights of children
• Supports the collection, analysis and user-friendly presentation of data on multidimensional and monetary child poverty, including strengthening national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.
• Provides timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, and development; facilitates results-based management for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up specific social policy initiatives to reduce child poverty.

3. Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social policy

• Supports correct and compelling use of data and evidence on the situation of children and coverage and impact of child focused services – in support of the social policy programme and the country programme overall.
• Establishes effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.

4. UNICEF Programme Management

• Helps manage and coordinate technical support around child poverty, social protection, public finance and governance ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.

• Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.

  Impact of Results

The efficient and effective technical support provided to the development and implementation of strategic advocacy and planning & formulation of social policy programmes/projects and the achievement of sustainable results, contributes to achievement of goals and objectives to create a protective environment for children and thus ensure their survival, development and well-being in society. Achievements in social policy programmes and projects in turn contribute to maintaining/enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to provide programme services for mothers and children that promotes greater social equality in the country.

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

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of relevant professional experience is required.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as a strong asset.
• Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered as a strong asset.
• Fluency in English, Russian and Uzbek is required.

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. 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 are also 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.