Social Policy Specialist - Fixed Term Appointment – 2 years, UNICEF - Innocenti

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, Research

Job organizational context:

UNICEF Innocenti is the dedicated research office for UNICEF at Innocenti in Florence Italy. It undertakes and commissions research on emerging or current issues of relevance for children to inform the strategic directions, policies and programs of UNICEF and its partners. The Office explores emerging issues, identifies research gaps, brings together existing researchers, and supports or undertakes research and data collection to address critical questions to inform global debates.

Purpose of the post:

UNICEF Innocenti conducts research on various aspects of social protection and cash transfers, including their impacts. With the support of Sida, UNICEF Innocenti through the Transfer Project works with national governments to provide rigorous evidence from sub-Saharan Africa to inform better social protection policymaking and programme design and implementation. The Transfer Project is a research learning initiative led by UNICEF, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. Research involves rigorous evaluations of the impacts of various cash transfers and cash-plus programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, including on various outcomes including child labour; the assessment of the role of design and implementation features, integrated social protection programmes, inclusiveness and shock responsiveness; and making the economic case for investing in cash transfers and social protection.

UNICEF Innocenti is also leading a new four-year research programme funded by FCDO, Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP). The programme seeks to strengthen the gender-responsiveness of social protection systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by building robust evidence base focused on ‘what works’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ to contribute to enhanced gender equality outcomes. By leveraging UNICEF’s presence in 190 countries and drawing on partnerships with governments, international agencies, universities, and implementers, UNICEF Innocenti will conduct cross-country research across three Research Streams: i) Improve the conceptualization, measurement, & analysis of gender equality outcomes; ii) Unpack change pathways by exploring design & implementation features; iii) Investigate how to institutionalize gender into social protection.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

Under the supervision of the Chief and senior staff members in the Social and Economic Policy team, the staff member will be responsible for the following activities:

1. Research and technical assistance to the social protection/cash transfers workstream (includes Transfer Project and GRASSP) • Design, undertake and manage multi-country quantitative research and quantitative data collection activities on social protection/cash transfers; Contribute to study design, tools, protocols, trainings and methodologies • Manage field work and data collection for mixed methods impact evaluations and/or operational research of large-scale social protection and other programmes designed to address children’s poverty and social exclusion. • Conduct and support the implementation of mixed-methods data analysis and write-up of research findings, in collaboration with partners on the research programmes. • Make major analytical contributions to research reports, briefs, working papers and other peer reviewed publications. • Coordinate research implemented by teams and partners and assure quality of outputs produced. • Supporting in the preparation and writing of high-quality peer-reviewed policy reports and briefs, working papers, web stories, blogs and other media and journals and edited volumes. • Provide technical assistance in cross-team (Innocenti, NYHQ, Regional and Country Offices) research activities in areas of social protection and gender, as needed.

2. Support the development of new lines of research and maintain collaborative relationships with external/internal partners • Contribute to the development of new lines of research on social protection/cash transfers, climate change and urban contexts across all regions. • Contribute to grant seeking proposals for research on social protection, climate change and/or urban contexts. • Initiate new forward-looking research that could strengthen UNICEF Innocenti’s research profile, including developing Working and Discussion Papers. • Provide technical assistance to HQ, regional and country offices in the design of research around social protection and social inclusion policies and interventions, as needed. • Contribute to other ongoing work in the Office; • Carry out other tasks as requested.

3. Management and co-ordination • Day-to-day management of research operations, project design, planning, development and implementation. • Monitor work plans, timelines, budgets, milestones and deliverables. • Support the identification, recruitment, and management of consultants (in-country and international) who will support GRASSP and Transfer Project research programmes. • Working closely across teams within UNICEF Innocenti (Social and Economic Policy, Child Rights and Protection, Research in Education and Development, Research Facilitation and Knowledge Management, Finance, HR, Communications, Operations, Convening) and across offices (HQ, Regional, Country Offices) to ensure that research objectives are met.

4. Reporting, dissemination and advocacy • Lead and support results reporting to donors and internally within UNICEF, through meetings and preparation of progress reports • Represent UNICEF Innocenti and support the communication of research findings including through presentations and lectures, policy briefs, blogs and other social media outlets. • Serve on advisory groups for related research and contribute to peer review in appropriate situations.

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education:

• Advanced university degree in public policy, economics, social science, or related fields, with specialization in advanced statistics/econometrics, quantitative methods, and/or data analysis. A PhD with research experience desirable.

Work Experience:

• At least five years of professional and progressively responsible experience in social policy or public policy research and analysis including advanced statistical training in social sector data and econometrics. • Prior professional experience in designing, supervising and undertaking impact evaluations, managing primary data collection and data bases. • Topical knowledge/experience of/in research concerned with social protection and gender (cash plus, cash transfers); climate change (costs of climate change on children, social protection and climate resilience) • Experience with writing proposals for successful fundraising • Experience with writing for – and verbal presentation to – varied audiences, including both specialists and policy makers. • Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency contexts is preferred. • A good record of professional publications in relevant academic and policy areas. • Excellent knowledge of advanced software applications for quantitative research is preferred.

Language Requirements: • Fluency in English required; • Fluency in another official UN language (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Competencies:

• Strong research and analytical skills. • Strong planning and organisational skills. • Strong skills in econometrics. • Excellent writing and verbal communication skills. • Ability to work well as part of a team and in a multi-cultural environment. • Aims to achieve high standards for quality of work. • Good leadership and management skills. • Innovative thinker and problem solver.

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: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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 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.