Social Policy Specialist P3, TA - Bamako, Mali (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 115,781 USD and 151,606 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, hope

UNICEF in Mali works with partners towards the following five goals: (1) Every child survives and thrives: ensuring that all children and adolescents have good health, wellbeing and reach their full potential; (2) Every child learns: providing early, quality and inclusive education for every girl and every boy in Mali, so that they can reach their full potential;(3) Every child is protected from violence and exploitation: improving policies and services that protect children and making Mali a safe place for all children; (4) Every child lives in a safe and clean environment: protecting every child from exploitation, violence and abuse and providing access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene;(5) Every child has an equitable chance in life: promoting investment in children through effective policies and inclusive social protection programmes.

These goals span the complete life cycle of the child from before birth, through infancy, childhood and into adolescence.

UNICEF in Mali works both upstream, providing policy support and technical assistance to the Government of Mali in its efforts to create an enabling environment for child rights; and downstream to support programmes and interventions to strengthen social services for the most vulnerable children.

UNICEF believes that a common vision and effective partnerships are key to achieving sustainable results for children. In addition to providing technical assistance, policy support and service modelling to the Government of Mali, UNICEF works with a wide range of national and local partners and implements joint initiatives with other UN agencies.

Join our team and help tackle these issues, making sure every child has a champion.

For more on our work in Mali, please visit our website: https://www.unicef.org/mali/en

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the job:

Under the supervision of the Chief Social Policy and with the aim to strengthen the existing ecosystem of programmatic priorities as they related to cash transfers interventions, the Social Policy Specialist (Cash Transfer) will support the country office in establishing and implementing a strategic and operational response plan for the use of cash-based assistance (CABT) and HACT Cash Programme (HCP) as defined by the internal procedure effective since November 2021. and additional procedure on “Fund Transfers to Government Partners for HACT Cash Programmes” issued in May 2022.

How can you make a difference?

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS

Within the delegated authority and under the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be assigned the primary, shared, or contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties and key end-results.

1. Strategic support:

• Assess program needs, risk assessment of the context to advise the office in the strategic positioning on Cash-Assistance Based Transfers directly to beneficiaries (CABT) and HACT cash programs (HCPs)
• Provide technical assistance to UNICEF Mali CO in the conceptualization, contextualization, strategic and operational planning, and programme implementation regarding CABT and HCPs and establish a strategic response plan for the use of cash assistance at scale in close collaboration with programme and operations teams
• Assess UNICEF’s readiness to implement cash transfers by implementing the roadmap for the minimum preparedness standard of the Emergency Preparedness and Planning (MPS 9)
• Assist the country office in the documentation of risk and opportunity mapping to identify relevant risks related to cash programme implementation, and plan coherent risk management and response actions in line with UNICEF’s policies and procedures on risk management.
• Support analysis of national social protection systems to identify functional areas that could be leveraged in the short and medium term for delivery of cash assistance at scale in accordance with national social protection policy and its action plan and identify areas of national systems to prioritize for recovery support and develop working relationships with system actors and relevant stakeholders.
• Participate in the operational research, monitoring, and evaluation of cash transfer programmes, including the baseline evaluation of the socio-economic conditions of beneficiary households, as well as the final evaluation to assess the impact.
• Substantially support UNICEF’s efforts at cross-sectoral integration of environmental and social safeguards of cash interventions for effective programmatic response from strategy development to design and costing of activities.

2. Programme design:

• Lead, in coordination with the programme section and operations, the development of cash transfer programmes including on targeting, registration, payment and complaints/grievance system to improve sectorial objectives.
• Support the development of a detailed plan and a clear segregation of duties and the implementation of risk mitigation measures for the office wide cash transfers programmes
• Provide technical support from programmatic perspective in defining the scope, the geographic area(s), the beneficiary preferences, the delivery mechanisms, the procurement strategy, including collaborative options in the context of the program being implemented as well as the operating context of the country.
• Provide technical support in operational preparedness including macro and micro-financial assessments, Financial Services Providers procurement and contractual arrangements
• Assist the office in the development and implementation of sound measures to protect people receiving funds and their personal data in accordance with UNICEF Policy on Personal Data Protection.
• Ensure Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) is streamlined across the cash transfer program implementation cycle with attention to information sharing to beneficiaries, community inclusion in program implementation, complaints and response mechanism and continuous learning.

3. Programme implementation and monitoring:

• Develop, review, and maintain work plans with time frames and deadlines for key activities, based on changing and emerging needs, and ensure that standard operating procedures are developed and kept up to date.
• Design a sound and effective monitoring and knowledge management system including distribution monitoring and post-distribution monitoring. In particular insure that (i) the list of beneficiaries selected in accordance to transparent criteria for inclusion is accurate and up to date, (ii) the beneficiaries exist and are eligible to receive cash assistance; (iii) the eligible beneficiaries have received the cash assistance and the payment amount is accurate and (iii) The eligible beneficiaries have a channel to voice concerns on and (iv) a third-party monitoring mechanism for the process and output monitoring of cash transfer programme is set up;
• Work closely with monitoring and evaluation system for cash transfer programme and implement recommendations to improve the efficiency and quality of the programmes using the cash modality.
• participate in annual sector review meetings and organize review meetings with partners and counterparts; ensure the timely preparation of annual program status reports.
• Develop a comprehensive monitoring system to ensure quality monitoring of all UNICEF funded cash transfers in collaboration with implementing partners.
• Mange cash assistance information products, including contributions to situation reports, briefing notes, presentations, knowledge management, donor reporting and others.

4. Capacity building:

• Supports the collection, analysis, and user-friendly presentation of data on social protection and cash transfer coverage and gaps, linking with multidimensional poverty and including strengthening national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.
• Disseminate UNICEF cash transfer programme related policy, guidance, and tools as well as inter-agency strategies and operational guidelines
• Organize training session of UNICEF staff in close collaboration with the CALP Network
• Support the responsible ministry with the Annual Social Protection Review at national and local levels.

5. Coordination:

• Coordinate programmatic and operational response analysis to inform response plans, including financial sector assessments in close coordination with the Operations team, to determine viable payment mechanisms, clarify the regulatory environment and define programmatic risk outlook.
• Ensure operational linkages between UNICEF cash assistance and relevant UNICEF sectors including for identification of multipurpose cash transfer interventions.
• Liaise regularly with RO, HQ cash focal points, through established coordination mechanisms to ensure follow-up actions at the respective levels are taken.
• Act as the secretary of the internal Cash Working group
• Update the mapping of cash transfers projects in Mali.
• Represent UNICEF in inter-agency for a such as Cash Working Group and liaise with other key players to identifies entry points for collaboration, complementary and operational and programmatic synergies including joint delivery mechanism to avoid duplications of efforts and maximize the impact for the most in need.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…

• Advanced university degree ( Master) in development economics, poverty alleviation, social policy, social protection, public policy, other relevant social science disciplines. Recent trainings in the field of social cash transfers will be given due consideration.
• A minimum of five [5] years of relevant professional work experience in designing, implementing, and managing cash transfer programmes in complex, high-risk conflict affected environment and social protection settings.
• Strong knowledge of ongoing social protection policy debates and evidence is required. Key expertise in data and information management including data visualization skills. Ability to work independently and respond to feedback in a timely and professional manner. Ability to design and implement gender responsive social cash transfer programme is strongly recommended. In-depth knowledge of the Sahel region or regions or comparable complexity is highly desirable.
• Fluency in French and English is required. Knowledge of another UN language or another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Skills:

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values attributes:

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

UNICEF’s core competencies:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

The functional competencies required for this post are...

• Communication [III]
• Analyzing [III]
• Relating and Networking [III]
• Deciding and Initiating Action [III]
• Persuading and Influencing [II]
• Leading and Supervising [II]

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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. Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

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.