Social Policy Specialist (Public Finance), NO-C, Addis Ababa, (364 days) - Only for Ethiopian nationals

Contract

This is a NO-3 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-3 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, empowerment

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

To see our year in review, please click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx_DayHVFVA

How can you make a difference?

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Support budget monitoring and tracking at the sub-national level and advocacy for child-friendly government investments.

• Perform data collection and analysis of economic data and information with an emphasis on government budgets and expenditures across the various sectors at the national and sub-national level. Utilize this information along with sector performance data, conduct further research, and write technical fiscal/economics papers to present evidence that informs economic policy with a focus on fiscal policy and monetary policy.
• Monitor at the national and sub-national level social sector budgets and expenditures to measure and analyse budgeting for children and women. Contribute to the elaboration of budget briefs to inform policy choices and present evidence for advocacy purposes.
• Contribute towards technical studies that are developed in the section under the public finance programme.
• Engage in relevant policy advocacy activities.
• Provide technical support to sector focal points on economic analysis and policy advocacy.

Public finance support for monitoring and delivery of UNICEF flagship results at sub-national level.

• Provide technical support for the development of costing exercises, cost-benefit analyses, cost-effectiveness analyses, multi-criteria decision analyses, and child-friendly investment cases
• Take part in the programme management of the public finance work plans in the context of the UNICEF flagship programmes. Conduct field visits to monitor and provide support at the sub-national level to ensure the delivery of public finance programme results. Identify any corresponding necessary programme response and make recommendations through established management mechanisms (e.g. regular programme or review meetings).
• Other duties as assigned by the Social Policy Specialist and/or Chief of Social Policy.

Support capacity-building efforts for government and NGO partners at the sub-national level.

• Support the economic policy and analysis capacity-building efforts for the Ministry of Finance, the sub-national Bureaus of Finance, and other implementing partners by providing training and contributing to other tasks that build the capacity of implementing partners in the area of economic analysis and public finance, in conjunction with other team members.
• Support capacity development plans at federal, regional, and where possible, woreda levels to strengthen coordination between sectors and between different levels of government structures for policy implementation.

Innovation and knowledge management.

• Analyse the macroeconomic context of social policy programmes and its impact on social development, emerging issues, and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promote 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
• Along with the rest of the section, support the development of annual work plans. Support UNICEF field office M&E staff in implementing sub-national programmes relating to economic analysis, public finance, good governance, and capacity-building activities. Take part in Mid Term Review (MTR) and Country Programme formulation process as required.

Establishes and nurtures effective partnerships.

• 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 Millennium Development Goals and the World Fit for Children (WFFC) agenda.

• Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.

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

• • Master’s degree in one of the following fields is required: economics or economic sciences, econometrics, or public financial management.
  • A minimum of Five years (5 years) of professional relevant work experience in economic policy and analysis, especially in the area of public finance management and state budget analysis.
  • Work experience in economic data collection and analysis, performing literature searches and report writing, producing technical fiscal/economic papers with policy recommendations; policy advocacy; provision of training; and preferably working with national collaborators and civil society to implement economic and public finance programmes.

  • A solid knowledge of Ethiopia's Public Finance Management- PFM instruments and proven experience working on similar analyses of the State Budget with a focus on social sectors.

  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (French, Spanish, Arabic, or Russian) or the local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of:

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• 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…

• 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)

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. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

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.