Youth & Adolescent Development Specialist, P3, FT Bamako-Mali

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

While the adolescent period is characterized by a period of heightened vulnerabilities, it also provides a window of opportunity for successful transition to adulthood and equality especially for the most disadvantaged adolescents. Identifying these most disadvantaged adolescents and designing interventions to address the barriers that limit their fulfilment of rights to development, protection and participation is instrumental to breaking cycles of deprivation and poverty for these adolescents.

The ambition of UNICEF Mali Country Programme (2020 – 2024) is to see children and adolescents, both girls and boys, in particular the most disadvantaged, the most deprived and the most difficult to access and those affected by crises, live in resilient communities to which they contribute, and benefit from a protective, stimulating and supportive environment that allows them to realize their full potential throughout their lives.

This ambition will be realized if, among other things, 1) a greater number of adolescents, girls and boys, aged 13 to 18, have access to quality learning to improve their employability and engage in communities that encourage appropriate behaviors toward youth and adolescents and protect them from violence; 2) girls and boys and their communities have increased skills and space to claim their rights and participate in decision-making, as well as strengthened capacities for engagement civic, peacebuilding and social cohesion; and 3) social services are more gender sensitive and more integrated and better adapted to the needs of girls and boys at different stages of their lives.

In this context, UNICEF Mali worked closely with the Government, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports and citizenship, for the design and adoption of a National Youth Policy. This policy is a result of a participatory and interactive process that brought together actors such as the State, civil society, non-governmental organizations, elected officials, technical and financial partners and young leaders.

How can you make a difference?

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Country Programme development and planning
2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results
3. Advisory services and technical support
4. Advocacy, networking and partnership building
5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Under the general guidance and direction of the Chief Social & Behaviour Change - C4D section, the incumbent will contribute to:

• Country Programme development and planning
• Contribute to the design and update of the situation analysis and conduct assessments to establish age and sex disaggregated evidence-based data for UNICEF advocacy and development of policies, frameworks and programmes to promote adolescent development and participation in the country.
• Assess national/regional/international development priorities to identify opportunities and strategies and courses of action to enhance the delivery of services and achievement of objectives on adolescent development and participation. Work in coordination with Child protection, Gender, Communication, Education, HIV/AIDS, Health, Nutrition, Social policy, WASH, Planning, Emergency and Monitoring & Evaluation to support development of a strategic framework for adolescents, across all sectors.
• Participate in CO programme formulation, planning and preparation to provide input, advice and operational support on the integration of cross sectoral policies and frameworks that promote adolescent development and participation and gender equality. This includes the processes of SMR and CPD formulation. Ensure alignment of adolescent policies, frameworks and interventions with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and coherence/integration with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.

• Support the Ministry of Youth and Citizenship in the development and implementation of the National Youth Policy Action Plan

• Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish age and gender disaggregated benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of sustainable results on gender and adolescent development and participation programmes and projects, including Office-wide targeted gender priorities.
• Support the strengthening of data systems and collection, as well as accountability mechanisms to monitor and evaluate progress on gender results.
• Support the implementation of the National Youth Policy action plan
• Support high quality reporting on gender results, and a biannual performance review of GAP specified results.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action/interventions to achieve results for adolescents.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in programme and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Plan, monitor and oversee the use of programme resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity.
• Advisory services and technical support
• Participate in strategic discussions, meetings and other international/national meetings and workshops to provide evidence-based papers and inputs on adolescent development and participation to influence policy and agenda setting.
• Provide technical advice and guidance to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on adolescent development and participation to support programme development, conceptualizing, planning, implementation and delivery of results.
• Participate in cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination on key programmatic results on gender, ensuring coherence, maximization of synergies and efficiency in utilization of resources and delivery of results
• Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and consideration in development discussion and planning relating to adolescents and gender.
• Provide technical advice to internal sectoral staff and external partners on approaches to enhance adolescents’ participation into the policy, programming and humanitarian interventions, applying a gender lens where appropriate.
• Advocacy, networking and partnership building
• Coordinate advocacy drive for adolescent rights and programming within the country office, with other UN and government and non-government partners based on improved evidence and data.
• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, research institutes, youth led organizations and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on UNICEF’s adolescent development and participation initiatives.
• Contribute to the preparation of advocacy and communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and to ensure that gender-responsive adolescent development and participation programmes and initiatives are adequately resourced and supported.

• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on adolescent development and participation and gender equality to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDCF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues the UNSDCF planning and preparation of programmes/projects including emergency preparedness.

• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote, document and disseminate critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on adolescent development and participation initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting edge practices on gender equality, adolescent development related issues. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned to support development, planning, implementation and scale up.
• Support Regional Adolescent and Gender Advisors in advancing the technical and research capacity of country-level staff, offices and programs on adolescent development and gender to continue to build evidence base for programming and to ensure continuous capacity in gender and adolescent programming at Country Office level.
• Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices that promote the rights of adolescents and enhances their development and participation as active members of society and their community.
• Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of a wide range of internal and external partners/stakeholders to achieve sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programmes and initiatives.

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

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: anthropology, psychology, sociology, education, or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of five years of professional experience in social development planning and management in adolescent development related areas is required.
• ** Candidates holding fist university degree with 2 additional years of professional experience may be considered
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• Experience in working in emergency context is an asset
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or international development organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English and French is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

Core competencies

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Innovates and embraces change
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others
• Nurtures, leads, and manages people

Functional Competencies:

• Formulating strategies/concepts (II)
• Analyzing (II)
• Relating and networking (II)
• Deciding and initiating action (II)
• Persuading and influencing (III)
• Applying technical expertise (III)

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.

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.

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.

** Bamako is a Category D. Non-Family duty station. The Rest and Recuperation Cycle is 8 weeks.