Generic: Education Officer (Early Childhood Education) at UNICEF

Under the supervision of the Education Specialist, The Education Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for education programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Support to ECE programme development and planning

• Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design and management of ECE related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (economic, social, health etc.) and data for use in ECE programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results.
• Contribute to the development and establishment of ECE programme goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of ECE and other related information for development planning and goal setting.
• Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results.

ECE programme management, monitoring and delivery of results.

• Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation of ECE issues.
• Suggest solutions on routine ECE programme implementation and submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual ECE reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders.
• Monitor and report on the use of ECE programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Prepare draft inputs for ECE programme/donor reporting

Technical and operational support to ECE programme implementation

• Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results

Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate ECE programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programmes.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO ECE programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fund raising for ECE programmes.
• Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings and events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners on UNSDCF operational planning and preparation of education programmes/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNSDCF development and planning process.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Contribute to identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable ECE programme results.
• Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: education psychology, sociology or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education and early childhood education is required.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset
• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset