Chief Education - P5

How can you make a difference?

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the first global multilateral fund dedicated to supporting education for children and youth in countries affected by wars, disasters and crises.

It was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 by a broad coalition of international aid agencies and public and private donors to usher in faster and more sustainable education responses in crises settings.

ECW inspires political commitment to financing education in humanitarian contexts, catalyzes financial resources, facilitates joint programming between humanitarian and development actors, empowers local partners and seeks to strengthen quality and accountability.

ECW is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF's financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund's own independent governance structure that provides strategic guidance and oversight to its investments.

ECW's day-to-day activities are carried out by a Secretariat under the direction of the Education Cannot Wait Director.

ECW has developed its new Strategic Plan for the next three years (2023-2026).

Purpose of the Position

The Chief of Education will serve as an expert adviser on education in emergencies and as the Head of the Education Team.

The Chief Education will be expected to possess experience in : planning, response, programming, management and capacity related functions.

The Chief Education will also bring the best of sector knowledge, evidence, and lessons learned to the administration of the grant financing windows, as well as building working relationships with technical specialists in other agencies.

The Chief of Education is also a member of the ECW Senior Management Team.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties / tasks

Education leadership to maximize education results :

• Provides technical expertise in education systems and humanitarian support in order to provide advice on ECW strategic priorities, partnerships, investments and grants;
• Supports the development of a strategic plan and results framework for ECW, aligned with ECW functions and grant making operations;
• Helps to identify and support investments to strengthen or improve education responses, or monitoring results;
• Identifies and manages a roster of qualified experts / institutions as required to support the quality assurance of technical proposals;
• Represents ECW in technical events and discussions to influence education policy discussions and agenda setting on education in crisis;
• advocates for education related interventions and policies to strengthen the provision of quality education in crisis affected contexts;
• Stays up to date with emerging evidence, best practice, key partners and national / regional / international priorities on education in emergencies.
• Reviews, analyses and synthesizes as needed quantitative and qualitative evidence from studies, evaluations or reviews relating to national education policies, plans and priorities supported by ECW and partners engaged in providing education opportunities for affected children and youth;
• Facilitates and supports the sharing of lessons and best practice.

Facilitate collaborative education planning and responses :

• Works with partners to support and strengthen collaborative and robust approaches to needs assessments and joint planning for education in sudden-onset, such as First Emergency Responses, protracted crises, such as Multi-Year Resilience Programmes, paying particular attention to embedding system strengthening into humanitarian-development nexus, and emergency preparedness into sector planning;
• Identifies opportunities where ECW could support the efforts of national / regional and international partners to strengthen coordination, reduce fragmentation and jointly monitor results.

Technical guidance to grant recipients :

• Provide technical advice and guidance to facilitate the preparation of grant applications and related documentation and to ensure alignment of activities and joint programming with the overall ECW mission and strategic plan;
• Collaborate with grant recipients throughout all stages of education programming to provide or enable technical support for program preparation, implementation and monitoring for results.

Support efforts to mobilize resources for ECW and monitor ECW results :

• In coordination with the Partnerships Team, supports overall efforts to mobilise resources for ECW, including through the identification of specific interventions suitable for matched, innovative or private sector financing;
• Contributes to the development of the annual Results Report, including data collection, assurance and analysis;
• Supports engagement with key donors and partners.

Contribute to the Senior Management Team :

• Supports the overall management of the ECW Secretariat;
• Contributes to the efficient coordination of the work of the Secretariat, and the delivery of the Secretariat's work plan, including supporting the work of the Director, the Deputy Director and other staff members as required;
• Contributes to the preparation and submission of progress reports and decision papers to the Executive Committee and the High Level Steering Group.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master's or higher) in education, economics, statistics, social sciences, public administration, or other related fields is required.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience in planning, management, and results reporting in education.
• Experience in crisis affected contexts is required.
• Relevant experience in education in emergencies programming, the humanitarian-development nexus and management and humanitarian response in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Experience working with diverse stakeholder groups or multi-stakeholder partnerships is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience in managing multi-cultural teams in diverse locations.
• Fluency in English (written & verbal) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is desirable.

Other technical competencies include :

In-depth understanding of the overall global humanitarian-development context, including issues such as : poverty, conflict, and the impact of these factors on education and vice-versa;

and inter-sectoral approaches to address such issues in collaboration with other sectors.

• Strong ability to support policy dialogue : translation of analytical findings and evidence into development programmes and policy discussions around equity and learning with partners, including government, development partners, CSOs and academia in the following areas : child development, curriculum, assessment, pedagogy, supplies, quality assurance, etc.
• Strong education sector response in humanitarian contexts, and knowledge / ability, including the range of modalities for delivering education, linkages between different sub-sectors (e.

g. ECD, Primary, Secondary, Inclusive Education), cost-effectiveness and efficiency issues, key institutional structures, components and processes, as well as governance issues.

• Strong education and policy sector analysis capacity in humanitarian contexts, including understanding of the core education data sets, indicators, tools for analysis of equity, determinants of student access and learning, budget, cost and financing, education system management, political economy and application to education policy and strategic planning.
• Rigorous programme management in education, including programme design, costing, monitoring and evaluation (including areas like classroom assessment, standardized learning assessment, examinations, impact evaluation) and reporting.
• Strong ability to support engagement with partners (e.g. Sector Wide Approaches, Global Partnership for Education, Education in Emergency Clusters, Education Provider Forums, Inter-sectoral partnerships such as in ECD), as well as networking with other key partners.
• Strong understanding of gender and inequity issues in relation to education and development and the application of gender / equity analysis to policy and planning in education.

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 :

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 (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels : .

UNICEF is here to serve the world's most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children.

irrespective of their race / ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a , including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and . 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 and ECW'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.

The appointment for this position is limited to EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT, a UNICEF hosted fund. While UN staff regulations and rules, as well as UNICEF policies and procedures, apply to you during your appointment, certain provisions therein may apply to you differently due to the limited scope of your appointment.

In particular, you will not be subject to rotation exercise as per the UNICEF Procedure on Talent Mobility (DHR / Procedure / 2022 / 006) or any revision thereof.

In addition, during your appointment in ECW, you will not be considered eligible for conversion to a Continuing Appointment as per UNICEF Administrative Instruction on Continuing Appointment (CF / AI / 2017-002) or any revision thereof.

In the event that your post is abolished, the priority granted, and other support provided to staff on abolished posts in staff selection processes will only be extended to posts within ECW and not to other posts in UNICEF.

UNICEF candidates : To return to a UNICEF appointment outside ECW, you will need to be selected in a competitive recruitment exercise.

Upon selection for a UNICEF post outside of UNICEF-hosted funds, the period you have served with the UNICEF-hosted fund will count towards the calculation of the tour of duty in your duty station and eligibility for a continuing appointment.

External Candidates : To secure a UNICEF appointment outside ECW, you will need to be selected in a competitive recruitment exercise.

Upon selection for a UNICEF post outside of UNICEF hosted funds, the period you have served with the UNICEF hosted fund will count towards the calculation of the tour of duty in your duty station and eligibility for a continuing appointment.

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.