UNICEF Vacancy Announcement: Education Specialist (Quality and Education System), P-4, Dakar, Senegal (Closing date: 22-Sep-14)

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 60 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Position

Under the general guidance of the Regional Education Adviser and with reference to the key Regional Office accountability areas, the incumbent is responsible for providing technical advice to the Regional Office and WCAR Country Offices on the development, policy dialogue, design, implementation and evaluation of education programs to guide the process of; accelerating the quality of education, ensuring equity at all levels in education, promoting innovation in education, assisting UNICEF engagement in partnership such as GPE, and to; initiate and follow up on initiatives such as SFA (Schools for Africa) that will contribute to the achievement of education related MDGs and post-MDG goals.

Key Expected Results

1. Coordinates UNICEF's support to countries in the development and the implementation of education programs as relating to; ensuring quality education for all with particular attention to learning, equality and education systems; provides technical assistance to the education situation analysis, program planning and reviews, and follow-up on recommendations for specific action.

2. Identifies capacity-building needs on ongoing education policy, planning and programming to country teams and their investment in quality basic education for all and quality education models (such as the Child Friendly School Model), UNICEF-supported programs of cooperation so as to make effective contributions to national education goals.

3. In joint collaboration with regional partners and the UN system and through joint field visits, contributes to build capacities and providing technical assistance by building up a critical mass of regional education specialists in key areas related to quality education and education system building as a means of broadening the technical support base in the region and providing information about regional and global networks.

4. Ensures regional support to Country Offices in essential partnerships such as GPE (Global Partnership for Education) by providing vital facts and information, sharing successful examples from other countries, and providing timely and adequate technical support in leadership and implementation roles UNICEF plays in the countries.

5. Prepares concept papers and technical notes, undertakes studies and evaluations on key issues relating to educational quality with specific attention to learning and equity, as required and contributes to the preparation of relevant program reports required for management, the Executive Board, donors, budget reviews, program analysis, annual reports, etc.

6. Contributes to the development and review of key RO and country and national program documents to ensure they clearly reflect relevant outcomes for children and education in the regional and country context as a result of a joint UN support, monitors compliance to ensure that objectives and targets are met and achieved, and ensures that UNICEF supported documentation apply to criteria for quality standards for education.

7. Within the framework of key partnerships and existing global and regional platforms such as SFA (Schools for Africa), effectively communicates issues related to quality education, with particular attention to learning and equity and presents WCAR's specific context and issues that should be taken into account in the formulation of global policies and strategies through the as decisions on funding priorities by other partners.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Advanced university degree in Education, Social Sciences or a related technical field.*

Eight years of relevant work experience at the national and international levels in quality education development, management, monitoring and evaluation, relevant experience on gender issues.

Fluency in French and English. Knowledge of the Portuguese and /or Spanish would be an asset.

*A first level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking.

Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.

Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals.

Has good leadership and supervisory skills; co-ordinates group activities, ensuring that roles within the team are clear.

Translates strategic direction into plans and objectives.

Analyzes and integrates diverse and complex quantitative and qualitative data from a wide range of sources.

Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of  individuals across organizational departments.

Identifies urgent and potentially difficult decisions and acts on them promptly; initiates and generates team- and department-wide activities.

Demonstrates, applies and shares expert technical knowledge across the organization.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.

Source: www.unicef.org

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