Associate Project Officer

<!–

Description

–>

The Section for Inclusive Quality Education (IQE) is one of the two education sections of UNESCO Bangkok that aims to enhance UNESCO Member States’ capacity to provide equitable, inclusive and quality basic education for all in the Asia-Pacific region. IQE is responsible for six programme areas, namely (i) Education 2030 regional coordination, (ii) education planning and management, (iii) basic education from early childhood to the secondary level, (iv) inclusive education and gender equality, (v) quality of education, and (vi) education for health and well-being. In line with UNESCO’s global strategy, IQE is emphasizing gender mainstreaming in all of its programmes.

This position is based in the Education for Health and Well-being Team (HWT/IQE) that coordinates UNESCO’s work on young people’s health and well-being issues and the promotion of safe, inclusive, gender-equitable, and health-promoting learning environments. The team provides technical assistance to national education authorities, regional partners and UNESCO field offices on strategic priority areas of school health. Priority areas include comprehensive sexuality education (CSE); safe and enabling learning environments that are free from all forms of violence (including school-related gender-based violence – SRGBV) and address learners’ mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs;  transformative curricula and teaching that enable socials and emotional learning (SEL; and school health promotion. Programme, policy and advocacy efforts are focused on COVID-19 education sector recovery and resilience and supporting national and global commitments in follow up to the September 2022, Transforming Education Summit. The Education for Health and Well-being Team also collaborates with other UN agencies and partners on regional and national initiatives on these themes.  

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall authority of the Director of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education and the supervision of the Chief of Inclusive Quality Education Section at UNESCO Bangkok, the incumbent will work in close collaboration with, and guidance from the Regional Advisor on Education for Health and Well-being and is responsible for providing professional and technical support, research and analysis, with an emphasis on the ongoing HWT/IQE activities in the Asia-Pacific region overall, and especially the cluster of countries covered by UNESCO Bangkok Office (Thailand, Lao PDR, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Viet Nam) particularly in the following areas of HWT’s work:

• Youth leadership for creating LGBTIQ+ inclusive learning spaces;
• Capacity-building for delivery of quality CSE that is inclusive and transformative; 
• Formal and non-formal delivery approaches to CSE, including through digital platforms and youth-led initiatives;
• Enabling learning environments that are health-promoting and free from all forms of violence;
• Partner networking, inter-agency collaboration, and youth engagement.

Project Contribution towards technical and monitoring support to HWT project delivery

•  Assist in implementing and monitoring current and ongoing projects, including   Enhancing LGBTIQ+ inclusive learning spaces in Asia through youth-led transformative actions and partnerships in the education sector; supporting promotion and use of UNESCO-adapted AMAZE.org CSE videos, companion lesson plans and discussion guides in Southeast Asian countries; and, development of an orientation e-course for teachers and school leaders on disability-inclusive CSE.
• Provide programme implementation support through technical contributions to the team’s cluster and country activities, e.g., in Thailand, the UNESCO-Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), Ministry of Education collaboration on CSE, school violence prevention, and other activities led by UNESCO or co-organized with Ministry of Education, Thailand and/or the Thailand Joint UN Team on AIDS. Provide oral and written liaison and communication support with MOE/OBEC personnel and local education partners, in both Thai and English languages, as required.
• Provide follow-up support to regional partnership work on safe, inclusive, gender-equitable learning environments, e.g., the joint UNESCO-UNDP Being LGBTI in Asia initiative and promotion of the Safe to Learn Call to Action. 
•  Assist in preparing work plans, task descriptions, budgets and output indicators for assigned aspects of projects and implementing assigned project activities within established workplans and report progress against predefined performance indicators.
•  Assist in the evaluation of and reporting on the assigned projects. Provide input to the preparation of reports on the implementation of programmes and projects and other briefings as may be required by the UNESCO Field Office or Headquarters, including tracking and report on implementation using relevant tools, including the System of Information on Strategies, Tasks and the Evaluation of Results (SISTER).
• Provide substantive, logistical and administrative support to projects, consultations, meetings, events, workshops, seminars, network and partnership initiatives, events, travel and missions. Support the organization of relevant project-related activities, including drafting meeting concept notes, agendas, minutes, reporting and documentation; Contribute to project communication and advocacy materials, articles and posts for websites, social media and public information channels developed by HWT and partners.

Research and Knowledge Management, Public Information, and Continuous Learning

• Collaborate in carrying out situational analysis, researching and compiling data and inputs to concept notes, publications, briefings, and other documents. Contribute to public information and outreach efforts by writing, inputting to social media, or hosting information points. Preserve the institutional memory of the office by uploading relevant content to automated systems such as Sharepoint and other platforms.
• Invest in personal and professional learning in respect of new trends and maintenance of personal knowledge and expertise. Acquire notions of other educational specialities and UNESCO Sectors represented in the Field Office and of relevance to the country served.

Partner networking, inter-agency collaboration and resource mobilization

• Support UNESCO Bangkok’s role as the current secretariat of the regional Thematic Working Group on School Health, Nutrition and Well-being;
• Participate as UNESCO Bangkok/HWT focal point in regional UN inter-agency groups, such as the regional Interagency Task Team (IATT) on Young Key Populations in the AIDS response and other technical working groups supporting adolescents and youth, of which UNESCO is a member.
• Assist in building partnerships with stakeholders, in particular with national authorities, the private sector, civil society, NGOs and multilateral funding organizations and analyzing and compiling data for potential partnership opportunities as assigned by the supervisor.
• Assist in the preparation and follow-up on submissions and the coordination of donor meetings. With guidance, prepare background data, information and inputs, and strive to generate extra-budgetary projects and funding.
• Perform additional activities that may be required to ensure the success of the work team. The incumbent may also be involved in a range of IQE work across programme areas as appropriate and required.

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in any of the fields of Education, Social Sciences, International Relations or related fields.

Work Experience

• Minimum two (2) years (with a Bachelor’s degree) of professional experience.
• Proven experience in gathering, organizing and analyzing information for producing comprehensive and informative analytical reports.

Skills and competencies

• Excellent organizational, communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently on delegated tasks and to meet deadlines
• Excellent drafting and report writing skills
• Appreciation of diverse identities.
• Excellent ICT skills with proficiency in the use of MS Office 
• Creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work well with team members across different types of activities
• Ability to work efficiently, under pressure, and in a multi-cultural environment.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse groups of professionals towards common goals.
• High sense of responsibility and willingness to take initiative.
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.

Languages

• Excellent knowledge of English and Thai (spoken and written).

Desirable Qualifications

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in any of the areas of education development, health education, human rights, gender, public policy, social development or related field. 

Work Experience

• Experience in the field of education at the national and/or international level(s).
• Experience within the UN system or international organizations.
• Experience in human rights, inclusive education, gender equality and youth engagement.
• Experience in conducting desk research and online surveys will be an advantage.
• Experience in planning, preparation and organization of workshops and meetings under the framework of education-related projects.

Skills and competencies 

• Familiarity with UN programming policies and procedures. Working knowledge of results-based and budget management tools.

Languages:

• Basic knowledge of an additional language from the Asia-Pacific region will be an advantage.
• Knowledge of other official UN languages (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) will be an advantage.

Source: https://careers.unesco.org/job/Bangkok-Associate-Project-Officer-%28Education-for-Health-and-Well-being%29/767860702/

<!—

<!–

–>