Chief Education

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Description

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• Managerial leadership
• Programme development and planning
• Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results
• Advisory services and technical support
• Advocacy, networking and partnership building
• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Establish the section’s annual work plan with the education team and set priorities and targets. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
• Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the team.
• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives, goals, direction, and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

• Lead the planning and updating of the situation analysis to ensure that current and comprehensive data is available to guide UNICEF’s strategic policy advocacy, intervention and development efforts on education programmes and to set programme priorities, strategies, and implementation plans.
• Keep abreast of national, regional and international development priorities on education to leverage UNICEF’s position and competencies with donors, national governments, communities and constituents to advocate and promote education initiatives and policies.
• Lead, coordinate and supervise the development of education programmes/projects (as a full component of the CO and/or UNSDF programmes). Establish plans of action, programme goals and results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).
• Oversee the timely preparation of programme recommendation and related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Programme recommendation, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s overall Strategic Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Collaborate with colleagues and partners to develop partnership frameworks to address specific needs and to leverage resources for enhancing education programmes/projects. Ensure synergy, integration, coherence, and harmonization of programmes and projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities, donors’ development strategies and policies, national priorities, and UN System development interventions and initiatives.

• Plan and collaborate on monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results on education programmes.
• 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 and interventions to achieve results.
• Prepare and assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths, and/or weaknesses in programme and management; identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Monitor programmes and projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Plan, approve, monitor, certify, and control 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. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Prepare and submit programme and project reports to donors and other partners to keep them informed on programme progress and critical issues.

• Provide technical advice to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on strategies and best practices to influence approaches and policies, and to support social, economic, political, and legal development planning, implementation and delivery of results on education programmes and related issues.
• Coordinate and ensure the availability of technical experts (with Regional Office/HQ) to ensure timely support throughout all stages of programming and project implementation.
• Participate in strategic discussions to influence policy and agenda setting for combating all forms of discrimination against children by advising on and advocating strategies and approaches to promote universal access to equitable and inclusive education for children in the country.

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local and national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organizations, research institutes and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities, leverage funds, to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on education programmes.
• Design communication strategies, implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnerships for sustainable results, and to support fund raising for UNICEF and Country Office programmes on education.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on education and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners and colleagues on the UNSDF planning and preparation of programmes/projects including emergency preparedness.

• Promote critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable education programming initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting-edge practices on education and management. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned.
• Lead the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.
• Lead, plan and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of stakeholders to promote sustainable results on education and related programmes/projects.

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, economics, psychology, sociology or another relevant technical field.

• A minimum of ten years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education at the international level is required.
• Experience in managing medium and large sized programmes and teams, is required.
• Experience in high-level engagement and partnerships with Government and donors is an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Familiarity/ background with emergency is considered as an asset.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

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