Chief Education, P-4, East Jerusalem, State of Palestine, Fixed Term (post no. 68578)

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built, we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, hope

UNICEF in the State of Palestine works to uphold the rights of children to access essential services and protection, from early childhood through adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential. Following the escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF is responding at scale with Education, WASH, Nutrition, Health, Child Protection and Multi-Purpose Cash, while preparing for return to learning for children across the State of Palestine to respond to the most precent and critical needs of children, while supporting the restoration of essential services.

Reporting to the Deputy Representative, Programmes, the Chief, Education is responsible for managing and supervising all stages of education programmes/projects. This includes strategic planning and formulation, as well as delivery of results on strengthening national education systems to improve learning outcomes, universal access to quality, equitable and inclusive primary/early childhood education, and renewed involvement in secondary education, especially for children who are marginalized, disadvantaged and excluded in society. You will position UNICEF as a key player supporting a complex emergency response programme focusing on restoring learning and transitioning to rebuilding education system once conditions allow. You will lead a group of professional and support staff to develop and manage the education programme in the country.

You will be responsible for establishing the plans of action and overseeing work progress to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable programme/project results, according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM), as well as UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

Your key accountabilities and duties:

1.           Managerial leadership

– Establish the section’s annual work plan with the education team, and set priorities and targets, including for the complex emergency response. 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.

2.           Programme development and planning

– Provide technical guidance and operational support 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.

– Supervise the development of education programmes/projects (as a full component of the CO and/or UNDAF programmes). Establish plans of action, programme goals and results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).

– Supervise the development of education in emergencies programmes/projects as per the inter-agency flash appeal/HAC/UNICEF response plan. Establish plans of action, programme goals and results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).

– Guide and coordinate the timely preparation of programme recommendations and related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Programme recommendation ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, regional strategies and national priorities.

– 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.

3.           Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results

– 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.

4.           Advisory services and technical support

– 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.

5.           Advocacy, networking and partnership building

– 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.

– Prepare 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/HCT) discussions and planning on education and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDCF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners and colleagues on the UNSDCF planning and preparation of programmes/projects including emergency preparedness and response and early recovery phase.

6.           Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

– 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.

– Contribute to the development of policies and procedures, and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.

– Organize, plan and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of stakeholders to promote sustainable results on education and related programmes/projects.

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

Education:

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

Experience:

A minimum of eight years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education at the international level is required.

Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset as well as responding to politically complex emergency situation.

Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

Familiarity/background with restoring learning and transitioning to rebuilding a full fledge education system is an asset.

Language Requirement:

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language, in particular Arabic, is considered as an asset.

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 Values

The 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.

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is: a role with direct contact with children, works directly with children, or is a safeguarding response role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

This is required for all posts requiring a higher education degree. “UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/”

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates)

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.