Education Officer NO-2 with UNICEF Albania office – Temporary Appointment for 364 days

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Inclusive Education – Get inspired by the UNICEF video below and apply to be part of this amazing organization! 

UNICEF tendersglobal.net for every child – YouTube

UNICEF Albania Office works in the ground to support government’s reforms and civil society interventions to offer support, development and protection of children’s rights. The office will implement the new country program for 2022-2026 based on UNICEF’s strategic plan the SDG 2030 Agenda and the EU integration agenda. As the country aspires to join EU, UNICEF Albania office is highly engaged on contributing to the reforms in areas of education, health, justice, social and child protection with the goal of protecting children’s rights as defined in the Convention of the Rights of Children (CRC). The new Country program will follow a life-cycle approach in convening multiple stakeholders around windows of opportunities for critical age groups to holistically advance child rights. It will be focused on the areas of Young Children; School-aged and adolescent children; Protecting Children and Enabling Environment. For more detailed information about office results and areas of interventions check our website at https://www.unicef.org/albania/

The Education Officer, NO-2 will report to the Education Specialist (NO-3) and will support the interventions in education program for a limited time period (one year).

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the job: The Education Officer (NO-2) will provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for education program within the UNICEF Albania Country Programme. The incumbent will provide assistance from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative program tasks to facilitate education program development, implementation, program progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

Summary of the key functions/accountabilities

1. Support to program development and planning

• Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design and management of education related programs/projects. Research and report on development trends (education, economic, social, etc.) and data for use in program development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results.
• Contribute to the development and establishment of program goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of education and other related information for development planning and goal setting.
• Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical program transactions, preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support program planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results. 

2. Program management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues.
• Suggest solutions on routine program implementation and submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders.
• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral program resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Prepare draft inputs for program/donor reporting.

3. Technical and operational support to program implementation

• Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education related issues to support program implementation, operations and delivery of results.

4. Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate program implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programs.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO program advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fund raising for education programs.

• Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings and events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of education programs/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials, donor proposals and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Contribute to identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.

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

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, psychology, sociology or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of relevant professional experience in program planning, management, and/or research in education is required.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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

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 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. 

Remarks:

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). 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 cancelled.

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.

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.

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