Education Specialist

The Malawi Country Office offers an exciting and rewarding career opportunity for you to join our dynamic EADP team where you will be responsible for managing a team of two professional staff members to deliver a multi-sectoral programme to assist learners to reach their full academic potential in life.  You will also contribute to sustainable and scalable results to further strengthen foundational learning, enhance education system strengthening and improve the safety of learners in and around schools. In your role, you will be under the overall guidance and supervision of the Chief of EADP.

This position therefore offers a unique opportunity for a qualified, motivated and committed individual to make a significant contribution to the overall achievement of transformative results for children with professional excellence and by delivering on the following key responsibility areas, but not limited to:

• Build and sustain partnerships with relevant government counterparts, donors, development partners and other key stakeholders.
• Build capacity of government counterparts and implementing partners to guide national policy, innovative strategies and sustainable results-based interventions to enhance foundational learning and equitable access to quality education for improved learning outcomes and the delivery of concrete and sustainable EADP programme results at scale.
• Provide technical guidance, advice and support to government counterparts, NGO partners, Civil Society Organisations and UN system partners.
• Prepare results-based funding proposal and reports for management, donors and partners.
• Conduct effective and efficient programme management, including monitoring of implementation and delivery of results.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have:
Education:

• An advanced university degree in at least one of the following fields is required: Education, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Development Studies, or other related social science field.

Experience:

• A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience is required in social development management and planning in Education and related areas at the international level, preferably in a developing country is required.
• Proven experience working with Government at the national and sub-national levels is required.
• Experience working in a developing country is required.
• Experience in managing Global Partnership for Education (GPE) projects (System Capacity, Multiplier and System Transformation Grants) or similar large and complex education projects is required.
• Experience in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of disaster risk management interventions is required.
• Background and/or familiarity with Education Management Information System (EMIS) is considered highly desirable.

Technical knowledge and skills:

• Ability to manage an education or multi-sectoral social development programme, including design, costing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting is required.
• Ability to support engagement with partners e.g. Sector Wide Approaches, Global Partnership for Education, Education in Emergency Clusters is required.
• Knowledge and proven skills to support policy dialogue in education or other areas of social development, including development of policy papers and other sector planning documents, is required
• Proven skills in exemplary management and leadership, motivating and developing people under your supervision to perform at their best and live the core values (care, respect, integrity, trust and accountability) is required.
• Knowledge of education sector planning and skills in managing Global Partnership for education projects (System Capacity and System Transformation Grants) or similar projects is required.
• Proven management and technical skills in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of disaster risk management interventions is required.
• Knowledge of global and regional developments in EMIS is highly desirable.
• Knowledge and proven skills in providing strategic support to government counterparts on pooled funding arrangments and engagement with partners (Donors, Development Partners, NGOs, CSO) is highly desirable.
• Proven technical skills in Gender analysis, programming, and mainstreaming is highly desirable.
• Ability to support sector and policy dialogue: translation of analytical findings and evidence into development programme and policy discussions around equity and learning with partners, including government, development partners, CSOs and academia in relevant areas is highly desirable.
• Education sector planning knowledge/ability, including the range of modalities for delivering education, linkages between different sub-sectors (e.g., ECD, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Inclusive Education), cost-effectiveness and efficiency issues, key institutional structures, components, and processes, as well as governance issues is highly desirable.
• Education and policy sector analysis capacity, including the understanding of the core education data sets and indicators; tools for analysis of equity; determinants of student access and learning; budget, costing, and financial management in education systems; political economy; and education policy and strategic planning is highly desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in English, both strong verbal and written skills, is essential.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/569293