Education Specialist, GPE Coordination P-3, Freetown, Sierra Leone #90936

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, knowledge.

Please access UNICEF Sierra Leone information here and here

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the Job:

The Education Section of UNICEF Sierra Leone plays a leading role in the education sector with a high-level and important education portfolio. The overall outcome of the Education programme is to ensure that by 2023, more children have improved and meaningful learning outcomes, and UNICEF is an important and strategic leader in Sierra Leone’s education sector.

UNICEF is currently the Grant Agent (GA) for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) – the Education Sector Plan Implementation Grant (ESPIG) ($17.2M) which is coming to an end in August 2023.  As the GA, UNICEF bears the responsibility for overseeing programme implementation in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education. The programme is focusing on improving access to equitable and quality education, using three key approaches,

1. Build strong foundations for learning through increased access to early learning (pre-primary education) for 3–5-year-olds.
2. Improved learning outcomes in early grade reading, mathematics and writing and
3. Systems Strengthening.
4. The programme is moving towards achieving the envisaged impact by the end of the grant period in September 2023.
5. More recently, the Government has identified Delivering the Foundations of Learning for All as the priority reform that will be achieved through education system transformation in the country. The transformation will be done by addressing bottlenecks and working collaboratively with all stakeholders, partners, and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The GPE Partnership Compact, approved by the GPE Secretariat in 2022, articulated and elaborated on this priority reform that served as the basis for Sierra Leone’s application to access GPE financing including: 1) System Capacity Grant (SCG): US$ 2.6 million; 2) System Transformation Grant (STG): US$ 22.5 million; and 3) GPE Multiplier Grant: US$ 15 million.
6. UNICEF is also endorsed as the Grant Agent by the Government for all three grants mentioned above that will be rolled out from August 2023 onwards.
7. Currently, the focus for UNICEF Education section is on completing all the activities under the ESPIG and proceeding towards grant closure. In addition, the section is shifting its focus towards the rollout and implementation of grants, as all the applications have been approved for new grants.
8. The Specialist contributes to achievement of 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.

Summary of Key Functions/Accountabilities:

1. GPE and Quality Education Programme Leadership
2. GPE Programme Development and Planning
3. Programme Management, Monitoring and Quality Control of Results
4. Advisory Services and Technical Support
5. Advocacy, Networking and Partnership Building
6. Innovation, Knowledge Management and Capacity Building

Please see attached JD for detailed information.  ToR – Education Specialist (GPE Coordination).pdf

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

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

• A minimum of five 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.

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

• Fluency in English is required. 

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

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) Nutures, leads and manages people

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. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. 

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

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). 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.