Partnerships Officer

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), established in 1945, aims to build peace through international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. Born from the devastation of World War II, it promotes mutual understanding, intellectual solidarity, and global citizenship to prevent future conflicts. UNESCO supports quality education for all, cultural heritage preservation, scientific research for development, and freedom of expression. Amidst contemporary challenges like intolerance and misinformation, UNESCO’s mission remains crucial for fostering peace, understanding, and the dignity of all cultures, thereby contributing to a more harmonious global community.

The UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (UNESCO Bangkok), established in 1961 and evolving in functions over the years, now oversees UNESCO’s programmes in education, natural sciences, ocean sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam and Afghanistan. UNESCO Bangkok represents UNESCO in  the  United  Nations  Sustainable  Development  Group  (UNSDG), ensuring UNESCO’s contribution to the United Nations reform for the Asia Pacific region. It coordinates national activities through offices in Phnom Penh, Ha Noi, and Yangon (antenna office). As a key player in regional educational coordination and capacity development, it leads the SDG4-Education 2030 Agenda covering 46 Member States and three Associate Members, hosting the Regional Office for the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific.

Under the overall authority and the direct supervision of the Director of the UNESCO Bangkok Office, the incumbent will support the Office to strengthen resource mobilization for UNESCO’s programme areas at regional, sub-regional and national levels.

More specifically, the incumbent will: 

Strategy:

Support the Director of the UNESCO Office in Bangkok in formulating, implementing and keeping its Regional Resource Mobilization Plan up-to-date, in close consultation with other UNESCO Offices in the region and provide support in developing a strategy for engagement with targeted donors.

Donor Intelligence:

• Pro-actively identify potential donors/partners, network, cultivate the relationship and reach out to those that are considered being high-potential donors and partners.
• Gather information about funding trends and upcoming resource mobilization opportunities, build a donor intelligence repository in the Office and the Asia-Pacific region, including the dissemination of information on funding opportunities at regional, sub regional and national levels.
• Keep up-to-date with the latest developments and initiatives of relevance to the Asia-Pacific region (e.g. donor trends, new funding initiatives on thematic areas announced by international donors, donors announcing interest in relevant countries, donors contributing to emergency appeals, etc.); participate in relevant webinars, trainings, workshops, etc.
• Monitor all pipeline resource mobilization efforts for education and intersectoral programmes in the region and systematically share information and updates with concerned colleagues and BSP and track in the Constituency Relationship Management tool.
• Participate in regular office meetings and document and follow up on discussions related to resource mobilization.

Proposals and pitching material:

• Develop key messages on the added value of UNESCO in each niche area that can be included in concept notes and project documents.
• Support programme specialists in developing compelling proposals including in response to calls for proposals, including quality assurance, budgeting for donor visibility, reporting agreements, and help coordinate joint submissions by two or more Field Offices.
• Support the Directors and the Heads of UNESCO Offices in Asia and the Pacific with the development of a set of compelling communication assets such as fact sheets, a standard slide presentation, etc. that can be customized easily for different donors.
• Contribute to and oversee project communication and visibility plans.

Relationship Management:

• Support the Directors and the Heads of the UNESCO Offices in the region in maintaining effective and positive relationships with all decentralized representatives of donors (incl. potential donors) and the UN Asia Pacific Regional Collaborative Platform (RCP).
• Act as the focal point and responsible person to respond to any ad-hoc queries coming from decentralized representatives of donors and UN bodies.
• Organize decentralized donor review meetings or steering committee meetings, and organize and implement donor visits, in collaboration with the relevant programme colleagues and in coordination with BSP at Headquarters.
• Ensure that all key documents for donor relations (proposals, reports, field trip documentation, key correspondence, donor visibility material, etc.) are shared with Field Offices in the region and with BSP at Headquarters.

 Required Qualifications:

Education:

• Advanced University degree (Master’s or equivalent) in education, international relations, business administration, marketing, communication or other relevant fields to resource mobilization.

Work Experience:

• At least four (4) years of relevant professional experience in one or more subject areas of education and/or in resource mobilization/marketing, of which preferably 2 years acquired at international level.
• Experience in writing material for partnerships/resource mobilization, including policies, project proposals and promotional material.
• Similar experience working with diverse organizations in the Asia-Pacific region and in another UN agency.

Skills/Competencies :

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team and to maintain effective working relationships in a multi-cultural environment with the ability to interact effectively with different stakeholders inside and outside the Organization.
• Excellent ability to organize meetings, calls and documents that may require the input of multiple sources.
• Excellent knowledge of global/ regional development aid and philanthropy landscape.

Languages:

• Excellent knowledge of English.

Source: https://careers.unesco.org/job/Bangkok-Partnerships-Officer/793398902/