Social Policy Specialist

Under the general guidance of the supervisor, the incumbent provides technical leadership on social protection systems strengthening and child poverty with a strong focus on support to country offices including operational implementation and cross-sectoral integration, as well as advocacy and evidence, leadership at the regional level to enhance the enabling environment to improve social protection for children. This covers a range of areas, including evidence generation, policy/ strategy development and implementation, expansion of inclusive social protection (including gender and disability inclusive, etc), programme design and implementation (including social cash transfers), linking social protection to other social services, programme administration and integrated delivery (including strengthening linkages with social service workforce, social protection information management systems, and aligning SRSP with any HCTs, ); and the development, strengthening and financing of social protection systems. In collaboration with country offices, the incumbent provides technical support and guidance through development of analytical tools and guidance, policy advocacy materials, and technical assistance and capacity building.

In addition, the incumbent will provide technical support to the Country Offices (COs) to identify policy windows, generate dialogues, and leverage evidence-base to strengthen systems and expand coverage, and provide technical support across the in integrating social policy’s work across nutrition, gender, education, health and social behavior change.

Supports the management of external partnerships at the regional level including with the World Bank, other UN agencies, and bilateral organizations to support collaborative country engagements on social protection and further international coherence.

functions/accountabilities:

• Provide technical assistance to country offices on the expansion of social protection coverage and social protection system strengthening, including in design, operational implementation and cross-sectoral integration.
• Support countries to strengthen and expand integrated social protection system by applying evidence and conducting advocacy across the entire strategic and policy range of child-sensitive social protection interventions, including inter alia: political economy analysis; policy advocacy; analysis on financing options for expansion of coverage; system building; systems diagnostics; linkages with sectoral systems (health, education, child protection, gender, nutrition, water and sanitation), and coordination mechanisms.
• Respond to emerging requests for technical assistance in a proactive manner and produce technical notes that aim at strengthening social protection systems for the benefit of children and women.
• Liaise and collaborate with technical officers from UNICEF’s gender, health, child protection, nutrition, education, early childhood development, and emergency sections to ensure consistent and effective guidance.
• Advance knowledge on how social protection and a focus on child poverty can promote realization of international commitments for children and women, in particular in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Ensure that UNICEF is aware of social protection and child poverty issues and how the organization could effectively capitalize on existing policy and partnership opportunities and/or make new initiatives in this field to leverage results for children in line with its strategic plan.
• Analyzes national and regional contexts, including key socio-economic trends, and their impact on social development, emerging issues and concerns. Uses evidence and data to help the country office predict, prepare for and mitigate risks and adjust programming course.
• Liaise with UNICEF social policy chiefs and specialists in country and monitor the international literature and policy debate to ensure that cutting edge knowledge is being generated, regularly updated and channeled to those offices and partners would use it to achieve results for children and women.
• Development of tools, guidance and methods to improve social protection programming for children;
• Develop and enhance tools, methods and processes through which UNICEF regional office can support regional partners to sustain and expand social protection systems to address the poverty of children and their caregivers, and/or provide technical assistance to country offices and partners in using the above tools and methods.
• Supports dialogue on social protection laws/policies, and/or drafting of social protection strategies, including via coordination with different parts of the government at national and subnational level, with other sectors, with other actors e.g., civil society organizations and with the international organizations (UN, IFIs and beyond).
• As part of system strengthening at both the strategic and operational level, seek opportunities to expand coverage and adequacy of social protection for every child towards universal coverage, including contributing to UNICEF’s commitments to support the development of gender-responsive/transformative, disability-inclusive, migrant-inclusive, and shock-responsive programmes and systems.
• Generating, consolidating and sharing knowledge on UNICEF’s work on social protection and child poverty
• Organise and/or support technical meetings, workshops, regional learning exchanges and networking where existing practices are being presented, discussed and reviewed in order to distil lessons learnt and to improve UNICEF’s work and partnership strategies from the aspects of financing, leverage and efficiency.
• Organise and/or support technical meetings and networking where existing practices are being presented, discussed and reviewed in order to distill lessons learnt and to improve UNICEF’s child poverty advocacy strategies and effective child poverty policy solutions.
• Support social protection for regional-level evidence generation and advocacy strategies and capacity building for inclusive and equitable social protection systems and coverage
• Identify and liaise with strategic regional partners (think tanks and relevant institutions/individual) working on social protection for potential engagement, including for external and internal knowledge sharing and policy dialogues
• Undertake and support policy analysis and advocacy on social protection and child poverty
• Provide technical leadership to UNICEF regional advocacy on social protection, including strategy development, ensuring policy positions are evidence-based, and development of policy advocacy materials. Provide support to country level advocacy on social protection as needed.
• Provide analytical input to UNICEF’s global, regional and country reports, including the social protection assessment and studies, situation analyses, policy briefs, working papers, and training programmes from social protection viewpoints.
• Support and carry out social protection analyses on the effectiveness and efficiency of social protection in addressing the vulnerabilities to which children and their families are exposed at the regional level
• Investigate causality effects and identify the key factors that drive results.
• Provide review, and technical input on relevant draft studies and technical proposals from partner agencies and the private sector.
• Represent UNICEF in technical discussions on social protection and child poverty and support resource mobilization.
• Participates in inter-agency and other relevant social protection fora and identifies opportunities for joint programming and implementation, information sharing and coordination, while strengthening UNICEF’s standing as a key social protection player regionally.
• Facilitate the exchange of experience, tools and methods, and experiences.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration and leverage through UN agencies, International Financial Institutions, other multilateral and bilateral agencies, private and civil society  organisations, funds, policy and academic institutions for the benefit of children and women.
• Establish effective partnerships with development partners to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals and strengthen UNICEF’s leading positioning for their implementation as they relate to social policy.
• Assist with establishing and expanding UNICEF rosters of consultants, experts and institutions with a high profile and expertise on social protection.
• Strengthen relationships with development partners and development of proposals.
• Support arrangement and preparation of high-level strategic dialogue with partners

Impact of results:

This post makes a critical contribution to the ability of the Social Inclusion and Policy section to effectively support and the organisations work on achieving social protection results for children globally. The key results from this position have the following impacts:

• Decisions are made concerning the issues to be addressed and approaches and methods to be used for social protection, affecting the validity and usefulness of the information utilized by the organization.
• Make recommendation on the issues and methods to be used for social protection analysis. Make recommendations on analysis and documentation relevant to social policy with UNICEF.
• Incorrect assessment or analysis of the relevant and/or economic viability of strategies and of social protection options could lead to the promotion of the inappropriate or unsustainable approaches to meet goals for children and women.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• Advanced university degree in economics, international development studies, social sciences, or another relevant technical field is required.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of eight years of progressive, professional work experience at the national and international level in public policy, technical assistance, carrying out economic and social policy analyses in the area of social protection in developing country environments is required.
• Experience in written analysis/documentation of public policy work required.
• Experience in implementation and operational dimensions of relevant dimensions of social protection programmes and systems is highly desirable.
• Excellent oral communication and interpersonal skills i s highly desirable.
• Experience in managing and synthesizing research is desirable

Language Requirements:

• Fluency (oral and written) in English and another UN language preferred.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/573330