Organization: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
Reports to: Representative or Deputy Representative
UNICEF,
the United Nations Children’s Fund, is the driving force that helps build a
world where the rights of every child are realized. Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and
territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that
poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path.
Job Summary: The Chief of Education will be accountable for the
development, design, planning, implementation and management of the UNICEF
Education programme within the country programme. As Head of Section, the
jobholder leads a group of professional and support staff to develop and manage
the education programme in collaboration with other programmes and sectors and
with government and key development partners. The incumbent will be responsible
for the overall quality of the programme design and for ensuring that it is
effectively and efficiently managed and monitored. The Chief is responsible for
managing and leading all stages of education programs/projects from strategic
planning and formulation to delivery of results on strengthening national
education systems to improve learning outcomes,
universal access to and equitable and inclusive primary/early childhood
education and renewing involvement in secondary education especially, for
children who are marginalized, disadvantaged and excluded in society. The Chief
is responsible for leading and managing and establishing the plans of action to
ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable programs/projects results
according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and
methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and
accountability framework.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Managerial Leadership:
- Establish the Section’s annual work plan with
the education team; set priorities/targets and performance measurement.
Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to
schedule and performance standards. - Establish clear individual performance
objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the
team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure
timely performance management and assessment of the team. - Mentor and supervise team members by
providing them with clear objectives and goals and direction and guidance
to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and
efficiently.
2. Program Development
and Planning:
- Lead/support the planning and conduct/update
of situation analysis to ensure that current comprehensive and evidence
based data are available to guide UNICEF’s strategic policy advocacy,
intervention and development efforts on education programs and to set
program priorities, strategies, design and implementation plans. - Stay abreast with
national/regional/international development priorities on education to
leverage UNICEF position and competencies with donors, national
governments, communities and constituents to advocate/promote education
initiatives and policies. - Lead, coordinate and supervise the
development of education programs/projects (as a full component of the CO
and/or UNDAF programs). Establish plans of action, program goals and
results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM). - Manage the timely preparation of program
recommendation and related documentation for inclusion in the Country
Office Program recommendation ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF’s
Strategic Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and
competencies. - Consult and collaborate with national/global
colleagues/partners/allies to develop partnerships framework to address
specific needs and to leverage resources for enhancing up education
programs/projects. Ensure synergy, integration, coherence, and
harmonization of programs/projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans and
priorities, donors’ development strategies/policies, national priorities/competencies
and UN System development interventions/initiatives.
3. Program management,
monitoring and quality control of results:
- Coordinate, plan and/or collaborate with
monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance
indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen
performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and
sustainable results on education programs. - Actively participate in major monitoring and
evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with government
and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to
take required action/interventions to achieve results. - Assess monitoring and evaluation reports to
identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify
lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and
timely intervention to achieve goals. - Keenly monitor programs/projects to assess
progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely
decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely
resolution. - Plan, approve, monitor and control the use of
program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets)
certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and
procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and
integrity. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources. - Submit program/project reports to donors and
other partners to keep them informed on program progress and critical
issues.
4. Advisory services and
Technical Support:
- Offer technical advice to key government
officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on strategies
and best practices to influence approaches/policies and to support
social/economic/political/legal development planning, implementation and
delivery of results on education and other related issues. - Coordinate/ensure the availability of
technical experts (with Regional Office/HQ) to ensure timely support
throughout all stages of programming/project processes. - Actively participate in strategic discussions
to influence policy and agenda setting for combating all forms of
discrimination against children by advising on and advocating strategies
and approaches that promote universal access to and equitable and
inclusive education for children in the country.
5. Advocacy, Networking
and Partnership Building:
- Build and strengthen strategic partnerships
through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system
agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs,
funding organization, research institutes and private sector to reinforce
cooperation and/or pursue opportunities, leverage funds, to promote goals
and achieve sustainable and broad results on education learning outcomes
and equity and inclusiveness. - Develop communication strategies and
implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and
outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances for
sustainable results and support fund raising for UNICEF and Country Office
education programs. - Participate and/or represent UNICEF in
inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on education and related
issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are
fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF development planning and
agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues
the UNDAF planning and preparation of programs/projects including
emergency preparedness.
6. Innovation, knowledge
management and capacity building:
- Promote critical thinking and innovative
approaches and good practices for sustainable education programs/projects
initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services. - Stay abreast, research, benchmark, introduce
and implement best and cutting edge practices on education programs and
management. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge
learned. - Lead and/or develop policies and procedures
and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency
and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects. - Lead/plan/implement capacity building
initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote
sustainable results on education and related programs/projects.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The ideal candidate for the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief Education should hold an Advanced University Degree in education, economics,
psychology, sociology or other social science field is required. - At least ten years of progressively
responsible relevant work experience in programme planning, management,
and/or research in education at the international level, some of which
preferably in a developing country is required. - Previous experience working in the UN system
agency or organisation is an asset. - Familiarity with emergency response is an
asset. - Broad working knowledge and experience in
understanding of the overall global development context, including issues
such as: poverty, conflict and the impact of these factors on education
and vice-versa; and inter-sectoral approaches to address such issues in
collaboration with other sectors (including Social Policy, Child
Protection, Nutrition, WASH, Health and Communications within UNICEF). - Broad knowledge of global developments in
education and international engagement strategies, including the
application of the equity lens and human rights perspectives to
programming. - Demonstrated ability to undertake policy
dialogue: translation of analytical findings and evidence into development
programmes and policy discussions around equity and learning with
partners, including government, development partners, CSOs and academia in
relevant areas. - Strong 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. - Strong education policy and sector analysis
capacity, including understanding of the core education data sets,
indicators, tools for analysis of equity, determinants of student access
and learning, budget, cost and financing, education system management,
political economy and the ability to apply those to education policy and
strategic planning. - Rigorous programme management in education,
including programme design, costing, monitoring and evaluation (including
areas like classroom assessment, standardized learning assessment,
examinations, impact evaluation) and reporting. - Demonstrated ability to engage with partners
(e.g. Sector Wide Approaches, Global Partnership for Education, Education
in Emergency Clusters, Education Provider Forums, Delivering as One,
Inter-sectoral partnerships such as in ECD), as well as networking with
other key partners. - Strong understanding of gender and inequity
issues in relation to education and development and the application of
gender / equity analysis to policy and planning in education. - Broad knowledge and understanding of policies
and strategies to address issues related to resilience for CO and RO based
post and where relevant: risk analysis and risk management, education in
conflict situations, natural disasters, and recovery. - Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN
language or a local language is an asset
Core Values: Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion,
Integrity
- Communication – Level III
- Working with People – Level III
- Drive for Results -Level III
- Leading and supervising – Level III
- Formulating strategies/concepts – Level III
- Analyzing – Level III
- Relating and networking – Level III
- Deciding and initiating action – Level III
- Persuading and influencing – Level II
If
interested in joining the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the
aforementioned capacity, please click on link below to visit website and create
profile or express interest if you already have a profile on the UN system
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