Recruitment At UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Job Description

Job Title: Education Officer, Tamale

Purpose of the Position

The Education Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for the education programs/projects through the application of theoretical and technical skills in researching, collecting, analyzing and presenting technical program information while learning organizational rules, regulations and procedures to support the development and formulation of the Education Program in Tamale Field Office and within the Ghana Country Program.

Key Expected Results

• Support to program development and planning
• Program management, monitoring and delivery of results
• Technical and operational support to program implementation
• Networking and partnership building
• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Support to program development and planning

• Research and analyze regional and national political, education, social and economic development trends.
• Collect, analyze, verify and synthesize information to facilitate program development, design and preparation.
• Support preparation of technical reports and provide inputs for program preparation and documentation ensuring accuracy, timeliness and relevancy of information.
• Contribute to the development/establishment of sectoral program goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of education and other related information for development planning and priority and goal setting.
• Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing/administering a variety of technical program transactions, preparing materials/ documentation and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support program planning, results based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results.
• Prepare required documentation/ materials to facilitate the program review and approval process.

Program management, monitoring and delivery of results.

• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to collect/analyze/share information on implementation issues, suggest solutions on routine program implementation and submit report to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decision.
• Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow-up action by higher management and other stakeholders.
• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral program resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation/goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity.
• Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders.
• Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Prepare draft inputs for programme/donor reporting.

Technical and operational support to program implementation

• Undertake field visits and surveys and/or collect/share information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution.
• Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education and related issues to support program implementation, operations and delivery of results.

Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate program implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programs.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO program advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund-raising for education programs.
• Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings/events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of education programs/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund-raising and partnership development purposes.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Provide support in identifying, capturing, synthesizing and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results.
• Research, benchmark and report on best and cutting edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• A University Degree in education, psychology, sociology or other social science field is required
• A year of professional experience in social development planning and management in education and/other related areas.
• Fluency in English.
• Knowledge of another UN language and local language of the duty station, an asset.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

Core competencies

• Communication
• Working with people
• Drive for results

Functional Competencies

• Formulating strategies and concepts
• Analyzing
• Applying technical expertise
• Learning and researching
• Planning and organizing