Job Opportunity: Education Officer, at UNICEF

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, Education

UNICEF has been working in Cameroon since 1975 to allow women and children to fully realize their rights to development without restriction, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF provides financial and technical support to Cameroon across seven areas to fully realize the rights of women and children. These areas include Health, HIV/AIDS, Water-sanitation-Hygiene, nutrition, education, child protection, and social inclusion. UNICEF focuses mainly on children and the most vulnerable and excluded families. Cameroon’s 2020 population is estimated at 26,545,863 people according to UN data. The population is young and generates strong socioeconomic demand. In rural areas, limited access to basic social services and the effects of climate change led to household impoverishment and severe child deprivations. The task is immense but not insurmountable; it requires the energy of all stakeholders in Cameroon and outside of Cameroon: also, women, men, youth and children, government, technical and financial partners, donors, civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians, and communities. Everyone is invited to take part in the struggle to meet the challenges that lie ahead. It is together that we will act for Cameroon, a country that summarizes the challenges and hopes of Africa.

To learn more about UNICEF Cameroon, use the below link

https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/CMR/SitePages/AboutUs.aspx.

How can you make a difference?

The Education Officer is needed by the Cameroon country office to support his programmes to provide professional, technical, operational, and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for education programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

 Key tasks and responsibilities:

He/she will perform the following tasks:

1. Support to programme development and planning

• Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design, and management of education-related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (economic, social, health, etc.) and data for use in programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation, and delivery of results.
• Contribute to developing and establishing sectoral programme goals, objectives, and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis, and reporting of education and other related information for development planning and goal setting.
• Contribute to achievement to the  key result for chidren number 3 (KR4C#3)

2. Programme management, monitoring, and delivery of results.

• Suggest solutions on routine programme implementation and submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep a record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme 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.
• Provide support for the coordination, planning, monitoring and evaluation of Education in Emergencies.

3.Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and 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-related issues to support programme implementation, operations, and delivery of results

 4. 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 programme implementation and build the capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programmes.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fundraising for education programmes.

5. Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building

• Contribute to 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 programme results.

To have more information, please click here: Link to be inserted.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

EDUCATION

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

WORK EXPERIENCE

A minimum of two years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or education research is required. Experience working in a developing country is considered an asset. Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset

LANGUAGES

Fluency in French. Working knowledge of English 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

The 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 and (7) Works collaboratively with others

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 including 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 promoting 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 delivering the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/.

The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates)

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.