Education Officer

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

Quality is one of the remaining challenges to universal access to and permanence in school and it is a national priority as stated in the SDG 4. In 2019, close to 6 million children and adolescents in primary and secondary education were 2 or more years behind their grades, one of the main causes for drop out. Racial and sexual orientation discrimination, child labour, and pregnancy, inadequate curricula, and undervalued teachers are associated factors to school dropout and poor learning outcomes. Brazil is facing an urgent crisis. Ministry of Education ́s (MoE) official data revealed more: in 2021, 2,1 million children have repeated a school year and approximately 5,5 million boys and girls were with 2 or more years of school delay. Consequently, a significant number of adolescents and young people throughout their school life, even upon completing their Basic Education, do not have adequate learning in Portuguese language.

To achieve these results, UNICEF and partners have developed the Successful School Pathways strategy now being implemented in ten states and will also be an important strategy for UNICEF Seal edition and the Urban centers strategy.

How can you make a difference?

The Education Officer – Successful School Pathways reports to the Education Officer (NO B). This position seeks to address our current needs to help the development and implementation of quality social policies for vulnerable children and adolescents in the education area. This will be achieved through the following results:

Support the training cycles of the UNICEF Seal in the Semiarid and the Amazon Territories planning and reporting on the activities related to the School Active Search strategy as well as support the workplan and reports at the Agenda Cidade UNICEF strategy on activities related to the School Exclusion.

• Conduct states and municipalities of the Semiarid and Amazon territories' situation analysis regarding out-of-school children and adolescents;
• Conduct Urban centers' situation analysis regarding out-of-school children and adolescents;
• Plan, coordinate and report on local training and/or advocacy meetings with public agents at state and municipal level;
• Monitor activities collected by the School Active Search platform and at the Seal and Agenda Cidade UNICEF activities regarding out of school children and adolescents.

Support the training cycles of the UNICEF Seal, edition , in the Semiarid and the Amazon Territories planning and reporting on the activities related to the Successful School Pathways strategy as well as support the workplan and reports at the Agenda Cidade UNICEF strategy on activities related to the skills development programme activities.

• Conduct states and municipalities of the Semiarid and Amazon territories' situation analysis regarding age-grade distortion in schools as well as skills development programmes aligned to Brazilian National Curriculum (BNCC);
• Conduct urban centers' situation analysis regarding age-grade distortion in schools and skills development programmes;
• Plan, coordinate and report on local training and/or advocacy meetings with public agents at state and municipal level;
• Monitor activities collected at the Seal and Agenda Cidade UNICEF activities regarding age-grade distortion in schools and skills development programme activities.

Support to program development and planning for the achievement of results for Component 2: quality social policies for vulnerable children and adolescents.

• Support the development/establishment of 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 priority and goal setting reporting every two months;
• Support technically and operationally preparing related materials/documentations – complying with organizational processes and management systems – to support program planning, results based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results, including inputs for the annual reports and reviews and for donor reports;
• Provide ad-hoc support, by providing reports and analysis, to Education section and data-related activities that may come up during the period of the contract, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and relevancy of information;
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues.

Networking and partnership building to face school failure

• 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 capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programmes, especially in relation to face school failure;
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fund raising for education programmes;
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

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

• University degree in education, social sciences and development sciences, public policy, human rights, psychology, sociology, communication or related field(s).
• A minimum of one year of professional experience at national level in relevant Education programmes;
• Relevant experience in connecting, articulating, and organizing initiatives with various stakeholders from public and private sector, civil society and UN system;
• Experience working with Government departments and understanding of government systems will be an asset.
• Experience in the UN system agency or organization is also an asset.
• Fluency in Portuguese and proficient English is required. Proficient spanish is an asset.

Technical Knowledge

• Advocacy for human rights and public policies development;
• Reporting and documentation;
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with experience in consensus building and in motivating cross-functional teams to meet ambitious project goals and timelines;
• Facilitation and training; Knowledge on children's rights issues, including the Convention of Rights of the Child and the Statute of the Child and the Adolescent;
• Experience in content production and management;
• Experience in the production of materials for learning programs or content for social mobilization initiatives; Excellent writing skills in Portuguese.
  
  .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

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 (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 include 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 promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

Remarks:

UNICEF's active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates from diverse populations eligible and suitable candidates from diverse populations (afro-descendants, indigenous, and other minorities) are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

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 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.

This position is for Brazilian citizens only.

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