United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (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.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Social Policy Specialist
Job no: 558763
Locations: Bauchi and Sokoto
Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment
Level: NO-3
Categories: Social Policy
Organizational Context and Purpose for the Job
- The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does - in programs, in advocacy and in operations.
- The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism.
- To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life - in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions - her or his rights are violated.
- There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens - addressing inequity - not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries.
- Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.
- The Social Policy Specialist GJP is to be used in small to medium sized Country Offices (CO) reporting to the Chief Social Policy, P4.
How Can You Make A Difference?
- Under the general guidance of the supervisor, the incumbent is responsible for providing technical support to the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of all stages of social policy programing and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results.
- This includes programmes aimed at improving (a) public policies to reduce child poverty; (b) social protection coverage and impact on children; (c) the transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-focused public investments and financial management; and (d) governance, decentralization, and accountability measures to increase public participation and the quality, equity, and coverage of social services.
- This encompasses both direct programme work with government and civil society partners as well as linkages and support to teams working on education, health, child protection, water and sanitation, and HIV.
Key Responsibilities
Improving data on child poverty & vulnerability for increased use for policy and programme action:
- Supports the collection, analysis, and user-friendly presentation of data on multidimensional and monetary child poverty, including strengthening national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.
- Provides timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, and development; facilitates results-based management for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up specific social policy initiatives to reduce child poverty.
- Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impact on social development, emerging issues, and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effects of social welfare policies on the rights of children
Strengthening social protection coverage and impact for children:
- Supports the development of social protection policies, legislation, and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention the most marginalized. Identifies, generates, and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.
- Promotes strengthening of integrated social protection systems, providing technical support to partners to improve the design of cash transfers and child grants and improve linkages with other social protection interventions such as health insurance, public works, and social care services as well as complementary services and intervention related to nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation, child protection and HIV.
- Undertakes improved monitoring and research around social protection impact on child outcomes and use of data and research findings for strengthening programme results.
Improving use of public financial resources for children:
- Undertakes budget analysis to inform UNICEF’s advocacy and technical assistance to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to improve equitable allocations for essential services for children. Works with sector colleagues to build capacity to undertake costing and cost effectiveness analysis on priority interventions to help inform policy decisions on child-focused investments.
- Supports the identification of policy options for improved domestic financing of child-sensitive social protection interventions.
- Undertakes and builds capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to support transparency, accountability, and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, including through support to district level planning, budgeting and public
- financial management as well as facilitating community participation
Strengthening capacity of local governments to plan, budget, consult on and monitor child-focused social services:
- Where national decentralization processes are taking place, collaborates with central and local authorities to improve policies, planning, budgeting, consultation, and accountability processes so that decisions and child-focused service delivery more closely respond to the needs of local communities.
- Collaborates with the central and local authorities to strengthen capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of essential social services, with emphasis on community participation and accountability.
Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social policy:
- Supports correct and compelling use of data and evidence on the situation of children and coverage and impact of child focused services – in support of the social policy programme and the country programme overall.
- Establishes effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness, and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.
UNICEF Programme Management:
- Manages and coordinates technical support around child poverty, social protection, public finance, and governance ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.
- Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research, and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.
- The strategic and effective advocacy, planning and formulation of social policy programs/projects and the achievement of sustainable results, contributes to achievement of goals and objectives to create a protective environment for children and thus ensure their survival, development, and well-being in society. Achievements in social policy programs and projects in turn contribute to maintaining/enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to provide program services for mothers and children that promotes greater social equality in the country.
Requirements
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- An advanced University Degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field
Experience:
- A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience is required
- Experience working in a developing country is considered as a strong asset.
- Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered as a strong asset
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate:
- UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are:
- Builds and maintains partnerships (II)
- Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (II)
- Drive to achieve results (II)
- Innovates and embraces change (II)
- Manages ambiguity and complexity (II)
- Thinks and acts strategically (II)
- Works collaboratively with others (II)
- Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (II)