Education Specialist (Data), P-4 at UNICEF

How can you make a difference?

• Under the overall supervision of the Regional Education Adviser (REA), the position will support the implementation of the education flagship of the Regional Collaboration for Children agenda and will be responsible for technical support and strategic direction on education system strengthening across the 21 country offices of ESAR.  The Education specialist will provide authoritative technical guidance/operational support to facilitate the management and delivery of results on strengthening national education systems (with a focus on evidence, data and financing) to improve learning outcomes and to promote universal access to and equitable and inclusive primary/early childhood education especially for the most vulnerable children. The Specialist will be accountable for supporting Country Offices and Governments in evidence building and improvement of education data systems, equity in public education spending and results based-management (RBM) approaches.

The successful individual will be responsible for the following key accountabilities:

Management and advisory support to the Regional Education Advisor (REA)

• Provide advice to the REA in establishing the annual work plan including developing strategies and determining priorities/targets and performance measurements. Coordinate work progress monitoring and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards and report to REA critical issues for timely action.
• Provide technical assistance/advice to colleagues in the Section on all aspects of data analysis, statistics, indicators and result-based management to enable colleagues to achieve program/performance objectives.

Evidence building for program development

• Provide technical leadership and assistance to country offices (COs) and Ministries of Education for building relevant education evidence, including public spending analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis.
• Keep abreast of national/regional/international development priorities on education data, evidence and education financing to enhance program management and delivery.
• Establish specific goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans for the sector/s using results-based planning terminology and methodology.  Prepare required documentations for program review and approval.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external partners to discuss education evidence and data methodologies.

Technical leadership for monitoring, evaluation and research and for improving national education data systems

• Provide technical leadership and assistance to COs and Ministries of Education for improving Education Management Information Systems.
• Provide technical leadership and assistance to COs and Ministries of Education for applying analytical and programming tools to ensure more equitable financing in education.
• 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 in education programs.

Advocacy, partnership and capacity building

• Promote rights-based, evidence-based education programming and monitoring and advocate for quality, inclusive education
• Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of Ministries of Education and partners to promote evidence based policies for better quality and more inclusive education systems.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

• Advanced University degree in economics, education, sociology or other social science field.
• Eight years of relevant work experience at the national and international levels in M&E, data analysis in education and programme management.
• Extensive experience of data analysis including the use of statistical software such as SPSS, Stata etc.
• Strong education and policy 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 application to education policy and strategic planning.
• Strong  education sector planning knowledge/ability, including the range of modalities for delivering education, linkages between different sub-sectors, cost-effectiveness and efficiency issues, key institutional structures, components and processes, as well as governance issues.
• Good 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.
• Good ability to support 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.
• Good ability to support engagement with partners (e.g. Sector Wide Approaches, Global Partnership for Education, Education in Emergency Clusters), as well as networking with other key partners.
• Good programme management in education, including programme design, costing, monitoring and 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.
• Good understanding of policies and strategies to address issues related to resilience: risk analysis and risk management, education in conflict situations, natural disasters, and recovery
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.