Senior Education Inclusion Accelerator Adviser at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

• The Education Inclusion Accelerator (EIA) will be part of the Division of Resilience and Solutions (DRS). Hosted at Regional Bureau level, it will develop innovative ways of working with other agencies to enable leveraging of each partner’s knowledge, skills and experience to deliver the greatest return on investment, streamline coordination and accelerate change. As well as providing granular support to selected country operations, the EIA will develop capacity building approaches for both UNHCR and development partners, gather and disseminate lessons learnt and global public goods in ways which core partners can use both in the region and elsewhere, and engage regional platforms, including the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), on meaningful further operationalization of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).
• The EIA will bring together the key enablers from across relevant international community stakeholders to deliver on the promise of the GCR, catalysing work at country and regional levels, building UNHCR capacity and building capacity on refugee issues into sister agencies. These will be docked into the shared work on the Common Agenda and to the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (SDCF), embedding a harmonised commitment to operationalising the GCR as One-UN.
• The incumbent of this position will work closely with colleagues in the Regional Bureaux to further develop the strategic relationships at regional level and will report to the Deputy Director of DRS, with a dotted line to the Deputy Director in the Bureau. The incumbent will also work closely with the Chief of the Education Section in DRS.
• All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

Accelerator formulation/establishment:

• Convene and build trusted relationships with the key partners, embedded in the GCR, UNHCR’s Education Strategy, and Regional Bureau’s priorities around education, inclusion, and partnership management.
• Establish an operational framework for full Accelerator.
• Lead the co-design of a strategic work plan. Link to Partnership Frameworks and/or Agreements depending on partner.
• Develop a resource mobilization strategy and provide operational oversight of Accelerator design.
• Analyse and create a detailed matrix of target countries’ policies, inclusion bottlenecks, sector planning processes, public financial management and accountability (PFMA) considerations, and relevant timelines.
• Political economy analysis of IGAD with a view to prioritising and tailoring engagement by the Accelerator.

Inclusion activities:

• Provide high level analysis, advice and guidance to senior management on education inclusion.
• Based on initial analyses and engagement across Regional Bureaux/targeted country operations, develop a series of options paper on core issues around recurrent expenditures: modelling of costs and recommendations for sustainable financing including targeted areas for negotiation, future co-design, and advocacy with the Accelerator partners.
• Develop options papers or other research on the intersection between household income and access to education, right to work and access to domestic financing.
• Produce resource mobilization strategy pegged to implementing those options agreed on by UNHCR senior management and with Accelerator partners engagement.
• Support the operationalisation of the GRF Education mega-pledge in the region as it relates to key partners.

Internal UNHCR activities:

• Develop and conduct training and mentorship programme for targeted Education staff, Senior Development Officers and leadership, along with partners. Build this out into a shared capacity building package / set of global public goods for all Accelerator partner staff to ensure harmonization of knowledge and approaches.
• Analyse and share recommendations on internal bottlenecks.
• Lead risk assessments and discussions with team(s) to proactively manage risks and seize opportunities impacting objectives. Ensure that risk management principles are integrated in decision-making both at strategic and operational levels. Allocate resources for planned treatments with resource requirements in Strategic Plans. Ensure that risks are managed to acceptable levels and escalate, as needed. If a Risk Owner, designate the Risk Focal Point and certify that the annual risk review is completed and ensure that the risk register is updated during the year, as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level

• For P5 - 12 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 11 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 10 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education

Education

• Social Science; 
• International Development;  or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses

• Not specified.
• (Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience

Essential

• Substantial demonstrated previous work experience relevant to the function. Experience with the refugee inclusion agenda and related global and national frameworks. Demonstrable multi-country experience in providing high quality advice across education pathways including access (including with groups such as girls and children with disabilities), quality (teacher management and professional development, curriculum and teaching and learning materials) and governance (working with Ministries and sector architecture). Experience in building/expanding partnerships at global/regional levels. Experience in high level advocacy and influencing.

Desirable

• Previous working experience in emergency education with UN or NGOs.  Experience in the field operations. Good understanding of UNHCR's protection and solutions mandate.

Functional Skills

• ED-Education systems analysis and strengthening;
• ED-Education capacity building - education programming;
• ED-Education programming design and quality assurance;
• CL-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community;
• DM-Data Management;
• MG-Strategic Partnership Development (global)
• (Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements 

• For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
• For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
• For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

Competency Requirements

• All jobs at UNHCR require six core competencies and may also require managerial competencies and/or cross-functional competencies. The six core competencies are listed below.

Core Competencies

• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning 
• Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies

• Leadership
• Strategic Planning & Vision
• Empowering & Building Trust
• Judgement & Decision Making
• Managing Resource
• Managing Performance

Cross-Functional Competencies

• Analytical Thinking
• Stakeholder Management
• Policy Development &Research
• All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.
• As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.
• This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Desired Candidate Profile 

• The incumbent will be a recognized strategic and inspiring leader in education, with experience working at national, regional and global levels to transform education policy, programming and practice and the ability to convene stakeholders with wide ranging priorities under a common objective. Essential experience includes evidence of delivering at the juncture between global/national education architecture, refugee law and policy, opportunities and bottlenecks to be overcome, and partnerships required to achieve the full inclusion of refugees in national systems.

Required experience includes: 

• Demonstrable technical expertise and multi-country experience of providing technical guidance across partnerships, innovation and evidence. Extensive experience and knowledge of the refugee inclusion agenda and related global and national frameworks, and its application at multiple country levels.
• Significant representation and partnership building expertise including with Development Banks.  Experience of building multi-stakeholder portfolios including with Member States will be an advantage. 
• Evidence of excellent evidence-based analytic skills and the ability to build transformational approaches to partnerships on the inclusion of refugees in national education systems, including with UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank.
• Demonstrable global and regional experience in high level advocacy and influencing.  
• Knowledge of and experience with alliances and partnerships such as GRF, Transforming Education Summit, GPE and ECW.
• Experience in dotted line reporting, building capacity within these structures, including coaching and mentoring skills.