If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.
For every child, the right to Learning
How can you make a difference?
The Education Officer reports to the Education Officer (Output 2.1 Manager) for close guidance and supervision.
The Education Officer will support the implementation of early childhood education interventions by providing professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process, in support of UNICEF Türkiye’s Education Programme.
Support to programme development and planning
- Collect, analyze, verify, and synthesize information to facilitate programme development, design and preparation.
- Support preparation of technical reports and provide inputs for programme preparation and documentation ensuring accuracy, timeliness and relevancy of information.
- Contribute to the development/establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, 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.
- Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials and documentation, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results.
- Prepare required documentation and materials to facilitate the programme review and approval process.
Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results.
- Work closely and collaboratively with UNICEF colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues.
- Suggest solutions on routine programme implementation and submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep 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.
- Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
- Prepare draft inputs for programme/donor reporting.
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, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices.
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 capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programmes.
- Prepare resource materials and briefs for fundraising and partnership development purposes.
Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
- Provide support in identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
- Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
- Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of stakeholders.
If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: 
Education Officer Level 1 - KfW ECE TA_FINAL (1).pdf
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
- Education: Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in Education, Psychology, Sociology or any other related fields is required.
- Work Experience: At least one year of relevant work experience in programme planning, management and/or research in education is required.
- Skills: Strong analytical, report-writing, and presentation skills in both Turkish and English.
- Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Turkish (oral and written) is required.
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Desirables:
- Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish)
- Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
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
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be 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 canceled.
Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants' bank account information.
Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.
Visa residence requirements: i.e. UNICEF shall not facilitate the issuance of a visa and working authorization for candidates under consideration for positions at the national officer and general service category.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.
Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.