Resilience in Secondary Education Programme Officer

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, 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 favouritism. 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 including nutrition, early childhood development, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why 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 Resilience in Secondary Education (RISE) Rwanda Programme aims to expand access to quality secondary education and vocational skills training for approximately 1.1 million out-of-school young people aged 16 to 35 by 2035. Through flexible, technology-enabled and nationally accredited learning pathways, the programme will equip young people with relevant knowledge and skills, improve their education and employment prospects, and contribute to Rwanda’s Vision 2050 objective of building a skilled, productive and innovative workforce. As the lead partner, UNICEF Rwanda coordinates programme implementation under the leadership of the Ministry of Education and its affiliated institutions: the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA), and the Rwanda Technical and Vocational Education and Training Board (RTB). UNICEF also coordinates implementing partners comprising Imbuto Foundation, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) of Rwanda, and Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda, as well as technical partners Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Education Development Trust (EDT).

Achieving the programme’s intended results requires effective partnerships, coordinated implementation, sound financial and operational management, robust monitoring systems, and the timely use of evidence to inform decisions and corrective action. It also requires efficient systems and innovative approaches to strengthen accountability, improve programme performance, support institutionalization, and enable sustainable scale-up. The RISE Programme Officer will contribute to the timely and effective delivery of programme results by providing integrated programme, administrative, financial, coordination, monitoring, data and knowledge management support. Working collaboratively with colleagues and partners, the Officer will help translate programme plans into coordinated actions, monitor implementation progress, identify and escalate delivery constraints, and support timely follow-up on agreed actions. He/she will support the planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of programme activities, partnerships, grants and resources in accordance with approved workplans, funding requirements, quality standards, and applicable UNICEF policies and procedures. The volunteer Programme Officer will also support the use of digital tools and organizational systems to streamline workflows, improve data quality and accessibility, generate actionable management information, and strengthen programme performance, accountability and decision-making.

Under the direct supervision of the RISE Programme Manager, the volunteer will perform the following responsibilities:

1. Programme Administration, Communications, and Logistical Support
• Provide administrative and operational support to the RISE Programme Management Team.
• Coordinate planning of programme meetings, workshops, events, travel, and related lo-gistical arrangements.
• Maintain programme calendars and schedule governance, partner, and internal meet-ings.
• Prepare agendas, background materials, presentations, briefing notes, correspondence, attendance records, minutes, reports, workplans, and follow-up communications.
• Track deadlines for partner submissions, payments, missions, meetings, and other pro-gramme deliverables.
• Maintain accurate programme databases, repositories, trackers, contact lists, invento-ries, and electronic and physical filing systems.
• Maintain programme documentation in SharePoint and other approved repositories.

2. Programme Planning, Coordination, and Governance
• Compile and analyse information to support the preparation of workplans, budgets, im-plementation schedules, Programme Documents, and programme reports.
• Coordinate programme activities across government institutions, implementing partners, and technical partners.
• Monitor programme implementation and partner performance against agreed work-plans, milestones, deliverables, and quality standards.
• Coordinate governance and partner meetings, including agendas, briefing materials, minutes, decision records, and action trackers.
• Identify implementation bottlenecks, recommend practical solutions, and follow up on agreed corrective actions.
• Support the timely implementation of programme activities and compliance with appli-cable procedures, agreements, and reporting requirements.
• Provide technical and operational guidance to strengthen workflows and facilitate effec-tive programme delivery.

3. Financial, Grant, and Partnership Management
• Support annual and multi-year financial planning, forecasting, grant oversight, procure-ment planning, and consolidated financial reporting.
• Ensure financial plans align with approved workplans, implementation schedules, fund-ing conditions, and donor requirements.
• Maintain an up-to-date overview of implementing partners, grants, reporting obliga-tions, liquidation status, financial deadlines, and agreement expiry dates.
• Review partner budgets, expenditures, supporting documentation, liquidation status, fund-utilization rates, and operational performance.
• Review and follow up Direct Cash Transfer transactions, including transfers, adjustments, reprogramming, and liquidations, ensuring completeness and compliance with applica-ble policies and procedures.
• Coordinate Funding Authorization and Certificate of Expenditures requests with Pro-gramme Managers and implementing partners, ensuring alignment with approved workplans and timely processing.
• Monitor the allocation, disbursement, utilization, and liquidation of programme funds.
• Reconcile programme financial data and prepare reports and dashboards covering ex-penditures, commitments, balances, fund utilization, and implementation rates.
• Flag underperforming, underutilized, or overspent grants and coordinate appropriate corrective action.
• Support timely partner reporting, fund disbursement, liquidation, grant closure, ac-countability, and the efficient use of programme resources.

4. Quality Assurance, Performance Monitoring, and Reporting
• Track compliance with UNICEF programme quality-assurance framework, including the Harmonized Cash Transfer Transfers (HACT), flag and/or escalate identified issues such as overdue actions.
• Coordinate programme monitoring visits, partner spot checks, and other assurance ac-tivities, and follow agreed corrective actions.
• Support partners in meeting programme-management, implementation, financial, data-quality, and reporting standards.
• Review partner deliverables and programme documentation for quality, completeness, accuracy, and compliance with agreed requirements.
• Prepare progress updates, technical briefs, presentations, reports, and operational evi-dence to inform management decisions, programme adaptation, and scale-up.
• Support the Programme Manager in reviewing programme documentation for compli-ance with applicable UNICEF rules, regulations, procedures, and implementation guid-ance.

5. Digital Innovation, Knowledge Management, and Operational Efficiency
• Organize and regularly update all programmes in the SharePoint folder (RISE Rwanda)
• Use approved artificial intelligence, automation, and digital tools to streamline data analysis, reporting, document management, and routine business processes.
• Serve as a resource person for key organizational platforms for knowledge management and reporting including system generated reports from SharePoint, and Insight.
• Use approved organizational systems and dashboards to monitor programme imple-mentation and financial performance.
• Consolidate programme and financial data and translate complex information into ac-tionable insights for performance reviews and management decision-making.
• Identify process-improvement opportunities and support the implementation of digital solutions that enhance programme efficiency and delivery.
• Ensure the accuracy, completeness, security, and appropriate management of pro-gramme data and documentation.
• Safeguard sensitive information and comply with applicable data-protection, privacy, in-formation-security, and responsible-use requirements.
• Draft clear and concise communications and knowledge products such as progress up-dates and briefing notes for internal and external audiences.
• Draft summaries of key programmatic decisions, good practices, lessons learned, and implementation experiences to support institutionalization and scale-up.