Education Officer (Field Coordination), NOA, Lebanon Beirut, Temporary appointment up to 364 days

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. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

I. 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. 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 a nation.

Job organizational context:

The influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon over the years along with the long term Palestinian refugees, Lebanese returnees from Syria and vulnerable Lebanese families has caused a complex set of problems for the Lebanese authorities and the international community. The overall national and regional political, social and economic context is shifting and dynamic as is the national, regional and international response.  Education for a very large number of children over the medium term has become one of the greatest challenges.
In such a fluid environment, there is a potential for education fragmentation and a breakdown in the communications needed between the different stakeholders to ensure a coherent, coordinated and complementary response.  Within the national framework there has to be the immediate humanitarian response, which has to lead into a longer-term learning framework for the children who are likely to remain for some considerable time.  Provision of services has fallen to both the national state institutions and the international agencies who are working through a large number of non-governmental organizations.  The legal and regulatory frameworks for managing the response have had to be developed and are in many cases still being adjusted.
In order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the response it is essential that there are mechanisms in place to ensure horizontal and vertical information flows between regional, national, state and non-state actors; to direct and support the management of shifts from humanitarian to resilience and development; to ensure coherence and to build the evidence base to better inform the policy and strategic planning processes.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) leads the education sector. UNICEF provides support to MEHE to coordinate and are the lead UN agency for the education sector at national and field level.

Purpose for the job:
The Education Officer (Field Coordination) will be double-hatting to support and continue the effective and efficient education coordination as well as contribute in program planning, implementation and monitoring of Education Program at the field office level in Beirut. The Education Officer will also prioritize a proportion of his/her time to support education coordination in South of Lebanon.

II. Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Maintain effective coordination mechanisms at field level
• Assist in emergency preparedness and planning and inclusion of key humanitarian partners
• Contribute in sector wide assessments, planning and strategy development
• Program management, monitoring and delivery of results
• Technical and operational support to program implementation
• Networking and partnership building

1. Maintenance of effective coordination mechanisms at field level
- Maintain/ensure appropriate field coordination with regional authorities and education partners including liaising and working with government counterparts.
- Identify and establish contact with relevant field-based national and international organizations, and representatives of affected populations. As appropriate invite these stakeholders to participate as partners in the work of the sector.
- Convene and facilitate regional meetings of the sector (and/or joint meetings with another sector), on a timetable to be agreed by the sector. 
- Ensure that sector coordination meetings are well managed and action and results-oriented, with decisions clearly communicated to relevant sector partners and stakeholders. 
- Support the Inter-Agency Coordination body to establish and maintain appropriate field-based cross-sector coordination mechanisms. Represent the sector in cross-sector coordination fora as appropriate at regional level.
- Ensure that updated and relevant education information from the field is reported back to national level and included in general reporting.

2. Emergency preparedness and capacity of education sector members at field level effectively established and strengthened
- Ensure adequate Education related contingency planning and preparedness for potential significant changes in the nature of the emergency
- Support regional capacity mapping and gap identification exercises.
- Identify training needs of field-based sector partners and report to the national coordinator.

3. Participate in sector-wide needs assessment and situation analysis, prioritization of programme intervention and sector planning
- Participate in field-based joint cross-sector needs assessment exercises as appropriate to ensure that identified needs, gaps and priorities are as evidence-based as possible.
- Develop/update agreed education response strategies and action plans ensuring that these are adequately reflected in the overall country strategies such as LCRP, RACE II
- Drawing lessons learned from past Education activities and revising strategies and action plans accordingly

4. Program management, monitoring and delivery of results
- Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to collect/analyze/share information on implementation issues, suggest solutions on routine program implementation and submit report to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decision.
- Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts.
- Prepare draft inputs for programme/donor reporting.

5. Technical and operational support to program implementation
- Undertake field visits and surveys and/or collect/share information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution.
- Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education.

6. 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 program implementation.
- Draft communication and information materials for CO program advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for education programs.
- Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

III. Impact of Results:

A more effective and efficient education coordination in support of MEHE in place at the field level. The efficiency and efficacy of support provided by the Officer to program preparation and planning and implementation of programs/projects, contribute to achievement of sustainable results to improve learning outcomes and equitable, inclusive and universal access to education.

IV. Competencies and level of proficiency required:

Core Values
- Commitment
- Diversity and inclusion
- Integrity

Core competencies
- Communication [II]
- Working with People [II]
- Drive for Result [II]

Functional Competencies:
- Formulating Strategies and Concepts [I]
- Analysing [I]
- Relating and Networking [II]
- Persuading and Influencing [II]
- Creating and Innovating [I]

V. Recruitment Qualifications:

Education:
- University degree in Education or related social sciences field.

Experience:
- Minimum 2 years of relevant professional experience with UN or NGO
- Knowledge and experience in application of international technical guidelines and standards in Education.
- Proven technical expertise in the area of education assessments including survey, program implementation, monitoring and coordination.
- Previous experience in coordination
- Demonstrated experiences in organising and conducting training activities and information campaign on education related issues.

Language Requirements:
- Excellent knowledge of English and Arabic (written / oral / comprehension)
- Knowledge of French an asset