The Regional ECD Adviser will work under the guidance of the Deputy Regional Director. He/she will provide technical leadership, management guidance, and programming support throughout the region on planning, developing and managing the regional ECD programme with a special focus on supporting integration of nurturing care and parenting activities in health, nutrition, child protection, c4d and social protection programmes in line with UNICEF WCARO ROMP 2018-2022 and Key results for children agenda. He/she will also work in coordinated manner with the Regional Education Advisor who leads the early learning and school readiness portfolio.

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 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 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 nation. Growing international evidence, including neuroscience research and rates of return analysis have demonstrated the imperative of intervening as early as possible to address issues affecting a child’s development, not least in the case of vulnerable and marginalised children. Hence the importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the equity agenda. For any child to develop to its full potential it needs to be healthy, loved, safe and educated. Interventions to support this development need to be holistic in nature, addressing areas such as health, nutrition, protection, stimulation and education. It is for these reasons and the fact that UNICEF focusses on the whole child that UNICEF has become a lead agency globally in its promotion of holistic or integrated approaches to early childhood development.  Our evidence based advocacy, technical support and networking in the region have helped leverage a huge demand for additional support for ECD.  While the early learning agenda is well established and support through the education programme, UNICEF country offices and partners in West and Central Africa request additional support in the areas of nurturing care and parenting for the youngest children from pregnancy to age 3. Hence the establishment of this post which will help co-ordinate and strengthen our  response across UNICEF’s programmes with a special attention to integration of nurturing care in Health, Nutrition, Child Protection, C4D and Social protection programmes and across the 24 Country Offices that UNICEF supports in West and Central Africa.

Purpose of the post:

The Regional ECD Adviser will work under the guidance of the Deputy Regional Director. He/she will also be supported through frequent consultation with the global ECD chief and fellow regional advisors in the West and Central Africa Regional Office.

He/she will provide technical leadership, management guidance, and programming support throughout the region on planning, developing and managing the regional ECD programme with a special focus on supporting integration of nurturing care and parenting activities in health, nutrition, child protection, c4d and social protection programmes in line with UNICEF WCARO ROMP 2018-2022 and Key results for children agenda. He/she will also work in coordinated manner with the Regional Education Advisor who leads the early learning and school readiness portfolio.

He/she will serve as conduit between global and national levels in the achievement of ECD results within the SDG framework, UNICEF Strategic Plan and Regional Key Results for children. He /she will foster programmatic partnerships, and compacts; will be responsible for facilitating the implementation and development of related UNICEF policies and strategies in the region as well as facilitating capacity building for Country Office (CO) staff, key government counterparts and civil society partners.  He/she will be responsible for promoting innovatory practices that can be taken to scale to ensure national coverage and that all young children aged 0-3 and their caregivers, especially the most vulnerable, are reached by key ECD interventions and will coordinate with those responsible for other outcome areas, including emergency and humanitarian contexts.

He/she will ensure that results in the area of Nurturing care and Parenting are in alignment with regional priorities and global strategies and will strengthen regional technical leadership on ECD, as well as regional partnerships. 

II. Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Leverage resources for Nurturing care and Parenting initiatives, policies, strategies and implementation plans based on globally acknowledged scientific evidence relevant to the WCAR context, through:

• strengthening the evidence base on programme implementation, policies and operational strategies on nurturing care for for early childhood development;
• operationalize and update regional ECD in the 1000 days strategic priorities in line with ROMP results and Regional Key Results for children together with the UNICEF Regional Management Team, Regional Advisors, and COs.
• driving technical leadership for ECD  in the 1000 days agenda in the region through monitoring the trends and situation of young children and families, based on analyses of data.
• creating and maintaining relevant partnerships and networks with key stakeholders to support the programme, policy, advocacy and data needs of the region. 
• co-ordinating with colleagues involved in planning and resource mobilization to support the leveraging of additional resources for ECD
• contributing and taking a lead role on ECD in the 1000 days issues in major regional forums and networks.
• providing outcome specific, high quality and timely reporting on progress towards the SDGs, and the implementation of the CRC commitments to Early Childhood

1. Provide technical support to 24 country offices to  fully integrated nurturing care and parenting into Country Programmes, national strategic plans and partners interventions with measurable progress indicators and M&E plans, through: 

• working closely with the HQ global ECD team and other relevant teams to reflect national and regional priorities into global agenda  and bringing the latest global evidence and to the region and COs.
• using knowledge gained from other regions and global initiatives, when relevant to inform regional and country practices in WCAR
• participating in and providing technical support to regional and country initiatives on nurturing care for early childhood development
• provide technical support to country offices and regional bodies such as ECOWAS and African Union for prioritization of nurturing care in their respective plans and strategies
• facilitating technical leadership on country programme preparation and providing inputs for reviews and strategic moments of reflection, including through the use of the UNICEF ECD Programme Guidance and its M&E Framework and via the continuous  interaction with country office teams and ECD Focal Points, where appropriate;
• contributing  to the formulation of strategic plans and strategies, including the development of culturally appropriate implementation guidelines for both sectoral and cross-sectoral programming and the identification of relevant indicators and M&E mechanisms  at the CO level;
• collaborate with WCAR M&E Section and country offices to collect and analyse MICS ECD data for advocacy and programming purposes

1. Provide effective and efficient management of ECD programmes and projects, including cross-sectoral collaboration, through:

• proving quality assurance support to programming around ECD in terms of programme design and monitoring to ensure global, regional and CO objectives are met.
• providing guidance on general ECD policy and strategies
• in collaboration with other sectors, supporting recruitment and the identifying the human resources required for effective programme delivery on the nurturing care and parenting agenda
• managing evidence and the analysis of programming in nurturing care and parenting for Early Childhood Development, and related areas, through documentation, annual reporting and assessment of best practices,
• coordinating the effective dissemination of best practices.
• fostering enhanced linkages with professional organizations and academia to support regional knowledge-building efforts.
• Promoting capacity building opportunities for UNICEF staff and partners on nurturing care and parenting
• monitoring the overall commitment, expenditure and liquidation of programme funds in accordance with the programme budget allotments.
• taking necessary action for the optimal use of programme funds at regional and country office levels; including provide feedback to CO on funding proposal.

  III. Impact of Results

Action

• Decisions made on programme strategy, planning, implementation and evaluation, as well as use of funds and human resources which impact on the achievement of early childhood Development goals and objectives.
• Decisions made on which programmes to support or not; quality and acceptability of documentation for submission to HQ/Regional colleagues, Executive Board and donors; and hiring of consultants.

Impact

Decisions impact on the achievement of goals and objectives, affecting the attainment of programme results

Recommendations:

• Makes recommendations on major programme thrusts to ensure achievement of stated objectives.
• Makes recommendations on the introduction of new initiatives in the country programme; establishment of new programme policies, and on organizational and human resources development.
• Recommendations made are important because they contribute to meeting objectives of the programme as well as attaining results in line with the MTSP and MDGs

Errors:

• Lack of understanding or interpretation of global and regional and country situations and trends.
• Ineffective or conflictual relations with donors and other key partners.
• Lack of capacity to manage UNICEF resources...

  Could lead to inappropriate programme guidance and direction; to global, regional and country goals not being met and a significant proportion of UNICEF’s financial resources being misspent.

  This could compromise the relationship with partners and undermine the organization’s credibility and to a decline in financial resources.

  This could lead to reputational and risks for future funding.

IV. Competencies and level of proficiency required

 Core Values

• Commitment
• Diversity and inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Drive for Results (III)
• Communication (III)
• Working with People (III)

Functional Competencies:

• Analyzing (III)
• Leading and Supervising (III)
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts (III)
• Relating and Networking (III)
• Persuading and influencing (II)
• Deciding and initiating Actions (III)

V. Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

Advanced university degree in any of the following:  Social Sciences, Public Health, Developmental Psychology, or other fields related to the work on ECD.

Capacity to analyse both quantitative and qualitative data is required as is a basic understanding of results based management principles.

Experience:

Twelve years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national and international levels in social development management, of which four to six years should have been spent in a developing country or set of countries in a region.

Work experience preferably should include high level involvement in ECD in areas such as: programme design and planning, national capacity development, development of standards, research, M&E and governance and financing.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in French, English and working knowledge of another UN language desirable.