ECD programme Supervisor

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

UNICEF Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme offers various interventions across Jordan. One of the major ECD programme activities is Parenting Support, which is provided through a wide network of Makani centres and Government Ministries.

UNICEF Makani centres offer a multi-sectoral approach to service provision to children and young people, girls and boys, families and community members. It aims to promote and contribute to children and young people’s full development and well-being – physical, cognitive, social and emotional.

UNICEF implments three ECD Parenting Support Programmes in Makani: The ZERO-to-THREE Programme (for parents and children from birth-3 years old); The Parent and Child Programme, including an Early Learning Readiness component (for parents and children 4-5 years old); and the Better Parenting Programme (for parents of children 0-8 years old). Each programme has its own standalone curriculum and activities that are related to the developmental characteristics of the children at each specific age group. The overall goal of the three programmes is to empower parents and caregivers to adopt nurturing caregiving skills and apply positive and non-violent discipline.

The Better Parenting Programme (BPP) in particular have become integral to several countrywide systems including the Ministries of Education, Social Development, and Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. Currently, UNICEF in collaboration with the National Council for Family Affairs are leading a consultative process to support integrating and institutionalization of the BPP into structures and budgets of aforementioned ministries in addition to the Ministry of Health, in order to ensure parenting-supported interventions are well-resourced, integrated, and coordinated across multiple sectors, in accordance with national and international standards.

Another important ECD programme activity is early intervention (EI) for children with disabilities and developmental delays. UNICEF supported MoSD to establish three EI units in Irbid, Zarqa, and Russiefeh. Work is underway to establish additional units across the country, with specific focus on the south region.

KEY END-RESULTS

• Building capacity of UNICEF’s Implmenting Partners (NGOs and Governmental) pertaining to ECD activities.
• Ensure quality programme implementation through coaching and mentoring.  

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS 

Within the delegated authority and the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be accountable for all or assigned areas of the following major duties and end results.

• Oversee programme implementation on the ground, in order to ensure quality service delivery of UNICEF-supported ECD activities, identify critical programme intervention point/measures, and prepare programme work plans/recommendations/reports.
• Syetmatically undertake and document regural field visits to the ECD activities to monitor and assess programme implementation and decide on required corrective action.
• Establish effective monitoring system and strengthen programme implementation of UNICEF-supported ECD activities.
• Contribute to and support UNICEF IPs in the preparation of planning key ECD activities, including workplans, programme schedules/cycles, outreach plans, launches as required—ensuring IPs comply by set work plans, schedules and meet targets.
• Provide continuous capacity building through mentoring and coaching of the ECD focal points and facilitators as required to ensure compliance with set SOPs and quality of service delivery.
• Support in organizing and delivering training programmes based on ECD SOPs for the purpose of capacity building for front line ECD staff and focal points. This will include facilitating information exchange within centres/IPs to increase knowledge sharing and mentoring, ensuring timely and appropriate guidance to plan and organize training programmes for the purpose of capacity building and programme sustainability.
• Participate and contribute to donor reporting, major programme research, and evaluation exercises.
• Contribute to improving ECD curriculum and tools in coordination with the ECD Specialist.
• Establish and maintain effective collaboration among UNICEF IPs for advocacy, technical cooperation, and programme development/management/coordination, information sharing and networking.

• University degree in humanities from an accredited institution.
• Minimum of three years of relevant professional work experience in the area of ECD training, programme coordination, hands-on experience in supporting programme design and monitoring of ECD interventions.
• Knowledge about the UN and NGO systems would be an advantage.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.
• Field work experience.
• Specialized training in ECD.
• Background/familiarity with Emergency.
• Fluency in both English and Arabic is required.

Contract type: ICA

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.