Education Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Brazil since 1950, supporting the most important changes in the area of ​​childhood and adolescence in the country. UNICEF participated in major immunization and breastfeeding campaigns; the mobilization that resulted in the approval of article 227 of the Federal Constitution and the drafting of the Child and Adolescent Statute; the movement for universal access to education; programs to combat child labor; among other great advances in guaranteeing the rights of Brazilian girls and boys.In recent decades, Brazil has promoted a strong process of inclusion of children and adolescents in public policies. However, a significant portion of the population remains excluded. Therefore, in its cooperation program with the Brazilian government for the period 2017-2021, UNICEF focuses its efforts on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence .These children and adolescents in situations of greater vulnerability are spread throughout Brazil, but they are more concentrated in the Amazon, in the semiarid and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Semiarid and in the Brazilian Legal Amazon. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the Platform of Urban Centers (PCU).

Context

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is present within 10 offices across Brazil. Education Section is part of the Programme area of UNICEF Brazil, with the Chief and one additional Education Officer located in the central office in the capital Brasilia, and an Education Specialist located in Recife (serving the Semiarid Territory). UNICEF is implementing its 2017-2021 Country Programme in Brazil. The current programme has equity as its guiding principle and aims to support Brazil in the realization of rights for the most excluded children. Through integrated programmes, UNICEF expects to bring about more innovative, sustained and integral change in support of children’s rights. The proposed programme consists of four components: (a) enhanced policies for excluded children; (b) quality social policies for vulnerable children; (c) prevention of and response to extreme forms of violence; and (d) engaged citizenry and participation. UNICEF Brazil continues to focus its attention on the importance of the right to quality education and access to school. This assignment will contribute to the Education Section, and strengthen its capacity to respond adequately to the needs of UNICEF and the country.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Education Officer, and in close collaboration with other Programme Sections, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: Support to program development and planning • Support the preparation/update of situation analysis for the program sector/s for development, design and management of education related programs/projects; • Support the development/establishment of sectoral program goals, objectives and 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; • Support technically and operationally preparing related materials/documentations and com-plying with organizational processes and management systems, to support program planning, results based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results; • Provide ad-hoc support to Education section and data-related activities that may come up during 2021/2022. Support activities related to technical and operational support to program implementation • Follow national research and databases for the most up-to-date information on the situation of children and adolescents; • Prepare summary briefs and analyses on national research and data that may support UNICEF Brazil programme; • Support given to regular program field visits and surveys and/or exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and results; • Support program implementation providing technical and operational assistance to government counterparts, NGO partners and UN system partners on the application and understand-ng of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education and related issues. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building • Support to identifying, capturing, synthesizing and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders; • Support to apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results; • Support to researching and reporting on best practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.