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Education Officer, NOA, Temporary Appointment (364 Days), Kenya Country Office, Nairobi, Post # 123322 (Open to Kenyans Only)

Nairobi

  • Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
  • Location: Nairobi
  • Grade: Junior level - NO-A, National Professional Officer - Locally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Education, Learning and Training
  • Closing Date: Closed

The Education Officer, NoA will report directly to Education Specialist (P3) for Access and Inclusion and will support the work of the Education in Emergency Specialist (P3).

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Education!

The Government of Kenya has allocated a significant budget to education, to implement reforms such as the Competency-Based Curriculum and a 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school. However, issues such as poor-quality teaching and large class sizes still affect the quality of children's learning. The pupil-to-teacher ratio remains very high in some counties, such as 77 to 1 in Turkana.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, nationwide enrollment in primary education stood at 93 per cent, but at the secondary level was only 53 per cent. Kenya has made gains in reaching remote areas and disadvantaged communities at the primary and pre-primary levels. In pastoral communities, high dropout rates reflect a perceived lack of value in schooling, long distances to schools and high rates of child marriage. In 2020, school closures interrupted learning for over 17 million children, who missed more than six months of formal education. They also faced increased risks of violence, child labour and their mental well-being.

https://www.unicef.org/kenya/education

How can you make a difference?

Background and purpose

Education is a basic right for every child and the Government of Kenya recognize that every child has the right to a free and compulsory basic education.  Kenya’s total population is estimated at 43.7 million as of 2019 Census data, 18.3 million of whom are children of basic education school age. 10 out of 100 children aged 6 – 17 years have never enrolled in school. There are still at least 10 per cent of primary school aged children who do not get a chance to ever go to school. While the attendance rates and out-of-school children (OOSC) numbers are quite low in the central areas of Kenya, there are still regional disparities. The school-age population increased from 16 million in 2010 to 18.3 million in 2019, representing an annual average growth of 2.5%. The continued growth in school-age population increases pressure on the education sector through higher enrolment rates affecting the quality of learning. 

The problem of out of school children is estimated to exacerbate further in Kenya as a result of the longest drought crisis making 4.35 million people in need of humanitarian assistance of which 36% of that population (1.57 million) are children of school age 4-17 years and will be at high risk of drop out of school.

UNICEF Kenya and the Ministry of Education (MoE) had partnered to increase access to education in arid and semi-arid (ASAL) counties in Kenya that recorded the highest numbers of out-of-school children as per 2019 census data. This is made possible through the generous funding of Educate a Child (EAC) and Education Cannot Wait (ECW) respectively supporting “expansion of Operation Come To School Kenya’ and “ECW First Emergency Response” projects.

UNICEF Kenya together with its implementing partners targets to enroll in schools 250,000 OOSC (50% boys, 50% girls, 5 % children with disabilities) within the current country programme cycle.

 Justification

The expansion of Operation Come To School Kenya project is on its 3rd and final year of implementation and the agreed target results are not at the scale that was anticipated to reach by the 3rd year.  This was largely due to compressed school terms caused by the prolonged school closure during Covid19 outbreak. Hence, there is a need to intensify efforts to ensure that the final year of implementation can realize the agreed results. Implementation of the project in five of the targeted counties (Bungoma, Narok, Nairobi, Kajiado, Kwale and Kilifi) is managed from Nairobi country office and there is need to increase capacity of the team in Nairobi to increase efficiency in overall management and monitoring of the project in these counties. Moreover, there is a need to extend programme implementation and adjust some of the implementation strategies applied to address the needs of children who dropped out as a result of the drought.

Scope of Work

    • Monitor of the implementation of the Operation Come to School in 3 counties (Bungoma, Narok and Nairobi)
    • Provide support to the three County Directorate of Education (CDE) to coordinate the project with the implementing NGOs and other stakeholders in the county
    • Coordinate supply procurement planning, prepare distribution plans and follow up on supply delivery across all the OOSC targeted counties.
    • Contribute to preparation of  the semi-annual technical/ Donor report (2 Donor reports).
    • Track Key Performance Indicators under Access and education in emergency outputs and ensure that all programmatic visits are recorded on e-tools and timely disbursements to implementing partners are  issued, reported and processed in Vision.

Reporting and work relationships

The NoA will report directly to Education Specialist (P3) for Access and Inclusion and will support the work of the Education in Emergency Specialist (P3).

 AWP Areas covered

This position is under Education outcome area, output area 2.1 for Access to inclusive quality Education and will support output area 2.3 for education in emergency.

 Expected Deliverables

  • Quarterly monitoring reports
  • Quarterly supply updates
  • Weekly KPI progress updates
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
  • A university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, psychology, sociology, or another relevant technical field.

  • A minimum of one year of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education is required.

  • Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.
  • Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.


UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

This vacancy is now closed.
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