Programme Specialist at UNICEF, New York, United States

Deadline: 11 September 2022

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is currently seeking applications from eligible applicants for the post of Programme Specialist in New York, United States.

UNICEF works for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life.

Key Jobs Responsibilities

The Programme Specialist will perform the following functions:

• Coordinate ECW Secretariat’s planning and coordination work
  • Coordinate ECW’s work planning process: develop an annual workplan to effectively capture workstreams, objectives, key activities, deliverables and timelines.
  • Coordinate the monitoring of ECW progress against its annual workplan through quarterly reviews.
  • Support the coordination of an annual ECW Team Retreat and annual ECW Workplan Retreat.
  • Coordinate the mid-year and annual review of ECW by key donors (incl. the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) and coordinate follow-up as required on recommendations.
• Manage and support key governance and accountability processes
  • Coordinate the external quality assurance process of ECW programming investments. This involves i) annual contracting and contract management of the External Review Panel (ERP) members; ii) managing the ERP review of all relevant ECW programming (chiefly Multi-Year Resilience Programmes); and iii) coordinating the submission of final programme documentation to the ECW Executive Committee.
  • Coordinate the delivery of ECW’s Management Response to ECW’s first Organizational Evaluation (2022), ensuring the Secretariat’s timely delivery against commitments made.
  • Manage all enquiries directed to the Strategy, Planning and Accountability Team from ECW Executive Committee members.
  • As required, support the strategic and smooth functioning of ECW’s Acceleration Facility investments.
  • As required, support the Executive Office to plan and delivery high-quality governance meetings of ECW’s Executive Committee and High-Level Steering Group.
• Provide support to key strategy and accountability processes
  • Support the P4 Risk and Compliance Manager and the Senior Safeguarding Specialist consultant with critical tasks as required. This may include: supporting the annual review of ECW’s Corporate Risk Framework; refreshing ECW’s approach to portfolio risk data collection; and reporting to ECW’s Executive Committee with updates on our risk and safeguarding work.
  • Support the Chief of Strategy and Planning with critical tasks as required. This may include: attending and taking minutes at bilateral meetings; supporting the development of ECW’s work on Climate and the production of a Climate Strategy; recruiting and managing interns.
  • Support the smooth functioning of the Strategy, Planning and Accountability Team
• Lead the development and delivery of the team’s Terms of Reference and annual workplan.
  • Coordinate team meetings and monitor delivery of team tasks.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must have:

• Advanced University degree in one or more of the following disciplines: international development, international relations, social sciences, business or public administration, government, public policy, or other related fields.
• Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in planning or coordination, preferably in a United Nations or development organization.
• Strong interpersonal skills in being able to develop and maintain effective working relations with a diverse range of stakeholders. (required)
• Ability to set out and deliver user-friendly systems and frameworks to support effective planning and coordination, with limited supervision.(required)
• Ability to work in a lean structure, which requires flexibility and proactivity.(required)
• Ability to respond to tight deadlines with a good attention to detail.(required)
• Very strong written and oral communication skills – the ability to summarize complex information in ways that engage and motivate colleagues, and the ability to create high-quality Word, Excel and Powerpoint document to communicate key information.(required)
• Ability to manage upwards, coordinating inputs and engagement from more senior colleagues as needed.(required)
• Excellent organizational skills: ability to proactively manage different time-sensitive processes and tasks at the same time. (required)
• Strong competence with the following Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, Powerpoint. (required)
• Experience of working on a Strategic Plan for a UN organization (asset)
• Experience working in an emergency context (asset)
• Experience working on education programming, especially Education in Emergencies programming (asset)
• Experience working on risk and/or safeguarding and/or strategy development (asset)
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

How to Apply

Applicants must submit their applications through online process.

For more information, visit UNICEF.