JOB AT UNICEF Rwanda : Chief Social Policy and Research : ( Deadline : 24 April 2019 )
Job no: 521271
Position type: Fixed Term Appointment
Location: Rwanda
Division/Equivalent: Nairobi Regn’l(ESARO)
School/Unit: Rwanda
Department/Office: Kigali, Rwanda
Categories: Social and Economic Policy
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, Equity
Guided by the 2030 Agenda principle of leaving no one behind, the UNICEF Rwanda Country Programme contributes to five priorities under the social transformation pillar of the Rwanda’s National Strategy for Transformation 2017 -2024: (a) Ensuring access to quality health for all; (b) Reducing malnutrition; (c) Ensuring access to and improving the quality of education; (d) Moving towards a modern Rwandan household, and; (e) Enhancing graduation from poverty and promoting resilience.
UNICEF Rwanda Social Policy and Research Programme focuses on poverty reduction while contributing to all other outcome areas by supporting the Government to reduce multidimensional child poverty through: a.) Expansions of the access to integrated and well-resourced social protection mechanisms for poor families; b.) Budget analysis, monitoring and advocacy to allow planning of efficient and integrated programmes for children; and c). Generation of evidence on emerging drivers of inequity and deprivations, data generation and analysis with particular focus on multidimensional child poverty.
How can you make a difference?
As a manager of a dynamic and highly-motivated Social Policy and Research Team, you will be able to provide critical oversight and guidance for:
The development of the capacity development tools, policy analysis and advocacy in support of addressing multidimensional child poverty and promoting human capital development of children and adolescents in Rwanda.
Development of measures and technical assistance to address bottlenecks within the Rwanda Social Protection system, with a focus on child-sensitive social protection and continued technical support to the Government for integrated programming within ongoing poverty eradication and graduation from extreme poverty initiatives.
Development of the emerging PFM/Public Finance for Children agenda for children, including ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the authorities at decentralized level and the civil society organizations engaged in public budget monitoring and advocacy.
Implementation and quality assurance of the dynamic data collection and research agenda across multiple programme areas, including complex cross-cutting research in support of the country programme implementation and impact evaluation.
Purpose of the position
Under supervision of the Country Office Representative, the Chief, Social Policy and Research is responsible for leading, managing and supervising all stages of social policy and research programming and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results.
Main responsibilities include:
Managerial leadership
Establish the section’s annual work plan with the social policy and research team. Set priorities and targets and monitor work progress to ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the team.
Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives and goals, direction and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.
Improving data on child poverty & vulnerability for increased use for policy and programme action
Oversees the collection, analysis and user-friendly presentation of data on multidimensional and monetary child poverty, including strengthening national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.
Provides timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, and development; facilitates results-based management for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up specific social policy initiatives to reduce child poverty.
Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impact on social development, emerging issues and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effect of social welfare policies on the rights of children
Oversees the design, data collection, analysis and dissemination of the cross-cutting research on child vulnerability to inform overall country programme design.
Provides guidance in support of the design and quality assurance of the data collection, research and analysis in support of programme sections to inform programme design.
Strengthening social protection coverage and impact for children
Develops social protection policies, legislation and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention the most marginalized. Identifies, generates and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.
Promotes strengthening of integrated social protection systems, providing technical support to partners to improve the design of cash transfers and child grants and improve linkages with other social protection interventions such as health insurance, public works and social care services as well as complementary services and intervention related to nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation, child protection and HIV.
Undertakes improved monitoring and research around social protection impact on child outcomes, and use of data and research findings for strengthening programme results.
Improving use of public financial resources for children
Undertakes budget analysis to inform UNICEF’s advocacy and technical assistance to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to improve equitable allocations for essential services for children. Works with sector colleagues to build capacity to undertake costing and cost effectiveness analysis on priority interventions to help inform policy decisions on child-focused investments.
Identifies policy options for improved domestic financing of child-sensitive social protection interventions.
Undertakes and builds capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to support transparency, accountability and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, including through support to district level planning, budgeting and public financial management as well as facilitating community participation
Strengthening capacity of local governments to plan, budget, consult on and monitor child-focused social services.
Where the national decentralization processes are taking place, collaborates with central and local authorities to improve policies, planning, budgeting, consultation and accountability processes so that decisions are child-focused and service delivery more closely respond to the needs of local communities.
Collaborates with the central and local authorities to strengthen capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of essential social services, with emphasis on community participation and accountability.
6. Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social policy
Oversees the correct and compelling use of data and evidence on the situation of children and coverage and impact of child focused services – in support of the social policy programme, other programmes and the country programme overall.
Establishes effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.
7. UNICEF Programme Management
Manages and coordinates technical support around child poverty, social protection, public finance and governance, as well as the cross-cutting, office-level research function, ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.
Ensures effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have¦
An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field
A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience is required.
Experience working in a developing country is considered as a strong asset.
Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered as a strong asset.
Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate¦
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
The functional competencies required for this post are:
Leading and supervising (II)
Formulating strategies and concepts (II)
Analyzing (III)
Relating and networking (II)
Persuading & Influencing (II)
Planning & Organizing (III)
View our competency framework at
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
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