• Country: New Delhi, India
• No of vacancies: N/A
  
• Salary: N/A 
• Organization: UNICEF
• Gender: Both 
• Deadline: 2023-12-26

• Strengthen, consolidate and take forward ongoing ECD initiatives by UNICEF India country office
• Participate in CO programme discussions related to annual work planning as well as developing next Country Programme. Document to determine areas for ECD integration/intervention. Contribute to the formulation, design and preparation of the programme to ensure integration of ECD in a holistic manner across programme areas and to ensure alignment of ECD programmes with UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and coherence/integration with UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Support coordination and provide leadership and strategic technical and programming support to UNICEF and UNICEF Filed Offices. Support in coordination and implementation of the UNICEF India ECD programme strategy.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results on ECD programmes.
• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies and to determine national priorities/competencies to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable results.
• Provide technical and operational support at all stages of programming processes to ensure ECD integration, coherence and harmonization with other UNICEF programme sectors and achievement of results as planned.
• Coordinate with Regional Office on cross- cutting Regional issues.
• Support to prepare ECD regular/mandated programme/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

• Provide technical guidance and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and country office partners/donors on interpretation, application and understanding of policies, strategies, processes and best practices and approaches on ECD to support programme management, implementation and delivery of results.
• Actively monitor ECD programmes/projects through field visits, exchange of information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Support in ECD coordination across sectors and state offices through planning and preparation of ECD coordination meetings, monitoring and reviews.
• Draft ECD policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and/or consideration in consultation with programme teams.

3. Support in Networking and partnership building

• Support to sustain effective close working partnerships with relevant government counterparts, UN agencies, national stakeholders, and global partners/allies/donors/academia through active networking, advocacy, and effective communication to build capacity, exchange knowledge/expertise and to reinforce cooperation to achieve sustainable and broad results on ECD programmes.
• Network with government and other external partners to promote effective coordination and support relevant programme Sections in partnership management.
• Support and coordinate joint advocacy, partnership and resource mobilization efforts with relevant sections.
• Work with ECD core team and focal points to share updates, progress and required actions.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on ECD related issues to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF planning and preparation of programmes/projects ensuring organizational position’s, interests and priorities on ECD are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting including emergency preparedness.

• Initiate, guide and support documenting of best practices, and promote UNICEF internal and Partners’ sharing and cross learning on ECD.
• Lead UNICEF India knowledge management on ECD.
• Support the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis and assessments on ECD related issues to establish evidence-based data to support holistic policy and programme development, as well as coordinated planning, implementation, and monitoring of early childhood development programmes/projects within the country programme.
• Keep abreast of national, regional and international development priorities to identify opportunities where ECD can enhance inter-sector partnership, integration and linkages.
• Introduce innovative approaches and good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results on ECD.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark and implement best practices on early childhood development. Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable ECD programmes and projects.
• Organize and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on ECD related programmes/projects.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: child development, education, nutrition, public health, public administration, economics, psychology, sociology, human development, child development, family studies or another relevant technical field.

• A minimum of Five (5) years of professional experience in social development planning and management in early childhood development related areas is required.
• Experience working with Government is considered as an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

APPLY NOW