INTERNAL EXTERNAL ADV: Programme Specialist (Gender & Disability Inclusion), NO-C, Post# 134975

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

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For every child, the right to access

Programme Specialist (Gender and Disability Inclusion) reports to the Deputy Representative - Programme for general guidance and direction. The Specialist supports country office programming processes by providing expert technical advice and operational support to country office colleagues and internal and external partners and stakeholders to ensure that gender, disability and adolescent development and participation established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international treaties/framework and UN intergovernmental bodies, are integrated in UNICEF’s advocacy, policies, programmes and humanitarian work. This is a Fixed-Term contract with duration of 2 years.

How can you make a difference ?

The incumbent will be responsible for the following key end results:
1. Country Programme development and planning
- Update the situation analysis of adolescents and young people in the country and conduct assessments to establish age, disability and sex disaggregated evidence-based data for UNICEF advocacy and development of policies, frameworks and programmes to promote adolescent development and participation in the country, with strategic oversight of Output 4 on Adolescent Participation and Civic Engagement under the Education outcome.
- Assess national/regional/international development priorities to identify opportunities and strategies and courses of action to enhance the delivery of services and achievement of objectives on adolescent development and participation and gender equality. Work in coordination with Child protection, social behavious change (SBC), Communication, Education, Health, Nutrition, Social policy, WASHClimate, Planning, Emergencyand Monitoring & Evaluation to support delivery of services and to achieve objectives for adolescents, across all sectors.
- Participate in CO programme formulation, planning and preparation to provide input, advice and operational support on the integration of cross sectoral policies and frameworks that promote adolescent development and participation, disability inclusion and gender equality. This includes the processes of SMR and CPD formulation. Ensure alignment of gender, disability and adolescent policies, frameworks and interventions with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and coherence/integration with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
- Establish specific goals, objectives, strategies and implementation plans for adolescent development and participation programmes/projects across all sectors using results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare relevant documentation for programme review and approval.
- Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners and stakeholders to discuss strategies and methodologies that enhance the realization of adolescent rights, especially for adolescent girls, across all sectors and to promote partnerships and alliances on adolescent development and participation including partnerships with adolescents.
- Ensure that the voices of adolescents and children are systematically taken into consideration in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme cycle.
- Provide authoritative technical guidance/operational support throughout all stages of programming to facilitate the management and delivery of results contributing to gender equality in alignment with the GEAP and DIPAS.
- Supports the assessment and identification of adolescent, disability and gender needs for emergency preparedness and response, and provides gender and disability relevant guidance and technical input on emergency programming

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results
- Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish age, disability and gender disaggregated benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of sustainable results on gender, disability and adolescent development and participation programmes and projects, including Office-wide targeted gender priorities.
- Support the strengthening of data systems and collection, as well as accountability mechanisms to monitor and evaluate progress on gender and disability results.
- Support high quality reporting on gender results, and a biannual performance review of GEAP and DIPAS specified results.
- Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action/interventions to achieve results for adolescents.
- Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in programme and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
- Plan, monitor and oversee the use of programme resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity.
- Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
- Provide technical leadership to generate knowledge on the situation of children with disabilities, and adolescent girls and boys, support sector specific analysis of data on adolescents and improve utilization of sex, disability and age disaggregated data within UNICEF monitoring and evaluation tools and among partners.
- Work with programme colleagues and management so that adolescent development, disability inclusion and gender results are effectively defined, measured, and reported, and high-quality assessment, research, evidence generation and evaluation on gender and disability programming is undertaken and utilized.
- Submit/prepare proposals, programme/project reports to donors and other partners to raise resources for adolescent interventions, as well as interventions that focus on gender mainstreaming and disability inclusion, and keep donors informed on programme progress and critical issues.

3. Advisory services and technical support
- Participate in strategic discussions, meetings and other international/national meetings and workshops to provide evidence-based papers and inputs on gender (with a focus on adolescent girls), children with disabilities and adolescent development and participation to influence policy and agenda setting.
- Provide technical advice and guidance to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on gender mainstreaming to advance the rights of adolescent girls and children with disabilities, as well as adolescent development and participation to support programme development, conceptualizing, planning, implementation and delivery of results.
- Participate in cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination on key programmatic results on gender and disability inclusion, ensuring coherence, maximization of synergies and efficiency in utilization of resources and delivery of results
- Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and consideration in development discussion and planning relating to adolescent development, disability inclusion and gender equality.
- Provide technical advice to internal sectoral staff and external partners on approaches to enhance adolescents’ participation into the policy, programming and humanitarian interventions, applying a gender and disability inclusion lens where appropriate.
- Support the development, implementation, and monitoring of high-quality gender and disability inclusion programming across sectors in alignment with the GEAP and DIPAS.

4. Advocacy, networking and partnership building
- Lead advocacy drive for children with disability and adolescent rights – with a focus on adolescent girls - and programming within the country office, with other UN and government and non-government partners based on improved evidence and data.
- Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, research institutes, youth led organizations, organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs) and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on UNICEF’s gender, disability inclusion and adolescent development and participation initiatives.
- Contribute to the preparation of advocacy and communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and to ensure that gender-responsive adolescent development and participation programmes and initiatives are adequately resourced and supported.
- Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on adolescent development and participation, disability inclusion and gender equality to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDCF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues the UNSDCF planning and preparation of programmes/projects including emergency preparedness.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
- Promote, document and disseminate critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on gender equality, disability inclusion and adolescent development and participation initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
- Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting-edge practices on gender equality, disability inclusion and adolescent development related issues. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned to support development, planning, implementation and scale up.
- Support Adolescent, Disability and Gender staff in the Centres of Excellence (CoE) in advancing the technical and research capacity of country-level staff, offices and programmes on adolescent development, disability inclusion and gender to continue to build evidence base for programming and to ensure continuous capacity in gender, disability inclusion and adolescent programming at Country Office level.
- Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices that promote the rights of adolescents, with a focus on adolescent girls and children with disabilities, and enhances their development and participation as active members of society and their community.
- Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of a wide range of internal and external partners/stakeholders to achieve sustainable results on gender equality, disability inclusion and adolescent development and participation programmes and initiatives.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:

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

Minimum requirements:

- Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: gender, development studies, law, anthropology, psychology, sociology, education or another relevant technical field
- Experience: A minimum of five years of professional experience in social development planning (incl. gender equality and/or disability inclusion) and management in adolescent development related areas.
- Language Requirements: Fluency in Bahasa Indonesia and English.

Desirables:

- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
- Experience working on children or adolescent related programming
- Experience with women’s organizations will be an asset.
- Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization would be an advantage.

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: UNICEF Values

The 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 

(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF . Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here .