Jobs at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

How Can You Make a Difference?
Purpose of Activity / Assignment:

• Under the guidance of the Education Specialist Access, the consultant will be required to:

Scope of Work
Support the operationalization of the Safe Schools Declaration:

• The Consultant will provide technical and operational support to Federal and state governments in scaling up the coverage of the Safe School Declaration implementation at the state and school levels and in monitoring implementation and coverage. The consultant will provide one-on-one support through review and feedback to 11 states as they finalize and operationalize the costed safe school implementation plans by end-March 2023, and support the integration of the identified priority activities within state education sector operational plans and budgets. The consultant will attend regular monitoring and review meetings with state authorities (e.g., quarterly or biannually) to assess progress on implementation and support the revision of plans as needed.
• Support the printing and distribution of safe school policy documents to 12 states and the procurement, distribution and monitoring of school safety kits to 1100 schools in 12 states by June 2023.
• The Consultant will support the development and implementation of training guidelines on promoting risk mitigation and strengthening school preparedness and response with key stakeholders such as teachers.
• This will involve drafting, pilot testing with teachers and local partners, revising and finalizing technical practitioner’s guide on safe schools based on the policy documents and Safe School Minimum Standards.
• The consultant will then provide a workshop to train FO staff and implementing partners on its use by May 2023. S/he will also provide oversight of the rollout of training on this guidance and monitoring of outcomes by June 2023 through close collaboration with FO key partners, including MoEs and SUBEBs.
• Initiate the development of an early warning system for school attacks by consulting with FO staff, government and implementing partners, reviewing and assessing other early warning systems in other sectors (and in the Education sector in other countries), drafting a tool to be piloted in select states, and leading state- and community-level mapping of necessary actors to be engaged to activate and maintain an effective communication network for the functioning of the early warning system by end-April 2023.
• Oversee and guide the FO staff in mid-year data collection on the results achieved on safe school implementation, review and validate the data, and input it into the Education programme monitoring dashboard by June 2023.

Advocacy and Evidence Generation:

• Develop an evidence brief using the data generated from the representative survey of schools in 11 states on the status of school safety by April 2023.
• By early May 2023, support the preparation, design and updating of the UNICEF Nigeria Education strategy note and cheat sheet on school safety, including related factors that affect access to safe learning environments, and the collection and collation of data on school safety (e.g., risks and adverse events such as school attacks and environmental threats, the implementation of minimum standards in schools).
• Consultant will work with Maiduguri FO to support the development of key advocacy products for leveraging resources for safe schooling and for the prioritization of safe schools in education plans and budgets.
• This will involve using safe school implementation data from the UNICEF dashboard to produce one report for UNICEF staff, partners and stakeholders (at the end of the June reporting round), as well as a series of at least five human interest stories (one per FO supported on implementation) and a 2-page investment case, in collaboration with key partners including the EiEWG by the end of June 2023.

Facilitate Coordination of key partnerships and inter-sectoral collaboration on Safe Schools:

• Participate in strategic meetings at National level to influence policy and agenda-setting for promoting safe schooling. The Consultant will strengthen partnerships with Federal Ministry of Education , Universal Basic Education Commission at the national level and their state counterparts, Civil Society organizations and development partners including UN system agency partners, for improved safeguarding of education.
• The Consultant will work with NCO Education Specialist Access and Equity to provide strategic leadership to the Education in Emergencies Working Group and will coordinate UNICEF Nigeria Education Section’s partnerships with CSOs, federal and state governments and private partners.

Requirements
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

• Advanced Degree (minimum Master’s) in Education, Sociology, and other related areas in Humanities.
• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in Education-related programme planning, management, and/or education delivery; demonstrable technical skills in EIE and in school safety; experience in design, planning, and implementation of Education interventions through government counterparts considering equity, inclusiveness, sustainability, mainstreaming gender, and integration with other sectors; experience working in emergency/crisis or high-risk settings
• Fluency in English (verbal and written). Excellent oral and written communication in English is required.

Technical Skills:

• Experience engaging key stakeholders and partners at multiple levels of the education system (e.g., national/state level decision-makers, teachers);
• Working knowledge of key safe school documents, including Safe School Declaration, INEE minimum standards, etc.;
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization;
• Knowledge of / experience with Nigeria’s education sector context or that of another West African country; and Experience developing and/or guiding capacity strengthening / professional development with key stakeholders, including government partners or teachers.

Behavioural Skills:

• Excellent interpersonal skills; Excellent collaboration with colleagues and partners;
• Strong leadership and management skills and experiences;
• Attentive and open to feedback and new ideas; and effective planning and problem-solving skills.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

• UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 
• To view our competency framework, please visit here. 

go to method of application »

How Can You Make a Difference?
Background and Purpose of Assignment:

• As the world grows closer to the 1.5-degree Celsius limit on global warming agreed to in Paris in 2015, carbon emissions are higher than at any point in human history, and countries around the world are increasingly impacted by climate change and environmental degradation.
• Nigeria is no exception and is classified as “extremely high risk” on UNICEF’s global Children’s Climate Risk Index. Heavy rainfall, floods, rapidly increasing temperatures, growing aridity and soil erosion, environmental degradation, and biodiversity and ecosystem loss have cumulative impacts on the social, economic, and environmental structures in Nigeria.
• As these factors stall development and impede the effective management of resources, children’s rights to survive, grow, thrive, and learn are directly threatened.
• Nigeria has a population of 206 million people, more than 103 million of whom are children. It, therefore, accounts for approximately 4 percent of the global child population and 10 percent of the children globally living in extremely high-risk countries according to the CCRI.
• By 2050, one in 13 births will take place in Nigeria, expanding the number of children at risk, increasing competition for limited resources, and putting additional pressure on social systems, such as health and education, which are already heavily burdened by the impacts of climate change.
• The education system must be prepared to mitigate the impacts of climate change on children’s access to quality learning through climate-resilient sector planning and disaster risk reduction.
• This alone, however, is not enough. Education must also be leveraged as a primary catalyst for empowering Nigeria’s children and youth to call for and lead environmental action and to drive national, regional, and global transformation for a more sustainable and life-sustaining future.
• The steps that Nigeria takes today-not only to strengthen the education system’s resilience to climate change but also to empower the country’s large population of children and youth to call for and lead environmental action, including through education have immense potential to drive national, regional and global transformation for a more sustainable and life-sustaining future.
• In 2019, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment’s Department of Climate Change developed the National Climate Change Policy for Nigeria (2021-2030). The policy envisions a low-carbon, climate-resilient Nigeria with the mission of ensuring sustainable development and a climate-proofed economy through multi-stakeholder engagement.
• In 2021, Nigeria promulgated the 2021 Climate Change Act, which provides a framework for climate actions at the national level. As stated in the act, the Secretariat, with approval of the Council, advises the Ministries, Department, and Agencies (MDAs) responsible for regulating educational curriculum in Nigeria on the integration of climate change into various disciplines and subjects across all educational levels.
• It notes the potential for partnerships with MDAs and the support of scientific research and a similar project to facilitate the formulation and development of educational curricula and programmes aimed at adaptation and risk mitigation.
• UNICEF, as a custodian of the landmark Intergovernmental Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action, supports governments around the world both in strengthening education sector resilience and in enhancing children’s knowledge and skills regarding climate change, environmental degradation, and readiness for the future, both through green skills development and disaster risk preparedness.
• The UNICEF Nigeria Country Office (NCO) Basic Education programme addresses three key outputs focused on system strengthening, equitable access to education, and improved learning outcomes.
• NCO’s work on climate change in the education sector spans all three outputs by strengthening government capacities for climate-resilient education sector planning and service provision; expanding access to safe, protective, climate-resilient learning environments; and empowering children and young people with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to influence climate-change discussions, policy-making and Nigeria’s transition to a more sustainable future.
• To support the latter, UNICEF will work with government partners, other UN agencies, and a network of key stakeholders, especially children, youth advocates and climate activists, teachers, and community members to review the existing curriculum against international guidance and standards in order to develop a set of curriculum standards for climate change and environmental education.
• The consultant will provide technical expertise and leadership of a stakeholder committee to guide the development of curriculum standards and identification of aligned materials for use by teachers and learners.

Scope of Work
Under the supervision of Chief Education, the consultant will be responsible for the following over the course of the contract:

• The consultant is expected to provide technical leadership to a committee that will comprise key stakeholders (government partners, other UN agencies, and a network of key stakeholders, especially children, youth advocates and climate activists, teachers and community members, and UNICEF and other UN agency climate change and education focal points at the NCO and field office levels) for review of and feedback on the below-outlined deliverables.
• The consultant will lead the desk review of national policies, curriculum frameworks, and international guidance on climate change and environmental education and draft an inception report based on the findings.
• Based on this review and the existing framework for climate literacy education, the consultant will draft a set of curriculum standards for basic education (pre-primary, primary and junior secondary school), conduct a review process with the committee, collate all inputs and effect necessary changes to the standards, and finalize the standards with a set of expert recommendations for their implementation.
• The consultant will lead the development of criteria/checklist based on the curriculum standards to be used for reviewing climate change and environmental education content and will share with the committee for feedback and validation before finalizing the checklist.
• The consultant will lead the committee in collating existing climate change and environmental education content from local CSOs and NGOs, UN agencies, other development organizations, and state and federal government agencies and will map the content against the developed criteria to curate a set of materials which can be used by teachers and learners to implement the standards across basic education levels. The consultant will lead a workshop with the committee to validate, revise and finalize the curated packages and identify remaining gaps in available content.
• The consultant will develop, with input from the committee—especially teachers—a brief guidance note for each package by education level (pre-primary, primary, and junior secondary) to guide teachers and school personnel on how to use them.

Requirements
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

• An Advanced University Degree (Master’s or Higher) in Climate Change, Environmental Science, Environmental Education, Science Education or other related fields.

Knowledge / Expertise / Skills Required:
Qualifications:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in environmental science and/or environmental education.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience advising government and other education stakeholders on the integration of climate change and environmental science into education policies or curricula.
• At least 5 years of experience translating environmental science into practical and actionable content for education stakeholders, specifically teachers, and children.
• Demonstrable experience supporting the development or review of climate- and environment-related education content.
• A minimum of 5 years working experience working in or as a direct consultant for UN organizations and/or Ministries of Education.
• Strong working knowledge of key international guidance on climate change and environmental education, curriculum and teaching/learning content development
• Strong knowledge of the Nigerian (or at least other developing countries) context and understanding of international development issues, including the status of the humanitarian-development nexus nationally and at the state level in Nigeria, particularly as it relates to education for girls and marginalized populations.
• Strong working knowledge of Nigeria’s basic education curriculum.

Other Skills and Attributes:

• Experience working in Nigeria, West, and Central Africa region, or other similar development contexts
• Strong knowledge of the Nigerian political landscape and recent developments in education
• A good understanding of UNICEF’s programmatic areas, namely Education (especially Education in Emergencies) and WASH
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience translating evidence for and communicating with a broad range of actors (including government) on sensitive issues
• Ability to present ideas concisely for diverse audiences and to give practical, actionable advice grounded in evidence

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

• UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 
• To view our competency framework, please visit here.