Devex is currently assisting UNICEF an international organization providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide in their search for Chief, Adolescent and Youth to be based in UNICEF Jordan Country Office.
UNICEF’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan emphasizes the importance of working for young people and with young people as partners and allies in achieving results for children and adolescents. In MENA Region this is reflected in UNICEF’s work on young people’s skills activation for positive social change, development, empowerment and gender equity, as part of the Regional Accelerator on Young people’s Learning, Skilling, Social Inclusion and transition to Decent Work.
Job organizational context: The Chief, Adolescent and Youthreports to the Deputy Representative who is at P5 level. The adolescent and youth AYD)programme is a major component of the new Country Programme in Jordan. The AYD programme has a focus on young people aged 15-24.
Purpose for the job: The Chief, Adolescent and Youth reports to the Deputy Representative for general guidance and direction. The Chief 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 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.
The main focus of the programme is young people’s skills activation (Learning to Earning programming, young people’s volunteering for social impact, and young people’s civic engagement). The chief will promote and coordinate collaboration with UN agencies working on the young people’s agenda, including notably ILO, UNDP and UNFPA. This position will also be working on humanitarian programmes both in the Syrian Refugee camps as well as in host communities where vulnerable Jordanian, Syrian and refugees from other nationalities reside.
Summary of key functions/accountabilities:
Country programme planning and development
Participates and/or conduct/update situation analysis and assessments to establish age and sex disaggregated evidence-based data for UNICEF advocacy and development of policies, frameworks and programs to promote adolescent and youth development and participation in the country.
Assesses 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 and youth development and participation. Work in coordination with Child protection, SBC, Gender, Communication, Education, Health, Nutrition, Social policy, Social Protection, WASH/Climate, Planning, Emergency and Monitoring & Evaluation to support development of strategic framework for adolescents and young people.
Participates in CO program formulation, planning and preparation to provide input, advice and operational support on the integration of cross sectoral policies and framework that promote adolescents’ and young people’s development and participation. This includes the processes of SMR and CPD formulation. Ensure alignment of adolescent policies, frameworks and interventions with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and coherence/integration with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), and regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
Leads on establishing specific goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans for adolescent and youth development and participation programs/projects across all sectors using results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare relevant documentation for program review and approval.
Works closely and collaboratively with internal/external colleagues and partners and stakeholders to discuss strategies and methodologies that enhance the realization of adolescent’s and young people’s rights across all sectors and to promote partnerships and alliances on adolescent development and participation including partnerships with adolescents and young people themselves, and partnerships with the private sector.
Ensures that the voices of adolescents and children are systematically taken into consideration in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme cycle.
Program management, monitoring and delivery of results
Provides technical leadership to generate knowledge on the situation of adolescents and youth, support sector specific analysis of data on adolescents and improve utilization of sex and age disaggregated data within UNICEF monitoring and evaluation tools and among partners.
Submits/prepares proposals, program/project reports to donors and other partners to raise resources for adolescent and youth interventions with focus on young people’s transition from learning to earning, volunteering for positive social impact and civic engagement, and keep donors informed on program progress and critical issues.
Plans and/or collaborates with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish age/sex disaggregated benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programs and projects.
Participates in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program 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.
Prepares/assesses monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
Plans, monitors and oversees the use of program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity.
Ensures timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
Advisory services and technical support
Leads on providing technical advice and strategic guidance to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on adolescent development and participation to support program development, conceptualizing, planning, implementation and delivery of results in young people’s learning to earning transition and civic engagement.
Participates in strategic discussions, meetings and other international/national meetings and workshops to provide evidence-based papers and inputs on adolescent development and participation to influence policy and agenda setting. This will include close technical collaboration with specialized agencies such as ILO and international financial institutions such as the World Bank.
Leads on preparation of policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and consideration in development discussion and planning relating to youth and adolescents.
Provides technical guidance and strategic direction to internal sectoral staff and external partners on approaches to enhance adolescents’ participation into the policy, programming and humanitarian interventions.
Advocacy, networking and partnership building
Leads advocacy and policy drive for adolescent rights and programming within the country office, with other UN and government and non-government partners based on improved evidence and data. In collaboration with UNCT Youth group, lead on the initiation of a Public-Private-Youth Partnership to support young people’s learning, skilling, social inclusion and transition to decent work.
Works in close collaboration with the UNICEF Regional Youth and Adolescents’ team and the global UNICEF Generation Unlimited team to generate learning and evidence to support further fundraising and mutual learning.
Builds and strengthens strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organization, research institutes, youth led organizations and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on UNICEF’s adolescent development and participation initiatives.
Contributes 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 adolescent development and participation programs and initiatives are adequately resourced and supported.
Participates and/or represents UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on adolescent development and participation to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues the UNDAF planning and preparation of programs/projects including emergency preparedness.
Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
Promotes, document and disseminate critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on adolescent and youth development and participation initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services, with focus on young people’s learning to earning transition and civic engagement.
Fosters and nurtures an “intrapreneurial” and innovation-focused mind-set in the team, in partnerships with other sections and the wider UN and private sector partnerships, actively exploring, developing and promoting promising new ways of addressing bottlenecks in young people’s skills activation and civic engagement.
Keeps abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting-edge practices on adolescent and youth development related issues with focus on skills activation. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned to support development, planning, implementation and scale up.
Contributes to the development of policies, procedures and programmes and introduce innovation and best practices that promote the rights of adolescents and youth and enhances their development and participation as active members of society and their community. This includes innovative partnerships with the private sector and exploring possibilities for innovative/impact financing.
Organizes/plans/implements capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of a wide range of internal and external partners/stakeholders to achieve sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programs and initiatives.
Qualifications of Successful Candidate:
