The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Zambia is looking for suitably qualified candidates to apply for the following vacancy.
Social Policy Officer – Fixed-Term Appointment, NOB (National Officer Category, Level 2), for 1 year (renewable) to be based in Lusaka.
The incumbent will work under the general supervision of the Chief of Social Policy.
Duties
1. Social policy dialogue and programme development
- Provides professional assistance in UNICEF’s engagement in social policy dialogue and development with the Government, maintains constructive dialogue and partnerships between international and local stakeholders to support the development of social policies and programmes contributing to the progressive realization of children’s rights and strengthening of implementation and monitoring mechanisms at all levels of society, and ensures that the services reach out in innovative, effective ways to those most vulnerable pockets of children and families that have been previously left out.
- Promotes the advocacy for juvenile justice reform, supports child rights-based reviews of national, provincial and local legislation, in close consultation with community-level structures and supports the health and education sectors and the social welfare system for children.
2. Monitoring state budget resources
- Monitors and updates current information on state budgeting and spending patterns for social programmes and decentralization status of social services on an on-going basis to support advocacy for greater public resources and budget allocation for social development, the prioritization of resource allocation for children, and universal coverage of essential services for children, to ensure that they reflect the best interest of children.
3. Sustainable decentralization and capacity building
- Provides professional assistance in the development programme plans of action for children at provincial and district/municipality levels; supports to strengthen coordination between sectors and between different levels of government structures for policy implementation.
- Provides on-going support in making decentralization sustainable through adequate local support while keeping decentralized services both accessible and effective.
- Collaborates with the central and local authorities to strengthen community-based capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of social policy and programmes
4. Data collection, analysis and results-based approach
- Collects systematically qualitative data for the sound and up-to-date assessment of the situation of children and women to provide the base-lines for result-based decisions on interventions and evaluations. Provides technical support for the development of information systems for monitoring child rights indicators, with emphasis on community and child participation
- 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
5. Advocacy and communication
- Promotes and raises awareness on children’s rights with both the general public and with policy makers, effective information dissemination, mass media campaign, special events, and other means, to ensure local buy-in, commitment, and continued relevance of UNICEF programming.
- Contributes to the establishment and enhancement of 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 Millennium Development Goals and the World Fit for Children (WFFC) agenda
- 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
Qualification Requirements
University degree, preferably advanced university degree or equivalent background, in Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, International Finance, public relations, media, communication, or other relevant disciplines with two years of relevant professional work experience
A detailed job description can be downloaded from the UNICEF website www.unicef.org/zambia
How to Apply
Interested candidates should send their application by 06 October 2015 with updated Curriculum Vitae with at least 3 traceable references and completed UN Personal History form (P-11) to Lusaka@unicef.org or the Human Resources Specialist, UNICEF Lusaka Office, UN House 3rd Floor, Alick Nkhata Road, P.O. Box 33610, Lusaka.
Please clearly indicate the VN No. for the position applied for, Note that the Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from the UNICEF Lusaka website under ‘Opportunities.’
The advertisement is also being posted on our website.
“UNICEF IS COMMITTED TO GENDER EQUALITY IN ITS MANDATE AND ITS STAFF. WELL QUALIFIED CANDIDATES, PARTICULARLY FEMALES AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITY ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY’’.
