Subnational Planning Officer

UNICEF works in the world's toughest places to reach the most disadvantaged children and adolescents – and to protect the rights of every child, everywhere.

Since 1964, child rights have been at the heart of the strong partnership between the Government of Malaysia and UNICEF. UNICEF’s work in Malaysia is driven by the aim of ensuring that every child, especially the most vulnerable, has a fair, equitable start in life. This means that all girls and boys – regardless of location, family income or disability – ought to enjoy equal access to quality services and an equal chance of developing to their full potential.

An upper-middle income and culturally diverse country, Malaysia is home to 32.7 million people of which 9.2 million are children. The country has witnessed tremendous progress over the years in poverty reduction, access to primary health care, education, and advances in Child Rights and wellbeing, social and cultural norms. However, gaps in the legal, regulatory and policy framework, comparatively low levels of public expenditure on social protection and social services, and limited capacity in the public sector to meet the demands of the equity agenda, constrain women and child rights. Further advances in education, health and nutrition, and social protection outcomes are needed if Malaysia is to achieve advanced nation status.

UNICEF Malaysia is a unique country office in that it is an upper middle-income country, but with significant remaining disparities and inequalities where both advocacy and programming approaches are required. UNICEF adds value by influencing the development narrative of the country through quality evidence generation, evidence-based advocacy and policy recommendations, supported by partnerships and alliances with civil society, academia, and think tanks. UNICEF Malaysia also has a highly developed Private Sector Fundraising Team (PSFR) which raises significant resources for children in innovative ways. In this context, the role of multi-faceted evidence-based communications and policy advocacy and partnership building play critical roles in advancing child rights.

Adopting a human rights-based approach, the UNICEF country programme in Malaysia has been designed in partnership with the Government of Malaysia and is aligned with the Shared Prosperity Vision for 2030 and the 12th Malaysia Plan. The programme responds directly to UNICEF’s and the UN’s global priorities, Agenda 2030, the Leaving No One Behind and Build Back Better agendas and forms an integral part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Malaysia 2021-2025.

Under the general supervision of the Social Policy Specialist and overall guidance from the Chief Social Policy, the UNV Subnational Planning Officer will provide direct support building the capacity of subnational government on the measurement of child poverty and wellbeing, cash plus design and child friendly cities implementation, as well as supporting the coordination of the activities undertaken in Sarawak by UNICEF Malaysia. The UNV Subnational Planning for Children Officer will be responsible for contributing to subnational programme implementation efforts through working together with subnational implementing partners and will encourages adolescent and young people’s participation in the implementation of initiatives.

Subnational Planning for Children
• Provides substantive support to UNICEF on subnational planning, specifically including inputs to the programme design and implementation at the subnational level.
• Assisting the team in plans and facilitates workshops and other interactive sessions on subnational planning issues at the subnational level; assists in developing action plans that the subnational government will use to manage change.
• Support the team to initiate and coordinates outreach activities at the subnational level; conducts training workshops, seminars, etc.; makes presentations on assigned topics/activities.
• Assisting the team in coordinating activities at the subnational level related to planning and budgeting issues and preparing related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.).

Technical support for Program Implementation
• Support and contribute to research and analysis on subnational planning issues and help the team to presents information gathered from diverse sources. Support the design and implementation of the Sarawak Child Wellbeing Index, the design and roll out of a cash plus initiative and the implementation of the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) in Greater Kuching, Miri, Bintulu and Sibu, as well as the conceptualization and further roll-out of a rural CFCI.
• Support the management of the Sarawak Taskforce, which includes following up on program status, updating excel dashboard, and administering online/physical meetings
• Support the team to develop draft policy recommendations on subnational planning issues, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of evaluations or other research activities and studies,
• Support the team with substantive backstopping to consultative and other meetings, conferences, etc., including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations on sustainable development issues.
• Support the team in liaising with relevant stakeholders and potential partners, including national and subnational government, business sectors, and CSOs
• Participate in field missions, including the provision of guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties and drafting mission summaries, etc.
• Assisting the team in designing, managing and monitoring the implementation of capacity building on subnational planning.

Other programme areas
• As necessary, provide support in the implementation of Sarawak based activities of UNICEF in support of UNICEF Country Programme delivery.
• Support coordination of Sarawak based missions.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take an active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results, and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected outputs:

As an active UNICEF Malaysia – Social Policy team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client–friendly and high–quality support rendered to the team and its beneficiaries in the performance of her/her functions, including:
• Strategic growth and involvement of our digital and traditional media audience.
• Lessons learned and best practices are shared.
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counter-parts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in, and capacities developed