Climate, Education and Youth Participation Assistant

UNICEF has a long-term commitment to Iraq’s children and young people, with the first formal cooperation agreement signed with the Government in 1963. UNICEF works in close partnership with the Federal through established Cooperation Agreements. UNICEF has a broad geographic presence in the country with four offices located in Basra, Baghdad, Erbil and Dohuk. UNICEF collaborates with UN agencies, international and national NGO partners to meet the humanitarian and development needs of most vulnerable children and young people.
In recent years, UNICEF’s work to support the unique needs of young people has gained momentum, as the challenges facing them have come more sharply into view. UNICEF is committed to deliver for all children and young people through its overall impact goal of ‘realizing the rights of every child, especially the most disadvantaged. The UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2018−2021 recognizes the whole spectrum of young people, including young adults or youth over 18, and includes in its Change Strategies “supporting young people and children as agents of change.” Taking its cue from the strategic plan, the Global Communication and Advocacy Strategy 2019−2021 (GCAS) asserts the important role that young people can play in the successful realization of UNICEF’s mandate, and outlines the need to listen to, co-create and collaborate with young people and create meaningful engagement opportunities for them to make a difference. Being important drivers of change, children and young people are essential partners and contributors to both the development and implementation of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2022 2025. With a new and ambitious SP, UNICEF intends to be deliberate and committed in fully involving children and young people in creating the solutions to accelerate the realization of the SDGs and driving change forward.

The UNICEF Education, ADAP and WASH programs has been working closely with the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ministry of Youth (MOYS) the Ministry of Environment (MOEN), Directorate of Water (DoW) to strengthen the capacity of the national education system to respond to the education needs of forcibly displaced children and young people, build their skills for social and economic participation and promote their voice and role in the climate agenda. Work closely and collaboratively with all actors to strengthen WASH interventions and contribute in monitoring WASH service delivery for refugees and host communities. Focus shall be on engaging young people in water conservation, and climate adaptation actions. Engage in on-site training sessions on green energy, basic knowledge on drinking water supply systems.

UNICEF have supported access to multiple learning pathways to forcibly displaced children and young people, including through investments in local capacity in coordination with local government and CSO partnerships. This has led children and young people to learn and thrive in safe environments, support their learning, readiness for school, skills acquisition, overall development, mental health and psychosocial support. Furthermore, UNICEF Iraq provided adolescents and youth access to skilling opportunities, Life Skills and Citizenship Education, and extracurricular activities to foster social cohesion and promote their role in the climate arena, including green skills and green economy.

The UNV will be supporting the implementation of the PROSPECTS programme in Iraq including coordination among two main pillars; Education and Learning (Pillar 1) and Infrastructure (Pillar 4)

Eligibility criteria include:
• Young people aged 18-26
• Refugees, asylum seekers, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and migrants
• In their motivation statement, applicants can demonstrate they face learning to earning barriers
• Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply
• Hosting offices are encouraged to ensure application processes are accessible to youth on the move with disabilities

The UNV officer will support and coordinate multi-sectoral activities of UNICEF Iraq, with a focus on education, climate, and youth participation. This will include working with sections of WASH and Climate and Education and Learning.

Under the direct supervision of, the Chief of Erbil Field Office, with technical dotted lines to the chiefs of ADAP, WASH, and Education. the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Contribute to the implementation of cross-sectoral young people development and engagement activities under the PROSPECTS program through partnerships with DOYs as well as CSO partners. Including skills building for social and economic engagement, as well as offline and online participation of young people. With a special focus on green engagement.
• Support in monitoring and reporting on the use of adolescent development and participation program resources (financial, administrative, and other resources).
• work closely and collaboratively with UNICEF colleagues in WASH, Education, and Child Protection to ensure the integration of program activities targeting children and youth under PROSPECTS.
• Participate in achieving positive impact and change through promoting U-Report Iraq and Learning Passports and using the data collected.
• Support ad-hoc administrative and operational tasks.