Knowledge Management Specialist

The incumbent will support UNICEF EAPRO and Country Offices to develop a well-maintained knowledge management system that gathers, extracts, packages, maintains, distributes and continually updates evidence, data and knowledge for internal and external audiences, with the goal of establishing and positioning UNICEF EAPRO as a knowledge centre on children and issues affecting them.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Position

Under the supervision of the Regional Chief of Programme & Planning, P5, the position supports UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) and Country Offices to develop a well-maintained knowledge management system that gathers, extracts, packages, maintains, distributes and continually updates evidence, data and knowledge for internal and external audiences, with the goal of establishing and positioning UNICEF EAPRO as a knowledge centre on children and issues affecting them, to inform UNICEF's strategic policy/advocacy and resource mobilization objectives, and to develop a culture of learning and information exchange; continuously identify and promote opportunities for innovations within the Regional Office Management Plan and across East Asia and Pacific priorities and document and disseminate best practices and lessons learned.   

Key Expected Results

1. Knowledge Management Strategy and implementation. EAPRO has a clear knowledge management strategy and associated work plan for establishing the Regional Office as a knowledge hub on children and the issues affecting them as well as has a fully operationalized knowledge management function in which relevant data, information and knowledge on children and the issues affecting them are systematically acquired, continuously upgraded and disseminated internally and externally to counterparts, donors, media and other stakeholders as appropriate.
2. Best practices and lessons learned. EAPRO has an up-to-date, easy-to-access database of lessons learned and best practices in the areas of policy innovation, programme planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to influence UNICEF programme policy, official programme guidance and policy dialogue; programmatic evidence based knowledge and evaluations are gathered, extracted, managed and disseminated on an on-going basis.
3. Identifying innovations and gaps. EAPRO has a systematic approach for proposing new policy and analysis needed to fill observed gaps and for identifying opportunities for innovation, based on the knowledge and analysis undertaken with programme clusters; best practices and lessons learned from strategic reviews and evaluations; and best practices in other countries in the region and beyond.
4. Weblink. EAPRO will have a website, a link to a fully developed strategic communication, information and knowledge management tool, optimized for knowledge transfer and information sharing and for the facilitation of Communities of Practice.
5. Evaluation. Knowledge management baselines are established against which the objectives of the knowledge management strategy are regularly evaluated; analysis is undertaken to continuously improve the effectiveness of the strategy, approach and activities; results and reports are prepared and shared on a timely basis.
6. Capacity building and support. Internal capacity on knowledge acquisition, management, and sharing, and communities of practices is developed and strengthened. Staff and key partners supported as 'knowledge professionals' through the identification of learning opportunities. The EAPRO colleagues are provided with professional expertise and advice on all aspects of knowledge management as required.

 Key Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks

1. Knowledge Management Strategy and Implementation

EAPRO has a clear knowledge management strategy and associated work plan for establishing the Regional Office as a knowledge hub on children and the issues affecting them as well as has a fully operationalized knowledge management function in which relevant data, information and knowledge on children and the issues affecting them are systematically acquired, continuously upgraded and disseminated internally and externally to counterparts, donors, media and other stakeholders as appropriate.

Duties & Tasks

• Develop, maintain and update the knowledge management strategy and associated work plan. Strategy and work plan include assessment; objectives; target audiences; type of engagement; monitoring and evaluation of engagement, success and opportunity for improvement; on-going refinement of the strategy.
• Draw on extensive knowledge management strategy development experience and ensure optimum impact of activities on programme, policy and advocacy activities.
• Ensure adequate and on-going assessment of trends, social and political change and public interest are conveyed to the Social Policy Section, Communication Chief. Factor these environmental variables back into the knowledge management strategy and refinement of its execution where applicable
• Maintain close coordination with the Regional Director, Deputy Regional Director, Communication section, Social Policy section, Evaluation section, Country Offices and HQ Knowledge Management Officers for effective overall implementation of the knowledge management strategy including decisions and recommendations on the design, and planning and the on-going development of tools for the dissemination of programme information, best practices, lessons learned for sharing with target audiences.    

2. Best Practices and lessons learned.

EAPRO has an up-to-date, easy-to-access database of lessons learned and best practices in the areas of policy innovation, programme planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to influence UNICEF programme policy, official programme guidance and policy dialogue; programmatic evidence based knowledge and evaluation are gathered, extracted, managed and disseminated on an on-going basis.

Duties & Tasks

• Promote a better understanding of, respect and support for knowledge management within EAPRO with the ultimate objective of contributing to a culture of learning within the office and among key partners. Ensure rapid and accurate information and knowledge dissemination to key audiences.
• In close collaboration with programme sections, identify, extract, manage, package and disseminate best practices and lessons learned in appropriate formats for target audiences. Ensure or enhance the quality, consistency and appropriateness of knowledge for UNICEF's strategic priorities on an on-going basis.
• Make occasional field missions to support and participate in assessment, validation and in in developing evidence-based documentation.
• Ensure all materials are available and accessible in a user-friendly database for use by UNICEF programme staff.
• Monitor and evaluate the use and effectiveness of best practices and lessons learned and their dissemination among country office and HQ colleagues.

3. Identifying innovations and gaps.

EAPRO has a systematic approach for proposing new policy and analysis needed to fill observed gaps and for identifying opportunities for innovation, based on the knowledge and analysis undertaken with programme sections; best practices and lessons learned from strategic reviews and evaluations; and best practices in country offices in the region and beyond.

• Develop and implement a systematic approach within the Regional Office for proposing new policy and analysis needed to fill in observed gaps and opportunities for innovation, in close collaboration with programme sections based on knowledge and analysis conducted from best practices and lessons learned from strategic reviews; and best practices in other countries in the region and beyond.
• Monitor and evaluate the use and effectiveness of best practices and lessons learned and their dissemination among country office and HQ colleagues.
• Maintain close collaboration with the Communication, Social Policy and Evaluation sections as well as HQ Knowledge Management Officers for effective overall coordination, quality assurance and dissemination to appropriate audiences.

 4. Weblink

EAPRO will have a fully developed Share Point site as a strategic communication, information and knowledge management tool, optimized for knowledge transfer and information sharing and for the facilitation of Communities of Practices.

Duties & Tasks

• Collaborates closely with IT staff/web focal point to ensure that UNICEF Intranet site is fully organized and optimized for strategic knowledge and information sharing.
• Develop and implement modalities for sharing information engaging with Regional Office and Country Office staff drawing on expertise of HQ Knowledge Management Officers.

5. Evaluation

Knowledge management baselines are established against which the objectives of the knowledge management strategy are regularly evaluated; analysis is undertaken to continuously improve the effectiveness of the strategy, approach and activities; results and reports are prepared and shared on a timely basis.  

Duties & Tasks

•  Provide technical support to ensure that a set of knowledge management performance indicators are identified and adjusted as necessary. These may have multiple uses in the Regional Office Management Plan and Annual Work Plans etc.
• Conduct timely and accurate assessment activities to ensure the use, effectiveness and impact of the knowledge management strategy, system and sharing of results and findings with country office, HQ colleagues and key audiences.
• Undertake lessons learned review of successful and unsuccessful knowledge management experiences and share observations/findings with country and HQ colleagues so best practices and insights can benefit UNICEF's knowledge management work.

6. Capacity building and support

Internal capacity on knowledge acquisition, management, and sharing, and communities of practice is developed and strengthened. Staff and key partners supported as 'knowledge professionals' through the identification of learning opportunities. The programme sections are provided with professional expertise and advice on all aspects of knowledge management as required.

Duties & Tasks

• Support knowledge management activities through information exchange and building the capacity of the Regional Office. Enable appropriate knowledge management training, access to information, and developing training and orientation material.
• Build the Regional Office knowledge management capacity to produce, access, and distribute knowledge in various formats for local and global use, adhering to quality standards.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the capacity of partners through appropriate knowledge management training and knowledge sharing.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education:

•  Advanced university degree in social sciences, planning development, planning.  

Work Experience:

•  Professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities as follows:

          Level 3 - Five years of relevant professional work experience. Developing country work experience.  

• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme preferred.

Language Proficiency

•  Fluency in English and another UN language. Fluency in the national language of the duty station an an asset.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

Core Values

• Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Communication
• Working with People
• Drive for Results

Functional Competencies

• Leading and Supervising [ I ]            
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts [ II ]
• Relating and Networking [ II ]           
• Persuading and Influencing [ II ]  
• Applying Technical Expertise [ II ]
• Entrepreneurial Thinking [ II ]

Technical Knowledge  

 a) Specific Technical Knowledge & Competencies Required (for the job)

• Executive Board and other policy document.
• Executive Directives.
• Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP).
• UNICEF Programme Policy, procedures and guidelines.
• UN/UNICEF Policy Papers.
• Rights-based and Results-based approach and programming in UNICEF.
• General administrative and financial guidelines.
• Human Resources manual.

b) Common Technical Knowledge Required (for the job group)

      Comprehensive knowledge of:

• Knowledge management, methodology and practical application. Knowledge of current theories and practices in knowledge research planning and strategy.
• Programme management in successfully managing teams, budgets and project execution.
• Fundamentals of working in various media formats – print, photos, audio, video, web, etc.
• Computer systems, including internet navigation, office applications and specifically interactive digital media.
• United Nations or other international organizations; good understanding of word affaires, current events and international development issues.
• Global human rights issues, specifically relating to children and women and current UNICEF position and approaches.
• UNICEF communication goals, visions, positions, policies, guidelines and strategies.
• UNICEF policies and strategy to address national and international issues, including emergencies.
• Fundamentals of working with business community.

c) Technical Knowledge to be Acquired/Enhanced (for the Job)

• Expertise of knowledge management.
• Technical competence in packaging content for various media formats – print, audio, video, web, etc. and dissemination.  
• UN policies and strategy to address international humanitarian issues and the responses.
• UN common approaches to programmatic issues and UNICEF positions.
• UN security operations and guidelines.

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.