Early Childhood Development Manager, P-4, Ankara, Türkiye (FT) #122416

UNICEF Türkiye is looking for an ECD Manager, P4 to coordinate the design, development, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ECD programmes within the Country Programme.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Innovation

For more than 70 years, UNICEF has been operating in Turkey and we have witnessed remarkable progress, especially in the area of maternal and child health. Still, gaps and inequalities remain and UNICEF continues to support systemic reforms in education, social and child protection and justice, through the provision of technical assistance to improve access and quality of services as well as ‘modeling’ of service delivery at both central and local level, especially for the most vulnerable children and young people.

How can you make a difference?

The ECD Manager reports to the Deputy Representative for general guidance and direction. In close collaboration with relevant sectors, the Manager is responsible for coordinating the design, development, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ECD programmes within the Country Programme.

The Manager is also responsible for the provision of timely and effective advocacy and technical support to national counterparts for the design, implementation and monitoring of ECD policies, promoting the rights of the younger children as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international treaties/framework and UN intergovernmental bodies.

The Manager contributes to the achievement of concrete and sustainable programme/project results on ECD related programmes/projects according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Technical leadership in ECD programming
2. Strategic management, monitoring and delivery of results on ECD programmes
3. Advisory services, quality oversight and technical support
4. Advocacy, networking and partnership building
5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Impact of Results:

The strategic and effective advocacy, planning and formulation of holistic ECD programmes/projects and the achievement of concrete and sustainable results from ECD programmes contributes to the achievement of UNICEF goals for care and protection of children from the early stages of their life and promotes/protects their rights to survival, development and well being in society. Achievements in programmes and projects in turn contributes to maintaining/enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to provide programme services for mothers/caregivers and children that promotes greater social equality in the country.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: education, public administration, public health, nutrition, economics, psychology, sociology, human development, child development, family studies or another relevant technical field.
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of eight (8) years] of relevant professional experience in social development planning and management in early childhood development related areas is required.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people) for supervisory role

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. 

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.