Planning Specialist

Job no: 536445 Position type: Fixed Term Appointment Location: United States Division/Equivalent: UNITED HOSTED FUNDS School/Unit: UNITED HOSTED FUNDS Department/Office: END VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN Categories: Planning, P-3 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, a future... The Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence Against Children, of which UNICEF is a part, supports the efforts of multiple stakeholders in seeking to prevent violence, protect childhood and help make societies safe for children. It does so by working together to accelerate action to tackle violence at country level; strengthening collaboration among and between countries and with civil society and other stakeholders; and by building and sustaining political will to achieve the SDGs, particularly 16.2, promoting evidence-based strategies that will lead to significant, sustained and measurable reductions in violence. A multi-donor Fund, reporting to a steering committee, has been created to support the activities of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. How can you make a difference? The Planning Specialist – Grants and Recipient Support will manage the process for technically reviewing applications (including direct management of an Experts Roster), work with DFAM to facilitate disbursement and oversee recipient grant reporting. In addition, the incumbent will liaise closely with the Financial Management Advisor (firm) and DFAM to ensure effective vetting of potential EVAC fund recipients, identify and propose capacity development needs of recipients (if required). The incumbent will be primarily responsible for:

Ensuring an accurate, timely, efficient and transparent process for the entire grant life cycle, from proposal to close;
Pre-Grant Management, tracking payments, reviewing or producing relevant reports;
Post-Grant Management and close work with the Safe Online Team on the ongoing monitoring management

Summary of results-based key functions/accountabilities:

Grant management, monitoring and quality control of results
Technical support to grant recipients
Advocacy, networking and partnership building
Knowledge management and capacity building

Grant management, monitoring and quality control of results

Lead all aspects of managing the grant application process and investment cycles for the Partnership with inputs from the EVAC team and support from Communications colleagues to communicate the results of the proposals externally;
Establish benchmarks and performance indicators to assess grant applications against EVAC objectives;
Manage the process for technically reviewing applications including facilitation and operationalization of an Experts Roster or Review Panel;
With DFAM, prepare required documentations for program review and approval;
Support DFAM in the preparation of grant agreements and timely disbursement of funds;
Working with the EVAC team, establish reporting parameters for EVAC grant recipients that allow for aggregation of results where feasible;
With DFAM, oversee all aspects of grant reporting, including advising on cases where funds may need to be withheld, re-programmed or investigated;
Maintain oversight of the EVAC grant portfolio; contributes to the development of the EVAC reporting requirements, including data collection, assurance and analysis;
Contribute to the preparation and submission of progress reports and decision papers to the EVAC governance bodies, including the preparation of materials for all Safe Online Working Group meetings;
Participate in selected monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with grantees and partners to assess progress.
Lead the development of alternative funding modalities for the Fund, such as funding private sector companies, in collaboration with DFAM, Supply and Legal colleagues;

Technical support to grant recipients

Provide advice to facilitate the preparation of grant applications and related documentation and to ensure alignment of activities with the overall EVAC mission and strategic plan;

Collaborate with grant recipients throughout all stages of programming to provide support for program preparation, implementation and monitoring for results;
Provide technical support, guidance and tools for all grantees as needed.

Knowledge management and capacity building

Develop knowledge exchange and capacity building activities and/or recommend technical policy/papers, strategies and tools to support grant recipients or grant making processes;
Lead evaluations of the Safe Online portfolio of investments as appropriate, including the management of the procurement process and the uptake of the evaluation results to inform future investment strategies for the Fund via a dissemination plan.
With DFAM, coordinate/ensure the availability of technical experts to ensure timely support throughout all stages of application, implementation and reporting;
Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and consideration and manage the systematization of processes for effective management of the Fund, particularly the Safe Online portfolio.

The key results have an impact on:

EVAC Partnership investments are technically sound, based on best practice, aligned with EVAC’s objectives and results framework, and monitored for results;
EVAC’s grant portfolio is transparently and efficiently managed, in line with UNICEF procedures for due diligence, with an accurate, timely, efficient and transparent process for the entire grant life cycle, from proposal to close is in place;
Pre-Grant management, tracking payments, reviewing or producing relevant reports are completed in a timely and transparent manner, while Post-grant management and close work with the EVAC team on the ongoing monitoring management are supported effectively
EVAC well positioned globally as an enabler of more effective, at scale and efficient responses to Ending Violence Against Children and related crises.

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

Master’s degree (or equivalent) in one or more of the following disciplines: education, finance, economics, statistics, social sciences, public administration, or other related fields.
Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible relevant work experience in grant management and programme portfolio oversight. Programme planning, management, or M&E at the international level, some of which preferably in a developing country is required. Familiarity with issues related to violence against children and online child sexual exploitation and abuse is preferred.
The profile for the post requires excellent writing ability in English, strong data analysis, the ability to coordinate and manage across a diverse set of stakeholders, strong organizational skills and working on tight timelines.
Fluency in English is required. A good working knowledge of another UN language, preferably French or Spanish is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate... UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. The functional competencies required for this post are...

Leading and supervising (III)
Formulating strategies/concepts (II)
Analyzing (III)
Deciding and initiating action (II)

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. 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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. EVAC is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure that provides strategic guidance and oversight to its investments. EVAC’s day-to-day activities are carried out by a Secretariat under the direction of the Education Cannot Wait Director. If selected for this post, the resulting appointment will be limited to EVAC, a UNICEF hosted fund. While UN staff regulations and rules, as well as UNICEF policies and procedures, apply during the appointment, certain provisions therein may apply differently due to the limited scope of the appointment. This applies equally to UNICEF internal candidates, if they are selected for and appointed to this post. The scope of their appointment will thereafter be limited to EVAC, and in order to return to a UNICEF appointment outside EVAC, they will need to be selected in a competitive recruitment exercise. In particular, they will not be eligible or subject to rotation exercise, conversion to a continuing appointment, or priority in selection process for UNICEF posts outside EVAC, during their appointment. Advertised: Nov 25 2020 Eastern Standard Time Application close: Dec 23 2020 Eastern Standard Time