Regional Policy Adviser

UNICEF is seeking a highly qualified and experienced Regional Adviser, Social Policy to join our team in [Location]. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing technical guidance and support to country offices and government partners on social policy issues, with a focus on improving the lives of children and families.

1. Provide technical guidance and support to country offices and government partners on social policy issues, including public policies to reduce child poverty and social protection coverage and impact on children.
2. Contribute to the development of social policy programmes, including setting priorities and results-based management goals.
3. Participate in regional and country programme planning, preparation, and review to provide advice on formulation, design, management, enhancement, and communication of social policy programmes.
4. Develop and recommend regional programme policies, strategies, and approaches, including leading and organizing regional strategic discussions and planning on social policy and related programming issues.
5. Provide policy guidance and technical support to national external partners and internal colleagues to develop national policies and strategies for UNICEF-assisted programmes.
6. Contribute to the planning and updating of the situation analysis to ensure that current and comprehensive data on social policy issues is available to guide UNICEF's strategic policy advocacy, intervention, and development efforts on child rights and protection.
7. Manage and coordinate technical support around child poverty, social protection, public finance, and governance, ensuring that it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion to adequately support scale-up and delivery.
8. Keep abreast of national, regional, and international development priorities on social policy to leverage UNICEF's position and competencies with donors, national governments, communities, and constituents to advocate and promote social protection interventions and policies.
9. Provide technical advice to facilitate the preparation of the Country Office social policy programme recommendations and to ensure alignment of programme goals with UNICEF's Strategic Plans.
10. Consult and collaborate with national/global colleagues/partners/allies to develop a partnerships framework to address specific needs and to leverage resources for enhancing and scaling up social policy programmes/projects.
11. Regional programme monitoring and assessment
    1. Ensure effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation of different country programmes within the region.
    2. Ensure that the social planning projects enhance policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research, and support, and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.
    3. Collaborate with HQ Advisers, Regional/Country Monitoring and Evaluation Advisers/Officers to establish benchmarks, performance indicators, and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurement to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence, and delivery of concrete and sustainable results on social policy programmes.
    4. Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews, and annual sector reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine and provide advice on required action/interventions to achieve results.
    5. Assess CO's monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths, and weaknesses in programme management, identify lessons learned, and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
    6. Submit and share assessments on social policy programming in country offices, highlighting critical issues and suggestions for enhancing performance and delivery of sustainable results.
12. Advocacy, networking, and partnership building
    1. Establish effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society, and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
    2. Collaborate with and advise country offices in the region to develop strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances, and support resource mobilization for UNICEF and Country Office social policy programmes and projects.
    3. Participate and/or represent UNICEF (as delegated/designated) in key events/meetings and in inter-agency (Regional Collaborative Platforms and Issue-based Coalitions) discussions and planning on social policy and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests, and priorities are clearly articulated and fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting.
13. Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building
    1. Promote critical thinking and introduce technological and programme innovations, approaches, and good practices in the region for sustainable social policy programmes/projects initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
    2. Promote partnerships in thought leadership and research by developing a roster of leading academic institutions and think tanks based in the region.
    3. Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce, and implement best and cutting-edge practices in the region's social policy programme management and information systems. Institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
    4. Identify, assess, vet, and disseminate a roster of qualified experts and highly recognized institutions for easy access and use by stakeholders.
    5. Lead and develop policies and procedures; and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.
    6. Lead, plan, and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on social policy programming, advocacy, and technical support.

Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience: A minimum of ten years of relevant professional experience is required. Experience in analyzing, developing, and implementing social policies with government agencies, inter-governmental bodies, non-profits, international organizations, and academic institutions is essential.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

UNICEF's Core Values: Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF Competencies: Builds and maintains partnerships, Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness, Drive to achieve results for impact, Innovates and embraces change, Manages ambiguity and complexity, Thinks and acts strategically, Works collaboratively with others, Nurtures, leads, and manages people.

Remark: UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages all candidates to apply. Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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.