Knowledge Management Manager, (P-4), Fixed Term, Programme Effectiveness, DAPM, New York, USA, #118590

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, hope

The Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring (DAPM) is responsible for driving, shaping and guiding UNICEF’s evidence-informed analysis, policy advocacy and advice, strategic planning, programme implementation, monitoring and organizational performance management. DAPM is enabling the organization to deliver on results in a more coherent and effective manner at headquarters, regional offices and country offices, based on data, evidence, and analysis and the application of human-rights based and results-based management approaches.

Within DAPM, the Programme Effectiveness Team leads, regulates and coordinates the development and issuance of organization-wide procedures, policies, standards, guidance, and tools to strengthen programme effectiveness across all contexts, including programme planning, implementation, monitoring, organizational performance management, knowledge management and organizational learning, at all levels. It liaises with UN agencies, funds and programmes, specialized agencies, other technical organizations and the UN Development Coordination Office in the development and application of programme planning, monitoring, and reporting policies and procedures; and coordinates with EMOPS, Programme Group and regional offices on provision of direct planning, monitoring and programme implementation support to countries responding to humanitarian contexts.

The post reports to the Chief, Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management Unit of the Programme Effectiveness Team (PET). 

Purpose for the job:

Under the guidance of the Chief, Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, support the implementation of UNICEF’s knowledge management (KM) strategy and effective knowledge management approaches in Regional and Country Offices, and across HQ Divisions.

This position is responsible for coordinating the adoption and uptake of updates to the global KM strategy, and supporting regional offices and country offices, and HQ Divisions to put the strategy into practice while building on the collective expertise of KM colleagues from around the world. 

How can you make a difference? 

1. Leading support for the adoption and uptake of updated aspects of the Global KM Strategy to ensure that all UNICEF offices are aware of it.
2. Supporting implementation of the UNICEF knowledge management strategy updates through:
   • Developing an implementation plan with clear responsibilities, timeline, outputs and expected outcomes to be achieved over time.
   • Coordinating the team’s work for each of the strategy’s areas of implementation including tracking progress, providing feedback, supporting the teams to overcome obstacles and ensuring synergies across the different areas.
   • Leading the areas of implementation on strengthening the HQ-field and cross-sectoral learning loops, empowering UNICEF’s knowledge workers, and establishing a knowledge and learning culture. This includes coordinating a participatory approach to develop guidance, tools and methods and supporting their application in UNICEF and refining these based-on feedback.
   • Coordinating rollout of the strategy with regional and HQ knowledge management specialists and fostering cross organizational exchange
3. Developing and implementing a framework to monitor KM work and its impact across the organization including development of key indicators and tools to track progress, feedback mechanisms to assess impact. Creating monitoring reports on progress. Build capacity of KM specialists and focal points to apply this framework to their work.
4. Providing technical guidance and support and building the capacity of UNICEF offices in applying knowledge management in UNICEF’s work including through facilitation of the knowledge management community of practice, coordinating responses to requests and supporting offices and organizing learning events such as webinars, workshops and peer to peer learning, coordinating development of guidance, tools and other supporting materials.
5. Contributing to the refining of the knowledge management strategy and knowledge management approaches based on experience in implementing the current strategy and the evolving needs of the organization and in particular through identifying the learning and support needs of the UNICEF KM community and of country and regional offices, and HQ Divisions.
6. Building and maintaining strategic networks, within the UN system, including participation in the inter-agency KM working group, and with external institutions for coordination of efforts and having access to state-of-the-art expertise in knowledge management.

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

• Education: An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in knowledge management, public policy, international development, planning or other relevant field(s) is required.
• Work Experience:
• A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience at the national and international levels in knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation, programme management or other relevant field(s) is required.
• Good management and coordination skills of multi-team activities.
• Excellent writing, communication and inter-personal skills.
• Excellent skills in facilitation of online and face-to-face workshops, events and discussions.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge of IT tools for knowledge management.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English (verbal and written) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is considered 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: UNICEF Values

The 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

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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 measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

In this role, you will collaborate with colleagues across multiple locations. For effective collaboration, we encourage flexible working hours that accommodate different time zones while prioritizing staff wellbeing.

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

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.