Social Policy Specialist, NOC, Fixed Term, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, #22892

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 for as long as we are needed. 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 professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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For every child, the right to an advocate

The long-term vision for change in social policy is that, by 2027, all children and adolescents in Kyrgyzstan, benefit from systematic child rights monitoring, inclusive social protection system, effective public finance for children that increases access to benefits and services for the most disadvantaged and reduces multidimensional poverty. This result will directly contribute to UNSDCF Priority One.

To achieve this, UNICEF will support the Government and CSO partners to:

• Design and operationalize child focused benefits / universal child benefit (UCB) for children aged 0 – 3 years old. This will include facilitating high‑level social protection dialogues with the Government – including the Deputy Prime Minister, relevant ministers and deputy ministers, senior policymakers, and key stakeholders on the role, rationale, and added value of child focused benefits / UCBs for children aged 0–3; strategic advice on strengthening the broader social protection system and key programme design choices, particularly regarding targeting approaches and effective linkages with essential services;
• Provide high quality analysis and dissemination of evidence, including lessons learned and best global practice and offer policy options for establishing a long‑term social protection system for the Kyrgyz Republic that is shock responsive and climate resilient, through the preparation of analytical briefs, policy notes, and forward-looking recommendations.
• Provide high quality analysis and dissemination of evidence to ensure informed budgeting and planning across sectoral ministries that is efficient and effective in achieving the Government’s goals in human capital formation and cognitive development
• Build strong partnerships with the Ministries of Finance and Economy and social sector ministries of education, Health and Labour-Social Welfare and Migration and IFIs and development partners and provide quality technical support and advice to UNICEF Kyrgyzstan teams in education, health, child protection and climate change to improve knowledge of and skills in public financing for children

How can you make a difference? 

The NOC Social Policy Specialist is based in Bishkek and is responsible for leading the office work on social policy. This position will have responsibility to ensure high quality technical support is provided to significant social protection and social policy reforms as well as for improved public financing for children – with more efficient and effective spending to support the demographic dividend and human capital formation. The post will lead the engagement with the Parliament on behalf of the office, especially with regards to sessions on planning and budgeting. The Social Policy Specialist provides strong management and leadership to social policy work team to deliver timely and quality results against the annual workplan and in line with the CPD. S/he will also be responsible for effective budget management, as well as ensuring compliance with donor conditionalities and effective coordination with development partners in the areas of responsibility.

The Specialist will need to proactively and strongly coordinate and collaborate with relevant line ministries and other national partners to effectively and efficiently manage social policy work, especially public financing for children, in coordination with other sections.

Key Results Expected:

• Build strong partnership with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministry of Labour, Social Welfare and Migration to support the design and operationalization of child-focused benefits which address children’s vulnerability and child poverty.
• Build partnership with Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy to ensure effective implementation of planning and budgeting that captures the demographic dividend and supports human capital development.
• Excellent coordination and collaboration to ensure timely and efficient programme implementation of public financing for children across the education, health and child and social protection programmes.
• Strong problem solving / strategic thinking abilities and agility to address programmatic and/or implementation challenges.
• Build and leverage partnerships with IFIs and other key global players in social policy, social protection and public financing for children programming in the country to influence strategic decisions.
• Effective team and budget management to ensure timely and quality delivery of results.

For more details you can review the ToR  SP NOC ToR.doc

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: A University Degree in Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field is required.
• Work Experience:
• A minimum of 5 years of proven professional experience in planning, implementation and management in social protection systems strengthening and reforms in Middle Income Country contexts. Experience in supporting design and operationalization of shock responsive/climate resilient social protection systems that address child vulnerabilities will be considered highly advantageous.
• Evidence of proactive leadership, agility and strategic thinking to ensure timely and effective programme delivery, including in complex policy and donor coordination contexts.
• Proven experience in partnership building with government, IFIs, other UN agencies.
• Evidence of strong understanding of public financing for children, especially linking it to leveraging the demographic dividend and human capital formation in social protection systems reforms.
• Language Requirements:
• Fluency in English and Russian is required. Fluency in Kyrgyz is an asset.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience 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 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility jobs-near-me.org UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

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.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable male candidates are encouraged 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. 

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.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

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.