Social Policy & Economic Specialist, NO-3 Fixed-term, Unicef Bamako- Mali – PAT#65119

UNICEF works in a few of the world’s hardest locations, to achieve the world’s most deprived youngsters. To avoid wasting their lives. To defend their rights. To assist them fulfill their potential.

Throughout 190 international locations and territories, we work for each little one, in all places, day-after-day, to construct a greater world for everybody.

And we by no means quit.

Mali’s economic system has proven reasonable development lately, pushed by agriculture, mining, and building sectors. Nevertheless, the nation nonetheless faces challenges resembling excessive unemployment charges and vulnerability to exterior shocks. The GDP development fee is comparatively steady, averaging round 5%, however is inclined to fluctuations as a result of local weather change and safety points. Inflation stays throughout the WAEMU’s convergence benchmark (<=3%), however the nation’s dependence on imports can result in value volatility. Efforts to diversify the economic system and appeal to overseas funding are ongoing.

Youngster poverty is a significant concern in Mali, with a good portion of the inhabitants under the poverty line and experiencing multidimensional deprivation. The prevalence of kid labor and little one marriage additional exacerbate the cycle of poverty. UNICEF is supporting the federal government  to scale back little one poverty by enhancing entry to schooling, vitamin, and healthcare, in addition to selling little one safety and social inclusion.

Funding in child-related public expenditures stays comparatively low in Mali, with nationwide price range allocations and spending falling far under regional and worldwide requirements. For instance, the Abuja declaration on well being emphasizes the significance of allocating no less than 15% of the nationwide price range to healthcare, but Mali falls considerably wanting this benchmark with 5% on common throughout the previous 5 years.  Investing in proof technology, prioritizing spending on social companies, social safety schemes, and focused interventions is essential for addressing little one poverty and enhancing well-being.  

Decentralization reforms have been ongoing in Mali for the reason that Nineteen Nineties, aimed toward granting administrative and financial autonomy to native governments and enhancing native governance and repair supply. Nevertheless, challenges persist by way of capability constructing, monetary assets, and accountability mechanisms on the native degree. Restricted participation of residents in decision-making processes and weak accountability programs pose obstacles to efficient decentralization. Strengthening native governance constructions, guaranteeing higher citizen participation, enhancing monetary administration capacities, and selling transparency and accountability are important to attaining sustainable improvement on the native degree.

For each little one, Social Safety

Beneath the overall steering of the supervisor, the incumbent is answerable for offering technical assist to the implementation, monitoring, and analysis of all phases of social coverage programing and associated advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to supply of concrete and sustainable outcomes. This consists of programmes aimed toward enhancing (a) public insurance policies to scale back little one poverty; (b) social safety protection and impression on youngsters; (c) the transparency, adequacy, fairness and effectivity of child-focused public investments and monetary administration; and (d) governance, decentralization and accountability measures to extend public participation and the standard, fairness and protection of social companies. This encompasses each direct programme work with authorities and civil society companions in addition to linkages and assist to groups engaged on schooling, well being, little one safety, water and sanitation, and HIV.

How will you make a distinction?

Abstract of key features/accountabilities

1. Enhancing knowledge on little one poverty & vulnerability for elevated use for coverage and programme motion

• Helps the gathering, evaluation and user-friendly presentation of information on multidimensional and financial little one poverty, together with strengthening nationwide capability to gather routinely, report and use knowledge for coverage decision-making.
• Offers well timed, common data-driven evaluation for efficient prioritization, planning, and improvement; facilitates results-based administration for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up particular social coverage initiatives to scale back little one poverty. 
• Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impression on social improvement, rising points and social coverage issues, in addition to implications for youngsters, and proposes and promotes acceptable responses in respect of such points and issues, together with authorities useful resource allocation insurance policies and the results of social welfare insurance policies on the rights of kids

2. Strengthening social safety protection and impression for youngsters

• Helps the event of social safety insurance policies, laws and programmes with consideration to growing protection of and impression on youngsters, with particular consideration essentially the most marginalized.  Identifies, generates and presents proof to assist this purpose in collaboration with companions.
• Promotes strengthening of built-in social safety programs, offering technical assist to companions to enhance the design of money transfers and little one grants and enhance linkages with different social safety interventions resembling medical insurance, public works and social care companies in addition to complementary companies and intervention associated to vitamin, well being, schooling, water and sanitation, little one safety and HIV.
• Undertakes improved monitoring and analysis round social safety impression on little one outcomes, and use of information and analysis findings for strengthening programme outcomes.

3. Enhancing use of public monetary assets for youngsters

• Undertakes price range evaluation to tell UNICEF’s advocacy and technical help to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to enhance equitable allocations for important companies for youngsters.  Works with sector colleagues to construct capability to undertake costing and price effectiveness evaluation on precedence interventions to assist inform coverage choices on child-focused investments.
• Helps the identification of coverage choices for improved home financing of child-sensitive social safety interventions.
• Undertakes and builds capability of companions for improved monitoring and monitoring of public expenditure to assist transparency, accountability and efficient monetary flows for important service supply, together with via assist to district degree planning, budgeting and public monetary administration in addition to facilitating neighborhood participation

4. Strengthening capability of native governments to plan, price range, seek the advice of on and monitor child-focused social companies.

• The place nationwide decentralization processes are going down, collaborates with central and native authorities to enhance insurance policies, planning, budgeting, session and accountability processes in order that choices and child-focused service supply extra intently reply to the wants of native communities.
• Collaborates with the central and native authorities to strengthen capability on high quality knowledge assortment, evaluation for coverage improvement, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of important social companies, with emphasis on neighborhood participation and accountability.

5. Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social coverage

• Helps right and compelling use of information and proof on the scenario of kids and protection and impression of kid centered companies – in assist of the social coverage programme and the nation programme total. 
• Establishes efficient partnerships with the Authorities, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and native leaders, the personal sector, and different UN companies to assist sustained and proactive dedication to the Conference of the Rights of the Youngster and to realize world UN agendas such because the Sustainable Improvement Objectives.
• Identifies different important companions, promotes consciousness and builds capability of companions, and actively facilitates efficient collaboration throughout the UN household.

6. UNICEF Programme Administration

• Manages and coordinates technical assist round little one poverty, social safety, public finance and governance guaranteeing it’s nicely deliberate, monitored, and applied in a well timed trend in order to adequately assist scale-up and supply. Ensures threat evaluation and threat mitigation are embedded into total administration of the assist, in shut session with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Companions, and governments.
• Helps and contributes to efficient and environment friendly planning, administration, coordination, monitoring and analysis of the nation programme. Ensures that the social planning undertaking enhances coverage dialogue, planning, supervision, technical recommendation, administration, coaching, analysis and assist; and that the monitoring and analysis part strengthens monitoring and analysis of the social sectors and supplies assist to sectoral and decentralized info programs.

To qualify as an advocate for each little one you should have…

• A complicated college diploma in one of many following fields is required: Economics, Public Coverage, Social Sciences, Worldwide Relations, Political Science, or one other related technical subject.  
  *A primary College Diploma in a related subject mixed with 2 extra years {of professional} expertise could also be accepted in lieu of an Superior College Diploma.
• A minimal of 5 years of related skilled expertise is required.
• Creating nation work expertise and/or familiarity with emergency is taken into account a robust asset.
• Fluency in French and information of English is required. Data of one other official UN language (Arabic, Chinese language, French, Russian or Spanish) or a neighborhood language is an asset.

For each Youngster, you exhibit…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Belief, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin the whole lot we do and the way we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Constitution: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this put up are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and moral consciousness(3)Drive to realize outcomes for impression(4)Innovates and embraces change(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity(6)Thinks and acts strategically(7)Works collaboratively with others.

In the course of the recruitment course of, we check candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize your self with our competency framework and its completely different ranges: competency framework here.

UNICEF is right here to serve the world’s most deprived youngsters and our world workforce should mirror the range of these youngsters. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, regardless of their race/ethnicity, age, incapacity, gender identification, sexual orientation, faith, nationality, socio-economic background, or every other private attribute.
We provide a wide range of benefits to our staff, together with paid parental depart, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the usage of versatile working preparations.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance coverage on conduct that’s incompatible with the goals and aims of the United Nations and UNICEF, together with sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is dedicated to advertise the safety and safeguarding of all youngsters. 

Remarks:

UNICEF’s lively dedication in direction of range and inclusion is important to ship the perfect outcomes for youngsters. For this place, eligible and appropriate feminine candidates and individuals residing with incapacity are inspired to use.

UNICEF appointments are topic to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host nation of the obligation station, which shall be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are additionally topic to inoculation (vaccination) necessities, together with in opposition to SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Must you be chosen for a place with UNICEF, you both have to be inoculated as required or obtain a medical exemption from the related division of the UN. In any other case, the choice shall be cancelled.

All chosen candidates will endure rigorous reference and background checks and shall be anticipated to stick to those requirements and rules. Background checks will embrace the verification of educational credential(s) and employment historical past. Chosen candidates could also be required to offer extra info to conduct a background verify.

Authorities staff which are thought of for employment with UNICEF are usually required to resign from their authorities earlier than taking over an task with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the proper to withdraw a proposal of appointment, with out compensation, if a visa or medical clearance isn’t obtained, or obligatory inoculation necessities usually are not met, inside an affordable interval for any purpose.

Solely shortlisted candidates shall be contacted and advance to the subsequent stage of the choice course of.