Job Vacancy at UNESCO – National Associate Project Officer (ICT in Education)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is assisting the Ministry of Education of Ghana in the implementation of the UNESCO-UNESCO- Huawei Funds-in-Trust project: “Technology-enabled open schools for All”, ensuring the continuity and quality of learning during crises as well as during normal circumstances.

The incumbent will work under the overall authority of the Assistant Director General for Education, guidance from the Head of the UNESCO Office in Accra, the direct supervision of the National Professional Officer for Education, and in close cooperation with the ICT in Education Unit in UNESCO Headquarters. He/she will coordinate the activities of the UNESCO-UNESCO-Huawei Funds-in-Trust project in Ghana, maintaining regular contact with the government and non-governmental counterparts (e.g. UNESCO- Huawei country project team), other stakeholders, donors and UNESCO HQ.

Long Description

More specifically, the incumbent’s tasks will cover:

Project management

• Ensure quality achievement of the project outputs in line with UNESCO qualitative standards and the project workplans.
• Support the periodic update and revision, of the detailed country project document, work plan and budget.
• Identify project implementation partners and providers of goods and services.
• Assist in the writing of terms of references for external vendors and in the recruitment of consultants, coordinators and interns.
• Follow–up on the implementation of the contracts, assessing the quality of services provided and requesting disbursement of funds.
• Plan, coordinate and organize network meetings, workshop and trainings to address specifics needs and capacity gaps identified in the project.
• Close monitoring of implementation partners to ensure timely delivery of agreed outputs.

Long Description

Monitoring and evaluation of the project

• Contribute to monitoring and evaluation of project activities, report on progress and suggest updates of the project log frame.
• Regularly monitor the financial status of the project and ensure that budget execution rates are in line with agreed plans.
• Regularly conduct meetings of the project steering, preparing minutes of meetings and action plans with clear responsibility and timeframe.
• Conduct periodic project reviews with government counterparts and other partners recording the results of the review meetings in minutes and action plans.
• Prepare reports on project activities for UNESCO, the donor and partners.
• Provide content on major project’s achievements and steps in project implementation for UNESCO’s public information services to increase the visibility of UNESCO.
• Foster exchanges of information, experience, identifying new strategies of action to improve delivery of services and to achieve the project requirements and objectives.

Long Description

Technical assistance and partnerships

• Provide technical advice and guidance for the implementation of the project activities, including participation in the production of technical deliverables and policy studies, provision of input to various framework documents as required, and support to the implementation of training programmes.
• Maintain regular relations with national counterparts and key stakeholders (Ministries, regional and local authorities, etc.).
• Raise awareness of potential partners and solutions to boost ICT in education initiatives in the country.
• Support resource mobilization efforts including proposal development from UNESCO and partners
• Participate in and facilitate the establishment of strategic long-term engagements with strategic partners in the country.
• Mobilize UNESCO’s entities in support of the implementation of ICT in education initiatives including UNESCO-HQ and UNESCO Institutes.

 

Communication and visibility

• Implement the project communication and visibility plan.
• Prepare technical briefs and status updates on the project for wider dissemination, including inputs for the period project newsletter.
• Prepare visibility materials such as factsheets, leaflets, pullup banners and tweets, etc.
• Organize communication events (seminars and workshops) and liaise with local and international media.
• Act as liaison between UNESCO Accra team and the National Team.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master or equivalent) in Education, Social Sciences, or related areas.

 

Work Experiences

• Minimum two years of work experience in the field of education preferably related to ICTs, social sicences or closely related fields.
• Experience in Education Sector programming, particularly in Ghana and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
• Experience in programme development and management, technical support, resource mobilization and programme and evaluation monitoring
• Experience in supporting and coordinating project activities, preferably in large international organizations and with other international partner organizations.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent technical project management, event planning and presentation.
• Understanding of national and international development issues.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with proven ability to edit and draft clearly and concisely.
• Resource mobilization skills, including proposal development.
• Ability to manage budgets and report on implementation.
• Ability to maintain effective collegial relations in a multi-cultural setting and to work effectively and collaboratively in a team environment.

Languages

• Excellent knowledge (oral and written) of English.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Academic or professional qualification in ICT in Education.

Work Experience

• Experience in the implementation of large-scale project with technical components.
• Experience in integrating ICT in teaching-learning processes and web-based technologies in education, particularly designing or deploying tools appropriate to low-bandwidth or sub-standard infrastructure environments.

Skills and Competencies

• Expert knowledge or significant interest in one or more of these areas: (i) The use of technology in education, particularly in Ghana; (ii) teacher training, particularly on the pedagogical use of ICT; (iii) m-learning and e-learning; (iv) educational audio-visual and multimedia materials in the classroom; and (v) research based education platforms in distance and assisted learning platforms to education.
• Basic understanding of set-up and administration of ICT services, networks and mobile services.

BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS