JOB DESCRIPTION

UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a champion..

UNICEF Ecuador Country Programme is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF The vision of the Ecuador Country Programme of Cooperation is that children and adolescents, both girls and boys, especially the most disadvantaged, deprived and hard-to-reach and those affected by crises, live and participate in resilient communities, enjoying a protective, nurturing and supportive environment that allows them to unlock their full potential throughout their lives.

UNICEF Ecuador Country Office supports the achievements of the national development plan as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through our country programme in Ecuador with interventions in Health, Nutrition, Child Protection, Education, Social Policy, WASH and CEED. UNICEF Ecuador also leads on humanitarian response to the migrants and refugee crisis, natural disasters and violence. As a result of these multiple shocks, vulnerabilities and exclusion, the CO prioritized field presence in three provinces and three municipalities affected by the prolonged crisis of human mobility (humanitarian outposts) as part of the CPD

The main goal of the country office's proposed field presence is to support coordinated cross-sectoral programme implementation, an effective humanitarian response at decentralized level, while strengthening the capacity of partners and government actors, promoting outcomes focused on empowerment and equality for women and children. This strengthening will seek to achieve programmatic and operational sustainability in local contexts with challenging and changing scenarios, including disaster preparedness, resilience building and forward-looking risk analysis, to trigger a rapid response to sudden onset emergencies or conflict situations, including coordinated action with the United Nations System (UN) in the field. The strengthened field presence will also allow a sustained approach to monitoring of the situation of children and bottlenecks that hinder the fulfillment of women and children's rights, especially in remote or chronically excluded areas of the prioritized provinces. Similarly, a strong field presence will improve monitoring of the goals achieved by UNICEF partners, including the government and civil society. It also provides UNICEF a greater political and community credibility in a country with significant political, ethnic, and geographic diversities.

How can you make a difference?

The Chief Field Operations is responsible for coordination and management of all field program operations as well as humanitarian-related issues in the office ranging from policy development to support in fund-raising.

Under the supervision of the Representative, the Chief of Field Operations is responsible for:

• The management of field offices and humanitarian outposts' presence, including planning, implementation, monitoring of program related activities at sub-national level, as well as emergency preparedness and response, ensuring coherence and comprehensiveness across the humanitarian-development nexus programme.
• Supporting the Representative, in close collaboration with the Deputy Representative, in effective and strategic coordination between sub-national and national levels to promote the achievement of impact outcomes and an effective and efficient humanitarian response.
• The supervision of Chief of Field Offices and Emergency Officer, managing the performance of the field offices and the management of the technical staff in the FOs in coordination with the Chief of Field Offices through a matrix management arrangement with the chiefs of program areas.
• Advising the Representative on her security and emergency management responsibilities under the UN Accountability Framework and on the conduct of security operations in support of program activities.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master's or higher) in any of the following: Social Sciences, Public Administration, International Relations, Business Administration, Public or Social Policy, Sociology, Social or Community Development, or other fields related to the work of UNICEF.
• Experience in post-crisis recovery and development (particularly community-based) is considered an asset
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in complex humanitarian response at national and international levels; at least one year as Head of Field Office or managing an emergency response team; and, proven managerial exposure to humanitarian coordination architecture and the cluster system.
• Experience in contributing to building emergency response capacity of UNICEF teams and partners – including NGOs and Government counterparts.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is 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

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 (for supervisory role)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

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 benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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 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.

Remarks:

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

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

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

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