Education Officer

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Brazil since 1950, supporting the most important changes in childhood and adolescence in the country. UNICEF participated in major immunization and breastfeeding campaigns; the mobilization that resulted in the approval of Article 227 of the Federal Constitution and the drafting of the Child and Adolescent Statute; the movement for universal access to education; programmes to combat child labour; among other great advances in guaranteeing the rights of Brazilian girls and boys. In recent decades, Brazil has promoted a strong process of inclusion of children and adolescents in public policies. However, a significant portion of the population remains excluded. Therefore, in its cooperation programme with the Brazilian Government for the period 2024-2028, UNICEF focuses its efforts on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence. These children and adolescents in situations of greater vulnerability are spread throughout Brazil, but they are more concentrated in the Amazon, in the Northeast and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Northeast and in the Amazon regions in Brazil. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the #AgendaCidadeUNICEF.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is present within 10 offices across Brazil. Education Section is part of the Programme area of UNICEF Brazil, with the Chief of Education, an Education Specialist, three Education Officers and a Programme Assistant located in the central office in the capital Brasilia, and an Education Specialist located in Recife (serving the Semiarid Territory) and an Education Officer located in Manaus (serving the Amazon region).

UNICEF is implementing its 2024-2028 Country Programme in Brazil. The current programme has equity as its guiding principle and aims to support Brazil in the realization of rights for the most excluded children, strengthening Government flagship policies and programmes, and equity-focused investments for children. The programme contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), for which UNICEF co-leads the pillar on social inclusion, and is aligned with the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022–2025 and the UNICEF Gender Action Plan, 2022–2025.

The proposed programme consists of five components: (a) Survive and thrive; (b) Learning and skills; (c) Protection from violence; (d) WASH, climate and the environment; (e) Child poverty and social protection; and (f) Programme effectiveness.

UNICEF Brazil continues to focus its attention on the importance of the right to quality education and access to school. This assignment will contribute to the Education Section, and strengthen its capacity to respond adequately to the needs of UNICEF and the country

Under the direct supervision of the Education Specialist, and in close collaboration with other Education colleagues and Programme Sections, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

1) Support to program development and planning
• Support technically and operationally preparing related materials/documentations and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support program planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results;
• Support the preparation/update of situation analysis for the program sector/s for development, design and management of education related programs/projects;
• Support the development/establishment of sectoral program goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of education and other related information for development planning and priority and goal setting;
• Provide ad-hoc support to Education section and data-related activities that may come up during 2025/2026.

2) Support activities related to technical and operational support to program implementation
• Follow national research and databases for the most up-to-date information on the educational situation of children and adolescents;
• Prepare summary briefs and analyses on national research and data that may support UNICEF Brazil programme;
• Prepare ToRs and supporting documents to contribute to the planning activities of the section;
• Support given to regular program field visits and surveys and/or exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and results;
• Support program implementation providing technical and operational assistance to government counterparts, NGO partners and UN system partners on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education and related issues.

3) Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
• Support to identifying, capturing, synthesizing and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders;
• Support to apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results;
• Support to researching and reporting on best practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.