Associate Data officer / Education

The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plays a key role in providing access to education for refugees, asylum seekers, stateless people, and other displaced populations.
It considers education a fundamental right and an essential tool to help refugees rebuild their lives, acquire skills and contribute positively to their host communities or countries of origin when they return. In emergency situations, UNHCR rapidly establishes temporary learning spaces for displaced children to minimize educational interruptions. It supports non-formal education programs for children and young people who have been unable to follow a conventional school curriculum. These programs include vocational training, life-skills education, and adult literacy.
UNHCR advocates that governments integrate refugee children into their national education systems, rather than creating parallel systems. It works in collaboration with agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO, NGOs and local governments to maximize the impact of its educational interventions. There is therefore a need for an Associate Data Officer in Education to focus on the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data related to educational initiatives. This key role will assist in the development of evidence-based reports to guide strategic educational decisions and improve access, quality, and sustainability of educational initiatives.”

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Associate education officer or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer Associate Data officer / Education will:

• Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on access to and quality of education.
• Coordinate with relevant partners to support access to education for refugees and also host communities.
• Collaborate closely with partners to ensure coherent annual planning based on a longer-term strategy, and jointly monitor and assess implementation, providing advice on programme reorientation where necessary.
• Provide technical advice and guidance on education issues; assist in liaising with competent authorities to ensure the issuance and recognition of education relevant documentation.
• Assist in advocating with authorities for respect of the right of PoC to an education and for their access to education services.
• Ensure active exchange of information and that best practices are identified, documented, and disseminated both within the AoR and beyond.
• Join joint assessment missions in emergencies to minimise the time refugee children and youth spend out of education (ideally a maximum of three months after arrival).
• Prepare the drafting of education input in key internal and external documents and reports.
• Make recommendations on individual education related cases.

The incumbent is responsible for establishing and leading the information management on refugee education as follows:
• To support the design, production, and efficient refugee education data management across the operation.
• Adapt existing information management approaches in the country to collect, analyze and report on education activities.
• Coordinate and guide the surveys on refugee education including identify gaps for refuge access to quality education.
• Establish and maintain information databases that consolidate, analyze and report/disseminate information essential for decision-making.
• Monitoring, follow up and maintain regular reports and data from partners intervening in refugee education such as info activity /Ajala.
• Work closely with refugee education actors to identify data and statistic’s gaps at national and field levels and propose ways of improvement and solution.
• Ensuring regular updates, reports, and dashboards towards global and national policies, standards and strategies on refugee education.
• Manage information flows and dissemination appropriately, including website management.
• Develop and strengthen information management capacities within the education team the operation, partners through trainings, workshops, field missions, feedback etc.
• Advice on education project and program monitoring tools.
• Ensuring that security of education information management systems maintained in the operation as well as the provision of data and information.
• To work collaboratively with the ministry of national education civic promotion as to ensure refugees are mainstreamed into national education statistics.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country.
• Provide annual and end of assignment self- reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers.
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/expected outputs.

• As an active UNHCR team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNHCR and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:
• Country level education strategy is promoted and developed.
• UNHCR is represented at key educational fora such as the Local Education Group
• UNHCR develops strategic partnerships promoting inclusion for refugees at the country level (e.g. MoEs, World Bank, donors, UNICEF, UNESCO etc.
• Disaggregated Education data on refugee education regularly collected and shared.
• Data on refugees’ education well mainstreamed into national EMIS
• Capacities on data collection and management straightened with the education team.
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.