UNICEF works to help the children of Indonesia reach their full potential. We assist our partners to monitor and measure progress against these rights via the child-focused Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable children. Our programme interventions are rights-based, cut across different sectors, respond to the specific needs of girls and boys and address the vulnerabilities and strengths of children in their first and second decades of life.

UNICEF has a strong on-the-ground presence in Indonesia, with seven regional and sub-regional offices. These are primarily in areas with the greatest disparities and service gaps. They complement our high-level policy and programme advice with practical support for planning, financing and service delivery, especially to advocate for quality, equity and sustainability.

Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest child population. UNICEF's presence in the country means we have the potential to impact more than 80 million children. We take this responsibility seriously and are committed to ensuring that children and adolescents – the building blocks of Indonesia’s future – have an equal chance in life.

Indonesia has invested in a bold reform agenda for the education sector in recent years, introducing transformative measures to re-shape the education landscape and quicken advancements in student learning performance. These reform measures include the prioritisation of 13 years of compulsory education, including 1 year of pre-primary education or Early Childhood Education (ECE), which is being introduced as a policy priority in the National Medium-Term Plan 2025-2030 (Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Nasional - RPJMN). ECE participation remains low in several provinces, particularly in the eastern part of Indonesia.

There is a worrying gap in ECE participation in East Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Timur - NTT) province, for example, with a net enrolment rate (NER) of just 33.86% per cent, with an even wider gap in Papua province, with only 19.69% (representing an enrolment gap of a staggering 83.31%), compared to a national NER of 35.9%. Similarly, the school readiness rates across NTT province of 60.76% and Papua province of 48.67% are significantly lower than the national rate of 77.47%. The NER in primary education in NTT and Papua is far more promising, respectively being at 96.86% and 91.10%, lagging the national average of 98.28%.

Student learning outcomes in Indonesia were constrained before the COVID19 pandemic, experienced further setbacks during the pandemic and have slowly improved throughout the subsequent recovery period. However, substantive gaps in learning outcomes remain, particularly in foundational skills of literacy and numeracy. These gaps are evident from 2024 National Assessment data, which indicates that more than half of all primary, secondary and senior secondary students - 71.8%, 72.1% and 72.9% - achieved national minimum literacy competencies. For numeracy, overall proficiency levels were lower, with 69.6% of students at the primary level, 69.6% at the junior secondary level, and 70.3% at the senior secondary level achieving national minimum competencies.

Students in Eastern Indonesia have the lowest learning outcome levels in literacy and numeracy, compared to other geographic regions. Around 49% of primary students in the eastern region achieve minimum proficiencies in literacy and 46% in numeracy, far below the national average of 70% in literacy and 68% in numeracy.

UNICEF Indonesia is supporting the Government of Indonesia to strengthen Holistic and Integrated Early Childhood Development (HI-ECD) systems to ensure school readiness for a smooth transition from pre-primary to primary education. This includes integrating early learning with early grade literacy and numeracy interventions to improve foundational skills outcomes, as well as work to improve the health and nutrition and health of ECE students, as well as their protection and safety and nurturing care from their parents and caregivers.

UNICEF Indonesia’s is seeking a UN Volunteer for the role of Education Officer (School Readiness & Foundational Skills), who will work as part of the education section, supporting coordination, implementation, monitoring and knowledge generation and documentation of HI-ECD and early grades primary education programmes.

Within the delegated authority and direct supervision of the Education Specialist for Early Learning and Readiness, and in coordination with the Education Specialist for Foundational Skills, and Education officers in UNICEF Indonesia Field Offices located in NTT and Papua provinces, the UNV Education Officer (School Readiness & Foundational Skills) will:

• Support coordination of the planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting associated with UNICEF Indonesia’s key HI-ECD and early grades primary education (foundational skills) programmes. Assisting with regular coordination between the education and nutrition sections, and other relevant sections for efficient and effective programme delivery.
• Assist in monitoring activities under these programmes, including undertaking field visits with education officers to collect data and undertake data analysis (including associated with MELQO and EGRA/EGMA student assessments) for results reflection and reporting.
• Assist in the analysis of data related to Gender Equity, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) in early learning and early grade education and assist in developing approaches to strengthen these equity elements in education programmes.
• Assist in documenting lessons learned, best practices, and scalability pathways for HI-ECD and early grade learning (foundational) skills programmes and presenting these lessons in a user-friendly manner/format to government counterparts and other education sector partners.
• Provide technical support for programme planning, donor reporting, and knowledge products relating to UNICEF HI-ECD and early grades primary (foundational skills) programmes.
• Undertake other related tasks assigned by the supervisor.
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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; and
• 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.