Policy Specialist (Public Finance), New York

• Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
• Country: United States
• City: New York
• Office: UNICEF New York
• Grade: P-4
• Follow @UNjobs

UNICEF 633 3rd Avenue New York, NY (212) 497-0193

Closing date: Thursday, 25 August 2016

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Job no: 498454
Work type: Fixed Term Staff
Location: United States of America
Categories: Social and Economic Policy, P-4
If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.
For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
Purpose of the Position
This position is under the supervision of the Chief of Public Finance and Local Governance (PFLG) unit, Social Inclusion and Policy Section, Programme Division at UNICEF NYHQ. This position will also routinely liaise with regional social policy advisors and selected country offices (based on demand), as well as networking with subject experts externally (e.g. the World Bank, donor organization, think tanks).
This role will provide technical, knowledge management and staff capacity development support to UNICEF field engagements in the area of Public Finance for Children (PF4C), in order to improve the enabling environment and remove Public Financial Management (PFM)-related bottlenecks and barriers to deliver at-scale, equitable and sustainable results for children. This role will also be responsible for a set of health-specific tasks.
The overall purpose of this position is to support UNICEF country and regional offices in their efforts to leverage greater, more effective and equitable domestic public investments in children, in order to ensure results in the areas of health, education, HIV, nutrition, child protection, social inclusion and WASH.
Key Expected Results
Technical guidance and support on strategic, priority PF4C initiatives focusing on achievement of the following results

• Provide technical guidance and inputs, including through select technical assistance missions to UNICEF country and regional offices on budget advocacy/PFM-related engagements for investing in children more broadly, with a focus on integrating sector-based efforts within social policy efforts aimed at influencing overall budget processes and actors to achieve UNICEF program results.
• Develop new or adapt existing methodologies and how-to manuals to support equity-based PF4C programming as part of the health system strengthening (HSS) approach to global health priority, specifically through financial tracking (top down),financial flow blockage diagnostics (bottom up), and efficiency monitoring tools and applications to improve country-level prioritization and financial governance; work with WHO and the World Bank on supporting child-health focused investments and financial tracking in line with broader efforts in this area.

Knowledge management focusing on achievement of the following results

• Create and foster sector-specific sub-communities, including a health sector community, within the existing PF4C Community of Practice; organize webinars based on demand to facilitate peer-based learning across sectors
• Intelligence scanning on development financing trends and draft issues briefs on implications for investing in children

Research and development focusing on achievement of the following results

• Contribute to partners' action research on strategic financing issues, such as results-based financing, and leveraging private sector investments with public financial incentives or partnership approaches, including those using notionally programme-specific funds to support broader sectoral outcomes, such as in HSS.
• In partnership with others, develop proof-of-concept models of UNICEF's support at country level as an indirect implementing partner for government programs funded through gap financing mechanisms (e.g. GFF, donor guarantees, concessional lending).

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• An advanced university degree in Economics, Public Finance, Public Policy, Public Administration or a related discipline.
• Minimum of eight years of progressive, professional work experience in applications and advisory related to Public Financial Management and sector financing, in the applied, national and international social development settings.
• Familiarity with UNICEF programming and experience working within UNICEF field offices preferred.
• Hands-on experience with sector financing issues an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is an asset.

Competencies and Level of Proficiency Required
Core Values

• Commitment -Level III
• Diversity and Inclusion -Level III
• Integrity -Level III

Core Competencies

• Communication -Level III
• Working with People -Level II
• Drive for Results -Level III

Functional Competencies

• Analyzing -Level III
• Relating and Networking -Level III
• Applying technical expertise -Level III
• Learning and Researching -Level II
• Planning and Organizing -Level II

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.
Advertised: Aug 10 2016 Eastern Standard Time
Application close: Aug 24 2016 Eastern Standard Time