National Project Officer (Education for Health and Wellbeing) at UNESCO

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

The position falls under the overall authority of the Assistant Director-General for Education, guidance from the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, and the direct supervision of the Senior Project Officer (Education for Health and Well-being). The incumbent will be responsible for the effective planning, implementation, and monitoring of UNESCO’s work on Education for Health and Wellbeing through the Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future (O3) Programme in South Africa, working closely with the South Africa Department of Basic Education. The best candidate for this role would be someone with an education and SRHR background and has previously worked for or closely with the government department of education.

Specifically, the incumbent will:

Programme and Technical support for the O3 Programme

• Identify opportunities for UNESCO to support the South Africa Departments of Basic and Higher Education in policy development and programming on Education for Health and Well Being within the framework of the UNESCO Strategy on Health and Well Being, South African national policies, and strategies, and the UNAIDS division of labour.
• Lead the implementation of the South Africa Chapter of the O3 program to support improved education, gender, and health outcomes for all learners.
• Conduct advocacy with policymakers (ministers; parliamentarians, councillors) religious, traditional and community leaders to strengthen implementation of the ESA Commitment.
• Support South Africa to operationalize and accelerate progress on the ESA Ministerial Commitment and the Education Plus Initiative, and capitalise on South Africa’s role as a champion on these two initiatives.  

Scale up and strengthen the delivery of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

• Support the capacity building of curriculum developers, teachers and teacher educators, including teachers of learners with disabilities to deliver gender and social norms transformative CSE and school violence prevention, including through ICT based solutions.
• Lead the development and dissemination of good quality teaching and learning digital and non-digital resources on gender and social norms transformative CSE and school violence prevention.  
• Grow and strengthen the CSE Community of Practice for teachers and other CSE practitioners in South Africa. 
• Lead the establishment of CSE repository in South Africa.

​​​Promote the establishment of safer, healthier, and inclusive schools and community environments 

• Support DBE in the development, review and implementation of education policies, and interventions on school health including but not limited to learner pregnancy prevention & management, HIV & STIs prevention, menstrual health hygiene, physical education, and climate change.
• Build school community understanding of and support for gender and social norms transformative-CSE, SRHR and school violence prevention through the community-based interventions 
• Work with DBE and CSOs to sensitize School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and School Management Teams (SMTs) and Representative Council of Learners (RCLs) on gender and social norms transformative CSE, SRHR and school violence prevention

​​​​​​Strengthen program implementation of the program through evidence generated from monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning

• Commission research on CSE and school violence to deepen evidence and support data driven and evidence -based decision making at legislative, policy and planning level.
• Strengthen the capacity of the education sector to report and use generated data for planning and decision-making.

Planning, budgeting, M&E and reporting

• Support strategic planning and budgeting for UNESCO engagement in HIV and SRHR programming in South Africa, in line with UNESCO’s commitments as a UNAIDS Cosponsor and in partnership with the DBE.
• Contribute to timely programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting for the O3 project.
• Ensure timely narrative and financial reporting on elements from the national O3 project and budget portfolio falling under the incumbent's responsibility, both within UNESCO and to external donors as appropriate.
• Plan, commission and supervise various research pieces to inform the work on education for health and well-being in South Africa.

Representation and partner relations

• Represent UNESCO in appropriate coordination forums, such as the UN Joint Teams on HIV and AIDS, interagency meetings, and thematic meetings.
• Develop and maintain partner relations with the Ministry of Education, the UNESCO National Commission, national bodies, and development partners, including civil society organizations.
• Engage with local organisations, including the civil society in support.

Resource mobilization

• Participate in resource mobilization efforts including proposal development from UNESCO and partners and provide technical assistance to the Department of Basic Education in accessing funding for the education sector response to HIV, gender-based violence and other health issues.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• An advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in education, social sciences, public health or a relevant field.

Work Experience

• Minimum four years of relevant work experience, in areas related to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and education.
• Experience in curriculum development and learning assessment.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of projects on Comperehesive Sexuality Education (CSE) or SRH.
• Experience in resource mobilization. 

Skills and competencies 

• Good understanding of the country, of the development work and of the education sector.
• Extensive knowledge, and high level of technical writing skills on HIV prevention, sexuality education and school related gender-based violence.
• Ability to manage budgets and report on implementation.  
• Ability to multitask, prioritize and deliver to deadline, as well as work under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent networking and high level representational and partnership building skills, involving a wide range of partners, including relevant Ministries, UNAIDS Co-sponsors, donors and civil society.
• Excellent strategic and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication skills.

Languages

• Fluency (oral and written) in English.
• Fluency in at least one of the local languages.