Education in Emergencies Programme Coordination Expert

UNICEF works across 190 countries and territories to reach the children and young people who are most at risk and most in need. We work to save their lives, protect their rights, keep them safe from harm, and ensure they grow up healthy, protected, and educated. UNICEF strives to give every child a fair chance to fulfil their potential and contribute to a better world. UNICEF is the world’s leading advocate for children and adolescents. In all its work, UNICEF seeks to engage and empower young people to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives and futures. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Ukraine since 1997, supporting the Government in strengthening systems and services for children across health, education, child protection, water and sanitation, and social protection. Since the escalation of the war, UNICEF has been providing life-saving humanitarian and recovery support to children and families affected by the crisis, in line with its Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. This includes ensuring access to education, psychosocial support, learning recovery, water and sanitation, and child health services. Since 2022, UNICEF has significantly expanded its humanitarian and early recovery response to address the widespread and multifaceted impact of hostilities on children, families, and communities. The education sector has been particularly affected, with extensive damage to education infrastructure, repeated air strikes, displacement of learners and teachers, power and heating outages, and persistent safety concerns. As a result, millions of children face disrupted access to education and are at risk of prolonged learning interruptions, learning losses, and reduced psychosocial well‑being.

In response, UNICEF is implementing a comprehensive Education in Emergencies (EiE) programme focused on ensuring the continuity of safe, inclusive, and quality learning while strengthening the resilience of the education system. The programme includes catch‑up education with integrated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to address learning losses and support children’s well‑being and socialization; rapid responses to attacks on education infrastructure and rehabilitation of damaged schools and kindergartens; installation of shatter‑resistant window film; support to heating and electricity resilience of education institutions and rehabilitation of school shelters to facilitate safe in‑person learning whenever conditions allow. All interventions are implemented in close coordination with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, oblast and local authorities, partners, and are fully aligned with national education priorities and UNICEF EiE guidance. This UN Volunteer assignment will support the design, implementation, and monitoring of emergency education interventions at both subnational and national levels. Specifically, the UN Volunteer will contribute to UNICEF’s EiE response in Chernihiv, Kyiv, and Zhytomyr oblasts, and provide support to the Education in Emergencies Officer in coordination at the Country Office level. In Chernihiv, Kyiv and Zhytomir regions, key components of the role include the implementation of the catch-up and MHPSS programmes and the coordination of programmatic responses to air‑strike incidents affecting education facilities and the rehabilitation of shelters in education institutions. This is achieved by working closely with local authorities, education stakeholders, civil society organizations, implementing partners, and UNICEF’s internal construction team to ensure timely damage assessments, rehabilitation, and appropriate programmatic follow‑up. Under the guidance of the Education in Emergencies Officer, the Expert will contribute to monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge generation, including the collection and analysis of field data, tracking programme results, and documenting lessons learned and good practices to inform continuous programme improvement and evidence‑based decision‑making at the country office level. The role will involve preparing situational and donor reports that consolidate information across programme components and field offices, facilitating technical meetings, developing presentations and analytical briefs, and documenting meeting outcomes to strengthen coordination. The UN Volunteer is expected to support knowledge management across the EiE programme by managing the EiE documentation repository in Cloudshare, as well as the required data to power EiE's digital dashboards. In addition, the Education in Emergencies Programme Coordination Expert will support the Education in Emergencies Officer in the transition of the national Education Cluster coordination mechanisms towards a government‑led Education in Emergencies (EiE) Working Subgroup under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. This includes providing technical, administrative, and secretariat support to facilitate effective coordination, continuity, and institutionalization of EiE coordination functions in line with global Education Cluster guidance and national priorities.

Under the overall guidance of the Chief of Education and the direct supervision of the Education in Emergencies (EiE) Officer, the UN Volunteer will support the design, implementation, and monitoring of UNICEF’s emergency education response in Chernihiv, Kyiv, and Zhytomyr oblasts. This includes catch‑up programmes, rehabilitation of damaged education facilities, installation of shatter‑resistant window film, and rehabilitation of shelters in education institutions. The role includes active engagement and coordination with key stakeholders, including local governments, education institutions, civil society organizations, and implementing partners, to ensure effective EiE programme delivery at subnational and national levels. Under the guidance of the EiE Officer, the UN Volunteer will ensure alignment of interventions with UNICEF guidance, EiE standards, and national education priorities. The role will contribute to monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge generation through field data collection and analysis, tracking of programme results, and documentation of lessons learned and good practices. The UN Volunteer will support the preparation of situational and donor reports, consolidating information across programme components and field offices. Responsibilities also include supporting EiE knowledge management by maintaining the EiE folder on Cloudshare and managing data inputs for EiE dashboards. In addition, the role involves facilitating technical meetings, preparing presentations and analytical briefs, supporting related documentation, and documenting meeting outcomes. The UN Volunteer will also contribute to education coordination mechanisms, including the Education Cluster, and support the transition towards a government‑led EiE Working Subgroup under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The UN Volunteer will provide technical, logistical, administrative, and communication support to the UNICEF Country Office to ensure effective delivery of education programmes at national level.