About the Organization
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling. UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people. Over the past couple of years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.
Job Summary
To lead and be accountable for operations functions, facilitate change, provide risk-informed and solution-focused analysis, advice, and services, and contribute to programme and management decision-making to deliver results for children in complex operational contexts.
Key Responsibilities
Valuing People:
Implement people resources strategies to promote technical competence and foster career progression and retention of a “fit for purpose”/ agile workforce
Facilitate an environment of management excellence, staff well-being and accessibility and inclusion through implementation of strategies, policies, procedures.
Implement solutions related to people management and office culture.
Support training strategy.
Keep abreast of industry standards in management and finance and share best practices and knowledge learned within the office.
Support Excellence in Operations in UNICEF derived from the five strategic pillars.
Valuing Money:
Champion strategic resources to achieve organizational goals and ensure Value for Money (VfM)
Ensure effective identification and use of resources in various concrete Value for Money (VfM) areas, including eco-efficiency and inclusivity, common premises, costing, results-based budgeting financial monitoring etc.
Support the financial oversight management, monitoring and reporting of all the country programme budget – and where applicable private sector fundraising budgets; make analysis as needed.
Implement Supply plan for the office and stay abreast of the regional strategies.
Valuing Risk Management:
Enhance Risk Management to increase organizational performance and strengthen internal control
Support the office with up-to-date information to make operational and programmatic risk informed decisions with the enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance (eGRC) platform.
Contribute and participate in testing of business continuity plans to ensure UNICEF organizational resilience to disaster, risks and staff safety and security as well as Emergency Preparedness and Response to humanitarian situations.
Support implementation of appropriate implementation of policies and procedures and provide feedback on policy and internal controls as appropriate.
Support implementation of mandatory anti-fraud systems, processes and actions.
Support mitigation of risks of engagement with external partners via appropriate, risk-informed due diligence.
Valuing Systems and Structures:
Ensure further operational centralization and optimization for maximized efficiency gains
Participate in the review of Operations processes and recommend measures to minimize cost, reduce duplication of work and maximize efficiencies while creating an environment of smarter controls to render the organization ready to respond to programme needs.
Contribute to improving IT-enabled business processes to increase productivity and collaboration, better knowledge management, and ensure effective use of UNICEF assets.
Contribute to CPMP.
Valuing Partners:
Strengthening internal and external-facing partnerships and leveraging UNICEF’s oversight and understanding of financial management across all areas of the office.
Provide technical support on HACT implementation, including follow-up actions required on result of financial assurance activities.
Support UNICEF Office resource mobilization partners through written financial reporting, resolve discrepancies and ensure donor accountability and transparency.
Contribute to UNICEF Office resource mobilization through written financial reporting, and analysis of discrepancies.
Contribute to developing private sector partnerships especially in middle income countries.
Engage as stakeholders in the UN Reform, facilitating Business Operating Services (BOS) and proactively paving the way for a potential “one back office” in country offices.
Required Qualifications
Minimum requirements
Education: Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in one of the following areas is required: Business management, Financial management, Accounting, Public Finance or related operations function (Supply Chain, Human Resources, Information Technology, International Business, Project management, etc.).
Work Experience: A minimum of 1 year of professional experience, at the national and/or international level, is required, specifically in one or more operations management area including budget; financial management and reporting; facilities management; administration; supply and logistics management; information and communication technology; human resources.
Skills: Understanding of Results Based Management is a requirement. Familiarity with Microsoft Office applications is required.
Language Requirements: Proficiency in English is required.
Desirables:
Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
Experience in a UN system agency, large private or public company, or experience working in a developing country and/or humanitarian/ emergency context is an asset.
Experience in working with corporate ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning) and IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards) is highly desirable.
Experience in supporting successful client-oriented work units is an asset.
Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
Required Skills and Competencies
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. The UNICEF competencies required for this post are:
Builds and maintains partnerships
Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
Drive to achieve results for impact
Innovates and embraces change
Manages ambiguity and complexity
Thinks and acts strategically
Works collaboratively with others
Nurtures, leads and manages people