• Identifies emerging social and economic situational and policy trends (particularly with an eye on equity) and leads monitoring and evidence generation related to socio-economic, public finance and social spending trends.
• At regional level, engages and establishes constructive dialogue and partnerships with international agencies and regional bodies to ensure that the regional development and Public Finance agenda remains child-sensitive and equity-oriented. Participates in relevant thematic working groups and actively contributes technical inputs to collaborative research.
• Acts as regional focal point for Local Governance for Children (LG4C) initiatives at regional level.
• Supports Country Offices in social policy analysis and advocacy, with a particular focus on technical support and guidance for PF4C and LG4C interventions and programming. Maintains regular communication with Country Offices and undertakes missions to Country Offices upon request, in order to provide technical assistance and/or training.
• Conceptualizes and leads training sessions in selected social policy areas. Identifies interesting and useful areas for future research and training activities in UNICEF, paying special attention to priority areas such as improving basic social services and reducing social disparities and inequalities through social budgeting interventions, and the social protection of children. Develops training materials, based on UNICEF and journal sourced social policy studies for use in training workshops. Supports the identification of CO technical support needs and contributes to the development of regional technical support mechanisms.
• Facilitates knowledge-sharing among UNICEF offices, within the region as well as across regions, on social policy and PF4C/LG4C. Identifies, reviews and disseminates key emerging research on the situation of children in the Middle East and North Africa and on policy measures and promising practices to improve it. Facilitates technical exchange between Country Offices and with Headquarters on specific issues.
• Supports Regional Office oversight functions for the Social Policy Programme including participation in the Regional Office Annual Reports review, in review of Country Programme documentations and in the TRT/PBR process. Supports the development of the regional work plan and ensures compliance with specific assigned objectives. Supports monitoring of aggregate results related to social policy.
• Leads development and maintenance of a regional human and institutional resources database of key institutions and thinkers, and potentially useful consultants, in the social and economic policy areas.
• Supports collaborative work with other Regional Office programme sections, where linkages with social policy priorities exist.

Requirements:

Education:

• Advanced university degree is required in Economics, Public Financial Management, Social Sciences, Public Policy and/or Administration, International Relations or other relevant discipline.Experience:
• A minimum of 8 of years progressively responsible professional work experience in social development, project administration, monitoring and evaluation, some at the international level and in low or middle-income countries is required.
• Social Policy/Public Finance programming experience in a country office of a development organization highly preferred.
• Knowledge of all core areas of Social Policy programming, especially Public Finance/PF4C.
• Proven analytical skills and demonstrated ability to lead and draft complex social policy analyses, with a focus on public finance and social spending.
• Experience in leading PF4C initiatives/programming, especially at country level, is highly desirable.
• International experience in multiple duty stations and proven collaborative abilities with other sectors (e.g: education, child protection) a strong asset for this type of RO function.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is considered as an asset.