The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Ukraine is facing escalating poverty and inequality due to the ongoing conflict and its severe socioeconomic impacts. Pre-existing demographic and structural challenges have been compounded by the war, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups such as women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). This has intensified the need for comprehensive social sector reforms to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Ukraine’s social protection system, strengthen its capacity to support vulnerable populations, and promote economic growth and social cohesion.

As well as continuing to engage in humanitarian response, the UNICEF Ukraine Country Office has a key role to play in enabling social protection delivery and reform at the central and decentralised levels, and in providing coordination and capacity strengthening across the social sectors more generally.

Within UNICEF, Public Finance for Children (PF4C) outlines efforts to influence the transparency, adequacy and effectiveness of public investments in children. Thanks to this work, UNICEF can better influence the use of public policies and spending to reduce the equity gaps, addressing the needs of boys and girls, including the poorest and most marginalized. Key objectives of PF4C include, among others, understanding and monitoring levels of public investment in children at the national level, influencing public policy decisions on spending on social services for children versus other areas, and reducing investment disparities between different geographic areas and population groups. Additionally, within the work in the region, PF4C brings together sectoral and cross-sector initiatives to influence budgetary frameworks and public financial management processes for the benefit of children.

The Social Policy Specialist (Public Finance for Children) will be housed in the Ukraine Country Office’s Social Policy section and report to the Chief of Social Policy (P5). The incumbent will lead the Country Office’s work on the Public Finance for Children agenda, with a small team reporting to them.

Purpose for the job:

The Public Finance for Children agenda includes the following key pillars:

1. Strengthening public financial management (PFM) in social sectors, in line with the national PFM reforms, and including adequacy of budget allocations to child-related programmes.
2. Contributing to the fulfilment of child rights, in line with the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) – improving the nation’s investment in children.

3. Supporting subnational government to fully play their role of budget managers, responsible in the delivery of social services – improving data, participation, planning and budgeting and delivery.

In particular, the Ukraine Country Office’s engagement on Public Finance for Children aims to assist Programme sections, line ministries and regional and local government in their endeavours to

1. Make the case for investing in children;
2. Generate evidence and advocate for social spending;
3. Support citizens’ engagement and participatory processes in planning and budgeting;
4. Strengthen capacities to improve public spending for children;
5. Contribute to resource mobilization;

Under the general guidance of the supervisor, the incumbent is responsible for providing technical support to the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of all stages of social policy programing and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results. This includes programmes aimed at improving (a) public policies to reduce child poverty; (b) social protection coverage and impact on children; (c) the transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-focused public investments and financial management; and (d) governance, decentralization and accountability measures to increase public participation and the quality, equity and coverage of social services. This encompasses both direct programme work with government and civil society partners as well as linkages and support to teams working on education, health, child protection, water and sanitation, and HIV.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities: 

1. Strengthening PF4C coverage and impact

• Contribute to the development of PF4C policies, legislation and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention the most marginalized. Identifies, generates and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.
• Undertakes budget analysis to inform UNICEF’s advocacy and technical assistance to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to improve equitable allocations for essential services for children. Works with sector colleagues to build capacity to undertake costing and cost effectiveness analysis on priority interventions to help inform policy decisions on child-focused investments.
• Supports the identification of policy options for improved domestic financing of child-sensitive social protection interventions.
• Undertakes and builds capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to support transparency, accountability and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, including through support to district level planning, budgeting and public financial management as well as facilitating community participation.
• Collaborate and/or consult with internal and external partners, mainly the government counterparts, to provide operational and technical support to implementation of social protection and public finance for children-related activities.

2. Strengthening capacity of local governments to plan, budget, consult on and monitor child-focused social services.

• Collaborates with central, regional and local authorities to improve policies, planning, budgeting, and consultation and accountability processes so that decisions and child-focused service delivery more closely respond to the needs of local communities.
• Collaborates with central, regional and local to strengthen capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of essential social services, with emphasis on community participation and accountability.
• Supports UNICEF Field Offices and the other Country Office Programme sections in their engagement with local authorities in relevant Provinces, Districts and Municipalities to foster programmatic coherence and improve coordination.

3.   Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social policy

• Supports correct and compelling use of data and evidence on the situation of children and coverage, financing and impact of child focused services – in support of the PF4C programme and the country programme overall.
• Establishes effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
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• Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.
• Keep track of, and analyze the government's socio-economic policies, strategies, and programs with a bearing on PF4C to inform programming and advocacy by UNICEF and its partners.
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4.   UNICEF Programme Management

• Manages and coordinates technical support around public finance and local governance ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.
• Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.
• Supports the Chief of Social Policy in the design and implementation of the Country Office PF4C Strategy and workplan at national and local level, particularly through the Programme Specialists in the Field Offices. 

UNICEF values and competency Required 

 Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability

 Core Competencies 

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

  Recruitment Qualifications 

Education:

An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.  

Experience:

A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience is required.

Experience working in a developing country is considered as a strong asset.

Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered as a strong asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.