Re-advertisement: Senior Adviser (Policy, Gender Equality and Education), P-5, Fixed Term Position, Programme Group, Education Section, Amman, Jordan, #00133277

About the Role

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.

How Can You Make a Difference

Each CoE serves as a single entry point for tailored assistance, offering specialized expertise in thematic areas, financing for scale, and institutional strengthening, while also supporting global policy leadership, standard setting, and cross-sectoral coordination. By leveraging digital platforms, agile expertise-matching systems, and external rosters, the CoEs enhance efficiency and responsiveness, driving sustainable, at-scale impacts for children in diverse contexts, including humanitarian settings. Embedded within the GPD, the CoEs align with UNICEF's Strategic Plan, fostering innovation, accountability, and resilient systems to advance child rights and equitable access to basic services worldwide.

The CoE Education provides global leadership, strategic advisory, and technical assistance to strengthen education systems and improve learning outcomes for children across diverse contexts. It supports innovation, normative guidance, and cross-sectoral integration to advance inclusive, quality education aligned with the Strategic Plan.

Despite progress in access and enrolment, many girls—especially adolescent girls in low-income, conflict-affected, rural, and indigenous communities—remain at a disadvantage. The impacts of COVID-19, ongoing humanitarian crises, and climate change have further disrupted learning. At the time of writing, over 122 million girls are out of school as a result of conflict and crisis; financial barriers; violence and harmful practices such as child marriage; and pervasive restrictive gender norms that discriminate against girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, girls are more likely than boys to be out of school at every level. Globally, adolescent girls are also twice as likely as boys to not be in education, employment, or training. Girls with disabilities, those living in rural areas, and those from marginalized communities, refugee populations, and humanitarian settings face the highest risk of being left behind.

Girls' education is a priority in UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2026–2029, with a focus on supporting girls' access to quality, safe, and affordable education; a comprehensive package of skills for life, vocational training, financial literacy, and work that enables their transition from education to employability; and supporting policy shifts and special measures for more gender-equitable education systems overall.

Primary Reporting Line

Under the guidance of the Director of CoE Education, the Senior Policy Adviser, Gender Equality (Education), will provide policy advisory support, including on partnerships, resource mobilization, public sector financing, evidence generation and analysis, and programmatic benchmarks for advancing gender equality targets in education, with particular emphasis on adolescent girls' needs and well-being. This includes advancing education and gender equality in education systems and policies. The Adviser will also work closely with Education thematic leads and advisers on early childhood education and foundational learning—particularly on out-of-school children—ensuring that gender equity is integrated across the three transitions of a child's and young person's educational journey.

Secondary Reporting Line

Under the guidance of the Associate Director, Gender Equality, GPD, the Senior Policy Adviser, Gender Equality (Education), will provide leadership and technical support to country and regional offices to advance UGEAP institutional priorities, including: carrying out quality gender analyses to set priorities for girls and women relevant to national and regional contexts; influencing Country Programme Documents (CPDs)/Medium-Term Reviews (MTRs) to advance critical priorities for girls and women; supporting gender equality expenditure and benchmarking in country and regional offices in line with UN-wide standards; providing coordination and governance arrangements for gender equality with relevant sectors and teams, UNICEF leadership, and partners; and offering political advisory and prioritization for strategic policy advocacy.

The Senior Policy Adviser, Gender Equality (Education), will also support regional offices in regional intergovernmental and interagency partnerships relating to gender. They will provide technical advisory support to sectors and country and regional offices on priority thematic issues as per the UGEAP.

Key Functions, Accountabilities And Related Duties/tasks

• Strategic Gender Equality Technical Leadership and Advisory Support
• Policy Influence and High-Level Institutional Guidance on Gender Integration
• Knowledge Curation, Thought Leadership, and Technical Innovation
• Convening and Capacity Strengthening for Coherence and At-Scale Gender Equality and Adolescent Girls' Programming
• UGEAP Implementation, Monitoring, Results Architecture, and Performance Accountability
• Country Office Focal Point Support

Minimum Requirements

Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, Gender Studies, Public Health, Nutrition or related field. A Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in a relevant area combined with 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. This is applicable to internal (FT, Continuing and Permanent) staff only.

Work Experience:

• 10 years of solid professional experience with demonstrated track record of having undertaken and led programming on gender and development issues
• Experience managing gender equality focused programmes in country and regional contexts
• Extensive experience and knowledge of gender integration in development policy and practice and including advancing organisational gender policies, systems and institutional processes
• Advanced experience providing technical advisory, expertise and accompaniment to multiple programme sectors in developing gender specific programmes, strategies and policy implementation
• Experience and skills providing capacity building, training, mentoring and learning to diverse sectoral staff and implementing partners on gender responsive programme approaches
• Strong technical and programmatic track record in gender with sectoral expertise in at least one of the following: Health, Nutrition, WASH, Education, Child Protection or Social Policy/Protection
• Experience in analytical, conceptual and programme design skills specific to advancing gender and development with an understanding of theory of change and gender responsive pathways from intervention to results
• Demonstrated experience in developing proposals and securing resources on programme or research initiatives with a strong gender component
• Management experience and demonstrated ability to influence, lead and motivate others, to manage multiple and complex gender equality priorities and create efficient cross sectoral collaboration in a multi-cultural environment

Skills:

• Strategic leadership and analytical skills
• Political acumen and confidence
• Advanced relationship, leveraging partnership and trust building skills
• Written and oral communication skills
• Team player and collaborator
• High level of initiative and independence

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables

• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset
• Advanced experience in working with government, UN, private sector and other partners to promote girls' and women's rights, including in humanitarian contexts
• Respected leader of initiatives to motivate, inspire and spur action on gender equality and girls and women's empowerment
• Experience in conducting rigorous research and analysis on gender, including quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and monitoring and evaluation
• Specific education experience with UNICEF, the UN or a global organisation an asset
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts

UNICEF's Core Values

Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it.

UNICEF Competencies Required For This Post

• 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