UNV Experto/a en Educación Inicial
Organizational Context
UNICEF Colombia works to protect the rights of children and adolescents, addressing complex rights violations and contributing to the 2030 Agenda. The country program (2025-2028) aligns with the UNSDCF, focusing on peacebuilding, migration, and accelerating SDGs. Despite progress, significant gaps persist for vulnerable child populations. Buenaventura faces a complex humanitarian context with violence, displacement, poverty, and climate risks, limiting access to essential services and protective environments for young children.
Job Purpose
The UNV Expert in Early Childhood Education will provide territorial technical assistance to strengthen early childhood education and development in emergency settings in Buenaventura. The role involves supporting the continuity of early childhood services, promoting safe learning environments, and ensuring the visibility of young children's needs during immediate response, stabilization, and recovery phases. This position is crucial for enhancing the resilience and well-being of the most vulnerable children in a challenging humanitarian context, aligning with UNICEF's mandate to defend child rights and contribute to national development priorities.
Responsibilities
The UNV Expert will collaborate with UNICEF's Pacific Hub, national education team, local authorities, partners, UN agencies, and communities. Key functions include providing technical assistance and field support for early childhood education and integrated early childhood development strategies in emergency contexts, ensuring territorial relevance and differential approaches. The role involves promoting inter-agency coordination to highlight early childhood needs in humanitarian responses and participating in relevant local forums. The expert will support technical monitoring of projects, collect and analyze territorial data, identify challenges, and propose adjustments. Additionally, they will contribute to planning, needs assessments, and articulating UNICEF's cross-cutting approaches such as behavior change, accountability to affected populations, protection, gender, inclusion, mental health, and disaster risk reduction. The position requires producing technical documents, reports, and evidence-based infographics to document results and lessons learned.
Work Experience
Requires a minimum of seven years of experience in designing, implementing, coordinating, monitoring, or technically supporting early childhood education, early childhood development, or integrated early childhood care programs, preferably in humanitarian contexts or areas affected by conflict, displacement, disasters, or high social vulnerability. Experience in technical support to educational institutions, agents, families, and communities in emergency settings is essential, along with knowledge of educational continuity protocols and pedagogical strategies for early childhood.
Skills
Core values include Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability. Professional competencies include teamwork, commitment to continuous learning, planning and organization, and communication. The role requires flexibility and a genuine commitment to volunteerism principles. Technical expertise in community development, education, and emergency preparedness/crisis response is also necessary.