General
Description of assignment title: Project Coordination Officer
Assignment country: China
Expected start date: 30/06/2023
Sustainable Development Goal: 6. Clean water and sanitation
Volunteer category: National UN Volunteer Specialist
DoA reserved for persons with disabilities: No
Host entity: UNICEF
Type: Onsite
Expected end date: 30/06/2024
Number of assignments: 1
Duty stations: Beijing
Details
Mission and objectives
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress.
UNICEF and China have a long history of collaboration. In 1947, China became the first country in Asia to welcome a partnership with UNICEF, and our first programme provided emergency relief services to children. Between 1948 and 1951, our work in China included child feeding, as well as training to build capacity for maternal and child health care, sanitation and first aid. This training programme later influenced China’s “barefoot doctor” rural healthcare system. Our partnerships in China resumed in 1979. Since that time, we have contributed to many of China’s most significant developments for children.
Context
Jointly with the Government of China, Climate and Environmental Health Team at UNICEF China is implementing around 10 projects in the field of environment and climate change, public health and sanitation. Projects relevant for this UNV vacancy are as follows:
- Piloting Climate Smart Water, Sanitation and recycling systems in schools and health care centers in rural areas – technology being trailed include solar heating, water saving, rain capture, water recycling, waste to fertilizer systems, etc. We are also helping develop capacities locally through trainings and supporting government to scale up the piloted systems through quantifying the gap between the demand and coverage of sanitation and designing mechanisms to bridge the gap e.g. through joint procurement to reduce unit cost, blended and concessional finance, etc.
- Development of water and sanitation technology e-catalogue to reduce information asymmetries on Chinese ever growing water and sanitation technology market. The beta version of the E-catalogue is already available and includes functions allowing users to filter, sort and search technologies based on environmental footprint and water consumption.
- Supporting the government to develop technical guidance on youth engagement in climate action to leverage the potential of young people towards the achievement of China’s dual carbon goals.
We are also planning to start working on the following projects:
- Climate Landscape Analysis – a research and advocacy project aiming to model the impact of climate change and of climate mitigation policies on children and households as well as to design and advocate for measures to ensure that socially vulnerable children are adequately protected.
- Climate Smart Schools (CSS) – capitalizing on China’s low carbon technologies and existing capacities, UNICEF’s CSS project will be directed to support China’s efforts in greening school education and will focus mainly on two pillars:
a. Development and pilot of a scalable school-based climate awareness extracurricular module for teachers, administrators and students;
b. Design and development of Climate Footprint Management Information System involving two modules:
- Resource Module – providing schools/school districts an easy access to information and tutorials on climate smart technologies, policies, and standards;
- Electronic Portal for Energy and Water Consumption Monitoring – providing gas, water, and
electricity consumption as well as CO2 emissions data per schools and school districts.
Task description
Under the primary supervision of Programme Officer Climate, Sanitation and Environment, the UN Volunteer will support environmental health and climate team in designing and implementation of the above mentioned projects by:
o Finding, analyzing, synthesizing, summarizing, translating relevant documents, data and information that will be feed into project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
o Helping with organizing events, drafting minutes of important meetings, assist in planning of
field visits, etc.
o Liasing and communicating with different stakeholders per supervisor’s instruction
o Participating and contributing brainstorming discussions on project design and implementation
o Undertake other tasks as needed and instructed by the supervisor
Furthermore, UNVs are encouraged to:
- Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities (for instance, IVD celebration events);
- Get acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
- Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking;
- Contribute news and articles on field experiences and submit them to UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
- Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UNV volunteers;
- Promote online volunteering and encourage individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering Service whenever technically feasible.
Results/Expected Output:
Timely and at high quality completed assigned tasks to support project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation via:
- finding, analyzing, synthesizing, summarizing, translating relevant documents, data and information
- provided support towards organizing events, drafted minutes of important meetings, assisted in the planning of field visits, etc.
- helped to communicate with relevant stakeholders and potential implementing partners per supervisor’s instruction
- contributed brainstorming discussions on project design and implementation
- completed other tasks as needed and instructed by the supervisor
Eligibility criteria
Age: 27 – 80
Nationality: Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.
Requirements
Required experience
3 years of experience in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy/Science/Management, Energy Policy, Earth Science, Public Administration, Public Policy or related field
Strong data skills are highly desirable
Solid research and academic writing experience is highly desirable
Strong communication, teamwork, time/project management/coordination skills are must
Experience in working for an international organization would be considered as an asset
Area(s) of expertise: Development programmes
Driving license: –
Languages
Chinese, Level: Working knowledge, Required
English, Level: Working knowledge, Required
Required education level
Master degree or equivalent in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy/Science/Management, Energy Policy, Earth Science, Public Administration, Public Policy or related field
Competencies and values
☒ Adaptability and Flexibility
☒ Commitment and Motivation
☒ Commitment to Continuous Learning
☒ Communication
☒ Creativity
☒ Ethics and Values
☒ Integrity
☒ Knowledge Sharing
☒ Planning and Organizing
☒ Respect for Diversity
☒ Self-Management
☒ Technological Awareness
☒ Working in Teams
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
The duty station of the national UN Volunteer is located in Beijing city, where modest public infrastructure and health services are available. It is the foremost political and cultural metropolis in China. The city has excellent health services available. In general, rent for apartments in central locations is high relative to other regions in China, but quality is good. Beijing is well served by many shopping malls, large supermarket chains and international brands. Buses and subways are the most common form of mass transportation. Metered taxis are widely available and domestic and regional travel by train and airplane is popular.
The National UN Volunteer receives a standard volunteer living allowance (VLA), which is intended to cover their accommodation and basic living expenses. In China the VLA is 10201.83 RMB per month. The National UN Volunteer is entitled to an excellent health, life and disability insurance package. A modest Settling-in Grant and end of assignment allowance will also be provided, along with travel to and from the duty station. International travel to duty station will not covered by UNV. The National UN Volunteer is entitled to 2.5 days personal leave per month and government official holidays.
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Reasonable accommodation
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.
