Senior Adviser (Education Financing for Scale)

Education Financing in UNICEF’s Centres of Excellence (CoEs) provides strategic policy and financing guidance to governments, enabling them to make informed decisions that promote equitable and sustainable learning and skills outcomes for children and young people. Their work supports the CoEs’ mandate to deliver predictive, integrated, and trackable technical assistance that aligns with national priorities and maximizes impact.

The Education Financing team plays a pivotal role in advancing education system reform nationally and globally. In addition to conducting customized economic evaluations—such as cost–efficiency and cost-benefit analyses, benefit-incidence analyses, budget impact assessments on learning outcomes, and fiscal space analyses—the team supports governments in designing and implementing equity-focused education policies.

The team also leads capacity-development efforts, working closely with national and mid-level officials to strengthen institutional capabilities in education planning, budgeting, and public finance. Through its management of the Panama satellite office, the team ensures responsive, context-specific technical assistance to Country Offices, fostering knowledge exchange. Cross-sectoral collaboration, especially with the Economic and Social Policy Global Practice and the Child Poverty Centre of Excellence (CoE), enhances the integration of education financing into broader social protection and public finance for children strategies.

Current Thematic Focus and Team Responsibilities: The Education Financing team is currently addressing several critical challenges that hinder progress toward equitable and quality learning and the achievement of education-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include:

1. Low and Unequal Education Investment: Many countries spend below recommended thresholds on education, with disparities in resource allocation across regions, levels of education, and population groups. These disparities result in inequities in access and learning outcomes.
2. Inefficient and Fragmented Education Financing: Weak governance structures and underdeveloped financing mechanisms limit the effectiveness of education systems and hinder the scale-up of inclusive, quality learning.
3. Limited Capacity for Policy Implementation and Reform: Gaps in institutional capacity and technical expertise slow the adoption of evidence-based policies and reforms, particularly in foundational learning and early childhood education.
4. Economic Volatility and Fiscal Constraints: Debt burdens and competing priorities restrict fiscal space for sustained investments in education, especially for the most disadvantaged children and adolescents.
5. Gaps in Scaling Cost-Effective and Evidence-Based Interventions: Proven solutions, such as structured pedagogy and alternative learning pathways for out-of-school adolescents, remain underfunded and poorly implemented.

How can you make a difference

Under the supervision and guidance of the Director of Education, the Senior Adviser (Education Financing for Scale) provides high-level technical leadership and strategic guidance to countries, enabling UNICEF to remain at the forefront of education financing, policy reform, and capacity development. The incumbent champions innovative, equitable, and efficient financing of education systems and leads efforts to strengthen institutional and individual capacities in education sector planning, budgeting, and reform. Anchoring global frameworks in national realities, the Senior Adviser translates global strategies and economic evidence into practical, pro-equity solutions that inform policy, planning, and financing reform at scale. The incumbent also manages the education satellite in Panama, overseeing technical assistance across the programmatic areas of delivery toward Strategic Plan results for education.

A key responsibility is the leadership and management of the team, ensuring a consistent standard of excellence across UNICEF’s programmatic work. This position coordinates with thematic areas within education and public finance across sectors to contribute to country-contextual education systems strengthening, ensuring that intervention coverage and response are sustainable and equitable for all children. These contributions support the UNICEF Strategic Plan and the achievement of the SDG 2030 targets, ensuring that policy, finance, institution-building, education workforce development, digital governance, and community engagement are strengthened.

By shaping and influencing national-to-global education financing dialogue, advising on evidence-based policy reforms, and leading the development of public goods and innovative solutions, the incumbent provides the highest level of technical expertise to UNICEF Country and Regional Offices, as well as governments and other partners in the education ecosystem. This expertise supports governments in informing and resourcing education sector plans and budgets for sustainable, equity-focused results for all children and adolescents, particularly the most marginalized.

The role also includes capacity development of national and mid-level officials on public expenditure, budgeting, and innovative financing approaches. The incumbent serves as the focal point between the Education and Child Poverty CoE, fostering cross-sectoral collaboration on innovative financing for the social sectors and ensuring effective technical assistance aligned with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan results. The incumbent also forges strategic partnerships with multilateral banks, finance institutions, private sector actors, and global platforms to expand resource mobilization and catalyze financing at scale, while advancing UNICEF’s leadership in education sector financing and policy reform across development and humanitarian contexts.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

1. Technical Advisory on Strategic Planning, Policy Formulation, and Review
2. Evidence Generation, Economic Analysis, and Capacity Building
3. Domestic Resource Mobilization, Government-Led Financing, and Capacity Strengthening
4. Cross-Sectoral Coordination and Integration
5. Country Office Focal Point Support
6. People Management, Team Development, and CoE Oversight
7. Global Advocacy and Representation
8. Strategic Leadership, Policy Development, and Capacity Building

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: JD - Senior Adviser (Education Financing for Scale)_P5