Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

          The first organization that I chose to feature in this blog post was UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund).  UNICEF is has been given the authority 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.  Their purpose is “to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path.”  They particularly focus on the following areas: child survival and development, basic education and gender equality, HIV/AIDS and children, child protection, and policy advocacy and partnerships.  They work in eight different regions of the world; they work hard to ensure the protection of children all over the world.  I researched on their website, some jobs that are open.  One specific job is for chief field officer, in which the person receiving the job is in charge of the UNICEF office.  The education required for the field is an advanced university degree in one of the following: Social Sciences, Public Administration, International Relations, Business Administration, Public Health, Education, or other related field.  The work experience required is five years progressively responsible professional work experience in social development, project administration, monitoring and evaluation, some at the international level. Emergency experience required.  For the language skills, fluency in English is a requirement as well as another UN language (UNICEF, n.d.). 

            The second organization that I chose was the Save the Children foundation.  The mission for their organization is (Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves – a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm, especially when disaster strikes. We advocate and achieve lasting change for millions of children” When a natural disaster comes, Save the Children are the first to work for the children of the disaster.  They work in seven different regions of the world.  A job available on the site is titled, shelter coordinator, and the skills required for the job are as follows: Degree in Civil Engineering/ Architecture/ Construction Management or other relevant qualification in design or engineering, professional minimum experience of 5 years, experience of working with NGOs, experience in running multiple construction projects over different geographical locations, experience of managing multiple contractors, and different construction teams, ability to make frequent field visits between Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimanya; work under difficult circumstances and under pressure, critical thinking, organization, coordination and planning skills, ability to provide technical inputs, make technical and structural assessments, prepare Bills of Quantities and drawings, organization, coordination and planning skills, good computer skills -Excel, Word, Internet,  excellent interpersonal skills, excellent knowledge of spoken and written English, knowledge of Arabic/ Kurdish is an asset.  (Save the Children, 2014).

            The third organization that I chose was the Academy for Education Development.  Their mission is to improve lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions for human development.   They offer services in behavior change communication, creative services, research services and many more.  They work to find solutions for the future.  They serve more than 70 countries around the world as well as all of the United States of America.  The experts in their organization influence policies and guidelines, and they even publish in journals.  A career that I found on the website is Associate Director, Country Programs, Alive and Thrive Project.  The description of the job is: “The Associate Director, Country Programs will provide management and program oversight of activities in Burkina Faso to ensure that the project is effectively and efficiently implemented.”  The skills and education requirements are: Bachelor's degree or its international equivalent, Master's degree strongly preferred plus a minimum of 5 years of experience with international development programs, demonstrated experience in sector specific or multi-sector project management and implementation, must be able to read, write, and speak fluent English; fluent in host country language, experience operating in insecure environments, and experience working in a non-governmental organization (NGO) (Academy for Educational Development, 2011).

          Learning about these three international organizations has been interesting.  It is encouraging to me as an early childhood professional to know that what others in the field are doing for the children of our world. 

References

Academy for Educational Development. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.aed.org/en/index.htm

Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.unicef.org/