Education Infrastructure Engineer

Mission and objectives

With the strong presence on the ground and partnerships with local communities and organizations across multiple sectors, UNICEF aims to reach more children and families. Upholding the humanitarian principles, UNICEF supports integrated, multi-sectoral programming and continues to improve sustained, equitable and safe access to critical basic services in areas where the needs are the highest. UNICEF, in coordination with partners, aims to ensure accountability to affected populations with integration of gender, child safeguarding as well as prevention from sexual exploitation and abuse into its programmes. UNICEF aims to reach children no matter where they are or live.

Context

The protracted crisis in Syria has significantly affected education infrastructure, resulting in damaged, partially functional, and unsafe school facilities across multiple governorates. The Ministry of Education (MoE), with support from development and humanitarian partners, is implementing school rehabilitation and upgrading interventions to ensure safe, inclusive, climate-resilient, and accessible learning environments for children. To strengthen the planning, implementation, quality assurance, and monitoring of school rehabilitation activities, the Ministry of Education seeks a UN Volunteer Specialist (Engineer) who will provide technical expertise throughout the project cycle, including assessments, design review, implementation support, quality monitoring, contractor oversight, and reporting. Preliminary assessments indicate that approximately 6,000 schools across Syria are damaged, partially functional, or non-functional and require varying levels of rehabilitation, reconstruction, safety improvements, and restoration of essential services. Addressing these needs requires strengthened technical capacity within the Ministry to conduct school infrastructure and safety assessments, develop rehabilitation plans, prioritize investments, monitor implementation, and ensure quality assurance of rehabilitation works. As part of the education sector recovery and transformation agenda, the Ministry is leading efforts to restore and strengthen education infrastructure across Syria to ensure that all children have access to safe, inclusive, and conducive learning environments. They are prioritizing the rehabilitation, upgrading, and expansion of education facilities to improve access, reduce overcrowding, enhance safety and accessibility, and support the return of children to school. UNICEF, through the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) System Capacity Grant, is supporting the Ministry in strengthening its institutional and technical capacity in education planning, coordination, and school infrastructure management. To support these efforts, a UNV Specialist (Engineer) will be recruited to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Education in conducting school infrastructure and safety assessments, developing rehabilitation plans and technical specifications, supporting implementation and quality assurance, and strengthening systems for school infrastructure planning and management. The UNV Specialist will provide technical support to the Ministry of Education in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and quality assurance of school rehabilitation projects in accordance with national regulations, international standards, and sector-specific requirements for safe and inclusive learning environments. This support will assist the Ministry in identifying and prioritizing schools that require rehabilitation, while ensuring the technical quality of rehabilitation designs, specifications, and bills of quantities. The UN Volunteer Specialist (Engineer) will support the development of school safety assessment methodologies, rehabilitation planning tools, technical standards, quality assurance mechanisms, and monitoring systems to guide rehabilitation investments across approximately 6,000 damaged and non-functional schools and contribute to the restoration of safe, inclusive, and functional learning environments.

Task Description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of [Chief of Education] or his/her designated mandated representative(s), and under the day-to-day functional guidance of the Director of Planning and International Cooperation, Ministry of Education (or his/her designated representative), the UN Volunteer will support the following: A. School Infrastructure Assessment, Planning and Prioritization

• Conduct technical assessments of school infrastructure, including damaged and non-functional schools.
• Review existing engineering assessments, school condition reports, and other relevant infrastructure data.
• Develop and apply standardized assessment tools and methodologies to evaluate school conditions.
• Verify rehabilitation needs through field visits, site inspections, and stakeholder consultations.
• Support the operation of structural integrity assessment, safety risks, accessibility, WASH facilities, electrical and plumbing systems, classrooms, boundary walls, and other critical infrastructure components.
• Support the revision and endorsement of the School Categorization matrix, which categorizes schools according to rehabilitation requirements, including minor rehabilitation, major rehabilitation, and reconstruction.
• Support school-specific and area-based rehabilitation plans, cost estimates, and technical recommendations.
• Support the preparation of phased rehabilitation plans and investment priorities based on assessment findings and available resources.
• Develop and apply prioritization criteria based on safety risks, student enrolment, returnee populations, infrastructure conditions, and geographic equity considerations. B. Technical Standards, Design Review and Quality Assurance
• Support the development and application of standards for safe, inclusive, child-friendly, accessible, and resilient school rehabilitation.
• Develop standard rehabilitation specifications, technical guidance, tools, and templates.
• Review and validate technical designs, drawings, specifications, Bills of Quantities (BoQs), and rehabilitation proposals submitted by implementing partners and contractors.
• Ensure compliance with national construction codes, school safety standards, accessibility requirements, and relevant environmental and safeguarding requirements.
• Verify the integration of child-friendly school standards, gender-responsive facilities, disability-inclusive design, climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, and WASH requirements.
• Ensure rehabilitation interventions address identified risks and improve the functionality and inclusiveness of learning environments. C. Implementation Support, Monitoring and Supervision Conduct regular site supervision and monitoring visits in collaboration with the Ministry and implementing partners.
• Develop tools for monitoring rehabilitation works adherence to MOE technical specifications and designs.
• Train Ministry key relevant Ministry staff
• Track progress against work plans, milestones, timelines, and quality benchmarks.
• Identify implementation risks, delays, and technical issues and recommend corrective actions.
• Ensure compliance with occupational health, safety, environmental, and safeguarding standards.
• Support final inspections, review snag lists and corrective actions, and verify readiness for handover.
• Conduct technical reviews, field inspections, site verification visits, and completion assessments to support quality assurance processes. D. Infrastructure Data Management, Tracking and Reporting
• Develop and maintain school infrastructure databases, condition assessment records, and rehabilitation tracking systems.
• Support the integration of infrastructure data into EMIS and other Ministry planning systems.
• Develop dashboards, monitoring tools, and checklists for tracking rehabilitation progress and implementation performance.
• Apply GIS-based mapping and analysis to identify infrastructure needs and access gaps.
• Document implementation progress through reports, photographs, site visit records, and field verification reports.
• Prepare regular technical and progress reports, including recommendations and lessons learned.
• Support evidence generation for infrastructure planning, resource mobilization, donor reporting, and decision-making.
• Strengthen documentation, reporting, and knowledge management related to school rehabilitation activities. E. Coordination and Partner Engagement
• Support coordination among the Ministry of Education, implementing partners, contractors, donors, and other stakeholders involved in school rehabilitation.
• Ensure alignment of partner interventions with national priorities, sector plans, and GPE funding frameworks.
• Facilitate technical discussions and information sharing through sector coordination mechanisms, including the Local Education Group (LEG) and relevant working groups.
• Promote harmonized approaches to school rehabilitation planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting. F. Capacity Strengthening and Sustainability
• Assess technical capacity needs of Ministry personnel involved in school infrastructure planning and management.
• Strengthen Ministry capacity in infrastructure assessment, prioritization, technical supervision, quality assurance, and maintenance planning.
• Develop and deliver training programs, guidelines, standard operating procedures, and technical tools related to school rehabilitation.
• Provide on-the-job coaching, mentoring, and technical guidance to Ministry engineers and planning staff.
• Support the institutionalization of school infrastructure planning, monitoring, and asset management processes within Ministry systems.
• Develop recommendations for preventive maintenance and long-term sustainability of school infrastructure investments.
• Support the documentation and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices.

Competencies and values

• Accountability
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Creativity
• Judgement and decision-making
• Planning and organising
• Professionalism
• Self-management

Living conditions and remarks

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. This position is based in Damascus, Syria. National UN Volunteers are expected to be culturally sensitive and adjust to the prevailing culture and traditions. Damascus offers a unique and professionally enriching working environment at an important time of transition and recovery in Syria. The duty station provides opportunities to contribute meaningfully to education, recovery and development efforts, while requiring a high degree of cultural awareness, resilience, flexibility and sound security awareness. Staff should be prepared to live and work in a complex and evolving environment where services and amenities may be limited or disrupted and where operating conditions can change at short notice. Flexibility, and the ability and willingness to live and work in harsh and potentially hazardous conditions – sometimes involving physical hardship and limited comfort – are therefore essential. Benefits Package:

• Entry lump sum (one-time payment): USD 350
• Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): USD 1218.08
• Danger and Hardship Differential depending on the hardship classification and family/non-family status of the duty station.
• Free access to UNV's learning and career development resources For more information on please visit the Entitlements Calculator: https://app.unv.org/calculator.