UNICEF Careers

Advocacy and Communication are at the centre of UNICEF’s mandate. You will contribute to creating lasting change for children ESAR region wide advocating for their rights, building partnerships, and shaping futures through innovative solutions and impactful action. Accountable for developing, implementing, managing, and monitoring a regional advocacy and communication strategies and associated products, partnerships, and activities. Support resource mobilization, global priorities, and campaign initiatives, especially those of importance to the work of the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Advise, provide guidance, and build communication and advocacy capacity of staff and others throughout the region. Co-ordinate and guide regional monitoring and evaluation of communication. Provide recommendations on global, regional, and country communication and advocacy policy development, and lead on crisis communication for the region. Advise on the articulation of policies and strategies, with an emphasis on key priorities for the region, including education, health, climate, protection, HIV and gender equality and equity.  

• Management:  The human resources (the communication and advocacy team) and financial resources (budget planning, management, and monitoring) for the region’s communication and advocacy are both effectively managed and optimally used.  
• Communication and advocacy strategy:  The Regional Office has a clear, regional communication and advocacy strategy to highlight children’s issues to external audiences, strengthen political will in support of UNICEF's mission and objectives. Build awareness, understanding, support and respect for children’s and women’s rights; UNICEF's work for children's rights are kept on the policy agenda; and the organization’s credibility and brand are enhanced.
• Capacity building and technical support: Opportunities to build communication and advocacy capacity among regional and country communication and advocacy staff, other colleagues, media, and other relevant partners are regularly identified and addressed. Regional policy guidance, advice and technical support are provided to regional and country offices in communication and advocacy on an ongoing basis.
• Resource mobilization support: Regional support and response to global, regional and country level fund-raising activities led by the partnerships team, are effectively provided and coordinated, keeping GCA, PFP, PPD and EMOPS informed, and country offices receive required advice and support.
• Monitoring and evaluation: Effective advice is provided to country communication and advocacy teams for monitoring and evaluating their communication and advocacy activities; regional communication and advocacy strategies and activities are monitored and evaluated; regional results and lessons learned are identified, collated, and shared with communication and advocacy colleagues in the region and GCA in a timely manner. Opportunities for continuous improvement in communication and advocacy efforts are identified and shared.
• Networking and partnerships: Partnerships and networks are maintained and developed with key communication agencies, journalists, advocacy networks, UN communication colleagues and other relevant partners including key internal divisions including GCA, Programmes and National Committees.
• Regional and Global priorities and campaigns: Leads the implementation of regional advocacy strategies and actions, including campaign initiatives. Amplification and adaptation of global advocacy priorities (GAPs) as and when relevant for the region. 
• Internal Communication and Staff Engagement: provide strategic advice on strengthening the internal, two way communication with staff across the region and Regional Office, promoting inclusive, transparent, and constructive exchanges, advance programmatic priorities, and co-create a values-based organizational culture.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• Advanced university degree in Communication and advocacy, Journalism, Public Relations, or other related fields of disciplines.
• Or an undergraduate degree plus at least 12 years of demonstrated professional experience in the field of journalism, communications and advocacy, external relations, public affairs, public relations or corporate communications and advocacy.

Work Experience

• Ten years of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience.
• International and national work experience in both developed and developing countries.
• Professional experience in communication and advocacy, advocacy, print, broadcast, new media.
• Background/familiarity with Emergency situations.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

The role involves extensive programme development, planning, and management, with a focus on enhancing mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for children and families in humanitarian and development contexts. Key responsibilities include supporting the development of MHPSS proposals and partnerships with a range of stakeholders, including UN agencies, civil society, governments, and academic institutions. This work aims to build innovative, impactful projects that contribute to global evidence and improve practice. The position also involves advising on donor relations, particularly with GIZ and BHA, ensuring alignment with UNICEF's Strategic Plan and international standards, and contributing to monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on UNICEF’s MHPSS work, both internally and externally.

The role further includes providing technical support for the development and evaluation of new MHPSS interventions, ensuring they incorporate the latest scientific and practice-based evidence. This includes work on interventions like mhGAP for mental health in primary healthcare settings and BLOOM for young children. The position also offers support to regional and country offices in adapting and implementing MHPSS interventions, and ensuring they are integrated with other sectors. Advocacy is a key component, with responsibilities for global coordination, networking, and representing UNICEF at high-level forums to elevate the organization’s leadership in MHPSS for children and families. Additionally, the role involves leading innovation and knowledge management efforts by facilitating the roll-out of new MHPSS interventions, collating evidence on their effectiveness, and ensuring that knowledge is shared and used to improve practice at regional and country levels.

The following minimum requirements:

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: psychology, social work or other relevant social welfare, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in mental health, social work, MHPSS and/other related areas at national or international levels, most of which were served in humanitarian contexts is required.
• Experience in intervention development and evaluation required

The objectives of the study are to:

• Analyse available data sources to understand the nutritional status of school-age children and adolescents, disaggregating the data across demographic factors to identify trends and gaps.
• Collect and analyze data on dietary intake and school-age children and adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes on nutrition to inform targeted interventions and policies.
• Collect and analyze data to better understand the status of school food and nutrition environments including food availability and affordability.
• Review and evaluate existing policies, legislation, and programs including youth-led initiatives aimed at malnutrition prevention among school-age children and adolescents, identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement.
• Identify key stakeholders across relevant sectors involved in malnutrition prevention efforts, mapping out their roles and influence to facilitate collaboration and collective action.
• Estimate the total cost of recommended interventions to improve the nutrition of school-age children and adolescents.

Work Experience

• The consultant should have experience in quantitative and qualitative primary data collection, managing field workers including their training, literature review, and writing peer-reviewed articles in the field of public health nutrition, and childhood malnutrition prevention in low-income countries. Excellent documentation and report writing skills (in English and French) and the ability to work in a multicultural environment is necessary.
• Experience working in ESAR Region, in school environments, and for UN agencies (especially UNICEF) will be considered an asset.

Specific requirements for the consultant:

• Essential: Proficiency in English and French is required; experience of a minimum of 10 years in quantitative and qualitative research; field worker management, including training; releasing studies on childhood malnutrition prevention, policy, and programme design for the prevention of malnutrition; stakeholder engagement; intervention costing experience.
• Desirable: Knowledge of school-age children and adolescent nutrition, and school nutrition environments.

Specific activities include:

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of technical assistance demand, requirements, and current status in ESAR.
• Prepare an analysis/report with recommendations for coordinating and scaling support to build capacity for quality technical assistance in digital health programs across ESAR.
• Provide technical support to enhance sustainable digital health systems in ESAR countries, focusing on program design, monitoring, and quality assurance.
• Review and analyze digital health inventories, including UNICEF’s invent.unicef.org and other regional mapping tools. Leverage existing work by UNICEF and partners to establish a baseline for evaluating digital systems for common use cases, public health emergencies, and health system strengthening. Identify data gaps in the invent.unicef.org database and conduct additional mapping as needed, integrating findings back into the inventory.
• Conduct a desk review of self-reported data, data pipelines, and reporting processes on digital health readiness from ESAR countries, using the Global Digital Health Monitor. The goal is to streamline, strengthen, and address gaps in reporting.
• Contribute to regional and country office resource mobilization, and integration of digital health priorities into national planning and budgeting exercises.
• Document best practices and evidence generation for digital health, develop knowledge products, and organize workshops/webinars/learning sessions within UNICEF. Promote a community of practice on Digital Health in collaboration with the UNICEF global digital health community.
• Participate in regular meetings to provide updates and share insights and reflections on country digital health programmes coordination and implementation.
•  Work relationships: The consultant will report directly to the HSS Specialist (HSS/PHC), ESARO Health section, but will liaise regularly with the Regional T4D Manager and global DH&IS team. Other important relationships will be with the digital health focal points in each ESAR Country Office, the T4D leads and Digital Health Hub in the Office of Innovation.

Minimum Qualification required:

• Advanced university degree (Master's) or equivalent professional experience in health informatics, public health/medicine, development studies, geography, economics or related field is required. A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

 Knowledge/Experience/ Expertise required:

• Minimum 8 years of work experience at the international and/or national level in digital health, especially on the deployment of information systems and digital solutions. 
• Experience in providing technical assistance and thought leadership surrounding the design and implementation of digital solutions for health system strengthening, routine immunization, community health information systems, and use of geospatial solutions for health programmes, including application of recommended Health Information System architectures and standards.
• Knowledge and experience in community health/primary health care programmes is essential.
• Experience designing and supporting digital health projects with Governments (esp. Ministries of Health).
• Experience with project management and proven ability to translate complex ideas from various areas into unified, clear guidance.

In addition, your responsibilities include: 

• At UNICEF, we are seeking dynamic candidates to coordinate and engage on XVAX-Network related work with external immunization stakeholders and other UNICEF HQ teams. This role involves the development of specific components of the pandemic response Playbook, focusing on identifying critical interventions required from day zero. Your contributions will be instrumental in shaping our pandemic preparedness and response strategies.
• Additionally, this position emphasizes knowledge management, capacity building, and innovation. You will have the opportunity to advocate, network, and build partnerships with key partners in the XVAX-Network. We are looking for individuals who are passionate about making a difference in global health and immunization, and who thrive in collaborative, fast-paced environments. Join us in our mission to safeguard children's health worldwide.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• A medical or advanced university degree in public health, health research, global / international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or another relevant technical field or another relevant technical field is required. 

Work Experience:

• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in public health planning and management, immunization, or health emergency and humanitarian preparedness and response, at either the national or international level is required.

Scope of Work

• Goal and objective: The Consultant will work on deliverables related to data analysis and visualization under the supervision of the monitoring manager.
• Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: The deliverables will facilitate the use of monitoring data by programme teams and management.
• Activities and Tasks: The consultant will produce data analysis and visualization products (as described in the Deliverables) for RO and CO programme teams and management.
•  Work relationships: The consultant will primarily work with the PPM team in the Regional Office and liaise with other teams as needed.

Education: A Bachelor’s Degree in the social sciences, data science, management, development sciences, public health, education, economics, public policy, statistics, research methods, or similar is required.  

Work Experience

• A minimum of three years of professional experience with data analysis and visualization is required.
• Technical knowledge and skills in the development and use of PowerBI dashboards are required
• Existing knowledge of UNICEF datasets is an advantage

 Digital Transformation and Innovation Strategies

• Provide leadership to development of DX and innovation strategies at RO and CO level; including governance and management, Innovation Portfolio approaches, partnerships and resource mobilization, assessment of gaps, opportunities and scale-up strategy in support of CO priorities.

Participation in programme and management processes

• Integrate innovation into the programme planning lifecycle. Align with programme priorities (e.g. AWP) and attend planning meetings (PCM) to exercise functional accountabilities.

Leadership and Quality Assurance

• Oversee development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of innovation initiatives; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation and support mechanisms.

Manage the Innovation function, and provide technical and programmatic support:

• Business Relationship Management
• Manage Business and Programme Relationship services to define high-level requirements; document and match requirements and guide the design, development and deployment of appropriate Innovative solutions.

Portfolio Coordination

• Lead deployment of the Innovation portfolio approach to solutions prioritised for UNICEF programming

Support and assist design of Innovation interventions

• Provide support and technical assistance to the Country Office in the identification, selection, concept design, deployment and sustainability of Innovation interventions to address bottlenecks towards the achievement of programme results.

 Identify and assess new Innovations

• Assist programme sections to identify and assess new initiatives, or new phases of on-going initiatives, with immediate potential to improve UNICEF programming.

Solution procurement and evaluation

• Assist the review of technical solutions to ensure UNICEF standards are followed; contribute to project management processes, generation and review of terms of reference and vendor selection.

Deployment advice and support

• Advisory and assistance with implementation strategy, including technical oversight, troubleshooting and the documentation of challenges and resolutions.

Design thinking

• Support human/user-centred design methods to enable user-acceptance testing, evaluation, documentation and analysis.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

• Education : Advanced university degree in International Affairs, International Relations, International Development, Business Management, Computer Science, Data Science, Information Management, or related practical experience
• Work Experience: A minimum of five years of professional experience in ICT management, business analysis or similar, in a large international organization and/or corporation.
• Experience with Programme, Digital, Product and / or Data Innovations in low bandwidth settings is required.
• Experience identifying, designing, and implementing solutions for large-scale projects with technical components – including supervising external vendors; responsibility for business analysis, budgets, contracts, project management and procurement is required.

Join UNICEF as an Education Specialist ERT and make a significant impact on education in emergencies! Working under the Senior Education Advisor, you'll help develop, implement, and evaluate emergency education strategies, ensuring compliance with UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children. You'll collaborate with headquarters and regional offices to enhance our capacity for effective educational support during Level 2 and 3 emergencies. Expect to be deployed approximately 70% of the time, working in challenging conditions to deliver high-impact interventions and guide local teams. When not deployed, you'll contribute to ongoing education initiatives, making this a dynamic and fulfilling role for those dedicated to improving children's learning in crisis situations.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

As an Education Specialist ERT, you will play a crucial role in enhancing education in emergency contexts by conducting thorough situation analyses and strengthening education information systems. You will support country offices in consolidating data to inform education responses, advising on additional information needs, and conducting field visits to assess program progress and address challenges. Your collaboration with country, regional, and headquarters teams will help develop effective education policies and strategies that align with national priorities and emergency needs, while also identifying capacity development opportunities for UNICEF staff and partners.

In addition to strategic development, you will identify resource needs, promote partnerships with relevant agencies, and lead efforts in monitoring and evaluating emergency responses. You will work to improve UNICEF’s emergency response systems by addressing institutional bottlenecks and ensuring high-quality contributions to education in emergencies. By designing training programs and supporting emergency preparedness plans, you will help build the capacity to respond effectively in crisis situations. When not deployed, you will also engage in regular education initiatives, contributing your expertise to ongoing programs.

The following minimum requirements:

An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, economics, psychology, sociology, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in programme management or advisory support in the area of education assessment, programming or policy work at national level, at least 3 years of which at international level, is required.
• Experience in emergency settings (preparedness and response) required.

Desirables/Assets:

• Relevant experience in education programme/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Experience with the IASC Cluster approach desired.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required (verbal and written) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is considered an asset.

Activities and Tasks:

• The consultant will develop a resource package for UNICEF Country Office staff and UNICEF implementing partners on how to systematically integrate PSEA in public health emergency response and preparedness efforts. The resource material will comprise presentations with training guides for UNICEF staff and UNICEF implementing partners, as well as a list of key resources that can be used by COs and IPs staff to complete key tasks in PHEs, including SEA risk assessment, inclusion of PSEA/safeguarding into response and preparedness plans, and integration of PSEA/safeguarding considerations in RCCE activities. Furthermore, the package will include a checklist to monitor the integration of PSEA into PHE response and preparedness efforts.
• The consultant will also collect lessons learned and promising practices in the region on the integration of PSEA in PHEs and will develop a summary document featuring at least four countries' practices or lessons learned.

Desired competencies, technical background and experience

• Education: Advanced degree Social Science, International Relation, Human Rights or related field. A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

Required:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience on PSEA / safeguarding.
• Demonstrated experience of work in PSEA/safeguarding in emergency.
• Experience in developing technical tools, guidance notes, training material on PSEA/safeguarding.
• Availability to travel to target countries.