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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, Access 

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Ethiopia has been going through multiple, overlapping and recurring shocks since the onset of COVID- 19 followed by conflict, climate-related disasters, internal displacement, refugee influx, and economic and fiscal deterioration – all of which have had, and continue to have, negative impacts on the most vulnerable households and children. Social Protection, both through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) and through Humanitarian Cash Transfers (HCT) – both government-led and supported by UNICEF and other development partners – has been a major response to the crises experienced in Ethiopia since 2020.

Acknowledging the multifaceted barriers families and children face, UNICEF Ethiopia is determined to not only advocate for their rights but also to enhance their inclusion across all societal dimensions and support them to build resilience. To this end, the Social Policy section is set to enlist the expertise of an international consultant.

The consultant is anticipated to support overview of contracts with financial service providers to design and deliver financial inclusion services, including linkage of cash transfer and other program beneficiaries to uncollateralized microloans through a revolving fund for livelihood support/restoration and resilience-building.

Scope of Work:

Through the Government of Ethiopia, including federal, regional and community levels of administration, UNICEF has implemented humanitarian cash transfers over the past four years in response to the multiple and overlapping shocks experienced. With the view and overarching need to sustain the social protection gains, a move towards innovative financing, economic inclusion, and economic empowerment becomes a major thrust. This involves adapting the ongoing humanitarian cash response to focus on life-saving and traditional cash+ linkages, economic inclusion and individual (and household) economic empowerment. The large-scale humanitarian cash programs continue to be a major intervention to support those most in need. However, the ‘sustainability’ of large-scale cash programming in the current environment, and essentially, the need to leverage the development system to adapt the humanitarian approach, and also, the reverse to adapt the humanitarian response to strengthen a livelihood and individual empowerment-focused social protection approach is needed.

The humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and the drive for durable, localized and flexible solutions, and against the background of extensive consultations with multiple partners and stakeholders (including federal and regional government, shock-affected communities, donors, civil society partners, private sector), has led to a re-think of the existing social protection approach, especially the need to move to greater economic inclusion of affected populations and more innovative means to promote the sustainability of social protection in emergencies. The approach is predicated on economic inclusion interventions intentionally built within the humanitarian and development cash support pipeline and as a nexus towards lifting beneficiaries out of poverty and supporting their resilience-building. The lack of this crucial support to the household predisposes them to eventual negative effects during emergencies and humanitarian situations. Hence the case for more durable, long-term social protection and linkages support that includes facilitating livelihoods, skilling, entrepreneurship, and overall economic inclusion

To be able to implement the above efficiently and effectively and have the programmatic flexibility in ways that create win-win solutions between vulnerable/affected populations, private banks, the federal and regional governments, and UNICEF, UNICEF Ethiopia Country Office has established a direct programmatic engagement with private banks across different regions of the country. Following the establishment of LTAs with assessed and vetted financial service providers (FSPs), UNICEF will be working with the FSPs to develop revolving/loanable funds with support from other stakeholders, including regional bureaus of women and social affairs as needed. These funds will in turn be made available for the most vulnerable households, including IDPs and refugees, as uncollateralized microloans with favorable payment conditions to facilitate their access to financing to kick-start livelihood activities that help them build resilience against ongoing and future shocks.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

• Support the implementation of financial inclusion interventions and improve access of financial products to vulnerable populations across different regions in Ethiopia
• Conduct feasibility, performance and risk assessments of the financial/banking sector
• Support the development and operationalization of revolving funds amongst FSP that hold LTAs with UNICEF
• Support, manage and enhance the potential financial offerings that are agreed upon for financial inclusion and access interventions
• Strengthen partnership, institutional linkages, and working relationships with FSPs
• Provide regular and strategic reporting to UNICEF on all above activities

Deliverables/Outputs:

• 4 quarterly reports on the review of available and potential loan/financing products (20 Days)
• 2 reports submitted bi-annually on the financial/banking sector (10 Days)
• 12 monthly performance reports on the revolving funds (30 Days)
• 1 report on mapping and strategic options (5 Days)
• 2 reports submitted bi-annually as progress and final reports (10 Days)
• Inception, progress and close-out (6 reports) - (30 Days)

Duty Station: Addis Ababa. The assignment will mostly be remote with some travel to the duty station

Notice for consultancy advert:-

Please note that applications submitted without a fee rate will not be considered.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Economics, finance/financial markets, banking, public policy, business administration, or any other relevant social science field.
• A minimum of 7 [Seven] years of relevant professional experience at the international level in banking, engagement with financial service providers in the development context, payment mechanisms for social protection or related fields. Work experience and knowledge of the Humanitarian Cash Transfer programing, youth employment, and resilience-building is an asset.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the legal and regulatory frameworks for governance around financial services, preferably in Ethiopia.
• Strong capacity to work effectively with external government and non-governmental partners and stakeholders.
• Experience in the UN system and knowledge of UNICEF’s work is highly desired
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset. 
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of: 

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1) 
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (1) 
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)  
• Innovates and embraces changes (1)

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates and persons with disability are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. AtIn UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates 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 assignment. It does not apply to consultants 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 consultancy contracts.