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Field Support Officer, (NO-2), Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, #132757, [Temp Appointment: until 31-12-2025]

Apply now Job no: 583142
Contract type: Temporary Appointment
Duty Station: Tapachula,Chiapas
Level: NO-2
Location: Mexico
Categories: Programme Management

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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

For every child, results.

Human mobility dynamics in Chiapas underscore a troubling humanitarian crisis, especially affecting children. Between January and August 2024, 108,444 children—including 4,383 unaccompanied children—were recorded transiting through Mexico, marking a 514% increase compared to 2018, illustrating a rapid escalation of child migration in the region. Concurrently, internal displacement due to violence spiked dramatically: in 2024, approximately 26,000 people were forcibly displaced across Mexico—more than double the 11,000 recorded in 2023 with the majority concentrated in Chiapas. These alarming figures reveal that Chiapas is a critical locus where violent displacement and irregular child migration intersect, placing children at grave risk of exploitation, abuse, and rights violations.  

Chiapas remains a critical crossroads for migrants and asylum-seekers stranded amid shrinking mobility options and institutional bottlenecks. Between February and May 2024, Mexican authorities recorded 165,001 migrant encounters in Chiapas; that figure plunged by 93% to just 11,620 for the same period in 2025. Despite fewer people arriving, pressures persist in early August 2025, around 300 migrants began a protest march northward from Tapachula—now aiming for central Mexico rather than the U.S.—citing months-long delays in legalizing their status and securing asylum. The UNHCR reports over 78,900 asylum applications filed in Mexico in 2024, with more than three-quarters originating from southern states like Chiapas.   

For more information related to the work of our organization in Mexico, please visit our website: UNICEF Mexico, the video of our amazing results in 2023: A good six-year term for children: Un buen sexenio para la niñez or read our Annual Report 2023: Informe Anual 2023 UNICEF México.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Field Operations (P-4) and in coordination with the Chief of Field Office (NO-3) in Chiapas, the Field Support Officer (NO-2) is responsible for supporting the management of UNICEF’s programme assigned to this post in the state of Chiapas, as well as overseeing the implementation of UNICEF’s Work Plan on migration.

This implementation-focused role ensures that UNICEF’s strategic vision is translated into meaningful action in Chiapas, encompassing both immediate humanitarian imperatives and longer-term development goals. The officer’s work in monitoring, coordination, and adaptation creates the essential link between urgent emergency response and sustainable programme delivery.   

Key responsibilities include:

  1. Support effective implementation of UNICEF’s programme in Chiapas.
  2. Effective knowledge management systems adopted and utilized to strengthen area/country programme management.
  3. Programme Development and Management.
  4. Oversee that Programme funds are optimally used.
  5. Programme monitoring and evaluations effectively conducted to improve programme performance, and programme status reports timely prepared.
  6. Assure rights based and results-based programming approach fully incorporated into all phases of programme and project processes.
  7. Effective partnerships and collaboration achieved and maintained for advocacy, technical cooperation, programme development/management/coordination, information sharing and networking.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Terms of Reference here: Download File ToR- Field Support Officer (NO-2).pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

  • Education: A university degree (Bachelor's degree), preferably, in one of the following fields: social sciences, international relations, public administration, government, and public relations, public or social policy, sociology, social or community development, or another relevant technical field.
  • Work Experience: A minimum of two (2) years of professional work experience in programme planning, monitoring and/or evaluation.
  • Language Requirements: 
    • Fluency in Spanish
    • Proficiency in English.

Desirables:

  • Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization.

  • Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.

  • Experience in a supervisory role.

  • Experience working in programme and project with a focus on migration.

  • Fluency in English.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

(8Nurtures, leads and manages people) for a supervisory role

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

UNICEF staff members holding fixed-term, continuing, or permanent appointments who are considered to be on abolished post status may apply for this temporary position and, if selected with a start date before 31 December 2025, may take it up as a temporary assignment, in line with UNICEF guidance on separation due to the abolition of posts or staff reduction. They will retain their fixed-term entitlements but will not hold a lien to their abolished post. For other scenarios where a Temporary Assignment may be possible, please refer to Additional guidance on IP to IP temporary assignments after completion of the full TOD.pdf (accessible to UNICEF personnel only).

The conditions of a temporary assignment, including relocation entitlements, will depend on the status of the staff member’s original appointment and may be limited in accordance with applicable UNICEF policies, procedures, and practices in force.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

UNICEF shall not facilitate the issuance of a visa and working authorization for candidates under consideration for positions at the national officer and general service category. As this is a national officer position, we are looking for candidates with Mexican nationality. 

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Advertised: Central Standard Time (Mexico)
Deadline: Central Standard Time (Mexico)

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