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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. 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 personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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

For every child, hope

UNICEF in the State of Palestine works to uphold the rights of children to access essential services and protection, from early childhood through adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential. Following the escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF is responding at scale with Education, WASH, Nutrition, Health, Child Protection and Multi-Purpose Cash, while preparing for return to learning for children across the State of Palestine to respond to the most precent and critical needs of children, while supporting the restoration of essential services.

Working closely with the Special Representative, you will be responsible for supporting the coordination, management and planning activities in a systematic and organized manner; managing an effective system for incoming information, including correspondence, decision memos and other institutional documents that together constitute an important part of the organisation’s archive; and lastly, drafting the work plans, annual reports, correspondence and other planning documents pertaining to the goals of the team. In the course of fulfilling the functions of the role, travel to Gaza may be necessary.

Your key accountabilities and duties:

Support to office priority setting and decision making

- Assist in managing the flow of information to the Special Representative, in identifying priority matters that need to be urgently addressed by the supervisor and in proposing actions; analyze supporting documentation and summarize most relevant points for the supervisor; contribute to ensuring that appropriate action is taken by responsible section/division heads on matters brought to the attention of the supervisor.

- Confer with section/division Heads to secure timely and authoritative information relevant to matters requiring action, decisions or approval of the Special Representative.

- Ensure that the supervisor is prepared for meetings (EMT, CRT, UNCT, SMT etc) and missions by drafting talking points, preparing briefing notes in advance and by researching relevant information; and by establishing contacts (within and outside UNICEF) on the subject matters to be discussed.

- Accompany the Special Representative to meetings and on missions in order to prepare notes on the discussions, ensure follow-up in matters raised, action points are addressed, and support the supervisor with any relevant input.

- Contribute to coordinating drafts of position papers and other documents relevant to the activities of the office.

- Ensure that high-level visitors are appropriately addressed, that they receive background information as  necessary, and that protocol is respected.

- Develop and maintain a monitoring system to store, retrieve and track critical correspondence, decisions, memoranda and other documents of the office.

Support to office planning and operations

- Research, collect and synthesize qualitative and quantitative information and data to support the establishment of comprehensive and evidence-based information for developing annual work-plans.

- Collect, draft and/or organize materials and related documentations for office strategies to ensure optimum impact, scale and sustainability of achievements/results.

- Assess and/or recommend appropriate information and materials for office initiatives verifying accuracy and quality for dissemination.

Support to events, meetings and conferences

- Prepare, distribute and maintain office event calendars ensuring key organisational and partner events, priorities and deadlines are reflected and updated as required.

- Contribute to preparations of logistics for events involving senior management participation. By participating in such meetings, follow up on the implementation of recommendations and actions by the relevant offices.

- Coordinate preparation of background documents and material for these meetings

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

Education:

A university degree is required in International Relations, Political Science, Public Administration, or another relevant technical field.

Experience:

A minimum of two years of relevant professional work experience in external relations, public affairs or international development cooperation, preferably within the UN, or in a government institution, NGO

Prior experience of working in coordination, planning, or in an executive office will be a critical asset.

Language Requirement:

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language, in particular Arabic, is considered as an asset.

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 (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will 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.

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.

In the current evolving emergency context, this position will be based in Gaza where medical facilities have been negatively affected and individual chronic and/or serious medical conditions cannot be adequately addressed.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

This is required for all posts requiring a higher education degree. “UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/”

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

The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates)

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.

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.