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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, dedication.

The Representative serves as the accredited representative of UNICEF in the country and reports to the Regional Director for general direction and oversight. The Representative is responsible for establishing dialogue with the Government to develop the framework of cooperation in the country and for working closely and collaboratively with the Government and national institutions, stakeholders and partners, to develop the Government-UNICEF Country Programme of Cooperation in active support of efforts to advance children’s rights as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, other international treaties/frameworks, the SDGs, and UN intergovernmental bodies.

As head of a Country Office, the Representative is responsible for providing leadership and vision to the UNICEF team in managing and leveraging resources for the achievement of results and realization of the rights of children. The Representative leads and oversees the various programme sectors and operations teams ensuring delivery of quality results in accordance with UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework, ethics and integrity. The Representative is accountable for upholding UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability, and ensuring the establishment and maintenance of a non-discriminatory, inclusive and nurturing working environment for all staff and personnel, to enable them to effectively and efficiently deliver high-quality results for children.

How can you make a difference?

• Developing and planning the Country Programme 
• Leading and managing the Country Office 
• Monitoring and quality control of the Country Programme 
• Representation and external relations at global/regional and national level 
• Delivering high quality results for children, including in a complex operating environment 
• Support to the Resident Coordinator and UN Country Team to advance the UN Cooperation Framework 
• Leading resource mobilization efforts and nurturing and strengthening partnerships 
• Leading innovation, knowledge management and capacity building 
• Safety, security and well-being of staff, programmes and organizational assets 

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

Qualifications

• An Advanced University Degree in social sciences, international relations, government and public relations, public or social policy, sociology, social or community development or other related fields, is required.
• A minimum of Thirteen (13) years professional development experience that combines intellectual and managerial leadership in development cooperation at the international level, some of which served in developing countries and complex humanitarian settings is required. Relevant professional experience in any UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

Person Profile:

• A high visibility UN humanitarian and development systems which requires excellent understanding of principles, policies and procedures, rules and regulations and ability to apply these innovatively.
• Ability to manage a complex humanitarian response, staff health and safety and multifaceted security situations.
• Politically astute with the appropriate political and cultural acumen and experience to influence, advocate and collaborate with senior level partners and counterparts.
• Ability and experience to work in fast changing political situations and other challenges that require capacity and experience to make socio-political assessment and its implications on UNICEF programming and act as appropriate.
• Excellent leadership, managerial and people skills, with particular strengths in supporting, nurturing, motivating and engaging diverse teams and individual personnel.
• Strong negotiation skills, maturity and sensitivity to handle demanding stakeholder relationships in a highly complex environment.
• Previous experience in complex emergencies.
• Capacity to work under pressure in difficult security situation and in a rapidly changing environment.

Country Typology:

• Country Income Level: Afghanistan is a low-income country.
• Duty Station: Kabul is an “E”, non-family, and emergency duty station with R&R.
• Office Size: 594 staff with 13 field offices.
• Annual Budget: ranges from $500m to $1.5b.
• Schooling: N/A

Brief country context:

Afghanistan a landlocked country has a population estimated at 44.5 million (OCHA 2023), with around 15.4 million (6-17 years, school-aged children), and around 8 million children under the age of five. It has an important geostrategic location, with significant regional dynamics that affect its politics and security, which has led to suffering from the consequences of four decades of conflict. The change in administration in August 2021 to the Taliban led De-facto Authority (DfA) and the pull-out of international forces marked a significant decrease in military operations in the Country, though security threats persist with pockets of attacks from several armed groups.

The country continues to face weak governance, deep inequities in resource distribution, international conditionalities and sanctions, and a high proportion of the population with poor access to basic social services. Afghanistan continues to face human right challenges due to the impact of the DfA’s policies on adolescent girls’ and women’s rights to education and employment. In 2026, around 22 million people, including 11.6 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance due mainly to the residual impacts of a protracted conflict, extreme climate shocks and the country's severe economic decline, which is characterized by high unemployment and a fragile recovery. This is worsened by the return of more than 6 million Afghan returnees, more than 60% families with children, from Iran and Pakistan since 2023.

Afghanistan is the third largest recipient of overseas development assistance and is highly aid-dependent (OECD, 2021), and according to the Word Bank, 54 percent of Afghans live below the poverty line. Nearly 70% (around 15 million) children live in multidimensional poverty. Following the DfA 2021 takeover, the Afghan economy went into a free fall for months after the abrupt cut of development aid. Late in 2022, the economy began stabilizing with DfA restrictions on smuggled imports, limits on banking transactions, and inflow of humanitarian aid, and in 2023 the economy witnessed stabilizing exchange rates and the rise of trade in exports.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

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

Competencies 

• Builds and maintains partnerships (level III) 
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (level III) 
• Drive to achieve results for impact (level III) 
• Innovates and embraces change (level III) 
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (level III) 
• Thinks and acts strategically (level III) 
• Works collaboratively with others (level III) 
• Nurtures, leads and manages people (level III) 

To view our competency framework, please visit here. 

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 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. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. 

Remarks

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

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also 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 cancelled.