Current vacancies

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, hope 

UNICEF Gulf Area Office (GAO) supports the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its line ministries and authorities to advance the rights of children under the framework of a Gulf Area Programme (2019-2023).  Through this framework, UNICEF GAO signed AWPs with its partners in the UAE, the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood (SCMC) and Sharjah Child Friendly Office (SCFO) to work on key areas in collaboration with different authorities (both public and private) to implement programmes on Early Childhood Development (ECD 1000 days), Child Protection, Data, and Child Friendly City Initiative (CFCI).

One of the key UNICEF programmes in UAE is Child Protection. With COVID19 pandemic that impacted children and adolescents worldwide, UNICEF expanded its programming engagement in the country, to include child protection related issues which addresses issues such as child protection online, mental health and psychosocial support, social work force strengthening and overall strengthening of child protection systems. Other areas include supporting overall policy reforms and capacity in the area of early childhood development and data for children. Other key partners that UNICEF is currently engaged with include Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Interior, Department of Community Development among others.

An area of key of focus in UNICEF’s collaboration with SCMC, MOE and other partners in the UAE is anti-bullying.  The UAE Programme for the Prevention of Bullying in the School Environment started in 2014 in cooperation between the UNICEF GAO, SCMC and MOE. The partner institutions carried out an assessment of the school environment in the UAE to develop a framework for the protection and safety in the school and learning environment. The programme was evaluated in 2023 and the findings of the evaluation was very positive. Based on the evaluation, partners in the UAE are working towards expanding the programme. A draft plan for scaling up the programme has been prepared and is awaiting finalization by the lead partner SCMC. Meanwhile, SCMC is making efforts towards the implementation of the plan.

UNICEF strives to promote child and youth participation in all that we do. For example, in 2023, UNICEF was actively engaged with key partners, including the MOE, for advocacy for child rights and for promoting children’s participation at COP 28. One of the key actions in this area of work was the appointment of UNICEF Youth Advocates. UNICEF will continue to support adolescent and youth engagement as a strategy for enriching its programmatic approaches, including for anti-bullying.

UNICEF is seeking a consultant to be based in the UAE to work with the programme team in Abu Dhabi to support its work centred on anti-bullying and adolescent/ youth engagement.

How can you make a difference? 

The consultancy seeks to deepen and strengthen UNICEF’s contribution in the country towards realizing child rights and child protection, with a special focus on anti-bullying and youth engagement.

The consultant will be responsible for the following Tasks:

 1.Roll out of the scale up plan for anti-bullying through technical support and in person support in briefings, trainings, and preparation of documents. This includes:

- Review any available internationally produced materials on Antibullying by UNICEF, Save the Children, Oxfam, international organizations….etc;

- Update the existing antibullying training materials based on the review and on the Antibullying manual developed by UNICEF, SCMC and MoE;

- Facilitate, attend, and coordinate consultation meetings with partners

- Deliver training sessions on AB for school personnel (teachers, psychologists, social workers, nurses) in English and Arabic;

- Ensure effective and smooth running of the training sessions.

2. Support work around youth advocates through coordinating their work, providing mentoring support and providing necessary guidance

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

-Education: A minimum of a master’s degree in social work, social sciences, related fields

-Experience: Demonstrable at least 5 years’ experience in the field of child protection, anti-bullying and youth engagement.

-Prior experience of working directly with children, preferred.

-Pervious experiences and exposure to the Arab/Gulf region context

-Skills: Demonstrable expertise in communication and presentation skills and ability to interact professionally with government officials. Ability to work within an international and multicultural environment.

 -Language: Fluent in Arabic and English (written and spoken).

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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. 

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.