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For every child, the right to support

In Lao PDR, UNICEF works in partnership with the Government of Lao PDR and partners to promote and protect the rights of children and women in Lao PDR. With over 50 years of service, we are one of the longest-serving international organisations in the country.

Visit unicef.org/Laos to learn more about what we do at UNICEF in Lao PDR.

How can you make a difference? 

UNICEF in Vientiane, Lao PDR is looking for National Consultant for Child Wellbeing Advocacy. The duration of this assignment is 4 months, starting as soon as possible and the consultant shall be home based.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Communication & Advocacy, the consultant will develop two advocacy strategies and deliver the advocacy products that apply them. Each strategy is to be a concise, operational document a prioritised advocacy agenda and a costed action plan, not a literature review aligned to the Country Programme Document 2027–2031.

Deliverables run partly in parallel; the input days shown in the work assignment table represent total effort, not consecutive blocks. Materials for National Assembly, Provincial People's Assembly and line-ministry audiences are to be produced in Lao and English.

1. Child marriage advocacy strategy

• Develop UNICEF Lao PDR's advocacy strategy on ending child, early and forced marriage. Lao PDR has the highest child marriage rate in East Asia and the Pacific, with 33 per cent of young women married before 18 and rates above 50 per cent among girls with no education, some ethnic groups and the poorest households.
• Build the strategy on the available evidence: the Political Economy Analysis, the cost-of-child-marriage analysis, the localized investment case, and the social and gender norms study.
• Map audiences and asks across the Government and Mass organisations, donors, media and communities.
• Anchor the strategy in the policy hooks available: the National Plan of Action on EVAW/EVAC (2026–2030), the 10th NSEDP, obligations under the CRC and CEDAW, the ASEAN regional work plan on ending violence against women and children, and the endorsed national life skills guidelines.
• Address known sensitivities and guide communication and engagement activities.
• Draft the advocacy products identified in the strategy, such as the ministry-facing budget brief linked to the NPA on EVAW/EVAC and briefing materials for NCAWMC coordination meetings.

2. Nutrition advocacy strategy, with domestic financing at its core

• Develop UNICEF Lao PDR's nutrition advocacy strategy, organised around securing reliable domestic financing for nutrition and covering stunting, which affects one in three children under five, alongside wasting, which has risen from 5 to approximately 11 per cent over fourteen years, and maternal nutrition.
• Build the strategy on the CNF nutrition landscape and expenditure analysis, the nutrition-responsive budgeting and financial tracking work undertaken with the SUN Movement Secretariat, routine coverage data, and LECS7 child poverty data.
• Set out the financing asks and messaging with key partners.
• Align the strategy with the National Nutrition Strategy 2026–2035 and its Action Plan 2026–2030, the National Nutrition Committee, the National Nutrition Forum, the Essential Medicines List, enforcement of the national decree on breastmilk substitutes, and the national social protection registry.
• Set out how UNICEF advocacy complements the World Bank HANSA II and RRPM II programmes, the ADB BRRRP programme, SUN CSA Laos and other partners, so that advocacy reinforces rather than duplicates theirs.
• Draft the advocacy products identified in the strategy, such as an advocacy brief on including nutrition services and essential commodities in sectoral budgets.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  TOR National Consultant Advocacy Specialist for VA.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• A Bachelors degree in Communication, public policy, political science, development studies, social sciences, public health, law, or a related field. An advanced university degree is desirable.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in advocacy, public policy, government relations or strategic communication, of which at least three years in Lao PDR. Demonstrated experience authoring advocacy, policy engagement or influencing strategies for an organisation or programme — not only implementing them. Demonstrated experience producing policy briefs, investment cases or budget advocacy materials for government audiences. Demonstrated experience designing and delivering orientation or capacity-building sessions for senior government or elected officials.
• Fluency in Lao (native or near-native, written and spoken) and professional working proficiency in English. The consultant will draft in both languages; materials for National Assembly, Provincial People’s Assembly and line-ministry audiences will be produced in Lao.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to structure an advocacy strategy: to set priorities among competing asks, to identify the decision-maker and decision point for each, and to express the result as a costed action plan rather than a list of activities. Working knowledge of Lao PDR governance structures, including the oversight and budget approval role of the National Assembly and the Provincial People’s Assemblies, and of the redistribution of ministerial mandates under the 2025 machinery-of-government reforms. Demonstrated ability to convert technical evidence — costing studies, expenditure analysis, political economy analysis — into concise, decision-ready policy asks. Orientation and workshop design and facilitation. Stakeholder coordination across government, UN agencies and development partners. Excellent drafting and editing in Lao and English.

Desirables:

Advanced university degree. Prior working relationship with NCAWMC, the Lao Women’s Union, the Lao Youth Union or the National Assembly Secretariat. Familiarity with public finance for children (PF4C) approaches. Prior UN or international organisation experience. Working knowledge of the child protection or nutrition sectors. Experience with multi-donor programmes and their visibility and recognition requirements.

 

Submission of applications:

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents:

• Letter of Interest (cover letter)
• CV or Resume
• Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including medical insurance with medivac, travel and accommodation cost for this assignment as per work assignment. Please find the Financial Template for your completion and upload:  Financial Proposal Template.doc

 

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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:  

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.

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.