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, the right to Educate

The Gulf Area Office (GAO) engages strategically with state and institutional donors across the GCC to mobilize humanitarian and development resources in complex and politically sensitive environments. Given evolving regional geopolitical dynamics and increasing humanitarian needs globally, there is a need for strengthened partnership role with humanitarian and risks analysis expertise that can work on risk-informed donor positioning, and proactive funding engagement. This position will enhance the capacity to translate crisis analysis into strategic donor engagement, mobilize timely and flexible funding, and ensure alignment between humanitarian response priorities and donor sensitivities.

 

How can you make a difference? 

Under the supervision of the GAO Director, the Partnerships Manager – Humanitarian Action will lead engagement with state and institutional donors on humanitarian contexts in GAO. The incumbent will bridge crisis analysis, response readiness, and partner-facing narrative development to mobilize flexible funding while safeguarding UNICEF’s strategic positioning.

 

Key Functions, Accountabilities and Related Duties

 

1. Donor Engagement

• Lead mapping, prioritization, and segmentation of GCC state and institutional donors.
• Develop and implement context-sensitive humanitarian engagement strategies aligned with UNICEF response priorities.
• Expand and maintain strategic relationships with governments, regional development institutions, and other key stakeholders.

2. Humanitarian Resource Mobilization

• Translate crisis analysis and response scenarios into donor-facing funding propositions.
• Support the development of humanitarian appeals, concept notes, and flexible funding requests.
• Coordinate preparation of funding proposals and donor reports.
• Contribute to anticipatory financing positioning where relevant.

3. Political and Risk Analysis & Reporting

• Monitor political, conflict, and geopolitical dynamics relevant to humanitarian contexts and funding.
• Ensure political risk analysis informs engagement strategies and external messaging.
• Align humanitarian messaging with donor sensitivities and geopolitical considerations.
• Screen and respond to inquiries from potential partners and facilitate coordination with relevant UNICEF staff.
• Prepare periodic updates on progress, funding pipelines, and risk analysis.
• Track humanitarian funding trends, commitments, and gaps across priority contexts.
• Contribute inputs to corporate reporting, internal dashboards, and senior management briefings as required.

 

4. Senior Management Support

• Produce concise, decision-ready briefs.
• Provide strategic support for high-level engagements with partners.
• Maintain updated knowledge of partner priorities and contribute to institutional knowledge management.

5. Advocacy, Visibility and Accountability

• Contribute to engagement strategies and development of advocacy and communication materials.
• Strengthen funding-relevant accountability frameworks, including impact framing and reporting alignment.
• Support visibility and influence efforts with existing and prospective partners.

6. Coordination and Reporting

• Liaise with Headquarters, Regional and Country Offices on humanitarian proposals and donor engagement.

 

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:
Advanced university degree in International Relations, Political Science, Security Studies, Public Policy, or a related field.

Work Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in humanitarian political analysis, donor engagement or a related field.
• Proven experience in geopolitical and  conflict analysis, as well as risk-informed narrative development and scenario planning.

• Strong analytical and drafting skills, with ability to produce concise leadership-ready briefs.
• Capacity in humanitarian diplomacy and strategic donor positioning.
• Strong coordination and stakeholder management skills.

 

Languages:
Fluency in Arabic and English languages is required.

 

 

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 

[add the 8^th competency (Nurtures, 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.

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.

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.