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 a Future

UNICEF is the agency of the United Nations mandated to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF strives to establish children’s rights as international standards of behaviour towards children.

The National Committees for UNICEF operate in 32 high income countries as independent civil society organizations that work in partnership with UNICEF to advance children's rights and support UNICEF's mission. Their functions include advocating for increased action by governments and other decision makers to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights nationally and globally.

The National Committee Relations Section (NCR), within UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP) division, is responsible for managing UNICEF’s strategic partnership with the National Committees. Within the NCR section, the Child Rights Advocacy Unit serves as the primary entry point for support to National Committees in their child rights advocacy activities both domestically and globally. The Unit works in close collaboration with all other relevant divisions and offices to ensure that UNICEF delivers on its commitment to provide access to relevant research, evidence, and information in support of National Committee child rights advocacy strategies as mutually agreed in the Joint Strategic Plans (JSPs).

For the purposes of this position, "Foundational advocacy" comprises the work of National Committees around Child Rights Education (CRE) and Child and Youth Participation.

CRE refers to “teaching and learning about the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the ‘child rights approach’– in order to empower both adults and children to take action to advocate for and apply these at the family, school, community, national and global levels.” ‘Child Participation’ refers to the direct involvement in advocacy or decision-making of children under the age of 18, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). ‘Youth engagement’ refers to young adults aged 18 years and above. CYP refers broadly to both.

Platform initiatives are strategic interventions that demonstrate the value of a child rights approach and provide a "platform" for foundational advocacy, including CRE and child participation. The platform initiatives covered by this assignment are:
- Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI);
- Child Rights Schools Initiative (CRSI); and
- Baby-Friendly Hospitals Imitative (BFHI).

How can you make a difference?

Under the overall guidance and direction of the Chief of Child Rights Advocacy, the Advocacy Specialist will be responsible for supporting the National Committees in the design, implementation and monitoring of foundational advocacy and platform initiatives. The position will:

Support foundational advocacy by National Committees, specifically CRE and child and youth participation;
Provide support to National Committees on Platform Initiatives, either directly or through supervising dedicated consultancies when available;
Identify and pursue opportunities for synergies among foundational advocacy and platform initiatives.

MAIN TASKS

1. Support to National Committees on foundational advocacy:

a. Support National Committees in designing, implementing and monitoring Child Rights Education, child participation and youth engagement initiatives.
b. Facilitate the regular interaction of the National Committees through the maintenance of the existing CRE Network and CPYE Working Group, including the organization of regular webinars for mutual information sharing and exchange of rights-based practices.
c. Facilitate the interaction of the National Committees with the key relevant teams in UNICEF headquarters.
d. Proactively share the key global developments in CRE and child and youth participation with National Committees (i.e. policy guidance, new initiatives, strategic documents, etc.), and lead the adaptation required to make them relevant to the National Committee context. Ensure that National Committees are aware of these developments and understand the implications for their work.
e. Promote constant alignment of the work of National Committees with the child rights approach and global UNICEF guidance and frameworks. Identify potential areas of misalignment and address them in a constructive manner with the National Committees.

2. Support to National Committees on platform initiatives:

a. Coordinate the CFCI, CRSI, and BFHI platform initiatives and promote synergies among them with foundational advocacy.
b. Maintain and support the consultancies overseeing CFCI and BFHI (when applicable), including oversight of workplans, deliverables, coordination and follow-up.
c. Provide direct support to National Committees on CRSI planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting.
d. Facilitate peer learning and the exchange of tools, evidence and good practices across platform initiatives.

3. Monitoring and reporting:

a. Provide guidance and support to National Committees on monitoring and reporting of foundational advocacy and platform initiatives through the JSP and their own national tools and mechanisms.
b. Work with the Unit’s Knowledge Management Specialist in promoting the direct use of the Knowledge Exchange Platform and other collaborative tools by National Committees to facilitate the horizontal exchange of experiences, and proactively explore additional means of knowledge exchange.

4. Child safeguarding and risk management:

a. In collaboration with the Child Safeguarding Specialist in the Governance team, support the National Committees to ensure that the best interests of every child are always adequately considered and protected and that the risks associated with child rights advocacy are adequately managed.
b. Support National Committees to properly register and monitor any identified risks and risk management strategies as part of the JSP process and contribute to PFP’s risk register accordingly.

5. Ad-hoc initiatives:

a. Support UNICEF in liaising with National Committees for the organization of specific initiatives and events involving foundational advocacy and platform initiatives.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: Download File ToR - Advocacy Specialist_P4_00138623.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in one of the following fields is required: education, social studies, child rights or another relevant field.
A Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in a relevant area combined with 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
Work Experience: A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience is required. Professional experience that will be considered relevant includes the fields of child rights, child participation, youth engagement, child safeguarding and/ or advocacy work. Demonstrated experience managing multi-stakeholder networks and partnerships, including coordinating diverse stakeholders, facilitating collaboration, and supporting knowledge exchange and joint initiative across multiple organizations and countries, is required. Proven experience and strong understanding of child rights-based programming and the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in programme design and advocacy, is required. Working experience in High Income Countries and familiarity with education systems and/ or child participation and youth engagement schemes within these countries are required.
Skills: Strong analytical and communication skills are required. Ownership and initiative, as well as capacity to work both independently and effectively in a team environment, is required. Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills in interacting with colleagues at all levels are required. Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment.
Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or language of a UNICEF National Committee is an asset.
UN/UNICEF experience is an asset.
Experience and familiarity with UNICEF's National Committee structure and ways of working, Joint Strategic Plan (JPS) processes and advocacy work, is an asset.
Strong analytical and communication skills are required.
Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

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

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, discrimination, fraud, corruption and other forms of serious misconduct.UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference, safeguarding and background verification checks. These checks may include verification of academic credentials and employment history, screening against relevant United Nations misconduct databases, and requests for misconduct disclosures from current and former employers, professional associations, other relevant organizations and participating organizations under inter-agency safeguarding initiatives, including the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme (MDS), where applicable.Appointment, selection and continued engagement are subject to the satisfactory completion of all required checks. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information and consent to enable UNICEF to undertake these 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, 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 are conditional on the selected candidates willingness to comply with current or future vaccination requirements, should UNICEF mandate it for personnel. Failure to comply with such requirements, where applicable and without a duly approved medical exemption from the relevant UN authority, will result in the cancellation of the selection or may lead to other administrative measures, including separation from service.

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.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

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.

Advocacy Specialist, P-4, Temporary Position, Rome, Italy, 364 days, Private Fund Raising and Partnerships, #00138623