Deadline: 17 November, 2025
Location: Tombouctou, Mali
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is seeking to fill the role of Social Policy Specialist.
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.
Responsibilities
- Support for the effective implementation of social protection programing
- Ensure funds are delivered to the partners/service providers in a timely manner following UNICEF’s Harmonised Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) procedures to ensure regular and predictable delivery of the cash transfer to selected beneficiaries
- Contribute to improve linkages with other social protection interventions such as health insurance, public works and social care services as well as complementary services and interventions related to nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation, child protection and HIV
- Collaborate with local authorities to improve policies, planning, budgeting, consultation and accountability processes so that decisions and child-focused service delivery more closely respond to the needs of local communities.
- Collaborate with local authorities to strengthen capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, and monitoring of essential social services, with emphasis on community participation and accountability.
- Ensure optimal management of funds allocated to social inclusion programmes in accordance with the social policy workplan, including the PAFEEM programme, the NAFAMA programme and the joint UNICEF-WFP Building Resilience in the Sahel Programme, with clear timelines and deadlines for key activities
- Ensure the accurate drafting of donor reports in compliance with UNICEF regulations
- Closely monitor risks and mitigation measures to anticipate and respond to changes in the external environment
- Undertake field missions as needed to monitor the implementation of UNICEF-funded activities and manage follow-up with implementing partners
Requirements
- Advanced university degree in one of the following fields: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, Statistics, Demography, Project/Programme Management or another relevant technical field
- Five years, minimum, of relevant professional work experience in social protection (preferably cash transfers and livelihoods enhancement)
- Relevant experience in local governance, decentralized and participatory planning and budgeting a strong asset, background and/or familiarity with emergencies an asset
- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts
- Experience working at regional level in Mali
- Fluency in French
- Fluency in English or another UN language and local language(s) an asset
To apply and for more information, click here.
Photo source: Simon Berry