Chief of Polio, P-5, Fixed-Term Position, Islamabad, Pakistan, 24 months, #00091844

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 Hope

How can you make a difference?

Polio eradication remains one of the most ambitious global public health efforts, with remarkable progress over the past decades reducing the disease to a handful of endemic countries. However, the program is now at a critical juncture. Despite earlier optimism that interruption of transmission was within reach, recent years have seen setbacks, including the resurgence of wild poliovirus, persistent circulation of vaccine-derived strains, and widening immunity gaps. These epidemiological challenges are compounded by shifting geopolitical and financial landscapes, including major disruptions to global health governance and funding streams, which threaten the sustainability of eradication efforts worldwide. The global program is increasingly defined not only by technical complexity but also by the interplay of political, social, and operational factors that shape implementation in endemic settings.

Within this context, Pakistan occupies a central and decisive role as one of the last reservoirs of wild poliovirus transmission. The country has demonstrated strong political commitment and a whole-of-government approach, alongside significant operational scale, including repeated nationwide campaigns reaching tens of millions of children and a robust surveillance system. Yet, transmission persists in core reservoirs such as Karachi, Quetta Block, and south Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, driven by entrenched challenges including missed children, population movement, insecurity, and low essential immunization coverage. The Pakistan Polio Programme operates in a highly complex environment shaped by cross-border epidemiology with Afghanistan, recurrent humanitarian shocks such as floods, and systemic health system constraints. As such, the Pakistan Country Office Polio Team must navigate a dual imperative: sustaining high-quality, targeted eradication strategies to interrupt transmission while simultaneously strengthening integration with essential immunization and broader health services to address underlying vulnerability and ensure long-term impact while also maintaining strong cross-border coordination with Afghanistan, given the shared epidemiology, high population mobility, and interdependent transmission dynamics across the two countries.

Key challenges include vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation, high population movement across and within borders, uneven campaign quality in some districts, low routine immunization coverage among underserved children, and security or access constraints in selected areas. These factors continue to threaten progress and require targeted, high-quality action. For UNICEF, polio eradication remains a top organizational priority and a critical contribution to the global effort to end polio everywhere. Under Government leadership and in line with the NEAP and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative strategy, UNICEF is responsible for several core areas of the national response. These priorities include leading social and behavior change communication to build trust, address misinformation, and increase demand for vaccination; ensuring effective vaccine management and logistics, including cold chain and supply continuity; advancing integrated service delivery by linking polio with routine immunization and broader health and social services; and strengthening coordination to support high-quality implementation in priority areas and among high-risk populations.

Pakistan is in the final mile of eradication. Sustained political commitment, stronger community trust, effective coordination, and consistent operational excellence will be essential to stop transmission and help deliver a polio-free future for Pakistan and the world.

Provides strategic oversight and leadership for UNICEF’s polio eradication program in Pakistan, ensuring delivery of UNICEF accountabilities under the National Emergency Action Plan and within the National Emergency Operations Center framework, including SBCC, vaccine management and logistics, integrated programming, and coordination. The role leads strategy, planning, budgeting, donor engagement, reporting, and implementation; fosters strong partnerships; represents UNICEF in national, regional, and global polio fora; and supports coordination and integration with broader UNICEF programs.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: Classified JD Chief Polio.pdf

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…

Minimum Requirements:

• Education: A Masters or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Social Science, International Studies, Public Administration, Public Health, Social Services, Social Work, Development Studies, International Relations, Development Planning and any other related fields.
• Work Experience: At least 10 years of relevant work experience at national and international levels in programme implementation, public health emergencies, emergency programming, and/or senior program management and technical leadership roles. Proven experience in leading multiple teams across geographical locations, proven experience in resource mobilization and partnership development, international and developing country work experience, and fieldwork experience are required. A previous leadership role in managing technical support in health-related emergencies, routine immunization, polio, and/or humanitarian preparedness and response is required.
• Skills: Experience in negotiation, consensus building, strategic leadership, risk management, crisis operations is required.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

• Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
• 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
(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

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 including 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, or 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 promoting 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 credentials 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 either 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.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable females, persons with disabilities, and suitable candidates from underrepresented groups 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.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's strategic plan. UNICEF is committed to staying and delivering 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 the resilience of communities and the 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.