Emergency Specialist (Planning and Reporting), P-3, TA (7 months), #00138275, MENA Regional Office, Amman, Jordan - MENAR

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 Champion

How can you make a difference?

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the Regional Office supports country offices across a region exposed to a wide range of humanitarian risks, including conflict, displacement, mixed migration, climate-related shocks, natural hazards, disease outbreaks, and protracted fragility. These risks threaten the lives and well-being of children and disproportionately affect children in vulnerable households. As a result, 92.6 million people, including 44.8 million children, need humanitarian assistance. The region also faces increasingly interconnected and cross-border humanitarian pressures which require strong regional analysis, harmonized preparedness approaches, and timely operational support.

The Regional Office Humanitarian Team supports the emergency preparedness and response efforts of the country offices in the region and enables a whole of Regional Office coordinated support. The Regional Office supports country offices in enhancing preparedness through risk monitoring, scenario development and fully costed contingency planning, including subregional approaches that enable the rapid mobilization of funding, technical support and supplies. It also leads cross-border and subregional collaboration to ensure timely, coordinated and principled humanitarian action, while providing leadership, coordination, advocacy and surge support for emergencies through strategic planning, information-sharing and rapid deployment of operational, human and financial resources.

As emergencies become more frequent in the MENA region and as needs are increase, expectations for UNICEF to deliver on the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) in a timely and effective manner increase. Resources invested in humanitarian action are growing and donors tend to increasingly favor multi-country regional humanitarian plans and funding. MENARO manages two multicounty Humanitarian Appeals for Children for MENA and for Syrian Refugees and Other Vulnerable Populations and supports several countries with their standalone HACs.

As the UNICEF regional offices for MENA and Europe & Central Asia (ECA) are brought together as of 1st of January 2027, these dynamics and number of HACs and emergency funding grants managed by the new ECAMENA Regional Office will further increase. In the Transition, UNICEF Humanitarian team will support harmonization and seek synergies and efficiencies building on past experiences.

Under the supervision of the Regional Emergency Adviser, the Emergency Specialist (Planning and Reporting) will provide regional leadership and technical support to UNICEF Country Offices and the Regional Office engaged in humanitarian action across the MENA region on humanitarian planning, budgeting, information management, and reporting, during a period of structural transition as MENARO and ECARO merge into a single regional office (ECAMENA). The role is critical to ensuring the quality, coherence, and timeliness of humanitarian strategies, appeals, situation reporting, response, in line with UNICEF's humanitarian policies, standards, and corporate guidance, and to support the harmonization of planning and reporting systems and processes across the two merging regions.

Under the supervision of the Regional Emergency Advisor, the incumbent will be responsible for the following:

1. Regional Humanitarian Planning and Appeals

2. Humanitarian Reporting and Information Management

3. Budgeting, Performance Monitoring, and Corporate Reporting

4. Technical Support and Capacity Strengthening

5. Emergency Surge and Crisis Escalation Support

6. Regional Coordination and Merger Transition Support

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: JD - Emergency Specialist (Planning and Reporting) P-3 TA TOR AD.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Advanced University degree in one of the following fields: social sciences, public administration/decentralization, anthropology, psychology, international relations or other related disciplines, international relations or other related disciplines. Preferably a combination of management, administration and relevant technical fields.
• Work Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and international levels in Humanitarian programme/project development. Proven experience in developing standalone, regional, and multi-country humanitarian appeals and SitReps is required. Prior UNICEF Country Office experience is an asset, especially in the MENA or ECA regions and in Emergency Settings.
• Skills: To be considered for this role, candidates are required to have expertise in analytical writing, humanitarian coordination, emergency programming, deadline management, cross-cultural communication, and organizational adaptability.
• 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
• Prior experience supporting L2 and L3 countries Emergency Planning and Reporting is highly desirable.
• Prior emergency surge or emergency field deployment experience is highly desirable.
• Experience supporting organizational change processes, structural transitions, or the harmonization of systems and processes across offices 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

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 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 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 female 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.

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 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.