Programme Manager, P4 -Fixed Term Atbara, Sudan (Open to non-Sudanese nationals only), #127771

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, hope…

Sudan is the third largest country by land area in Africa and is geo-strategically important being located at the cross-roads of Sub-Saharan Africa, East Africa and the Middle East. It has long been a center of trade and commerce and link between neighboring countries. The country has significant natural resource endowments, including vast arable lands, water, forests, minerals, and precious metals.

Sudan’s history has been marked by coups, political instability, and conflict, which is hindering socio-economic development gains.

The last five years were marked by several rapid political changes. Despite the efforts to shield Sudan’s poor from the effects of the economic adjustments, Sudan’s economic crisis worsened over time, exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19.  In April 2023 the situation escalated further into open violent conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), reactivating over time also prior fault lines in different parts of the country. With the state of the economy already precarious, exacerbated by social unrest, shortages of basic services and livelihood inputs, and freezing of foreign assistance, the military conflict risks pushing the country into a state of collapse.

Fighting between the RSF and the SAF in various states as well as heavy clashes in Khartoum and other urban areas has led to significant displacement of millions of people, both internally and across the border into neighboring countries. Approaching a year of conflict, almost all schools across the country remain closed.

UN entities are working with international and national NGOs to address the immediate needs. Basic services across Sudan have been characterized by weak capacity for delivery, low levels of public expenditure, shortage of qualified personnel, and inadequate infrastructure; further strained by the conflict, including pressure by displaced populations. 

UNICEF is responding to the crisis by providing integrated Health, Nutrition, WASH, Education, Child Protection, and Cash assistance. While much of the response is focused on humanitarian interventions UNICEF and other partners are also aiming to build on Sudan’s strong community- based organizations, and lessons learned from other projects, to provide sustainable community led basic services.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose:

The World Bank Group in partnership with UNICEF and WFP is putting in place the Somoud – Enhancing Community Resilience programme-  that will be sequenced to first meet immediate basic service needs in areas of high IDP concentration and relative safety and accessibility, followed by community-led planning and implementation of medium-term basic services (Component1 – Led by UNICEF). In parallel, the programme will intervene in connected rural areas where agricultural production is possible to promote food security and stop the agricultural sector from collapsing (Component2 – Led by WFP).

UNICEF will aim to restore basic services through a community led approach focusing on localities that are hosting large number of IDPs, in a way that allows communities to restart their path towards development. The programme will aim to restore basic services through focusing on the critical needs of community health and protection and GBV response, learning for out-of-school children, and WASH services. The interventions could expand and adjusted based on local assessments and community requests.

The programme activities will commence with a rapid local needs, conflict, and capacity assessment followed by the fast-tracked implementation of a pre-identified list of priorities. This will inform the consequent consultations and planning with communities on prioritization of basic services to be restored, implementation of activities, and transitional support on operation and maintenance.

As part of community consultations and planning, the programme will establish and/or strengthen Local Community Committees with inclusion of women and IDPs with a view to strengthen social cohesion between hosting communities and IDPs. The local community committees will be provided with technical assistance to facilitate community-led needs assessment, development of integrated response based on the basic services’ needs, prioritization of basic services activities within an allocated envelope per community, and consequent supervision of sub-programmes implementation. There will be close coordination with local institutions on designs and implementation to ensure integration into and preservation of existing service delivery systems.

Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Representative Programme, the Programme Manager will be responsible on the overall management of the Programme and will have frequent visit to the different site of the programme, The Programme Manager will collaborate with different chiefs and manager to ensure the programme is in alignment to UNICEF rules and regulation and with World Bank Agreement.  

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

1. Project management and implementation
2. Monitoring and reporting
3. Representation
4. Human Resources
5. Partnerships
6. Coordination with WFP
7. Communications, visibility, and donor relations
8. Evidence generation and learning

For more info on the job: 2024-02-Programme Manager-JobDecription.docx

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

 Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

• An advanced university degree is required in one of the following fields: International relations, political science, international development, or another relevant technical field.
• * A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) in a relevant field in conjunction with two additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree

Experience:

• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: programme management, resilience programming, community empowerment.
• Previous experience and / or deep understanding about programming in a similar context with a resilience and social cohesion length.
• Experience working in a developing and emergency environment is required, and in Sudan an asset
• Experience in managing a team is a requirement. Experience managing a multicultural team is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Arabic is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, 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)

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (2)

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact (2)

(4) Innovates and embraces change (2)

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

(6) Thinks and acts strategically (2)

(7) Works collaboratively with others (2)

(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people. (2)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
 UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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. 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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also 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 cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.