Social Policy Officer, NO-A, Temporary Appointment, Brasilia, Brazil #129730

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. 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 personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, a future

Since 1950, UNICEF has supported the most important transformation for children and adolescents in Brazil. UNICEF Brazil with its main office in Brasília and nine field offices UNICEF works in close partnership with national and sub-national governments, corporate partners, youth, and civil society organizations.

For information on the work of our organization in Brazil, please visit our website: UNICEF Brazil.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the general guidance of the Chief Social Policy, the Social Policy officer is accountable for providing technical support and assistance in all stages of social policy programming and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results including programmes aimed at improving:

1. Public policies to reduce child poverty.
2. Social protection coverage and impact on children.
3. Transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-focused public investments and financial management; and
4. Governance, decentralization, and accountability measures to increase public participation and the quality, equity, and coverage of social services.

This encompasses both direct programme work with government and civil society partners as well as linkages and support to teams working on education, health, child protection, water and sanitation, and HIV. The main functions/accountabilities are:

Improving data on child poverty & vulnerability for increased use for policy and programme action

• Supporting the collection, analysis, and user-friendly presentation of data on multidimensional and monetary child poverty, including strengthening the national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.
• Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impact on social development, emerging issues, and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effect of social welfare policies on the rights of children.

Strengthening social protection coverage and impact for children

• Supports the development of social protection policies, legislation, and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention on the most marginalised.  Identifies, generates, and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.
• Supports strengthening of integrated social protection systems, providing technical support to partners to improve the design of cash transfers and child grants and improve linkages with other social protection interventions such as health insurance, public works, and social care services as well as complementary services and intervention related to nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation, child protection and HIV.

Improving use of public financial resources for children

• Undertakes budget analysis to inform UNICEF’s advocacy and technical assistance to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to improve equitable allocations for essential services for children.  Works with sector colleagues to build capacity to undertake costing and cost-effectiveness analysis on priority interventions to help inform policy decisions on child-focused investments.
• Undertakes and builds the capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to support transparency, accountability, and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, including through support to district-level planning, budgeting and public financial management as well as facilitating community participation.

UNICEF Programme Management

• Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research, and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.
• A master’s degree in economics, public policy, social sciences, international relations, political science, or another relevant field will be considered an asset.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 1 year of relevant professional experience in the field of social policy, child poverty, social protection and/or public policy.
• At least 2 years of continuous experience with the provision of technical support and assistance in developing social protection policies and emergency programs.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English and Portuguese required. Knowledge of Spanish will be considered as an asset.

Desirables:

• Experience working in a developing country.
• Previous working experience within the United Nations.
• Programme/project/process management knowledge demonstrated by professional experience and/or supplemented by academic certificates.

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…

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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 measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. 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.

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 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 Afro-descendants, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+ and other minorities 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.

This job opportunity is presential and for Brazilians only or internal candidates with a work permit for Brazil.

UNICEF shall not facilitate the issuance of a visa and working authorization for candidates under consideration for positions at the national officer and general service category.

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.