JPO – Communication Officer (adolescent participation and civic engagement), P2, Lusaka, Zambia (OPEN TO NORWEGIAN CITIZENS ONLY)

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, participation

UNICEF Zambia is keen to strengthen its engagement with adolescents and young people as resources who offer valuable perspectives and insights that contribute to more effective, relevant and sustainable results for children and adolescents in both development and humanitarian settings. The Communications and Public Advocacy team expended into both Partnerships and Youth Engagement work, under the acronym of CAPE. The office is keen to move forward to strengthening existing youth engagement work into a more coordinated cross-office programme. The JPO will play a leading role in this expansion, including making the most of our online presence (especially the innovative Internet of Good Things platform), and building stronger connections with our existing adolescent participation civil society partners.

How can you make a difference?

The Officer provides professional technical, and operational assistance to support young people’s participation and civic engagement within the Country Programme and in the Generation Unlimited (GenU) partnership where applicable. The Officer is responsible for preparing, executing, managing and implementing technical and operational tasks to support young people’s participation and civic engagement.

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

• Norwegian Citizenship
• A university degree within one of the following fields is required: social science, political science, health science, anthropology, psychology, sociology, education or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in development, planning and management of young people’s participation or related areas is required.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and the following core competencies:

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

This is a Junior Professional Officer position open to Norwegian nationals only. The JPO training programme includes the following learning elements:

• JPO Orientation Programme which is designed towards development of professional skills and provides an opportunity for JPOs to network with colleagues and their peers.
• E-learning opportunities in performance management
• E-learning opportunities on basic UNICEF programmes & operational strategies
• JPO Coaching & Mentoring Programme which is driven by individual needs and provides an opportunity to seek guidance and professional development support
• Stretch assignment which is a short-term assignment that goes beyond the current job description and creates an opportunity to learn new skills in a different Duty Station, Division or Section
• The JPO position includes a Duty travel and training allowance (DTTA) of $4000 per year which may be used for learning activities related to the assignment and career development

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

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