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.

For every child, the right to protection

The Mongolia Country Office Country Programme is committed to protecting children's rights in line with international obligations. The programme priorities were selected based on consultations with national counterparts, United Nations agencies, and development partners to focus on areas that need action to achieve child-related national priorities and reduce equity gaps. The programme priorities, which include Health, Education, WASH and CC, Child Protection, and Social Policy, aims to promote funding, policies, and address geographic disparities across the country.

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

How can you make a difference?

Under the general guidance of the Chief of Social Policy, Programme Officer (Local Governance) is accountable for providing technical support and assistance to contribute to the country program outputs: i) National and subnational governments demonstrated increased political commitments towards equity-focused, child-rights related budget allocation ii) national and subnational governments have increased capacity to make policy decisions related based on quality up-to-date and evidence.

The 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 and encompassing UNICEF’s programming at subnational and local levels. The social policy and inclusion programme aims at improving (a) public policies to reduce child poverty; (b) social protection coverage and impact on children; (c) the transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-focused public investments and financial management; and (d) governance, decentralization and accountability measures to increase public participation and the quality, equity and coverage of social services.

Support in strategically coordinating UNICEF CO joint provisional workplans with Governor Offices, enhancing provincial planning to ensure child-sensitive policies and programs benefit children at the local level
- Coordinate UNICEF CO’s joint provisional workplans and activities with the Governor’s Offices to strengthen the national systems, ensuring that children benefit from evidence-driven and child-sensitive policies and programs at each provincial and local level.
- Assist in incorporating CO input to target the most vulnerable communities and strengthen partnerships with provincial authorities to systematically address deprivations of children’s rights.
- Overall coordination and analysis of UNICEF interventions at the provincial and local levels to ensure coherence and implementation of the Country Programme Document (CPD).
- Arrange meetings with Governors to facilitate collaboration and alignment with UNICEF's objective.
Improve and operationalize the situational analysis dashboard to strengthen the results for children and support in design structuring the disaggregated database on Child Deprivations & Vulnerability
- Enhance and operationalize a provisional/subnational government dashboard/performance indicator generating database for child-related situational analysis.
- Generate aggregated socio-economic analysis of each provision to inform decision-making enabling measuring the performance and results at the provincial level.
- Focus on improving cross-sectoral collaboration and advocating for change at the provincial and local government levels.
Strengthening Social Protection Coverage and Impact for Children at Local government level
- Support strengthening the subnational social protection policies, legislation, and programs with a focus on increasing coverage and impact on children, especially the most marginalized
- Identify, generate, and present evidence to support increased social protection coverage and impact, collaborating with partners.
- Assist in improving integrated social protection systems with the national systems, such as cash transfers and child benefits, aligning with the Subnational and Local Governance Programming Framework
- Conduct assessment of social protection's impact on children, emphasizing evidence-based approaches ensuring national programs and policies receive adequate funding at the provincial and local levels.
Improving Use of Public Financial Resources for Children in Local Government Budgeting
- Conduct budget analysis to inform advocacy and provide technical assistance for equitable allocations for essential child social services to accelerate results for Children at the local level.
- Support the identification of policy options for improved funding mechanisms for child-sensitive social protection interventions.
- Build capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to enhance transparency, accountability, and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, facilitating community participation where needed.
- Generate data and evidence for advocacy for 2025-2026 Budget cycle.
Strengthening Capacity of Local Governments to Plan, Budget, and Monitor Child-Focused Social Services
- Collaborate with authorities and local communities to enhance policies, planning, and budgeting for local service delivery with a focus on child-friendly approaches.
- Support capacity-building on data collection, analysis, and coordination of essential child-focused social services in provinces, districts, and communities.
- Systematically address deprivations of children’s rights and the need to improve cross-sectoral collaboration, focusing on demonstrating change at the local level through the integrated “Soum [District] Model Approach” in partnerships with provincial authorities.
UNICEF Programme Management
- Helps manage and coordinate technical support around child deprivations, social protection, public finance and governance ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely manner so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery is maintained.
- Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and the Government.
- Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, reporting and monitoring and evaluation of the country programme (including end-of-year reporting and annual work plans)

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: Programme Officer (Local Governance)_NOA-JD.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: A university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience:

A minimum of 1 year of relevant professional experience is required.
Prior experience in social policy analysis and development, including collecting and analyzing data on socio and economic indicators, provincial performance data and reports proposing policy responses, and advocating for resource allocation to address social issues will be an asset.
Expertise and experience in designing and implementing development programs, social sector policies and programs, with a focus on marginalized communities and children, including knowledge of integrated systems and monitoring their impact on child outcomes is an asset.
Solid understanding and background on coordination and policies between central and local government including social sector services implementation at subnational level is value added.
Basic understanding and experience in budget analysis and financial management to identify policy options for financing social protection interventions and building capacity for transparent and accountable public expenditure tracking is added value.
Language Requirements: Fluency in English and native Mongolian is required.

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 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 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 is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce.

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.

UNICEF staff members holding fixed-term, continuing, or permanent appointments who are considered to be on abolished post status may apply for this temporary position and, if selected with a start date before 31 December 2025, may take it up as a temporary assignment, in line with UNICEF guidance on separation due to the abolition of posts or staff reduction. They will retain their fixed-term entitlements but will not hold a lien to their abolished post. For other scenarios where a Temporary Assignment may be possible, please refer to Additional guidance on IP to IP temporary assignments after completion of the full TOD.pdf (accessible to UNICEF personnel only).

The conditions of a temporary assignment, including relocation entitlements, will depend on the status of the staff member’s original appointment and may be limited in accordance with applicable UNICEF policies, procedures, and practices in force.

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.

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