Senior Adviser (Germany Cluster), P-5, Fixed Term, Public Partnerships Division (PPD) Berlin, Germany Post #123940 Req # 562810

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

The Public Partnerships Division (PPD) works to strengthen UNICEF as a partner of choice for children’s rights among governments and inter-governmental actors around the world. The Division is doing this by positioning children’s rights in intergovernmental and multilateral for a and engaging with governments and public institutions as resource, policy and programme partners. A key premise for PPD is that the engagement with countries should be holistic based on multiple aspects of partnerships, including policy advocacy and resource mobilization. The Senior Adviser would lead the team in strengthening partnership with the Governments of Germany and will work closely with senior officials to maintain and strengthen the partnership between UNICEF and its government partners. The Adviser will have overall management of the Germany ++ cluster (Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Luxembourg and Austria).

The position is out posted in Berlin and will be reporting to the New York HQ, Senior Advisor and Team Lead, Europe Team.

How can you make a difference?

Under the general guidance and direction of the Director and relevant Deputy Director, PPD, the post is responsible for developing and managing the implementation of strategies to mobilize political, policy and financial support for children with the Germany Cluster governments and providing expert advice and support to UNICEF senior management in their engagement.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Lead and coordinate the building, expanding and maintaining of partnerships with high-level senior officials of Ministries, the Permanent Missions to the UN, and other relevant partners responsible for support to and relations with UNICEF within the Germany Cluster.
• Lead and coordinate the development and managing of advocacy and fundraising strategies and workplans for partnership within the Cluster (Germany BMZ, AA, KfW, GIZ, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Austria) to mobilize support for UNICEF’s priorities and major initiatives.
• Lead and coordinate the public messaging with partners to enhance collaboration. Ensure a coordinated approach to partner recognition and visibility, aligned with partners’ engagement strategies.
• Coordinate partnership intelligence for all possible sources of new and continued funding; monitor and evaluate existing fundraising channels to ensure achievement of UNICEF fundraising goals to meet the objectives and financial targets of the Strategic Plan.
• Strengthen collaboration with the UNICEF Partnership Office for European Union Institutions in Brussels for joint advocacy and fundraising (i.e., Team Europe Initiatives).
• Develop further the collaboration with the National Committees in the cluster and PFP, including coordinating UNICEF’s contribution to debates in the parliamentary context of member states and stay up to date on the evolvement of UNICEF-mandate.
• Team leadership and management of the overall Cluster.
• Monitor global trends in development cooperation and international assistance; monitor partners’ policies, budgets, systems and procedures and revise UNICEF advocacy and fundraising strategies and activities as required; produce regular income projections for assigned partners as required; take appropriate action and/or advise UNICEF senior management on recommended action with partners to maintain and increase support for children and UNICEF’s resource base.
• Contribute to the development of policy papers and guidelines to enhance advocacy and fundraising efforts and initiatives for assigned partners for consideration by PPD’s Director and/or senior management.
• Oversee negotiations on terms of agreements of funding consistent with UNICEF’s mandate, business model and Rules and Regulations in coordination with UNICEF’s Legal Advisor, HQ Divisions Regional and Country Offices.
• Coordinate the team’s preparation of comprehensive and substantive briefs, reports, statistics, income projections and requirements for Executive Director’s and Deputy Executive Directors’ meetings with ministers, senior partner officials, senior parliamentarians, members of cabinet or heads of major institutions.
• Guide and support Country and Regional Offices to prepare and package programme proposals for Germany and other cluster countries, advise them of strategic partnership and fund-raising opportunities and on their relations with assigned donors in the field.
• Serve as focal point for UNICEF Public Partnership relations with the Government of Germany based in Berlin, negotiating agreements, funding support and feedback, as well as arranging meetings for advocacy and fund-raising purposes.
• Attend relevant meetings of UN system and governments’, to present and promote UNICEF’s goals priority initiatives and resource requirements.

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

• Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, including but not limited to Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Development Studies, Legal Studies.
• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible professional work experience is required at national and international levels in the areas of social and economic development and cooperation. Experience in advocacy and fundraising in a partner government or international organization is highly desirable.
• A strong network of contacts within assigned partner governments and other relevant partners (i.e., National Committees, UN Missions and United Nations Organizations) and experience in building and nurturing partnerships and collaboration across partners. In depth knowledge of budget negotiation and decision-making processes in partner governments. Ability to innovate and achieve results for impact.
• In depth experience managing complexity, building relationships, and influencing relevant stakeholders in the humanitarian and development context. Experience with UN process, intergovernmental and member state negotiations.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision and experience to manage a high-performing team to deliver results.
• Fluency in English is required; fluency in German is highly desirable. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

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 (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

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 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:

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

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). 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.