Stretch Assignment: Emergency Specialist, Deputy Director’s Office (DO), EMOPS Geneva, in-person stretch for Geneva based candidates or remote for candidates applying from outside Geneva
Title: Emergency Specialist (Partnerships and Resource Mobilization)
Level: P-3 (we encourage staff from all levels with the relevant experience to apply)
Reports to: Emergency Manager
Duration: 6 months
Section: Deputy Director Office, EMOPS Geneva
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Dates/Duration: Stretch assignment from 1 June to 30 November 2025, in-person stretch for Geneva based candidates and/or remote for candidates applying from outside Geneva
Eligibility: All Fixed-Term, Permanent or continuing appointment UNICEF staff members currently working in UNICEF worldwide.
Background
The Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS) provides strategic and coordinated support to Country Offices preparing for and responding to humanitarian crises, in collaboration with Regional Offices, to ensure that they have the right capacities to respond effectively and deliver on its Corporate Commitments to Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs). EMOPS leads efforts to ensure that UNICEF’s role in complex and protracted emergencies and natural disasters is clearly defined, that the organisation is properly equipped to fulfil that role, and that all levels of the organisation are prepared to deliver our mandate. The Deputy Director’s Office in Geneva manages large scale activities to support UNICEF’s organisational strategies and capacity to undertake effective humanitarian action.
The temporary assignment for the Emergency Specialist (Partnerships and Resource Mobilization) P-3 will serve as a temporary replacement for the incumbent of post 93431 based in Geneva and will be supervised by the P4 Emergency Manager (Planning and Operations), EMOPS Geneva. The incumbent will regularly interact with all EMOPS teams in Istanbul, Geneva and New York; with the relevant sections in PPD and PFP and with donor and partner contacts, as applicable.
Purpose of the Position
The incumbent is responsible for supporting work in the areas of resource mobilization, donor partnerships and all related activities, including but not limited to: support in review of resource mobilization strategy for EMOPS OMP 2026-2029; support around existing humanitarian capacity funding portfolios; ensuring quality and timeliness of products related to resource mobilization in EMOPS (donor reports, proposals, briefing materials and others); maintaining systems and tools in support of the activities of the EMOPS fundraising network (funding pipeline, donor report tracking tool, handbook); liaising and collaborating with fundraising and partnership offices and divisions in UNICEF; all with the aim of achieving optimum funding for EMOPS and wider humanitarian capacity in UNICEF.
Main Responsibilities and Tasks:
Support EMOPS humanitarian capacity funding portfolios (UK FCDO Humanitarian Business Case, Swiss SDC institutional funding, Denmark Transformative Humanitarian funding and others)
- Finalize Annual FCDO HBC agency-specific narrative (non-PbR) report (June 2025)
- Support Emergency Manager in development of the new FCDO HBC programme 2026-2029, and the related governance and allocation mechanisms.
- Support preparation for the technical working group and partners meetings, draft relevant briefings and readouts.
- Coordinate preparation in EMOPS – SDC annual meeting (Q3 or Q4 2025)
- Coordinate and draft annual proposal and report for Denmark Government Transformative Funding (November 2025)
- Support to management of any other EMOPS and wider humanitarian institutional capacity funding, in line with donor requirements and based on inputs from relevant EMOPS Sections.
Support activities related to the implementation of the EMOPS donor relations and resource mobilization
- Ensure internal alignment, quality and timeliness of donor proposals and donor reports prepared by EMOPS Sections for bilateral grant agreements.
- Maintain and support information, resources and tools for EMOPS resource mobilization coordination, including Handbook for RM and Donor engagement, Donor Report Tracker, Funding pipeline and others.
- Support the work of Fundraising Task Team in preparation for regular divisional and external meetings, funding analysis and presentations, dissemination of information etc.
- Contribute to engagement strategies and provide strategic support to colleagues engaging in the resource mobilization activities.
- Support the revision of the EMOPS Resource Mobilisation Strategy, incorporating feedback from stakeholders and in line with the new Office Management Plan, Strategic Plan and UNICEF resource mobilization for 2026-2029
- Coordinate with PPD and PFP to build engagement with identified partners on support for humanitarian capacity at HQ.
Impact of Results:
The effective delivery of the above tasks ensures that the Emergency Manager is provided support and the EMOPS workplan, activities and targets are achieved and as a result, partnership with donors and stakeholders upheld at highest standard, resulting in continuous funding for EMOPS and wider UNICEF humanitarian capacity.
Duration
This stretch assignment will be for a period of six (6) months.
Minimum Qualifications and Competencies
Skills and Requirements:
Advanced university degree in social sciences and/or humanities or related disciplines required.
Minimum five years professional work experience in programme/project development, PM&E and reporting.
Experience in donor partnerships, fundraising, managing partnership agreements, grants, writing donor proposals and reports, coordination, as well as strong analytical skills are required.
Prior experience of direct engagement with donors, partners and stakeholders as well as specialized training/experience in emergency funding management are highly desirable.
Funding arrangement
This is a temporary development opportunity and there will be no changes to the staff member’s status (position number, level, etc.).
If selected applicant is Geneva-based, stretch assignment will be in-person in EMOPS Geneva office and/or if the selected applicant is from outside Geneva s/he will be on remote stretch assignment. Thus, no changes will be made to staff member’s existing status (post number, etc., will all remain as is).
- Once the selection process has been completed, the receiving and releasing offices will communicate to reach an agreement on the exact start date for the recommended staff member.
- The staff member selected for this stretch assignment will continue to receive salary and emoluments from the releasing office during the assignment on the basis of the parent duty station location.
- There is no vacant post associated for this stretch assignment. In this regard, the selected staff member will not be eligible for SPA.
How to apply:
1. If interested, please discuss this assignment with your supervisor and obtain your supervisor’s agreement for your application to be submitted, as part of your learning and development plan for the year. The agreement of your supervisor is a pre-requisite for any such stretch assignment.
2. Upon receipt of supervisor’s agreement, please apply with your up-to-dated CV and a cover letter by the deadline listed with the following:
- Your up-to-date TMS profile;
- Your two most recent PERs;
- A cover letter detailing your interest, qualifications and suitability;
- An approval note or email from your supervisor;
3. Candidates considered potentially well matched for the stretch assignment will be contacted for an informal interview. Supervisors may also be contacted for references.
