Current vacancies

Contract Duration- 1 year

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.

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

Purpose of Assignment:

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) is an institutional priority for the UN, and for UNICEF. The UNICEF Strategic Plan 2026-2029 identifies MHPSS as a priority area, building upon existing programming through child protection, education, and health. Global priorities show increased need for attention to MHPSS, particularly for girls, boys, women and men in communities affected by emergencies and other adversities (e.g., torture, war, intimate partner violence, poverty, malnutrition, amongst others). While most people are resilient to adversity, global estimates suggest that on, average, 22% of adults report symptoms consistent with mental health conditions if they have experienced conflict in previous 10 years. Observed rates of mental health problems after extremely adverse events (e.g. torture, rape) tend be over 40%. Some individuals will develop mental health conditions in the long term (e.g., depression) and others will be impacted in less visible ways. Estimates are unclear for children and adolescents, but likely to be similar. Poor mental health can impair individuals’ functioning, influence children’s behavior, and create barriers to accessing education, interfere with engagement in work or work productivity, and hinder one’s ability to engage in social or community functions. Nonetheless, most people with mental health conditions around the world do not receive effective care. Among people living with depression, only 1 in 5 persons in high-income countries and 1 in 27 in lower-middle income countries receive minimally adequate treatment, in part due to an insufficient number of workers trained in mental health care. Integrating MHPSS services across sectors is essential, but a question remains regarding the quality of the training and the competency of the workforce. Making certain that the MHPSS workforce across sectors such as education, protection and health are able to attend to these challenges can ensure that individuals with mental health problems will have access to effective evidence based MHPSS interventions. Access to a competent and skillful workforce will aid the community as well. One way to address access to care is to expand MHPSS services delivered by diverse cadres in different settings. With appropriate training and supervision, professionals and non-professionals can provide support and effective help.

The IASC Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Minimum Service Package (MSP) is an inter sectoral package of high priority MHPSS activities needed during humanitarian crises to address the mental health and psychosocial support needs of affected populations. Use of the MSP is expected to lead to better-coordinated, more predictable and more equitable responses that make effective use of limited resources and thus improve the scale and quality of programming. This will ultimately result in substantially better mental health and psychosocial well-being for larger numbers of people. The MSP was released as an IASC product in December 2022. It has been increasingly incorporated into key humanitarian response planning documents, both at country-specific and global levels. It has been centrally featured in core MHPSS training packages and served as a basis for key advocacy initiatives. Technical support to use the MSP and strengthen the MHPSS response across different sectors and areas of work has been provided to various interagency groups and to MHPSS surge roster members. Since 2022 there have been over 3400 participant engagements in online orientations and over 1300 unique participants in intensive workshops. To support the implementation of the MSP, a range of operational tools were developed, including: a Multi-sectoral MHPSS needs and resources Assessment Toolkit, additional MSP workshop modules (e.g. on Monitoring and Evaluation) to build capacity on the MSP across sectors. UNICEF's Centres of Excellence (CoEs) represent a strategic evolution in Programme Technical Assistance, with a dual mandate of delivering high-quality support to Country Offices, Regional Offices, and government partners while exercising global normative leadership and partnership stewardship. They complement Country Office capacity by stewarding adaptive standards, methodologies, evidence, and guidance—refined through country feedback and implementation learning—while exercising authority via quality assurance and evidence brokering, without providing programme oversight. The purpose of the consultancy is to support UNICEF’s MHPSS team in the Child Protection Centre of Excellence to provide technical assistance on measurement and evaluation and MHPSS in emergencies; support the development of the new Mental Health strategy and ensuring integration into UNICEF’s new Strategic Plan; and to enhance the response capacity with the MHPSS MSP through supported implementation, development of operational tools and field test.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will support the provision of technical assistance through the Child Protection COE by:

• supporting the management of the IASC MHPSS MSP helpdesk and the development of MSP operational tools, respective field testing and revision processes, as well as provide training and support to build the capacity of humanitarian actors in using the MSP across different sectors and areas of work to strengthen the MHPSS response;
• supporting the development of the new Mental Health strategy and ensuring integration into UNICEF’s new Strategic Plan, including participating in a 3-day strategic meeting in the Hague, Netherlands;
• providing technical assistance at global and country level on measurement and evaluation of MHPSS programs and on MHPSS in emergencies.
• As part of technical assistance (TA) to country offices, travel for in-person TA will be required. The details will depend on humanitarian TA requests coming and will be decided in agreement with the consultant. Costs will be covered by UNICEF and do not need to be included in the financial proposal.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  Terms of Reference TMC0001342.pdf

Minimum requirements: (Qualifications/Experience/ Knowledge/Expertise/Skills)

• Education:

At least a Master's degree in one of the following disciplines - Psychology, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, Child Protection in Humanitarian action

• Work Experience:

A minimum of 10 years experience in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in development and humanitarian contexts

• Skills:

- Expertise in measurement and evaluation of MHPSS programs required

- Extensive knowledge of the MSP and IASC MHPSS guidelines

- Experience supporting the integration of MHPSS in other sectors

- Experience developing MHPSS tools; MSP tools a strong asset

- Experience supporting coordination groups and implementing agencies to implement the MHPSS MSP is a strong asset

- Familiarity with UNICEF Mental Health strategy is a strong asset

For every Child, you demonstrate care

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 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 reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. 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.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal  Financial proposal TMC0001342.docx

Remarks:  If the TOR or financial proposal documents are not visible on certain recruitment platforms, please visit our official page Vacancies | UNICEF Careers.

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.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.