HIV/AIDS Officer, NO2, Gaborone, Botswana, 10 months) (for Botswana Nationals only

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 contracts.

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, good health

Background

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

UNICEF’s HIV response for children and adolescents must ensure that neither age, poverty, gender inequality, nor social exclusion determine access to life saving HIV prevention, treatment, and care. UNICEF and its partners’ responses ensure all children are born free of HIV and remain HIV-free for the first two decades of life, from birth through adolescence. It means that all children living with HIV have access to the treatment, care and support they need to remain alive and healthy. This is UNICEF’s vision of an AIDS-free generation starting with children. Ending AIDS among children is vital to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 – the overarching goal of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) of which UNICEF is a cofounding partner.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose

The HIV Officer reports to the Chief Adolescent Development for supervision. The Officer provides professional technical, operational, and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for the HIV programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing, and implementing a variety of technical and administrative program tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating, and reporting of results.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

1. Support to programme development and planning

• Conduct/update situation analysis for the programme sector/s for development, design, and management of HIV related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (e.g., political social, economic, HIV/AIDS) for higher management use to enhance programme development planning, management, efficacy, and delivery of results.
• Contribute to the development/establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through analysis of HIV needs and areas for intervention and submission of recommendations for priority and goal setting.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing/administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials/documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results.
• Prepare required documentations/materials to facilitate the programme review and approval process.

2. Programme support, monitoring and delivery of results

• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations and/or alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decision. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess programmes/projects and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of programme management.
• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative, and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation/goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Prepare regular/mandated sectoral programme/project reports for management, donors, and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys and/or exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support, take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks, and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices on HIV related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.

4. Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with relevant sector government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve programme goals.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and enhance resource mobilization for UNICEF HIV programmes/projects.
• Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings/events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of HIV programmes/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Research, benchmark, and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.

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

Bachelor’s degree in public health, project management, communications, resource mobilization, public administration, public policy, business administration, or related fields.

At least two (2) years of experience in supporting programmes, policy reviews, evidence generation, community support, youth organizing, resource mobilization or other areas of the HIV response in Botswana.

Past or current work experience as a member of a youth-led or youth-serving organization working on HIV or sexual and reproductive health and rights in Botswana will be considered an asset.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of a local language 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…

Core Competencies

1. Builds and maintains partnerships (1)
2. Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (1)
3. Drive to achieve results for impact (1)
4. Innovates and embraces change (1)
5. Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)
6. Thinks and acts strategically (1)
7. Works collaboratively with others (1)

How to Apply

Interested and suitable candidates are encouraged to submit their online application before the closing date:

• 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable [Insert diversity profile] are encouraged to apply.

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.