HIV/AIDS Officer, NOB, (364 Days) Gaborone, Botswana (Opened 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, a future

How can you make a difference?

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. This is why 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 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.

Purpose for the job: The HIV/AIDS Officer reports to the Chief Adolescent Development & HIV 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.

Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

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 implementation, 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.

  Impact of Results

The efficiency and efficacy of support provided by the Officer to programme preparation and planning and implementation of HIV/AIDS related programmes/projects contribute to accelerating UNICEF and national development efforts to eliminate new HIV infections among children and to provide life-saving protection, care and support to children and their families affected by AIDS that in turn contribute to achieving UNICEF’s vision, commitment and goal to an AIDS-free generation that starts with children and the “Three Zeros” – zero new infection, zero deaths and zero discrimination.

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

• A University Degree in public health, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or other health related sciences is required.
• A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in HIV/AIDS planning and management and/or in relevant areas of health care, health/emergency preparedness at the international level and/or in a developing country is required. Experience in HIV/AIDS programme/project development in UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

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)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.