Internal & External: Mental Health Technical Advisor, P-5, FT, PGLT, NYHQ

Contract

This is a P-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 208,877 USD and 261,770 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

Note: Programme Group (PG) is currently undergoing organizational changes, therefore the exact location of the post is still under consideration. Currently, the post is based in New York but in case the location of the post will change, s/he would be expected to work remotely as the case may be, during the contractual period.

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.

UNICEF’s Strategic Plan identifies Mental health as an emerging area of importance and COVID has highlighted the importance of deepening our commitment to MHPSS. The focus is on accelerating prioritization of community-led services, focusing on bolstering family and social networks, as well as MHPSS systems, including building the capacity of front-line workers.

You will be responsible for providing technical oversight and coordinating the global programme, the convening of internal and external partners, defining and supporting programming at scale, as to position UNICEF as a global thought leader in this area. You will provide guidance and technical support for policies, programmes, advocacy and knowledge generation for countries to adapt and implement the comprehensive package of services for children and caregivers in need of mental health and psychosocial support.

For every child, Health…

How can you make a difference?

The new post at the P5 level will contribute to positioning UNICEF as a global thought leader for Mental Health. The incumbent, working closely with the Director, Programmes, will be responsible for elevating the Mental Health agenda by coordinating UNICEF’s response to Mental Health in line with our ambition to scale up in this area. This will include:

• Advancing Global Partnerships around mental health, including direct management Joint Programme with WHO.
• Cross-sectoral & Interdivisional convening and coordination.
• Leadership in Interagency technical work & dialogue on MH (i.e. IASC, UGMH, NIMH, HBGI, Lancet, etc.).
• Advancing dialogue with governments and donors on MH, including with Germany, UK, Norway, Dutch, WB, USAID, and others.
• Technical oversight & coordination of MH work across technical areas particularly with health, education and child protection, but also emerging intersections with MH such peacebuilding, climate change and migration.
• Leadership for the Global Advocacy Priorities on Mental Health.
• Guiding the implementation of 7% set aside funds to ensure impactful and sustainable results.

Key functions/accountabilities include:

1. Programme development, planning and management

• Assist with the development of resource mobilization strategy and investment cases and take other actions to leverage funds for the area of mental health
• Contribute to the alignment of mental health programming and advocacy with UNICEF Strategic Plan, international standards and mechanisms, donor development policies, and UN-wide interventions and initiatives.
• Contribute to the preparation of programme reports, as required, for management, the Executive Board, donors and partners.
• Contribute to major monitoring and evaluation exercises to assess progress globally and to engage stakeholders to take required actions to achieve results; identify and document lessons learned and facilitate strategic use of knowledge gained.
• Prepare required documentations for programme review and approval.

2. Technical support

Under the supervision of the Director, Programmes, in the Programme Group Leadership Team, the incumbent is responsible for, but not necessarily limited to, the following assigned duties:

Key Projects:

• In 2020, UNICEF and the World Health Organization jointly identified the mental health and psychosocial well-being and development of children and adolescents as one of four “Strategic Priority Areas” for the UNICEF WHO Strategic Collaboration Framework, resulting in a 10-year Joint Programme signed in September 2020. The incumbent will launch the regional uptake and implementation of the JP, developing a resource mobilization strategy, and directly supporting regional joint work plans for 2021-2023 that will leverage this collaboration for greater impact with government and civil society partners.
• Co-lead (with DOC) development and roll out of the 4 year global MH Advocacy strategy, and activation of key moments including WMHD activation linked to SOWC.
• Collaborate across PD, other divisions, and regional offices to advance commitments under the 7% set aside.
• Co-lead with innovations team, the development of UNICEF's Innovations Portfolio on MHPSS, and support to the MHPSS innovations funded through 7% set aside for innovations.

Leadership in Interagency technical work & dialogue on MH:

• Contribute to inter-agency coordination mechanisms (i.e. IASC, UGMH, NIMH, HBGI, Lancet, etc.), through leadership of child & family technical working groups and delivery of inter-agency technical support and capacity building on MHPSS.
• Develop and strengthen partnerships with United Nations (UN) agencies, collaborating centers, donors and civil society organizations to advance initiatives aimed at scaling up and scaling deep mental health and psychosocial programming.

Ongoing Technical Support & Coordination:

• Provide technical oversight and policy advice to MHPSS focal points within programme division, primarily Health, CP, and Education.
• Provide technical oversight, and coordinate efforts, initiatives and resources across different sectons and divisions, inter-programmatically to ensure quality, timely and effective technical cooperation at the HQ and regional level.
• Strengthen & expand existing multi-sectoral MHPSS Community of Practice and enable learning and sharing of best practices.
• Provide technical inputs into corporate planning and reporting requirements on MHPSS and inputs, including as part of the new SP development process.
• Strengthen & expand existing chaired multi-divisional technical coordination group on MHPSS, with quality & technical support for MHPSS work across the organization.
• Provide technical advice and guide the development and dissemination of best practices on addressing mental health and psychosocial needs of children, adolescents, caregivers, and families, both within the Organization, as well as other knowledge management and communication products.
• Utilize information (epidemiological and field data) to assess the impact of interventions and to set programmatic priorities for UNICEF; promote sharing of country experiences, lessons learned and best practices through dedicated community of practice on MHPSS.
• Collaborate across PD teams to improve and streamline work for MHPSS, primarily Climate Change, Migration, and Peacebuilding

3. Advocacy, networking and partnership building - Contribute to the technical partnerships including the IASC MHPSS RG, the Mental Health Action Network, and other global partnerships and initiatives on mental health

- Support the maintenance of inter-agency relationships towards the development of Mental Health.

- Strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organization, research institutes and private sector in order to leverage these partnerships to achieve greater results for children.

4. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote critical thinking and innovative approaches on mental health, keeping abreast of current research and introducing and implementing cutting edge practices on implementation, systems strengthening, and workforce development. Work to institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned, including in humanitarian emergency settings, across UNICEF.
• Contribute to the development of programme knowledge acquisition through contributing to systematic collection of country programme experience (lessons learned, best practices, reviews, evaluations) in the area of MHPSS, including a key focus on the best practices; facilitate sharing of this knowledge between relevant UNICEF offices and l community of practice on MHPSS.
• Contribute to advancement of research, and identify research gaps, with key partners in the area of MHPSS, specifically on evidence-based programming to advance the agenda on MHPSS at country level.
• Contribute to disseminating and tracking relevant shifts in programme design and implementation.

To qualify as a champion for every child, the candidate must have…

• An advanced university degree in psychology, public health, family health, health research, global/international health, environmental health sciences, socio-medical or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of ten (10) years progressively responsible professional work experience at the community, national and international levels in experience in the areas of mental health, psychosocial health, or mental health programming and advocacy
• Fluency in English is required. 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.

For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEF’s Entitlements’ page*. If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online* Salary Estimate Calculator

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

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

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, 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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and 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.

“UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/