Representative, D-2, Beijing, China

Contract

This is a D-2 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 16 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 238,730 USD and 287,731 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.

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, dedication.

The Representative serves as the accredited representative of UNICEF in the country and reports to the Regional Director for general direction and oversight. The Representative is responsible for establishing dialogue with the Government to develop the framework of cooperation in the country and for working closely and collaboratively with the Government and national institutions, stakeholders and partners, to develop the Government-UNICEF Country Programme of Cooperation in active support of efforts to advance children’s rights as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, other international treaties/frameworks, the SDGs, and UN intergovernmental bodies.

As head of the Country Office, the Representative is responsible for providing leadership and vision to the UNICEF Country Office team in managing and leveraging resources for the achievement of results and realization of the rights of children. The Representative leads and oversees the various programme sectors and operations teams ensuring delivery of quality results in accordance with UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework, ethics, and integrity. The Representative is accountable for upholding UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability, and ensuring the establishment and maintenance of a non-discriminatory, inclusive, and nurturing working environment for all staff and personnel, to enable them to effectively and efficiently deliver high-quality results for children.

How can you make a difference?

The Representative’s key functions and accountabilities include:

• Developing and planning the Country Program
• Leading and managing the CO
• Monitoring and quality control of the Country Program
• Representation and external relations at global/national level
• Support to the Resident Coordinator and UN Country Team
• Resource mobilization and partnerships
• Leading innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
• Safety, security and well-being of staff, programmes, and organisational assets

Country Typology:

• Country Income Level: China is an upper middle-income country.
• Duty Station: Beijing is a “A”, family, and non-emergency duty station.
• Office Size: 110 staff
• Annual Budget: Approximately USD 40 million
• Good for 1st Time Rep: No
• Schooling: A wide range of international schools for all grades

Brief country context:

The world’s most populous country, China has a population of 1.38 billion and 17% of the developing world’s children. It is an upper middle-income country with a rapidly growing economy and strong political leadership, and has reduced poverty faster than any country on earth. However, disparities within the country have also increased as the improvements in human and social development outcomes struggle to keep pace with economic progress. The poorest areas of China are sometimes comparable to low income countries in terms of human and social development.

China is also a development partner in its own right, with the potential for increasing leadership to benefit children outside China.

The overall programme environment is characterized by strong national counterparts with centralized decision-making roles. Decision-making is influenced through think-tanks, academic entities and other actors. The programme places strong emphasis on upstream policy, closely linked to robust evidence generated from pilot efforts at sub-national levels. This approach links evidence from pilots through strong partnerships to support highly strategic and innovative approaches to effectively leverage implementation at large scale results with national resources.

The Country Programme supports the Government in the implementation of new policies, standards and norms that realize children’s rights, particularly China’s most vulnerable children and women as well as a systems-based approach to basic services for the poor. The programme will also increasingly support international exchange of best practices and integrating the issues of the environment, climate change and emergency preparedness, notably in education, water, social policy and communication, with a focus on empowering children as agents of change. The CO has found and will expand innovative ways to work with corporations, private, academic and public partnerships for children. Private sector fundraising has plenty of potential but remains constrained due to legal restrictions.

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

Qualifications:

• An Advanced University Degree in social sciences, international relations, government and public relations, public or social policy, sociology, social or community development or other related fields, is required.
• A minimum of 15 years of professional development experience that combines intellectual and managerial leadership in development cooperation at the international level, some of which served in developing countries is required. Relevant professional experience in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
  • General experience: Multi-country programme leadership experience as a Representative. Direct experience working within context of strong government leadership, preferably in MIC vital.
  • Managing for results: In-depth experience leading strategic programme with significant resources. Experience building from pilot work to large-scale implementation.
  • Fundraising: Successful experience from working with private-sector fundraising and communications for branding and value-creation with the purpose of establishing friends of UNICEF for the future. Knowledge and understanding of various strategies for fundraising including with corporations, foundations and philanthropists.
  • Working with people: Experience leading large teams with strong and experienced section heads. Exceptional skills in networking with a wide variety of partners (government, CSOs, private sector etc.) Proven experience to adapt and lead teams in diverse cultural/historical contexts. Proven ability to create an atmosphere of innovation and adaptation.
  • Change management: Strong leadership skills and analytic capacity. Experience from managing significant change, particularly in the context of changing programmes resulting from rapid economic growth.
  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language, particularly Chinese, is an asset.

Person Profile:

• General experience: Multi-country programme leadership experience as a Representative. Direct experience working within context of strong government leadership, preferably in MIC vital.
• Managing for results: In-depth experience leading strategic programme with significant resources. Experience building from pilot work to large-scale implementation.
• Fundraising: Successful experience from working with private-sector fundraising and communications for branding and value-creation with the purpose of establishing friends of UNICEF for the future. Knowledge and understanding of various strategies for fundraising including with corporations, foundations and philanthropists.
• Working with people: Experience leading large teams with strong and experienced section heads. Exceptional skills in networking with a wide variety of partners (government, CSOs, private sector etc.) Proven experience to adapt and lead teams in diverse cultural/historical contexts. Proven ability to create an atmosphere of innovation and adaptation.
• Change management: Strong leadership skills and analytic capacity. Experience from managing significant change, particularly in the context of changing programmes resulting from rapid economic growth.
• Upstream policy/ advocacy experience: In-depth, extensive experience with upstream advocacy linked to pilot work and scale lessons. Ability to effectively influence and advocate for large-scale, concrete results at the very highest levels. Strong public speaking skills.

For every child, you demonstrate…

Core Values

• Commitment
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust

• Accountability

  Competencies

• Builds and maintains partnerships.

• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness.
• Drive to achieve results for impact.
• Innovates and embraces change.
• Manages ambiguity and complexity.
• Thinks and acts strategically.
• Works collaboratively with others
• Nurtures, leads, and manages people.

***

This position is classified as “rotational” which means the incumbent is expected to rotate to another duty station upon completion of their tour of duty.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

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.