National Consultant - Senior Technical Advisor (Social Protection) at United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (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.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: National Consultant - Senior Technical Advisor (Social Protection)

Job ID: 582582
Location: Abuja (FCT)
Contract type: Consultant
Level: Consultancy
Duty Station: Abuja
Categories: Social Policy

Scope of Work
Coordinate technical support from DPG the Ministry of humanitarian affairs, specifically:
Coordinate Technical Advisors (TA) Across Core Areas:

• Provide day-to-day coordination support to the TAs working on the core areas.
• Ensure that the technical inputs of each TA are cohesive, complementary, and aligned with the Ministry’s agenda.

Liaise Between the Ministry and UNICEF:

• Serve as the focal point for the draft implementation and monitoring of the workplan between the Ministry and UNICEF
• Facilitate information flow, meeting coordination, and reporting to ensure mutual alignment and accountability.
• Support the preparation of briefings, presentations, and updates for both Ministry leadership and UNICEF stakeholders.

Provide Strategic and Operational Support:

• Identify synergies across the four core technical areas and support cross-functional collaboration among the TAs.
• Assist in tracking milestones, deliverables, and timelines for technical outputs.
• Ensure timely escalation to UNICEF of any bottlenecks or issues requiring senior-level decisions.

Support Documentation and Reporting:

• Consolidate inputs from all TAs into unified technical reports and progress updates.
• Maintain proper documentation of TA deliverables, stakeholder feedback, and engagement outcomes.

Work Assignment Overview
Tasks/Milestone:

• Review workplans and key milestones for each technical area supported by DPG

Deliverables/Outputs:

• Consolidated DPG workplan
• Prepare presentation of key activities and milestones 2025-2026

Deliverables/Outputs:
Presentation:

• Facilitate monthly coordination meetings with TAs to review progress of implementation.

Deliverables/Outputs:

• Progress update reports (per core area of support)
• Prepare monthly technical updates and reports for DPG members

Deliverables/Outputs:

• DPG briefing notes and slide deck
• Coordinate and support DPG-Ministry meetings

Requirements

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Social Policy, Economics, Public Administration, Development Studies, Social Protection, or a related field from a recognized institution.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in strategy development, policy dialogue, and institutional capacity strengthening for social protection at national or subnational level.
• Demonstrated experience providing technical advisory support to government ministries, departments or agencies on social protection, poverty reduction, or related policy reforms.
• Familiarity with shock-responsive social protection systems, social registries, cash transfer programs, and inter-agency coordination mechanisms is highly desirable.
• Experience working with international development partners (e.g., UN, World Bank, EU, bilateral donors) on social protection or humanitarian-development nexus programming is a strong asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

• UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
• UNICEF is also proud of a diverse workforce who are profoundly committed to supporting the full realization of children’s rights, and in uplifting a rights-based approach in all that we do.

Competencies:
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are:

• 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.

Application Closing Date
12th August, 2025.