Emergency Specialist (Access), P-4, TA 364 days, MENA Regional Office, Amman, Jordan

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to Hope

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, 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.

How can you make a difference? 

Overlapping and protracted crises in the Middle East and North Africa are compounded by complex and converging risks that disproportionately affect children, particularly those in vulnerable households. As a result, 92.6 million people, including 44.8 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

In 2026, guided by the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action, UNICEF will strengthen preparedness and deliver urgent, timely and effective humanitarian assistance across the Middle East and North Africa region. The Regional Office will support country offices in enhancing their overall preparedness, including monitoring current and emerging risks, developing scenarios to anticipate crises and implementing fully costed contingency plans (including subregional approaches) that will enable the rapid allocation of funding, technical support and supplies. The Regional Office will lead cross-border and subregional collaboration to ensure timely and coordinated assistance. It will provide leadership, coordination, advocacy and surge support for emergencies, facilitating strategic planning, information-sharing and rapid deployment of human, operational and financial resources. It will also ensure minimum emergency preparedness and response capacity across country offices and partners through technical and operational support and through tailored learning and capacity-building initiatives.

The Regional Office will enhance preparedness to ensure children receive life-saving and dignified assistance in the event of a crisis. Support will also focus on accountability to affected populations and localization by strengthening feedback systems, integrating local needs into decision-making and empowering local actors to deliver context-specific, effective and sustainable humanitarian assistance. These efforts aim to enhance the dignity, capacities and resilience of the most vulnerable. Through technical guidance and operational support, country offices will be better equipped to negotiate and maintain principled humanitarian access, unblock constraints and apply risk-informed strategies to reach the most vulnerable children and families.

Under the supervision of the Regional Emergency Adviser, the incumbent will support UNICEF Country Offices (CO) engaged in humanitarian action across the MENA region to ensure adequate preparedness and response capacity, particularly related to humanitarian access analysis, planning and implementation.

1. With the aim of supporting and improving the quality of humanitarian access to children in hard-to-reach areas across the MENA region, and enabling timely and principled emergency response in situations with significant shrinking of humanitarian space and severe access constraints:
   1. Provide technical assistance and implementation support to UNICEF Regional, Country and Field Offices’ staff (across functional profiles) on humanitarian access and related issues, in line with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs), UNICEF Emergency Procedures, and other UNICEF and interagency policy and guidance.
   2. Support UNICEF Country Offices (COs) and Field Offices (FOs) to develop and implement Access Strategies and Access Action Plans, as well as Engagement frameworks with armed non-state actors and de facto authorities.
   3. Serve as MENA Regional Office ‘In-House’ expert on humanitarian access policy guidance, tools and other resources, including the MENARO Advisory Committee on Armed Non- State Actors.
   4. Support UNICEF capacity building initiatives and related opportunities on humanitarian access for UNICEF and partner staff with access-related responsibilities in the MENA region, in close collaboration with EMOPS Humanitarian Policy Section.
   5. Provide regular access-related analysis to inform emergency preparedness and response, including cross-border operations. This encompasses analyses of access constraints, stakeholders mapping, including armed non-state actors (ANSAs), of relevance to UNICEF operations or programmes. Facilitate a deliberate and collaborative assessment and decision-making process on how to engage ANSAs (or not), in accordance with UNICEF guidelines.
   6. Build and nurture networks to obtain and triangulate credible information on access that can inform early warning, business continuity, and risk-informed humanitarian programmes, operations and negotiations to ensure principled and effective humanitarian action, staff safety and protection of civilians.
   7. Serve as focal point for UNICEF on regional inter-agency Access Working Groups (IASC AWGs) or other external platforms of relevance to humanitarian access.
2. Serve as MENARO Emergency Focal Point for Country Offices delivering humanitarian assistance in complex and high threat environments, including Sudan L3 (until transitioning of Sudan CO to ESARO, tentatively April 2026). This role entails providing day-to-day technical emergency management support to COs and in-person operational support when needed, coordinating L3 organizational responsibilities between Headquarters, Regional Office, CoEs and Country Offices, and ensuring that Emergency Response Plans are revised as situations evolve, in line with UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. Manage the timely handover of RO emergency team oversight and support to Sudan CO from MENARO to ESARO in the course of Q1/Q2 2026.
3. Support COs to adopt adequate emergency preparedness response measures through the development of country Preparedness and Contingency Plans (including compliance for the implementation of agreed Minimum Preparedness Standards.
4. Support COs in developing capacity building strategies for UNICEF staff and national partners (government at the national and sub national levels, civil society, and community actors) to enhance their capacity for emergency preparedness and response guided by UNICEF Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  Vacancy Announcement – Emergency Specialist (Access), P-4, TA, MENARO.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

Advanced University degree in one of the following fields: social sciences, public administration, international law, public health, nutrition, international relations, business administration or other related disciplines. Preferably a combination of management, administration and relevant technical fields.

Work Experience:

• Eight years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national and international levels in programme/project development (in a humanitarian context), planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and administration.
• Field work experience in complex emergencies is required.
• Specialized training and experience in emergency response management required.
• Experience undertaking access analysis, strategy development and management in a humanitarian context (both preparedness and response) is required.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Arabic is required.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.

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

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility jobs-near-me.org UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidate are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

The conditions of a temporary assignment, including relocation entitlements, will depend on the status of the staff member’s original appointment and may be limited in accordance with applicable UNICEF policies, procedures, and practices in force.

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

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.