Background
UNICEF Kenya works with national and county governments to strengthen equitable, efficient, and child responsive public finance systems, recognizing that stronger public spending directly improves children’s access to essential services. Through its Public Finance for Children (PF4C) agenda, UNICEF supports reforms that enhance budget credibility, fiscal transparency, and equitable allocation of resources, ensuring that public investments translate into improved outcomes for children—particularly the most vulnerable. At the national level, UNICEF plays a central role in Kenya’s PFM coordination architecture. As co chair of the Public Finance Management Development Partners Group (PFM DPG) alongside the UK FCDO, UNICEF provides strategic and technical leadership across the development partner community. Hosting the PFM DPG Secretariat, UNICEF facilitates structured engagement with the National Treasury and key institutions, advances joint analytical work, and ensures alignment with the national PFM reform agenda.

Complementing this leadership, UNICEF convenes the Devolution and PFM Task Force—an internal, multi sectoral coordination mechanism that strengthens the organization’s engagement with county governments. The platform ensures coherence across sectors on county budget processes, intergovernmental fiscal relations, and the financing structures that shape local service delivery. By bridging national level reforms with county level implementation, UNICEF strengthens the systems that determine how children experience services where they live.

Situated within the broader Social Policy mandate, PF4C enhances UNICEF’s work on reducing child poverty, strengthening social protection systems, and promoting evidence based policymaking. This integration ensures that fiscal reforms, budget analyses, and sector financing strategies are not carried out in isolation but are anchored in a wider agenda to advance equity and child rights. Within this context, the consultancy will provide senior level technical and coordination support to reinforce UNICEF’s leadership in PFM reform, devolution engagement, and evidence generation, ensuring that public finance systems at all levels become more responsive, efficient, and effective for children in Kenya.

Scope of Work:
The consultant will:
1. Maintain and continuously update the PFM DPG SharePoint site, ensuring all documents, resources, and archives are well organized and accessible.
2. Coordinate the planning, scheduling, and logistics for PFM DPG meetings and stakeholder engagements, ensuring timely communication and seamless execution.
3. Support the co chairs and Secretariat in developing, updating, and monitoring the PFM DPG annual work plan, ensuring alignment with agreed priorities.
4. Produce high quality minutes, summaries, and action trackers for PFM DPG meetings and events, and upload all outputs promptly to SharePoint.
5. Collect, curate, and file key documents—including reports, analyses, policy papers, and correspondence—to maintain a comprehensive and up to date knowledge repository.
6. Follow up with co chairs, thematic leads, and DPG members to ensure timely completion of action points and contributions to joint deliverables.
7. Provide logistical and organizational support for the PFM Donor taskforce.
8. Coordinate contributions to joint documents, ensuring clarity of requests, timely submissions, and quality control to the Chairs, leads of PFM donor group and NT.
9. Support in the analysis of budgets and documents related to the work with the PFMR Secretariat and the National Treasury (Office of the Principal Secretary)
10. Apply innovative and digital approaches to improve coordination, information management, and communication within the PFM DPG Secretariat.
11. Support the Social Policy team with data analysis, background documentation, and preparation of technical materials as required.
12. Perform other tasks assigned to enhance delivery of PF4C and Social Policy objectives.

Eligibility Requirements

Hold a masters in economics, communication, public policy, planning, or finance.
Demonstrate good economic and data analytics skills.
Demonstrate good IT skills.
Fluency in English is required.
Have at least 3 years of experience
Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Core Values
Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, Sustainability

Competencies
Builds and maintains partnership
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

How to Apply

Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter, CV, Application form, to the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System).

Interested candidates are required to indicate ability, availability, and submit a financial proposal that includes their daily rate expressed in KES.  Applications submitted without a fee/ rate will not be considered.

Remarks

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants. Consultants are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected consultant is solely responsible for ensuring that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected consultant are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. The vaccine mandate, does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.