HIV/AIDS Specialist – Adolescents (P-4), HIV/AIDS Section, Programme Division, NYHQ, (364 days) # 00113193

UNICEF’s HIV response for children must ensure that age, poverty, gender inequality, and social exclusion do not determine access to life saving HIV prevention, treatment and care. UNICEF and its partners’ responses ensure all children are born free of HIV and remain HIV-free for the first two decades of life, from birth through adolescence. It means that all children living with HIV have access to the treatment, care and support they need to remain alive and healthy.

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, an equal chance.

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

The HIV & AIDS Section is located within the Programmes Division (PD) at UNICEF’s New York headquarters. UNICEF’s HIV response for children must ensure that age, poverty, gender inequality, and social exclusion do not determine access to life saving HIV prevention, treatment and care. UNICEF and its partners’ responses ensure all children are born free of HIV and remain HIV-free for the first two decades of life, from birth through adolescence. It means that all children living with HIV have access to the treatment, care and support they need to remain alive and healthy. This is UNICEF’s vision of an AIDS-free generation starting with children. Ending AIDS among children is vital to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 – the overarching goal of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), of which UNICEF is a co-sponsoring partner.  Reporting to the Senior HIV/AIDS Specialist -- Adolescents, this position will contribute to the Section’s overarching goals and strategic results, focused on advancing programming for the second decade of life.

How can you make a difference?

You will, under the guidance of the Senior HIV/AIDS Specialist - Adolescents, and in close coordination with the Second Decade matrix structure, multiple business units across UNICEF Headquarters, co-sponsoring agencies within the Joint United Nations HIV/AIDS programme, and civil society partners. advance strategic results for adolescents, in alignment with key results for prevention, treatment and care articulated in UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021.

The post will have two broad priorities:

• Enhancing country support to advance adolescent HIV priorities, programmes and innovations, including a special focus on accelerating programmes for adolescent and young key populations in low prevalence, mixed, and concentrated epidemics;
• Catalyze accelerated results for adolescents through multi-sectoral and innovative programming, in partnership with other sections and business units across UNICEF.

Summary of key functions and accountabilities:

Support regional and country offices to accelerate scaling up of adolescent HIV programmes in line with the Strategic Plan results through:

• Support finalisation and dissemination of UNICEF-led HIV prevention guidance and programming toolkit(s) at global, regional, and country levels;
• Advance technical support for the programmatic response to HIV in adolescence within low-prevalence, mixed, and concentrated epidemics;
• Lead data demand and information use to inform programme approaches for adolescent and young key populations, including population size estimations and data disaggregation for 15-19 and 20-24 age groups;
• Support virtual and/or physical convening of UNICEF country offices to advance technical cooperation and avail data for programming;
• Support development of guidance and considerations for incorporating novel products, tools, and approaches into programme portfolio, including digital, pharmaceutical, programmatic, and systems innovations;
• Manage partnerships, consultants, and interns

Advance multisectoral and innovative programming, including through agency-wide functional collaborations across the Second Decade cross-cutting theme

• Contribute to evolving cross-sectoral initiatives to advance the holistic wellbeing of adolescents living with and at risk of HIV;
• Represent HIV section in Programme Division’s second decade matrix team;
• Assist in the roll out of the Adolescent Health and Wellbeing guidance;
• Accelerate pilot testing and establishing proof of concept for programmatic innovations in early-adopter countries;
• Lead digital data and programming approach to enhance geographic and person-centered targeting, including through combining traditional and new data sources, novel analytics techniques, and development of real-time/near real time monitoring systems;
• Lead implementation research, documentation and dissemination of data innovation and digital programming work

Advance key global partnerships:

• Represent UNICEF in global working group(s) on Key Populations and support activities
• Work closely with Data and Analytics team to advance the “Data for children collaborative with UNICEF” on digital data innovation
• Represent UNICEF in the Global partnership on elimination of all forms of HIV-related stigma and discrimination and support drafting of TORs/ roll out of activities in select working groups

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s) in Social science, Political science, Health or Law is required;
• At least eight (8) years of progressive national and international experience working in the areas of global health, HIV and /or development is required;
• Prior comprehensive technical knowledge and skills for adolescent HIV programming, with focus on key populations is required;
• Demonstrable track record in country level support in developing programmes for and with adolescents and young people is essential;
• Proven ability to manage complex partnerships and an understanding of and experience in digital programming is highly desirable;
• Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respective, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

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

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

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, 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.