Youth & Adolescent Mental Health and Psycho-social Support Officer, (NO-1), Belgrade, Serbia, #118095 (Temp Appointment)

The Youth and Adolescent Mental Health and Psycho-social Support Officer will provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance to support the development and formulation of the adolescent development and participation projects within the UNICEF Serbia Country Programme.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF’s office is accessible to a certain extent, and employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that are needed for ensuring equitable working conditions.

UNICEF supports Serbia’s efforts in promoting and protecting the rights of every child and ensuring equal opportunities for all children to develop to their full potential. Our programmes are aimed at supporting excluded and vulnerable children from the beginning of their life, and throughout their childhood and adolescence. Within its Youth Programme, UNICEF with partners aims to strengthen the mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS) accessible to all young people, including vulnerable groups, to improve and diversify the access to age-appropriate services and early-detection of needs for mental health and psychological support.

In 2022, UNICEF aims at supporting the Government of Serbia to develop innovative, age, gender, and disability-sensitive youth-friendly mental health and psychosocial support services at the local level that will strengthen the preventative response and rehabilitation of young people requiring mental health and psychosocial support. Mental health interventions cover a spectrum of activities, ranging from raising awareness around mental health issues, de-stigmatization, preventative measures (to build awareness and resilience), universal and selective prevention (to reduce risk and vulnerability factors and build protective factors), as well as indicated prevention and early intervention strategies (for those with early signs of mental health conditions), to treatment of varying intensity (for those with an established conditions) and extended care and rehabilitation programmes (for those with secondary impairments as a result of a specific condition).

UNICEF’s framework for the MHPSS is multisectoral, anchored in the social ecological model with the child at the center surrounded by their family and caregivers, then their communities and finally society with its cultures and norms. A life course approach to mental health and psychosocial wellbeing acknowledges that child and adolescent wellbeing and resilience are directly linked with the interplay between developmental stage and environmental elements influencing the young person’s risk and protective factors. The Inter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) intervention pyramid is used to describe the multilayered support that makes up a comprehensive, complementary package of MHPSS interventions for people’s recovery and wellbeing. A multisectoral approach to mental health and psychosocial wellbeing recognizes and builds a continuity of services, coordination, and communication mechanisms across sectors to avoid gaps and to address the continuum of care.  

Work Assignment Overview:

The Youth and Adolescent MHPSS Officer will provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance to support the development and formulation of the adolescent development and participation projects within the UNICEF Serbia Country Programme.

Duration of the assignment: Jan – Dec 2022 (with a possibility for extension to one more year)

Key function and accountabilities:

1. Support to youth and adolescent MHPSS programme development and planning;
2. Youth MHPSS programme management, monitoring and delivery of results;
3. Technical and operational support to MHPSS programme implementation;
4. Networking and partnership building;
5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• A university degree in one of the following fields: psychology, clinical social work, social work, medicine, humanistic sciences.
• A minimum of one year of professional experience in psychological and/or psychiatric work with youth and adolescents.
• A minimum of one year of experience in monitoring and evaluating projects in social fields (health, education, social welfare) and/or behavioural change projects, preferably in relation to children and families.
• Excellent networking and partnership building skills.
• A strong sense of integrity and ethical awareness.
• Ability to take ownership and assume responsibility for achieving results.
• Strong analytical skills and strategic thinking skills.
• Ability to work effectively with people of diverse backgrounds.
• Fluency in both English and Serbian.
• Experience in designing the implementation research will be considered as an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

Important notes:

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

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.