Donor Relations Specialist -Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (For Non-Ethiopian nations only)

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, commitment

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

Watch our Year in Review.

How can you make a difference?

Under the guidance and supervision of the Resource Mobilization Manager, the incumbent supports the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), including supporting the coordination of multiple internal and external partners for the efficient implementation of the Ethiopia Crises to Resilience (EC2R) programme.

1. Donor Relations:

• Donor Relations – Donor portfolios are managed in a timely, accurate and coordinated manner.
• Lead the FCDO portfolio, including timely, accurate communications to all FCDO requests, with support from the Resource Mobilization Manager.
• Provide timely, well-coordinated communications internally for all matters related to FCDO.
• Proactively communicate any potential challenges or bottlenecks to FCDO for full transparency and potential brainstorming.
• Lead the coordination and creation of any proposals or concept notes as requested by FCDO.

2. EC2R Coordination

• With support from the Climate and Environment Specialist, regularly convene meetings with EC2R partners for the purposes of implementation updates, identification and information sharing on potential areas of coordination (e.g. supply distribution), identification of any potential risks or bottlenecks, brainstorming on mitigation measures, to create further efficiencies within programming across partners, ad to ensure that EC2R is implemented within donor conditions.
• Provide regular updates to FCDO as requested.
• Support with the coordination and quality assurance of inputs related to donor updates and reports.
• Regularly monitor UNICEF EC2R budget utilization and support programme teams to accelerate utilization where needed.
• Proactively identify any potential risks to implementation in the event a re-programming request might be necessary.

• Review of interim and final reports; work closely with the Donor Relations and Reports Specialist in the quality review of all donors reports before submission externally.
•  Review of proposal and concept note for alignment with Country Office and global guidelines.
•  Provide quarterly inputs to the humanitarian Financial Tracking System.
• Perform other duties and back-up functions to other staff in the unit during their absence, as required.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in international relations, political science, communications, international development, or another relevant technical field.
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience in resource mobilization, donor reporting, donor relations, or related fields is required.
• Extensive FCDO experience is required.
• Experience in coordination and meeting conflicting deadlines while also maintaining a positive working environment is required.
• Demonstrated excellence in donor report and proposal quality assurance is highly advantageous.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.
• Language Proficiency
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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 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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

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