Partnerships Officer, (N0-2), WCARO Dakar #127781 [Temp Appointment]

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, Hope

This Partnerships Officer position is part of the Partnerships and Resource Mobilization team (Public and Private) within the UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal and reports to the Partnerships Specialist (Private Sector).

The position’s purpose is to support Partnership Specialists and senior management at the Regional Office and across the 24 different Country Offices, At the end of 2023, the Regional Office established the first-ever fundraising digital webpage, accepting African multi-currencies to attract and recruit African individual partners to support UNICEF programs across West and Central Africa. This position will play an active role in coordinating and delivering the supporter recognition and development strategy to retain and grow individual donors from the region and create a more flexible funding source for our programs. The postholder will build a unique supporter cultivation journey with individual donors. The key result is to ensure income grows, our pool of partners increase and a greater visibility for UNICEF in support of its mission in West and Central Africa. H/She will have excellent verbal and written communication and relationship development skills.

How can you make a difference?

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

1. Contribute to the implementation of the work plan for assigned area, to ensure timely and cost effective delivery of results, in accordance with UNICEF’s partnership strategy.
2. Build and maintain UNICEF’s partnerships, by supporting the development and implementation of standards and guidance for UNICEF individual giving ; formulation of supporter communication work plans and strategies.
3. Support the development of frameworks and templates and review partner agreements and amendments for senior staff approval, ensuring compliance with UNICEF rules and regulations.
4. Maintain up-to-date information on individual donor and income trends, analyse development assistance policies and keep resource partner profiles updated.
5. Help supervisor maintain effective relationships with individual donors and partners, in order to thank them, keep them informed on important, strategic updates and invite them to relevant events or meetings.
6. Attend meetings with individual donors and partners as and when it is required and appropriate
7. Contribute to ideas for opportunities to develop new and existing synergies with other individual donors and partners, brainstorming around key content and supporter moments which could encourage new partners on board
8. Assist with the preparation of information to provide to partners on the strategy, design, relevance and impact of programmes, to advocate the work of UNICEF, retain and renew their support.
9. Conduct research on perspective new partners for UNICEF, and provide analysis of the areas of work, outreach, financial based and reputation of prospective partners.
10. Analyse relevant data and evidence of income and impact to support the build of new directional strategies and to review performance of products and plans, manipulating UNICEF systems and processes including Insight, UNISON, Stripe, back-end websites and the Cubes.

Impact of Results

The incumbent will motivate new and existing individual donors to continue to support UNICEF in West and Central Africa. H/She will have built and executed a successful supporter content and fundraising communications plan, gathering, analysing and reporting information in a manner that draws out fact-based insights to inform approaches to partner relationships and support substantive discussion with partners. S/he captures relevant information and progress, and ensures internal information sharing. Accurate and timely responses of information to partners will strengthen the credibility of the organization which in turn will result in trust and increase financial resources and supporters to UNICEF.

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

• A university degree is required in one of the following fields: international relations, political science, communications, international development, or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required : public affairs, programme management, resource mobilization, external relations, or other relevant area.
• Fluency in French and intermediate / working knowledge of English is required.

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…

(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.

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. 

Remarks:

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). 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 cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.