Representative, Nigeria, D-1

The Position:

The Country Representative located in the Nigeria Country Office (CO) reports to the Regional Director, West and Central Africa Region (WCARO). 

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s new strategic plan (2018-2021), focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. 

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

Under the guidance of the Regional Director, WCARO, you will lead the Country team in the development and management of an innovative Country Programme of Cooperation focused on population and development and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including maternal health, family planning, gender, and adolescent and youth empowerment.

You are accountable for the effective implementation of the Country Programme, playing the lead role in promoting the mandate of the organization, and ensuring the integration of issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the broader national development agenda.  Through engagement with national counterparts, UN Country Teams, compelling advocacy, and delivery of effective programmes, including in emergency settings, you serve on the frontline of the organization, validating both the mandate of the organization and its ability to deliver high quality support and results.  Your ultimate accountability is to the people that you serve; the most vulnerable, excluded, or marginalized and for the causes that you serve; human rights, sustainable development and humanitarian relief.

Qualifications and Experience

Education: 

Postgraduate university degree in any of the following disciplines: Public Health, Medicine, Sociology, Demography, Gender, International Relations, International Development, Economics, Public Administration, Management or other related field.

Knowledge and Experience:

• 15 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in public administration and international development of which at least 10 years in the field of population and development, sexual and reproductive health or humanitarian at the international level;
• Current knowledge of issues of population and development, sexual and reproductive health, and their place in the development and humanitarian agenda;
• Proven ability to lead teams to achieve demonstrable and high quality results
• Experience at national and international level in advocacy and policy dialogue
• Experience in media/communication with partners, and public information
• Experience in international development, particularly in the mandate of UNFPA and dedication to the principles of the United Nations;
• Field experience is essential; experience from a developing, humanitarian or crisis context is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English. 
• Depending on the duty station, another language such as French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Portuguese may be required.