Chief Child Survival & Development, NO-4, FT, #00129782, Baghdad, Iraq - MENAR (Open to Iraqi nationals only)

Title: Chief, Child Survival and Development (CSD)

Supervisor Title/ Level: Deputy Representative P5

Organizational Unit: Programme

Post Location: Baghdad, Iraq

Job Level: NO-D

Job Profile No.: 129782

CCOG Code: 1I03n

Functional Code: HNN + WSH

Job Classification Level: Level 4

II. Strategic office context and purpose for the job

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.

Strategic office context :

The Iraq Country Programme (2025–2029) is structured around five programme components including (1) Health & Nutrition, with focus on Early Childhood Development, (2) Education and Youth skills, with focus on Back to Learning, (3) Child Protection with focus on Case Management, (4) Social Inclusion with focus on Social Protection. (5) WASH with focus on climate change, supported by strong advocacy and communication. UNICEF in Iraq aims to transform its programming to become more strategic, relevant, and impactful—focusing on high-priority interventions that can be scaled and sustained by government systems. Aligned with national aspirations for both SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), The Child Survival and Development (CSD) programme will adopt an integrated approach that combines public health and environmental sustainability, prioritizing primary health care (PHC), safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. This holistic strategy aims to deliver large-scale impact across health, nutrition, and WASH outcomes.

In the Health and Nutrition sector, UNICEF continues to provide strategic support to the Government in areas such as immunization, newborn care, digital health transformation, and supply chain management. To improve the quality of health outcomes, UNICEF will leverage public financing for primary health care (PHC), advocate for policy reforms, strengthen partnerships with the private sector, and promote social and behavioral change to address newborn and children health and chronic malnutrition. Furthermore, adolescent health and nutrition, along with mitigating the impact of environment pollution on maternal and child health, will remain key priorities for action and investment.

In the WASH sector, UNICEF continues to provide strategic support in advancing water security, unlocking sanitation gaps, and addressing climate-related challenges. This includes facilitating the development of integrated master plans for water supply, wastewater management, and water reuse; promoting digitalization and automation of water systems; supporting the formulation of national climate action plans aligned with Iraq’s climate commitments; and fostering inclusive public-private partnerships and civil society engagement, while maintaining its leadership role in the sector.

Purpose of the job:

Reporting to the Deputy Representative, the Chief Child Survival and Development (CSD) is responsible for leading UNICEF Iraq’s efforts to improve child survival and development outcomes through the strategic integration of Health, Nutrition, and WASH programming.

The Chief CSD is accountable for the overall leadership, coordination, and technical quality of the Child Survival portfolio. This includes setting strategic direction, ensuring effective programme design and delivery of results especially for priority areas on early childhood development (ECD) and Climate Change (CC), and fostering cross-sectoral collaboration.

The Chief CSD is also accountable for mobilizing and using resources efficiently, and supporting system strengthening and policy dialogue.

As a member of the Country Management Team (CMT), the Chief CSD contributes to the overall governance of the office, providing strategic input into key management decisions and ensuring programmatic coherence and alignment with UNICEF’s organizational goals.

III. Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Managerial leadership

• Programme development and planning

• Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Advisory services and technical support

• Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Managerial leadership

• Establish the section’s annual work plan with the CSD team and set Health, Nutrition, WASH and Climate Change priorities and targets. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.

• Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the team.

• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives, goals, direction, and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

• Programme development and planning

• Plan and provide technical guidance and operational support to the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis to ensure comprehensive and current data on maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition and WASH is available to guide policy development and design and management programmes.

• Keep abreast of development trends to enhance programme management, efficiency and delivery to achieve sustainable, effective and equitable maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition and WASH programme results.

• Prepare, coordinate and supervise the formulation and design of health , nutrition and WASH programme/project recommendations and related documentations as a component of the Country Programme, establishing clear programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results based on results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM).

• Evaluate the programme recommendation to ensure the alignment of health, nutrition and WASH programmes with the overall UNICEF Strategic Plan, Country Programme, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), regional strategies, as well as national priorities, plans and competencies.

• Consult and collaborate with colleagues and partners to provide technical and operational support on programme planning, management and implementation, to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programmes/projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans; donors’ development strategies and policies; country level national priorities and competencies, and UN system development interventions and initiatives.

• Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Plan and/or collaborate with colleagues and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators, and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurements to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable health, nutrition and WASH results to achieve ECD, WASH and CC outcomes.

• Lead monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual health and nutrition reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.

• Identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.

• Actively monitor programmes and projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems; and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.

• Plan, monitor and verify the optimum and appropriate use of programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations, procedures, standards of accountability and integrity and donor commitments. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.

• Prepare mandated and key programme/project reports for donors and other partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

• Advisory services and technical support

• Provide advice to key government officials, CSO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on policies, strategies, public finance for children, and best practices and approaches to support programme development planning, management, implementation, and delivery of ECD, WASH and CC results.

• Participate in strategic programme discussions and planning to provide technical advice, contribute to policy discussions and agendas, and promote health, nutrition and WASH interventions, especially in the areas of gender, emergency preparedness and maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition and WASH.

• Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and/or consideration.

• Participate in emergency preparedness initiatives for programme development, contingency planning and/or to respond to emergencies in country or where designated

• Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with nutrition and health sector government counterparts, national stakeholders, global partners, allies, donors, the private sector, and academia, through active networking, advocacy and effective communication. Build capacity, exchange knowledge and expertise, and/or promote cooperation and alliances to achieve programme goals on maternal and child rights as well as social justice and equity.

• Prepare communication and information materials to highlight programme goals, achievements and/or needs to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances and support fund raising for health, nutrition and WASH programmes.

• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate inter-agency discussions and planning on health, nutrition and WASH related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDCF process in development planning and agenda setting. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNSDCF planning and preparation of nutrition programmes/projects.

• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable health and nutrition programme/project initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.

• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, and implement best and cutting-edge practices in health, nutrition and WASH system management, information systems, Climate modelling and ECD. Institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.

• Systematically plan, support and monitor the professional development of UNICEF CSD staff to ensure sector capacity remains up-to-date with latest developments.

• Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.

• Organize, plan and/or implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders to promote sustainable results on health, nutrition and WASH related programmes/projects.

IV. Impact of Results

The efficiency and efficacy of support provided by the Chief, CSD to the preparation, planning and implementation of health, nutrition and WASH programmes/projects contributes to and accelerates the national development efforts to improve the well-being of mothers, infants and children in the country. This in turn contributes to maintaining and enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to continue to provide programme services to mothers and children that promote greater social equity in the country.

V. Competencies and level of proficiency required

Core Values attributes

• Care

• Respect

• Integrity

• Trust

• Accountability

• Sustainability

Functional Competencies :

• Builds and maintains partnerships (II)

• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (II)

• Drive to achieve results for impact (III)

• Innovates and embraces change (II)

• Manages ambiguity and complexity (II)

• Thinks and acts strategically (II)

• Works collaboratively with others (II)

• Nurtures, leads and manages people (II)

VI. Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: public health,nutrition, health policy/management,, global/international health and nutrition, environmental health sciences, water resources engineering, or another relevant technical field.

Additional relevant post-graduate courses that complement/ supplement the main degree are required.

Experience:

DEVELOPMENTAL: A minimum of eight years of professional experience in health, nutrition and/or WASH-related programmes for developing countries or middle income countries is required.

Demonstrated experience in supervising a team is required

HUMANITARIAN: At least one year of work in humanitarian situations.

Desirables

• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization.

• Familiarity with child rights-based and results-based approach

• Knowledge of UN/UNICEF programmatic goals, visions, positions, policies and strategies is highly desirable.

• Knowledge of UN/UNICEF policies and strategy to address national and international issues, particularly relating to climate change, ECD.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in Arabic and English is required.Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered an asset.