Back Senior National Consultant – Social Protection, Damascus, Syria, 230 working days in 12 months

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

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For every child, an advocate.

UNICEF Syria was established in 1970 and has been working with partners to help empower children to fully claim and enjoy their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNICEF works with partners across Syria to deliver supplies, services, and expertise in areas of Child Protection, Education, Health, Nutrition, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation for every child.

UNICEF also provides humanitarian assistance when needed.

Syria continues to face one of the most complex emergencies in the world. Unprecedented humanitarian needs are compounded by displacement inside the country and across its borders, extensive destruction of civilian and social services infrastructure, devastating impacts on the economy, and most importantly, the breakdown of the social fabric that stitched the country together for decades.

Today, 90 per cent of people in Syria live in poverty, most are unable to make ends meet or bring food to the table. Families have had their resources depleted, with limited employment opportunities, skyrocketing prices, and shortage of basic supplies. For most people, the current socio-economic challenges represent some of the harshest and most challenging circumstances they have faced since the beginning of the crisis in 2011.

The February 2023 earthquakes have added agony to an already catastrophic situation, increasing the strain on services, causing displacement, and inflicting widespread damage. Many families lost their main breadwinner due to death or injury, at a time when the economic situation was already dire, resulting in millions of people unable to meet their basic needs.

In 2024, 16.7 million people needed humanitarian assistance. This is the highest number of people in need ever recorded in Syria since 2011. The number of children in need - more than 6.5 million - has increased by seven per cent in the past year alone. The COVID-19 pandemic, the hike in the price of commodities triggered by the overall global economic situation is further compounding the dire situation.

Political transition, economic instability, and security concerns continue to impact recovery efforts. UNICEF remains committed to upholding children's rights, striving to create an environment where children are protected, valued, and empowered.

For information on the work of UNICEF in Syria, please visit UNICEF Syria.

Background on the Assignment:

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. 

Every child in the Syrian Arab Republic has the right to equitable and adequate social protection and basic services, such as health, education, nutrition, WASH, and child protection.  The Social Policy team in UNICEF Syria Country Office focuses on four key areas – social protection, cash transfers, public finance and general financing for children, and child poverty. In these four priority areas, UNICEF Syria CO provides different levels of technical assistance and support to national counterparts ranging from system strengthening, capacity building, policy analysis and evidence generation, and advocacy with particular focus on social protection systems, large-scale cash-based transfers (both humanitarian and non-humanitarian), and public finance management.

Following more than a decade of conflict, Syria’s new government has inherited a profound and complex humanitarian and socio-economic crisis. The economic downturn, ongoing displacement, widespread infrastructure damage, and external shocks—including regional instability and the global cost-of-living crisis—have significantly eroded household coping capacities. These challenges have led to a sharp rise in poverty. Importantly, poverty in Syria is not limited to a lack of income—it is multidimensional. Children and families face overlapping deprivations in health, education, water and sanitation, housing, and protection. These conditions risk entrenching long-term intergenerational cycles of poverty and exclusion.

Concurrently, the Government of Syria is seeking to strengthen its social protection system as a key vehicle to mitigate the effects of poverty and build resilience. Currently, Syria’s social protection architecture remains fragmented, heavily reliant on ad hoc social assistance. There is a clear need for a more integrated, life-cycle approach that includes social assistance, social insurance, and access to essential social services—especially for children and other vulnerable groups.

Recognizing the intersection between poverty and social protection, UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MoSAL) to align the multidimensional poverty strategy with ongoing social protection reform efforts, ensuring coherence, inclusiveness, and sustainability to:

To enable this work, UNICEF will recruit a senior national Social Protection Consultant to support coordination between all Ministries involved and so the work of UNICEF in systems mapping, policy coherence, and the development of a reform roadmap into the national strategy is implemented. The consultant will work directly with the MoSAL and sitting at MoSAL premises. This consultancy will help ensure that coordination between MoSAL and UNICEF (and other relevant Ministries) supports national strategies that are grounded in evidence, equity-focused, and implementable, while also building MoSAL’s institutional capacity for long-term ownership. This role involves close collaboration and coordination with government counterparts, development partners, and UNICEF teams to ensure effective coordination amongst Ministries and the Planning and Statistics Commission, documentation, communication, and UNICEF’s engagement.

How can you make a difference? 

The national consultant will provide technical support to MoSAL and UNICEF in:

If you would like to know more about this assignment, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:

 TORs Senior National IC-Social Protection-(AD Version).pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

I. Academic qualifications:

Advanced university degree or equivalent in social policy, international relations, political science, communications, international development/development studies, or another relevant technical field.

II. Work experience / Technical competencies:

III. Language requirement:

Fluency in Arabic is required, both spoken and written communication skills. Proficiency in English is required 

IV. Competencies:

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

The 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

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, 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, minority, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities,  including neurodivergence.

Shortlisted applicants may be invited for further technical assessment. Final recommendation will be made based on “best value for money”, i.e. the hiring section/office shall normally select the individual who quoted the lowest fee from among the candidates who are assessed as suitable for achieving all tasks on time, as per the criteria stipulated in this ToR, and based on the outcome of the evaluation/assessment conducted.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. 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. and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments may be 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 canceled.

General Remarks:

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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 (if applicable), or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.