The Position:

The Representative serves as the accredited representative of UNFPA in the country and reports to the Regional Director for general direction and oversight. The Representative is responsible for establishing dialogue with the de facto authorities to develop the programme in the country and for working closely and collaborating with the relevant authorities and national institutes, UN and bilateral agencies, development partners, civil society, academia and the private sector to realize the 2030 Agenda in order to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of people; especially those furthest behind.

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 strategic plan (2026-2029), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better” on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

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 strategic guidance of the Director of the respective Regional Office, you will lead a 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 leading high level political dialogue, high-stakes strategic diplomacy, and complex policy negotiations with de facto authorities, donor governments, international partners, and the UN System to safeguard the operational space for women and girls. You hold primary accountability for positioning UNFPA’s mandate, overseeing high-value humanitarian and development portfolios, and mitigating multi-faceted organizational, political, and operational risks, as well as mobilizing resources for the Country Programme and its effective implementation. 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.

Applicable to some countries where UNFPA Representative is Country Director: You may also act as non-resident Country Director in some country offices. In this function you are supported by the national staff in the respective country offices.

You would be responsible for:

High Level Political engagement, representation and strategic leadership

• Lead high-stakes political and policy dialogue with de facto authorities, international diplomatic missions, and donor platforms to maintain principled operational access and defend fundamental human rights, SRHR, and gender equality;
• Lead strategic adaptation and management in the context of UN 80, the Humanitarian Compact, and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus, leveraging Afghanistan’s role as a pilot country to drive principled operational access and coherent crisis response;
• Provide senior inter-agency leadership within the UN System, serving as a pivotal strategic partner alongside the SRSG and DSRSG/RC/HC within the UN Country Team (UNCT) and Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to shape UN-wide crisis response strategies and advance the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (Triple) Nexus;
• Drive UNFPA’s strategic positioning and political accountability across UN-wide planning mechanisms, including the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and UN Strategic Frameworks to safeguard institutional priorities and drive common inter-agency results.
• Lead high-level political positioning and strategic advocacy for UNFPA’s mandate on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender equality, and population dynamics, adapting global and regional strategies to navigate Afghanistan’s complex political and socio-economic realities.
• Position UNFPA’s mandate as an indispensable, life-saving priority across inter-agency decision-making bodies, exercising executive oversight over lead mandate areas, including through a Protection Cluster coordination and as the Provider of Last Resort for GBV accountabilities and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Working Group;
• Navigate and shape UNFPA’s engagement in a volatile aid environment, leveraging high-level advocacy, strategic alliances, and innovative operational modalities—including South-South and Triangular Cooperation—to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ICPD agenda
• Deeply appreciate system-wide ongoing reform processes and directions and provide strategic leadership in positioning UNFPA’s mandated areas within the processes according to the organizationally adopted guidance and decisions by UN member states and its governing bodies

Resource Mobilization and Partnerships

• Drive macro-level donor diplomacy and establish multi-year, strategic funding alliances with bilateral donors, international financial institutions (IFIs), non-traditional partners.
• Mobilize resources for the country programme, and ensure the efficient and effective use of such resources in compliance with UNFPA financial rules, regulations, and procedures;
• Negotiate and secure complex, high-value donor agreements, ensuring fiscal sustainability and strategic alignment for multi-sectoral crisis response operations.
• Advocate for, and ensure the inclusion of, SRHR and GBV in the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), Flash Appeals, and other system-wide funding mechanisms;
• Formulate and implement a resource mobilization strategy for the country, and mobilize, in coordination with HQ and the Regional Office.

Strategic direction, planning, management of resources and oversight

• Provide strategic vision and executive direction for one of UNFPA’s largest and most complex country portfolios, translating corporate strategies into high-impact operational responses within a volatile and high-threat environment.
• Direct the strategic formulation and adaptive execution of multi-year emergency response frameworks, ensuring rapid operational agility, programmatic coherence, and institutional preparedness amid shifting geopolitical realities.
• Establish robust enterprise risk management (ERM) and internal control systems, ensuring organizational resilience, full compliance, audit readiness, and rigorous financial stewardship across all country operations
• Establish priorities for the work of the Country Office in line with regional and global UNFPA corporate priorities
• Exercise leadership over a large, multi-disciplinary, and decentralized team, driving strategic organizational design, building senior leadership capacity, and prioritizing comprehensive Duty of Care and staff well-being in a protracted crisis setting.

Institutionalize enterprise-wide results-based governance, leveraging state-of-the-art monitoring, operational innovation, and data-driven quality assurance to maximize impact, transparency, and accountability to affected populations

Management of Resources

• Drive strategic talent management and workforce planning, ensuring an agile, fit-for-purpose Country Office organizational structure that attracts, retains, and empowers top-tier international and national staff in a complex operational setting.
• Manage international and national staff providing them with direction and motivation; fostering empowerment, learning and career management.
• Foster a high-performance, transparent organizational culture, setting clear performance standards and accountability frameworks that incentivize excellence, promote career development, and address underperformance decisively.
• Ensure fit-for-purpose HR structure in the Country Office, aligned to the office needs for delivery of programmes , available resources and the country programme priorities
• Exercise executive fiduciary oversight and financial governance, enforcing rigorous internal controls, enterprise monitoring, and total audit readiness across high-value programmatic portfolios in full compliance with UNFPA financial rules and procedures.
• Ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of staff, as well as uphold and execute enterprise Duty of Care by establishing strategic oversight for workforce safety, legal/moral obligations, and institutional risk management across high-threat operating environments, aligning organizational posture with UN Security Management System (UNSMS) standards.
• Carry out any other duties as may be required by the Regional Director for whom you report to.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

• Post-graduate 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:

• Minimum of 15 years of increasingly responsible professional leadership experience in international development, with compulsory experience leading complex humanitarian crises, and fragile state contexts..
• Demonstrated ability in high level representation, sensitive communication/advocacy, in particular in relation to population and development, sexual and reproductive health, and gender, and their place in the development agenda.
• Proven track record in high-level political negotiation, sensitive diplomatic engagement, and navigating complex, politically sensitive environments and in negotiation
• Proven track record of success non-recognized or de facto authority regimes.
• Dynamic leadership style and the ability to work collaboratively with external partners, UNCT and UNFPA offices in the region.
• Substantive experience in fundraising, particularly with non-traditional donors and private sector, and innovative thinking to introduce increased cost efficiency measures.
• Proven ability to lead and manage teams to achieve demonstrable results;

demonstrated experience managing large scale country operations, multi-million dollar portfolios, and large, multi-disciplinary, diverse teams in high-threat environments.

• Experience in advocacy and policy dialogue;
• Demonstrated experience managing large scale country operations, multi-million dollar portfolios, and large, multi-disciplinary, diverse teams in high-threat environments.

Languages:

• Fluency in English. Depending on the duty station, another UN language such as French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or Russian may be required. Knowledge of a second UN language is an advantage.

Required Competencies:

Values:

• Exemplifying integrity,
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system,
• Embracing cultural diversity,
• Embracing change

Core Competencies:

• Achieving results.
• Being accountable.
• Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen.
• Thinking analytically and strategically.
• Working in teams/managing our relationships and ourselves.
• Communicating for impact.

Functional Competencies:

• Organizational Leadership and direction;
• Ensuring Operational Effectiveness and accountability for results;
• External and internal relations and advocacy for results mobilization;
• Strategically positioning UNFPA programmes in the country;
• Providing conceptual innovation to support programme effectiveness;
• Strengthening the programme and technical capacity of country offices;
• Facilitating quality programmatic results;
• Aligning Human Resources with the organization’s strategic direction.

Managerial Competencies:

• Providing strategic focus;
• Engaging in internal/external partners and stakeholders;
• Leading, developing and empowering people, creating a culture of performance;
• Making decisions and exercising judgment.

Humanitarian Competencies

• Formulating Strategies, Applying Humanitarian Principles and Norms;
• Deciding and Initiating Action;
• Relating and Networking;
• Fostering Humanitarian Teamwork;
• Influencing and Representation;
• Presenting and Communicating Information;
• Managing Complexity;
• Planning and Organizing;
• Adapting and Coping;
• Adapting and Responding to Change;

Compensation and Benefits:

This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus health insurance and other benefits as applicable.

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA’s workforce – click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements.

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants’ bank accounts.

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.

This job description is pending classification at the D-2 level.