Health Specialist - Adolescent Health, P-4, Fixed Term Position, #00133499, Global Programme Division, Health-MNCAH, Nairobi - Kenya COE.

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.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to Opportunity

• →Capacity Development & Institutional Strengthening
• →Quality Improvement at Scale
• →Policy Reform & Systems Transformation
• →Evidence, Data & Knowledge for Action
• →Equitable Access
• →Programme Management & Results Monitoring
• →Strategic Partnerships, Resource Mobilization and Grant Management
• →Global Advocacy, Knowledge Leadership and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration

Through this role, you will help strengthen national policies and service delivery platforms, support global guidance and quality standards, foster innovation and learning across countries, and contribute to UNICEF's leadership in advancing adolescent health and well-being worldwide.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  Classified Job Descriptions - Health Specialist_Adolescent Health (Revised)_00133499 (1).pdf

• Education: An advanced university degree in public health, global health, adolescent health, health systems and services, epidemiology, health policy and management, medicine
• Work Experience: A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional experience in adolescent health, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (MNCAH), health systems strengthening, primary health care, public health, or related fields is required.
• Skills:
  • strategic thinking
  • ability to develop and operationalize frameworks and guidance
  • strong partnership-building and coordination skills across sectors and institutions
  • communication skills for advocacy, technical writing, and presentation
• Language Requirements: Knowledge of English language at a Proficient level is required.

Desirables:

• Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language.
• Demonstrated experience in the design, implementation, management and monitoring of adolescent health programmes, including one or more of the following areas:
  • Sexual and reproductive health,
  • mental health and psychosocial support,
  • school health,
  • communicable/non-communicable diseases,
  • substance use prevention.
• Proven experience providing technical and strategic support to governments, UN agencies, development partners and country programmes, including policy development, programme planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and knowledge generation.
• Demonstrated experience supporting health systems strengthening and service delivery across primary health care, school, community and digital platforms.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-country grants, programme budgets and donor-funded initiatives, including strategic planning, resource allocation, financial oversight, performance monitoring, donor reporting and partnership management.
• Experience supervising professional staff, consultants and/or multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience supporting programmes in low- and middle-income countries, including humanitarian and fragile settings.

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

(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
(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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, discrimination, fraud, corruption and other forms of serious misconduct.UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference, safeguarding and background verification checks. These checks may include verification of academic credentials and employment history, screening against relevant United Nations misconduct databases, and requests for misconduct disclosures from current and former employers, professional associations, other relevant organizations and participating organizations under inter-agency safeguarding initiatives, including the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme (MDS), where applicable.Appointment, selection and continued engagement are subject to the satisfactory completion of all required checks. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information and consent to enable UNICEF to undertake these checks.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 are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments are conditional on the selected candidates willingness to comply with current or future vaccination requirements, should UNICEF mandate it for personnel. Failure to comply with such requirements, where applicable and without a duly approved medical exemption from the relevant UN authority, will result in the cancellation of the selection or may lead to other administrative measures, including separation from service.

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

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, 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.

In this role, you will collaborate with colleagues across multiple locations. For effective collaboration, we encourage flexible working hours that accommodate different time zones while prioritizing staff wellbeing.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

Advertised: 19 Oct 2026 E. Africa Standard Time
Applications close: 17 Nov 2026 E. Africa Standard Time

Back to search results Apply now Refer a friend