Staff Counsellor, P-4, Fixed Term Position, Kabul, Afghanistan, #00132067

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 a Champion

Strategic office context:

UNICEF Afghanistan Country Office (ACO) operates in one of the world's most complex humanitarian and development settings, delivering lifesaving and resilience-building programmes for millions of children and women affected by conflict, climate-related emergencies, displacement, disease outbreaks, poverty, and restricted access to essential services. 

These operating conditions place sustained pressure on personnel. Staff face demanding workloads, frequent emergencies, evolving security risks, organizational change, and prolonged exposure to cumulative stress. National personnel, particularly female staff, experience additional challenges related to mobility, workplace participation, and professional development, while international staff contend with hardship conditions, family separation, and repeated emergency deployments.

Reporting to the Chief of People and Culture and receiving technical guidance from the Regional Staff Counsellor, the Staff Counsellor leads the design and implementation of a comprehensive staff mental health and psychosocial support programme aligned with UNICEF's Duty of Care framework and MHPSS strategy. The role provides confidential counselling and psychosocial support to personnel and eligible dependents, while delivering prevention, early intervention, critical incident response, recovery support, and resilience-building initiatives. Responsibilities include individual counselling, leadership consultation, psychosocial risk assessments, team interventions, organizational wellbeing programmes, and critical incident stress management.

The Staff Counsellor also serves as the technical lead for mental health preparedness and response during emergencies, security incidents, evacuations, organizational transitions, and other critical events. Working closely with senior management, Security, People and Culture, Medical Services, Peer Support Volunteers, and external specialists, the position ensures coordinated, timely, and confidential psychosocial support.

Using a continuum-of-care approach encompassing prevention, early intervention, and clinical support, the Staff Counsellor provides confidential counselling, leadership consultation, psychosocial risk assessment, team interventions, wellbeing programming, and organizational support. 

Key roles and responsibilities: 

1. Strategic Leadership, Organizational Wellbeing and Psychosocial Risk Management

2. Prevention, Workforce Resilience and Organizational Development

3. Leadership Consultation, Coaching and Organizational Change Support

4. Individual and Group Psychosocial Support Services

5. Emergency Psychosocial Response and Critical Incident Support

6. Partnerships, Capacity Building and Knowledge Management

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  Classified JD - Staff Counsellor P4, Kabul, Afghanistan, 00132067-1-4.pdf

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have… 

Minimum Requirements:

• Education: A Masters or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in industrial/organizational psychology, occupational health psychology, health counselling, clinical psychology, social work, organizational behavior, behavioral science, counselling or related mental health profession is required. 
• Additional training or certification in staff support and traumatic / critical incident stress as well as a broad range of related fields, such as Employee Assistance Programme, alcohol/substance abuse, family counselling, coaching, stress management is an asset. 

• Work Experience: A minimum of 8 years of national and especially international professional experience in staff support, human behavior and performance, learning and motivation; psychological research methods, assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders, cross-cultural communications and training, employee wellbeing, occupational health, counseling, organizational development, emergency response, psychosocial risk management, and related areas. Preferably gained within the UN system or international development/humanitarian aid sector. 
• Skills: Professional experience in organizational wellbeing, mental health, psychosocial support, crisis intervention, leadership coaching, risk assessment.
• Demonstrated experience providing psychological support and critical incident stress management to personnel operating in emergency, conflict, fragile, or high-stress environments.
• Experience advising senior managers and leadership teams on workforce wellbeing, psychological safety, organizational resilience, and staff care strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to design and facilitate training on resilience, stress management, mental health awareness, and psychological safety. Experience addressing burnout, secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, and other occupational stressors affecting humanitarian personnel.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
• Experience with stress management, trauma counseling, substance abuse counseling, coaching certification is desirable. Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergencies is considered an asset.
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts. 

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

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.

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 and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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 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.

Remarks:

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.

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: 10 Aug 2026 Afghanistan Standard Time
Applications close: 24 Aug 2026 Afghanistan Standard Time

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