Consultant

Consultant

UNICEF Consultancy (International-only) for BMZ/KfW Joint Resilience and Social Cohesion Project, Phase II, Maiduguri, Nigeria (office based) 6 months

Nigeria

Consultant

Closing at: 17 Nov 2026 - 23:55 CET

Consultancy

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 hope

Working under the overall supervision of the Chief of Field Office and closely with programme sections, Planning, Monitoring and Reporting, Operations, Supply, Finance, Resource Mobilization, and relevant Country Office and headquarters colleagues, the consultant will ensure that outstanding activities are completed to the required quality; financial resources and commitments are closely monitored; donor requirements are met; programme risks are actively managed; and project investments are transferred appropriately to government and community systems

How can you make a difference?

A. Programme Coordination and Extension Implementation

• Coordinate implementation of the approved January-June 2027 extension workplan.
• Maintain a consolidated implementation and closure tracker covering results, activities, field monitoring, procurement, supplies, partnerships, financial commitments, risks, deadlines and responsible owners.
• Convene regular BMZ/KfW resilience focal-point coordination meetings across programme sections and maintain action trackers.
• Track implementation against the approved results framework and escalate delays or decisions requiring management attention.
• Facilitate cross-sectoral delivery involving Education, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Child Protection, SBC/AAP, Emergency and PMR.
• Ensure that implementation remains within the approved donor scope and geographic coverage.
• Coordinate field monitoring and joint programme reviews across the five Phase II LGAs.

B. Financial and Grant Management Oversight

• Maintain a monthly consolidated grant dashboard covering allocation, actual expenditure, commitments and available balances.
• Review section-level utilization plans and identify implementation, absorption, compliance or closure risks.
• Monitor the conversion of commitments into actual expenditure and follow up on outstanding direct cash transfers, contracts, purchase orders and other obligations.
• Follow procurement and supply pipelines relevant to completion of programme results, including delivery, distribution and end-use documentation.
• Facilitate timely management decisions on permissible reallocations within the approved project framework and applicable UNICEF procedures.
• Ensure that expenditures and implementation remain consistent with the grant agreement, approved workplan and donor conditions.
• Support timely grant closure, reconciliation and resolution of outstanding commitments and balances.

C. Results Monitoring, Reporting and Quality Assurance

• Maintain a consolidated results matrix and implementation dashboard.
• Work with PMR and programme sections to reconcile programme, partner, supply and financial data.
• Monitor completion of outstanding results and facilitate corrective action for underperforming indicators.
• Coordinate field verification and documentation of selected results, including infrastructure, supplies, services and community systems.
• Support preparation and quality assurance of donor narrative, results and financial reporting inputs.
• Document reasons for over- or under-achievement, implementation adaptations, quality considerations and resource implications.
• Ensure that disaggregated data and adequate supporting evidence are available where required.
• Coordinate final programme documentation, lessons learned and knowledge products.

D. UNICEF-WFP, Government and Donor Coordination

• Serve as the day-to-day UNICEF coordination focal point for BMZ/KfW project implementation.
• Coordinate with WFP counterparts to preserve the coherence, complementarity and joint narrative of the programme.
• Prepare briefs, presentations, dashboards, meeting notes and action trackers for management, government and donor engagement.
• Coordinate responses to donor questions and requests for clarification through established UNICEF channels.
• Track actions agreed during steering committee, UNICEF-WFP and BMZ/KfW meetings.
• Facilitate preparation for donor monitoring missions, field visits or virtual reviews as required.
• Liaise with Resource Mobilization, Contribution Management and relevant Country Office and headquarters colleagues on donor reporting and grant requirements.

E. Risk Management

• Maintain and periodically update the BMZ/KfW programme risk register and mitigation plan.
• Track mitigation actions, deadlines and responsible owners.
• Monitor security and access, procurement, supply, programme, fiduciary, operational, environmental and social, safeguarding, and political-transition risks.
• Escalate significant implementation, quality or compliance risks to management promptly.
• Ensure that emerging risks are reflected in implementation sequencing, field monitoring and closure planning.

F. Sustainability, Transition and Handover

• Coordinate a practical exit, transition and sustainability plan covering government ownership, community participation, service continuity and programme communication.
• Coordinate verification and formal handover of infrastructure and other project-supported assets in line with applicable procedures.
• Confirm operation and maintenance arrangements, responsible institutions, financing mechanisms and community management structures.
• Coordinate follow-up on outstanding defects, corrective work and technical documentation.
• Support government and community capacity strengthening needed for sustainable management of supported investments.
• Document post-project monitoring arrangements where appropriate and feasible.
• Ensure that government and communities receive timely and clear communication on transition, ownership and closure responsibilities.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here: ToR_ext TMC0008204.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in international development, international relations, social sciences, political science, peacebuilding or conflict studies, public administration, development economics, humanitarian affairs, or another relevant technical field.

• Work Experience

• Minimum of eight years of progressively responsible professional experience in programme or project management, resilience, humanitarian-development-peace nexus, durable solutions, recovery or related programming.

• Demonstrated experience managing or coordinating large, complex, multi-sector programmes.

• Experience working in humanitarian, fragile or conflict-affected settings is required.

• Proven experience in results-based management, work planning, programme monitoring and donor reporting.

• Demonstrated experience in budget and grant monitoring and in coordinating programmatic and financial implementation.

• Experience coordinating government, UN agencies, development partners and implementing partners

• Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

• Knowledge/Expertise/Skills

• Strong coordination and programme-management skills.

• Strategic and analytical thinking.

• Results orientation and ability to manage multiple deadlines.

• Strong financial and grant-management awareness.

• Ability to identify risks and drive corrective action.

• Excellent written and oral communication.

• Strong stakeholder and donor-management skills.

• Ability to work effectively across technical sectors.

• Sound judgement in complex humanitarian and politically sensitive settings.

• Strong facilitation, negotiation and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to translate monitoring evidence into timely management action

• Desirables

• Experience in resilience, durable solutions and/or HDP-nexus programming is highly desirable.

• Previous experience with joint UN programmes is highly desirable.

• Previous UNICEF or UN-system