Junior Professional Officer Programme

A unique opportunity for talented young professionals for hands-on experience in development

Women and children standing in a forest area and smiling. There are palm trees in the background — Aki

The Junior Professional Officer (JPO) Programme provides young professionals interested in pursuing a career in international development with an exceptional opportunity to acquire hands-on experience at UNICEF. The programme offers its participants a unique professional development experience and brings fresh energy and ideas into the organization.

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JPO Team

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How it works | Requirements | What we offer

The life of a JPO | Apply | Partner with us

How it works

Through the JPO Programme, UNICEF supports the development of young professionals interested in growing in the organization and making important contributions to our future and work. On average, one in two JPOs continue at UNICEF as regular staff members, upon completing their assignment.

The programme is sponsored by donor governments. Usually, these governments only sponsor citizens of their countries, but in some cases nationals from developing countries are eligible to apply.

General requirements

National of a donor country (a few countries sponsor nationals from developing countries)

Usually under 32 years of age

An advanced university degree and fluency in English

Minimum two years of relevant work experience

What we offer

Professional coaching

Mentoring programmes

Career counseling

Online learning courses

Stretch assignments

Buddy programme

Career Transition programme

Learn more about career development and learning initiatives at UNICEF

JPOs are fixed-term UNICEF staff members and are therefore entitled to compensation, benefits and allowances comparable to International Professional staff. In addition, UNICEF has designed a number of tailored resources to improve their overall career development and learning journey:

Living the life of a JPO

"UNICEF JPO Programme brings new, fresh perspective
from young people to the organisation On the other
hand, UNICEF provides unique learning and career
development opportunities because of its mandate and
diverse areas of work it attracts the most interesting
people, so it gives JPOs exposure to some of the most
dedicated and experienced professionals and an
opportunity to work in emergency and in a development
context."

“Working as a JPO at UNICEF Kenya provides me with great opportunities to develop my skills and at the
same time contribute to the organization's mandate to realize the rights of every child.
Implementing programmes to enable children's access to equitable, quality education at scale is a huge
responsibility and I am glad to be part of a great team working towards this important goal.”

How to apply?

Vacancies are published throughout the year on both the UNICEF vacancies page as well as the donor government’s website. Click on the icons below to visit their respective websites.

> Current JPO vacancies at UNICEF

> Learn more about the specific requirements for each donor country.

How to partner with us

Do you want to sponsor nationals of your country or other countries to become JPOs with UNICEF? We have two types of agreements – full service and partial service.

Full Service Agreement (14% Administrative Charge): This rate applies to full-service agreements, where UNICEF manages the entire recruitment process, including advertising of positions.
Partial Service Agreement (12% Administrative Charge): This rate applies to partial-service agreements, where UNICEF initiates the recruitment process upon receiving the shortlisted profiles from the government.

JPOs receive the same entitlements as other International Professional staff, except where specified in the JPO Agreement with each specific donor and in UNICEF's JPO policy (e.g. additional training budgets and reduced travel and shipment entitlements).

> Learn more about benefits and entitlements at UNICEF.