MHPSS in CPHA Workforce Development Consultancy, Child Protection, Programme Group, CPHA, NYHQ remote. Req#584782

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines fordeveloping countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

Consultancy Title: MHPSS in CPHA Workforce Development Consultant

Division/Duty Station:

Duration: 3 November 2025 – 30 September 2026

Home/ Office Based: Remote

 

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The global landscape of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) is increasingly shaped by complex, overlapping adversities affecting the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults. Emergencies such as armed conflict, displacement, intimate partner violence, climate-induced disasters, poverty, and discrimination continue to affect the psychological wellbeing and social functioning of millions. Mental health challenges, while often invisible, are among the most urgent and neglected global health priorities, particularly in low-resource settings where specialized care remains out of reach for the majority.

It is now well-established that although most people show resilience in the face of adversity, a significant proportion will develop mental health symptoms requiring support. Estimates suggest that approximately 22% of adults who have lived through conflict experience symptoms aligned with mental disorders, while rates following extreme trauma (e.g. torture, sexual violence) exceed 40%. For children and adolescents, research is still evolving, but initial findings point to similar or even higher prevalence rates, often complicated by developmental vulnerabilities and the compounding impact of structural inequality.

The consequences of unaddressed mental health and psychosocial distress are wide-ranging undermining a child’s ability to learn, build healthy relationships, or regulate behavior; diminishing a caregiver’s capacity to offer nurturing care; and eroding community cohesion and recovery. Poor mental health also directly impacts educational attainment, work productivity, parenting, safety, and long-term social participation. Addressing this burden requires systemic, multisectoral action that ensures accessible, quality, and culturally attuned support especially for those most marginalized.

One of the most significant barriers to improved mental health outcomes is the global shortage of trained and supported quality MHPSS providers and frontline workers in development and humanitarian settings. The majority of people with mental health conditions never receive adequate care: in low- and middle-income countries, only 1 in 27 people with depression receive minimally adequate treatment. This service gap is often due to workforce shortages, lack of training quality assurance, inconsistent supervision, and fragmented service delivery. Expanding access to care therefore requires not only increasing the number of helpers across settings but also ensuring they are well-prepared, compassionate, and equipped with the foundational competencies required for safe and effective practice.

Strategic Response and Role of Workforce Development

To address these challenges, UNICEF and its partners are scaling up efforts to develop strong, sustainable MHPSS systems with a competent, confident, and compassionate workforce at their core. This includes strengthening foundational helping skills, embedding competency-based approaches into training and supervision, and supporting governments, civil society, and frontline organizations to deliver scalable, quality-assured services to children, adolescents, caregivers, and communities.

Central to this vision is the promotion of task-sharing and integration of mental health and psychosocial support into sectors such as child protection, education, health, and social welfare. It also includes building the capacity of both professional and non-professional providers, ensuring their skills are context-appropriate, rights-based, and aligned with global standards for child wellbeing and psychosocial care.

A key tool in this effort is the EQUIP platform (Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care), an open-access,