Staff Counsellor, P-3, Gaza, State of Palestine, Temporary Appointment (post no. 130558)

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. 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 personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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

For every child, protection

UNICEF in the State of Palestine (SoP) works to uphold the rights of children to access services and protection, from early childhood through to adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential.

In the past years, UNICEF in the State of Palestine has achieved a high reach and engagement through its communication channels. UNICEF-SoP would like to build on this and continue engaging with our audience, who are not only seek information but are willing to have important conversations on crucial issues concerning children’s wellbeing and rights. 

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the Human Resources Manager and the technical guidance of the UNICEF Regional Counsellor, the Staff Counsellor will develop and implement a stress management programme aimed at attending to the psychological needs of UNICEF staff management in the State of Palestine, with a focus on Gaza Field Office.  The work will be done from the preventive and curative perspective at the individual, team and organizational levels.

The main objective of the stress management programme is to mitigate the impact of chronic stress on staff, to raise awareness about trauma, stress and stress management, to facilitate the provision of assistance to staff/family experiencing trauma and/or work related and/or personal problems, to facilitate the provision of immediate support following a traumatic incident, to promote social support and other strategies aimed at improving the overall well-being of UNICEF staff in the State of Palestine.

The Staff Counsellor will work in close coordination with Country Management Teams, Emergency Coordinators, HR, Staff Association, Peer Support Volunteers (PSVs), the UN Medical Clinic and UN Staff Counsellors. Frequent missions to Jerusalem and the West Bank are required. While the critical need is for a staff counsellor who will be based in Gaza, they will also provide support to Sudan and other offices in the Region. The multi-country approach will allow the incumbent appointed to travel in and out of Gaza, including to Sudan and the Regional Office in Amman, Jordan.

Your key functions/accountabilities

1. Under the guidance of the Regional Staff Counsellor and in collaboration with the Country Management Team and HR, facilitate the development, implementation of a Stress Management Programme addressing the psychosocial needs identified with an aim of improving Staff Well-Being in the State of Palestine.

This includes:

- Assisting in developing the programme framework;

- Developing strategies for implementing the framework;

- Monitoring the impact of the framework on the country level;

- Lobbying and providing input for improvement.

2. Facilitate the provision of effective psycho-social support to staff leadership, managers and individual staff prioritizing emergency locations with the aim to mitigating stress and boost protective factors by:

- Providing support and advice to the leadership and managers in offices on healthy work practices and approaches on how to effectively support staff and encourage resilience. Recommend suitable staff support strategies to managers during and following emergencies and other crises.

- Providing staff with individual and/or group counselling as needed (i.e. assessment, short-term intervention, referral);

- Contributing to identification of creative ways of building a network of external mental health providers available to provide services to staff.

- Coordinating the Peer Support Volunteers (PSVs) Programme for State of Palestine office.

- Coordinate with UNDSS, agency counsellors and PSVs, to ensure the provision of adequate psychosocial support during emergencies.

- Assess and monitor psycho-social needs and issues affecting the wellbeing of staff.

- Design and provide training and awareness raising activities for staff and managers on trauma as well as strengthenin