Overview
The Partnerships Specialist (Contracts & Compliance) plays a central role in ensuring that UNICEF’s public-sector partnership agreements are negotiated, reviewed, and cleared in line with organizational policies and requirements. The role serves as the initial point of contact for PPD teams on contractual and donor conditionality issues.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as initial point of contact for PPD teams on legal agreements, templates and clearance requirements
- Review business terms and agreements to identify risks and document and escalate as necessary to senior management colleagues
- Support negotiations and decision-making related to non-standard donor conditions and terms
- Support compliance with the Delegation of Authority (DoA) Policy with regard to the signature of public sector donor agreements
- Support overall engagement between PPD and the Legal Team
- Support the maintenance and implementation of UNICEF’s governance framework for public sector partnerships
- Act as focal point with Regulatory Framework Secretariat on regulatory matters
- Document and analyze donor conditions trends and risks
- Provide support in developing internal work processes related to public sector agreement negotiation and signature
- Coordinate inputs and follow-ups for governance mechanisms related to Resource Mobilization
- Develop and deliver guidance, training, webinars, and information sheets on contract review, negotiation practices, and donor conditionalities
- Create and maintain consolidated knowledge platforms, tools, trackers, and best-practice resources
- Build staff awareness of regulatory content
- Maintain up-to-date donor-conditions and legal pipeline trackers
- Coordinate and support internal and interagency exchanges on donor conditionalities, risk issues, and negotiation practices
- Support team workflows, including monitoring deadlines and priorities
- Contribute to preparation of senior-level materials, briefings and meeting support
Required Experience
- 5 years continuous experience with primary/regular responsibility reviewing contribution agreements between the UN and bilateral/multilateral donors
- Demonstrated experience in identifying risks in such agreements and coordinating decision-making through escalation pathways
- Experience reviewing and negotiating public sector funding agreements
- Proven capacity to manage escalation pathways, prepare decision documentation, and translate complex legal and policy requirements into clear, actionable guidance for non-technical stakeholders
- Experience operationalizing Delegation of Authority frameworks, analyzing donor conditionality trends, and developing policy recommendations to address risk areas (desirable)
Qualifications
• Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Law
