The Position:
The Programme Specialist, HDP Nexus, is located in the UNFPA Philippines Country Office. The Specialist plays a pivotal role in strengthening the integration of humanitarian, development, and peace approaches within UNFPA Philippinesโ Country Programme (CPD9, 2025โ2029). The incumbent supports the design, implementation, and monitoring of programmes that strengthen resilience and bridge humanitarian actionย withย long-term development efforts and peacebuilding objectives, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and disaster-prone areas.
The Specialist reports to the Assistant Representative and works under the overall supervision of the UNFPA Representative, collaborating closely with the thematic programme teams (SRHR, Gender/GBV, Adolescents and Youth, Population, etc.) and the Humanitarian Coordination Team.ย
How you can make a difference:
UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organizationโs response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.ย
In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.
ย UNFPA is seeking candidates who transform, inspire, and deliver high-impact and sustained results and ensure effective external relations, communications, and partnership-building and resource mobilization in a rapidly changing development and funding landscape. We need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them, and who commit to delivering excellence in programme results.
Job Purpose:
The Programme Specialist, HDP Nexus, provides strategic technical and programmatic leadership to strengthen the humanitarian-development-peace continuum in UNFPA Philippinesโ Country Programme. The incumbent supports the integration of risk-informed development, resilience building, humanitarian preparedness and response, recovery, and peacebuilding across programme areas to advance and safeguard the rights and choices of women, girls, and young people.
The Specialist enhances the Country Officeโs capacity to anticipate and manage risks, strengthen systems, and promote community and institutional resilience. This includes supporting disaster risk reduction, conflict-sensitive programming, and the localization of both humanitarian and development action. The position also ensures linkages with national frameworks such as the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), and the Governmentโs peace and resilience agenda.
You would be responsible for:
Programme Management and Integration of the HDP Nexus
- Lead the integration of the HDP nexus approach across UNFPA programme areas, ensuring coherence between humanitarian action, risk-informed and climate-resilient development, and peacebuilding efforts at national and subnational levels.
- Provide technical guidance and quality assurance for the design, implementation, and monitoring of programmes in line with CPD9 and national priorities, and relevant humanitarian and development frameworks
- Support evidence-based programming by assessing vulnerabilities, risks and barriers, and identifying opportunities for resilience building, particularly for women, adolescents, and marginalized groups, including climate-related demographic risks and the implications of climate impacts on SRHR and GBV services.
- Generate innovative approaches to operationalize the HDP nexusโlinking humanitarian preparedness, anticipatory and early action, gender-responsive recovery, systems strengthening, accountability to affected populations (AAP) and localization.
- Facilitate effective use of population data, risk analytics, and gender-responsive evidence to inform nexus planning and decision-making.
- Monitor financial and programmatic performance of nexus-related interventions, ensuring timely, accountable and high-quality delivery.
Humanitarian Coordination and Technical Support
- Serve as UNFPAโs focal point for humanitarian preparedness and response, ensuring coordination and alignment with the Humanitarian Country Team and relevant cluster mechanisms (Health, Protection/GBV, SRHR), while strengthening linkages with early recovery, resilience, and development actors.
- Facilitate rapid assessments, mapping of partners, development of contingency and response plans, and contribute to anticipatory and early action planning, in coordination with government and UN counterparts.
- Contribute to inter-agency coordination on humanitarian and early recovery, promoting conflict-sensitive, gender-responsive, and risk-informed approaches to ensure UNFPA mandate areas (SRHR, GBV, A&Y) are integrated into multisectoral responses.
- Support national and local partners to strengthen institutional capacities in preparedness, response, and disaster risk reduction, including through localization, systems strengthening and alignment with national resilience and peacebuilding frameworks.
- Ensure accountability to affected populations (AAP) and protection mainstreaming across humanitarian and nexus interventions.
Advocacy, Policy, and Partnerships
- Advocate for the inclusion of SRHR, GBV, and gender equality priorities in national disaster management, peacebuilding, climate adaptation and recovery frameworks, as well as in relevant development policies and plans.
- Contribute to evidence-based policy dialogue with government, donors, and humanitarian actors to strengthen nexus-oriented planning and financing.
- Support resource mobilization efforts through the development of donor proposals, briefs, and concept notes on resilience, recovery, anticipatory action and nexus programming.
- Contribute to situation reports, annual reports, donor reports, and visibility materials related to humanitarian and nexus work, ensuring alignment with national priorities and UNFPAโs strategic positioning.
- Build strategic partnerships with national agencies (e.g., NDRRMC, BARMM ministries), CSOs, academia, and development partners to operationalize a coordinated HDP agenda, including localization and sustained engagement with women-led and youth-led organizations.
Knowledge Management and Capacity Development
- Document lessons learned, best practices, and innovative models of nexus programming, and facilitate their dissemination within UNFPA and among partners, ensuring linkages to national and regional learning platforms
- Build capacity of CO staff and partners on humanitarian principles, nexus integration, and risk-informed programming.
- Maintain close liaison with APRO and HQ on global humanitarian and nexus initiatives to ensure contextual application in the Philippines.
- Ensure UNFPA participation in regional learning networks and knowledge exchanges on resilience and HDP integration, including communities of practice related to DRR, peacebuilding, accountability to affected populations and anticipatory action.
Reporting and Representation
- Represent UNFPA in inter-agency humanitarian and nexus coordination fora, ensuring strong articulation of SRHR, GBV, adolescents and youth, gender equality, and resilience priorities across humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding platforms.
- Perform other duties as required by the Representative or Assistant Representative.
Qualifications and Experience:ย
Education:ย ย
- Advanced university degree in public health, international relations, gender, development studies, humanitarian affairs, or a related field.
Knowledge and Experience:ย
- Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian and/or nexus programming, including experience in fragile, conflict-affected, or disaster-prone settings, required.
- Demonstrated expertise in programme design, implementation, and monitoring using a resilience or HDP framework, required.
- Experience in inter-agency coordination and familiarity with IASC humanitarian architecture, required.
- Proven track record of policy engagement and partnership building with government, UN agencies, and civil society, desired.
- Knowledge of SRHR, GBV, gender, and youth programming in humanitarian contexts is required.
- Experience with the UN system or international organizations is desirable.
Languages:ย
- Fluency in English required; knowledge of another UN language is desirable.ย
Required Competencies:ย
Values:
- Exemplifying integrity,ย
- Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system,ย
- Embracing cultural diversity,ย
- Embracing change
Core Competencies:ย
- Achieving results,
- Being accountable,
- Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen,
- Thinking analytically and strategically,
- Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships
Functional Competencies:
- Advocacy/advancing a policy-oriented agenda
- Leveraging national partnerships and building strategic alliances
- Delivering results-based programmes
- Internal and external communication and advocacy for results mobilization
- Promoting resilience and risk-informed development
Managerial Competencies:
- Providing strategic focus,
- Engaging in internal/external partners and stakeholders,
- Leading, developing and empowering people, creating a culture of performance
- Making decisions and exercising judgment.
ยCompensation and Benefits:
This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus health insurance and other benefits as applicable.
UNFPA Work Environment:
UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - clickย hereย to learn more.
Disclaimer:
Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements.ย
UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.ย
Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.
- Fluency in English required; knowledge of another UN language is desirable.ย
- Advanced university degree in public health, international relations, gender, development studies, humanitarian affairs, or a related field.