Senior Partnerships Associate, GS7, FT, #138585, Bridgetown, Barbados, Multi-Country Office for the Caribbean

• Organisation: UNICEF
• Location: Barbados, Multi-Country Office for the Caribbean
• Deadline: 11 November 2026

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 for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

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For every child, the right to opportunity

UNICEF’s Caribbean Multi-Country Office (MCO) serves twelve English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. As part of UNICEF's Future Focus Initiative, the Caribbean MCO brings together policy influence, technical expertise and strategic partnerships to advance results for children across the region through one integrated programme, one management structure and a shared pool of resources. The Multi-Country Programme 2027-2031 focuses on three shared outcomes: equitable access to primary health care, learning and skills; protection of children from all forms of violence; and child poverty reduction and resilience strengthening.

Children across the Caribbean face interconnected challenges including learning losses, mental health concerns, violence, child poverty and increasing exposure to climate-related disasters. Despite many countries being classified as upper-middle or high income, significant inequalities persist, particularly for vulnerable children, adolescents, indigenous communities and those living in remote areas. Small island developing states also face fiscal constraints and heightened vulnerability to economic and climate shocks, requiring stronger regional cooperation and system-based solutions.

The Caribbean MCO’s management strategy is governed by four principles that together translate the new business model into concrete ways of working:

• Impact-driven : technical expertise is organized in shared multi-country working groups rather than replicated in each country, with enabling functions aligned around UNICEF’s strongest comparative advantages.

• Effective and agile : parallel country ecosystems are replaced by harmonized systems and flexible cross-country staffing, keeping management lean and decisions close to implementation.

• Grounded : regional scale is balanced with national depth through country-specific workplans, Heads of Office in each duty station, and matrix management that anchors authority and accountability at country level.

• People-centered : structural and managerial choices are guided by staff wellbeing, transparency and inclusion, with clear role definitions, meaningful consultation, and continuous investment in learning and development.

The operational expression of this model is the working group model. Rather than replicating similar roles across four separate country offices, technical and operational expertise is organized into 16 thematic and functional working groups, each distributed across different duty stations and each serving the full 12-country MCO — not just its host location. Roles are designed around three organizing principles: shared regional service , meaning every specialist contributes to the wider MCO; complementary expertise , meaning team capabilities reinforce each other rather than repeating the same profile in multiple places; and agile presence , meaning the workforce can be rapidly deployed across countries through travel, surge support or remote modalities in line with evolving needs and priorities. This working group model is the foundation of a fundamentally new way of working for UNICEF in the Caribbean: depth replaces duplication, and shared capacity replaces fragmented country-by-country coverage

Under the Area Representative with a dotted line with the Programme Coordination, three strategic shift working groups – Communication & Advocacy,  Partnerships, and Knowledge Management, Data Analytics & Evaluation – provide the enabling capacities required to deliver a more influential, partnership driven and evidence rich multi country programme. Together, they position the MCO to shape public debates, build and leverage high value partnerships, and systematically use data, evidence and learning to drive results for children across the 12 countries.

The Partnerships group drives the MCO’s partnership and resource-leveraging agenda, supporting the strategic shift towards positioning UNICEF as a partnership powerhouse in the Caribbean, with a primary strategic focus in public sector engagement and International Financial Institutions, including IDB, CAF, the Caribbean Development Bank, and the European Investment Bank. It develops and manages relationships with governments, multilateral banks, regional organizations, private-sector actors, including the philanthropic ecosystem, aligning financing, influence and capabilities around the three child-rights priorities and helping to unlock new, diversified resources for the multi-country programme.

How can you make a difference ?

Under the supervision of the Partnerships Specialist (Team Lead), the Senior Partnerships Associate provides administrative and operational support to the Partnerships Working Group in advancing UNICEF Caribbean's partnership and resource mobilization agenda across the 12-country Multi-Country Office (MCO).

The position contributes to the implementation of the MCO's strategic shift toward broader and more diverse partnerships for children, supporting engagement with governments, regional intergovernmental organizations (including CARICOM, OECS, CDEMA and CCCCC), international financial institutions (such as IDB, CAF, World Bank and Caribbean Development Bank), United Nations entities, private sector partners, National Committees and other development stakeholders.

The Senior Partnerships Associate, based in Barbados supports the coordination and monitoring of partnership initiatives, resource mobilization efforts, donor relations, knowledge management and partner stewardship activities. It will serve as a key coordination focal point for partnership processes and contributes to the effective positioning of UNICEF as a trusted partner for child rights, social policy, climate resilience, education, child protection and other priorities identified in the Multi-Country Programme Document (MCPD) 2027-2031.

Working closely with programme, communication, knowledge management and operations colleagues across the MCO, the Senior Partnerships Associate helps ensure timely partner engagement, quality partnership documentation, effective donor reporting and visibility, and systematic tracking of partnership opportunities and commitments. Through these functions, the position supports resource mobilization efforts, strengthens partner relations, and contributes to UNICEF's visibility and positioning across the Caribbean region.

This position belongs to the Public & Private Partnerships working group. If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: G7 Senior Partnership Associate Barbados.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education: Completion of secondary education is required, preferably supplemented by technical or university-level courses in international development, business administration, public administration, project management, communications, social sciences, or related fields.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible administrative, programme support, partnership management, external relations or coordination-related experience is required.

• Experience working with government institutions, international organizations, development agencies, NGO, UN agency, development partners or regional organizations, is highly desirable.

• Experience supporting partnership development, resource mobilization, donor relations, stakeholder engagement, or coordination functions is desirable.

• Experience in a similar role across geographically dispersed duty stations is an asset.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chines, French, Russian or Spanish) or local language of the duty station is considered an asset.

Required Knowledge and Skills :

• Good knowledge of partnership coordination, external relations and administrative support functions.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to diverse audiences, build strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders across dispersed Duty Stations, and adapt quickly to new teams and changing contexts.

• Strong research, information management and organizational skills.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and maintain accurate records and tracking systems.

• Ability to work effectively with people from diverse national and cultural backgrounds.

• High attention to detail and accuracy.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word, Excel, PowerPoint and SharePoint.

Desirable Knowledge and Skills :

• Knowledge of UNICEF partnership and contribution management processes.

• Familiarity with the United Nations system and development cooperation environment.

• Knowledge of regional organizations and development partners relevant to the Caribbean.

• Experience using UNICEF corporate systems and platforms

Capabilities Required:

• Project Management (3)

• Collaboration (3)

• Problem Solving (3)

• Digital Dexterity (3)

Desirables: