Social Policy Officer (Financial Inclusion and Livelihoods)

The Social Policy Officer (Financial Inclusion and Livelihoods) supports UNICEF's strategic objectives by strengthening financial inclusion and economic resilience components of social protection programmes. The role involves promoting safe, inclusive, and gender-responsive access to financial services and linking beneficiaries to livelihood opportunities in fragile and humanitarian contexts.

Responsibilities

• Support the design and implementation of financial inclusion and livelihood components within social protection and cash transfer programmes, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s Social Protection Framework, PF4C approach, and national policies.
• Contribute to the integration of financial literacy, savings, and responsible financial behaviours within MCCT+, HCT, and related programmes.
• Support the assessment, selection, and monitoring of financial service providers (FSPs), including banks, mobile money operators, and digital payment platforms, with a focus on accessibility, consumer protection, and gender sensitivity.
• Promote safe and inclusive access to accounts, digital IDs, and payment mechanisms for women and vulnerable populations, in coordination with CIU, Supply, and Finance teams.
• Support the identification and facilitation of appropriate livelihood pathways and economic linkages for beneficiaries, including referrals to skills development, income-generation initiatives, and complementary government or partner programmes.
• Coordinate with partners and line ministries to strengthen linkages between cash assistance and longer-term economic resilience interventions.
• Integrate financial inclusion and livelihood activities with GBV risk mitigation, PSEA, child safeguarding, and social and environmental standards, ensuring alignment with UNICEF and donor requirements.
• Support the strengthening of grievance redress mechanisms (GRM) related to payments, financial services, and partner conduct.
• Contribute to monitoring frameworks, PDMs, and analytical work related to financial inclusion and livelihood outcomes, including gender- and age-disaggregated analysis.
• Support donor reporting, lessons learned documentation, and knowledge products related to financial inclusion and economic resilience within social protection programmes.
• Support coordination with government counterparts, implementing partners, and financial service providers to strengthen national capacity for inclusive social protection delivery.
• Contribute to capacity-building efforts for partners, community structures, and field teams on financial inclusion, livelihoods, and responsible cash delivery.

Requirements

• Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in Social Science, Economics, Development Studies, Public Relations/Communication, Social Services, social policy, economics, development studies, public policy, finance, social protection and any other related fields.
• At least 2 years of relevant work experience in Social Policy, social protection, financial inclusion, livelihoods, cash transfer, digital payments, monitoring and evaluation, risk management, gender mainstreaming, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and any other related fields.
• Experience in Financial Literacy, Analytical skills, Payment systems, Risk mitigation, Stakeholder coordination, Programme implementation is required.
• Fluency in both Arabic and English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language (Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
• Experience working with government institutions, NGOs, or international organizations is required; prior UNICEF or UN system experience is an asset.
• Experience in humanitarian contexts, experience with digital payments, experience with financial service providers, familiarity with digital financial services, familiarity with financial literacy approaches, familiarity with inclusive payment systems, GBV risk mitigation, experience with mobile money.
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

Skills

• Social Policy
• Financial Inclusion Knowledge
• Livelihood Programming
• Social Protection Policies
• Cash Transfer Programmes
• Digital Payments
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Risk Management
• Gender Mainstreaming
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Capacity Building
• Finance Literacy
• Payments Systems
• Risk Mitigation
• Programme Implementation
• Government Relations
• NGO Coordination
• Humanitarian Contexts
• Digital Financial Services
• Mobile Money Platforms

Languages

Arabic, English