Mission and objectives

UNICEF Lesotho works to uphold the rights of every child, focusing on the most disadvantaged, to ensure they survive and thrive. Their mission centers on providing quality health care, nutrition, education, protection from violence, and access to clean water, aiming to build a resilient future for children in rural and urban communities

Context

The UN Volunteer (UNV) will be hosted by UNICEF Lesotho, working as part of a well-established and well-resourced country office. UNICEF’s mission in Lesotho, guided by the Country Programme Document (CPD) 2024–2028, is to ensure that all children—from early childhood through adolescence—survive, develop, and thrive through equitable access to high quality health, nutrition, WASH, education, protection, and social policy systems. The CPD follows a life cycle approach structured around Decade 1 (early childhood) and Decade 2 (adolescence), alongside a strong Social Policy pillar that focuses on public finance for children, social protection, and evidence informed policymaking to reduce multidimensional child poverty and promote inclusion across the country. Lesotho is a small, land locked country whose economic outlook shows cautious but promising signs of recovery, with GDP growth stabilizing and inflation remaining under control. These gains offer a positive platform to strengthen public investments which benefit children, even as the country continues to face structural challenges such as limited diversification, high youth unemployment, and vulnerability to external shocks. Despite this progress, multidimensional child poverty remains widespread, and social sectors—including nutrition, WASH, education, child protection, ECCD, social protection, and community health—continue to grapple with underfunding, inequitable allocations, and budget execution bottlenecks. UNICEF-supported public finance analyses underscore the urgent need to enhance the efficiency, equity, and transparency of public spending, while improving citizen participation in budgeting processes. UNICEF’s work on Public Finance for Children (PF4C) is grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and General Comment No. 19 on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights. In Lesotho, this agenda is articulated through the CPD and the PF4C framework, which aim to ensure that public budgets are effective, efficient, equitable, transparent, and sustainable—particularly in times of constrained fiscal space. UNICEF Lesotho’s PF4C portfolio for 2026 includes rapid and midyear budget analyses, joint budget briefs with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, support to PDIA based PFM reforms, strengthening of pre and post budget consultations, and follow up on Open Budget Survey recommendations. Against this backdrop, UNICEF Lesotho is seeking a UNV to support this agenda and help make public finance systems work for the realization of children’s rights.

Task Description

The UNV will contribute to tasks such as: (1) collecting, analyzing, and presenting quantitative economic and financial data in accessible formats; (2) supporting the development of user friendly knowledge platforms, including SharePoint pages; (3) assisting in the preparation and organization of PF4C-related engagements such as seminars, trainings, policy dialogues, and meetings; and (4) supporting advocacy and partnership building with key stakeholders in the public financial management ecosystem. The main duties and responsibilities will be as follows: Support in data collection, analysis and presentation: • Support in collection of both quantitative and qualitative data, including developing Excel based templates that allow easy entry of economic and financial data as well as user-friendly interface to retrieve needed data. • Support in undertaking regular budgetary analysis as well as debt, tax and climate finance related analysis, as relevant. • Support in undertaking child poverty and thematic analysis and produce analytical papers from large quantitative data including national surveys and administrative data. • Support in preparing presentations, reports and other information materials that present economic and financial data in a user-friendly way. • Develop and maintain a Lesotho public finance for children dashboard. Support in advocacy and partnership building: • Support in mapping key players and other important stakeholders in public financial management, • Support in undertaking systematic monitoring and analysis of the evolving macro-economic situation as relevant in order to inform UNICEF’s programme and policy advocacy in the area of PF4C. Administrative and logistic support: • Support in preparing and organizing events, including seminars/trainings, policy dialogues, meetings, • Other tasks, based on the needs of the team, including obtaining confirmations from partners, preparing summaries of meetings, etc.

Competencies and values

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organizing • Professionalism • Self-management

Living conditions and remarks

Living conditions in Lesotho offer a blend of modern conveniences and developing country constraints. Maseru, the capital, provides relatively good access to essential services, including banking, mobile networks, and basic consumer goods, with a moderate cost of living by regional standards. Accommodation options range from modest apartments to more spacious houses, though electricity, water supply, and internet reliability can vary, especially outside urban centers. Healthcare facilities are concentrated mainly in urban areas and vary in quality, with more complex medical needs often requiring referral to South Africa. Security conditions require situational awareness: petty theft is more common in urban areas, and UN personnel are encouraged to take basic precautions. The climate is temperate and can be harsh in winter due to Lesotho’s high altitude, while cultural norms generally favor modest dress and responsible alcohol use. Transport within Maseru is accessible through minibuses and taxis, but travel to remote districts may require four-wheel drive, and road conditions can deteriorate during heavy rains. Lesotho is a unique country with a distinctive cultural and geographic landscape marked by mountainous terrain and mostly rural livelihoods, where an estimated half the population lives below the poverty line and many face food insecurity, water access constraints, and climate related vulnerabilities. While the duty station offers an enriching personal and professional experience, it also requires adaptability, cultural sensitivity, and a readiness to operate in settings where services may be limited outside the capital. UN Volunteers receives the below entitlements: • A Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): LSL 16573.74 per month; • A once off entry lumpsum of $350 at the start of the assignment; • Medical insurance; Life cover, and annual leave; • Access to all learning platforms; • A once off exit lumpsum at the end of the assignment.