Mission and objectives

UNICEF is a leading humanitarian and development agency working globally for the rights of every child. Child rights begin with safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflict and traverse the life cycle: pre-natal care for healthy births, clean water and sanitation, health care and education. UNICEF has spent nearly 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Working with and for children through adolescence and into adulthood requires a global presence whose goal is to produce results and monitor their effects. UNICEF also lobbies and partners with leaders, thinkers and policy makers to help all children realize their rights—especially the most disadvantaged.

Context

Sudan is experiencing one of the most severe Protection and humanitarian crises globally, driven by the ongoing armed conflict that erupted in April 2023, compounded by economic collapse, widespread poverty, destruction of social services and infrastructure, famine and recurrent epidemics. The violence has spread across multiple states, currently active in Darfur region, and the Kordofan, resulting in massive displacement, family separation, and disruption of essential services. As of December 2025, more than 5 million children are on the move, out of over 10 million people forcibly displaced, both internally and across borders into neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt—making Sudan the largest child displacement crisis in the world. In total, over 33.74 million people—more than half the population— require humanitarian assistance in 2026. In this context child protection services as well as youth meaningful engagement are critical for protection risks prevention and response as well as supporting skills development and youth and adolescents’ girls' protection and empowerment. Kassala is one of PROSPECTS Sudan’s target states under the PROSPECTS Partnership Programme, a multi-year initiative implemented in collaboration with UNHCR and ILO, aimed at improving protection, learning and livelihoods opportunities for refugees, migrants, IDPs and host communities. UNICEF leads child protection and education interventions, working closely with local government partners, communities, and UN agencies. The Youth on the Move Volunteer will support the Child Protection Specialist, also PROSPECTS Coordinator, and field colleagues in monitoring PROSPECTS activities, particularly on Child Protection and Youth engagement, collecting information from partners, and contributing to the innovative documentation of results, good practices, success stories and lessons learned. This assignment offers the volunteer an opportunity to gain experience in programme follow up, evidence generation and youth meaningful engagement within a complex humanitarian context.

Task Description

Under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Specialist (UASC) & PROSPECTS Coordinator the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: • Participates in child protection and youth engagement activities and contributes to strengthening meaningful youth participation in PROSPECTS-related initiatives. • Supports the follow up of PROSPECTS activities in Kassala (and White Nile) by gathering information from partners, participating in field monitoring visits, contributing to documenting progress, challenges, and implementation updates, preparing short contributions to donor reporting under the guidance of the supervisor and in collaboration with field colleagues. • Assists in collecting qualitative and quantitative data from implementing partners, children, youth, and community members to contribute to evidence-based documentation of PROSPECTS interventions. Supports liaison with community structures and local authorities. • Contributes to the development of human-interest stories, case studies, success stories, lessons learned, and good practice notes, using youth friendly and innovative documentation approaches (e.g., short interviews, testimonies, simple visual materials, basic photo/video content for social media). • Contributes to meetings, workshops, and learning sessions by sharing reflections, observations from the field, and insights as a young person with lived experience of migration, displacement, or mobility. • Engages in on the job learning opportunities related to programming, monitoring, documentation, communication, and UNICEF procedures, and applies new skills in day-to-day tasks. • Supports a positive, collaborative, and inclusive team environment, upholding UNICEF values and promoting volunteerism within the office and the community.

Competencies and values

• Adaptability and Flexibility • Building Trust • Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Communication • Creativity • Ethics and Values • Integrity • Planning and Organizing • Respect for Diversity • Technological Awareness • Vision • Working in Teams

Living conditions and remarks

Kassala is a relatively safe state in Sudan context and represented a safe haven for many IDPs and refugees since the onset of the war. However, it remains affected by periodic intercommunal tensions and movement may be constrained by security conditions. All UN personnel must follow UNDSS guidance and comply with local security measures. Transport options are available tough limited, but UNICEF provides support for official travel. Basic accommodation, internet connectivity and essential supplies are available, though reliability can fluctuate due to the overall humanitarian situation. The climate is hot and dry for most of the year; tough floods may occur during the raining season. Health services are basic and medical evacuation to Port Sudan or abroad may be required for more complex needs. Despite these challenges, Kassala offers a close-knit work environment, strong community engagement and valuable field experience within a multicultural humanitarian-development setting. In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine. If you have not been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, you must receive the vaccines within six months of contract commencement ; otherwise, your contract will not be granted beyond that period. UNICEF is prepared to provide support for the vaccination process as required. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.