Contract entitlement profiles

CA — Continuing Appointment. The complete shape. Everything open, nothing expiring. Package density 100% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: full — Full UNJSPF participant — well past the six-month participation threshold.
• Leave: full — 2.5 annual-leave days a month, plus home leave, sick and parental leave.
• Health & risk cover: full — Medical insurance, Appendix D and malicious-acts cover; after-service health insurance in reach at retirement.
• Family entitlements: full — Full dependency allowance and education grant.
• Relocation & mobility: full — Assignment grant, relocation shipment and the mobility incentive all apply.
• Job security: full — No expiry date — but still terminable for post abolition, performance, health or misconduct.
• Legal recourse: full — Full staff-member access to the UN Dispute and Appeals Tribunals.
• Career progression: full — Not something you are hired into: reached only from a fixed-term appointment, through a capped review exercise, never applied for.

FTA — Fixed-Term Appointment. Nearly full, with one dent: it expires, and no length of service creates a right to renewal. Package density 96% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: full — Full UNJSPF participant — the appointment is six months or more.
• Leave: full — 2.5 annual-leave days a month, plus home leave, sick and parental leave.
• Health & risk cover: full — Medical insurance, Appendix D and malicious-acts cover; after-service health insurance possible after ten years.
• Family entitlements: full — Full dependency allowance and education grant.
• Relocation & mobility: full — Assignment grant, relocation shipment and the mobility incentive all apply.
• Job security: strong — Carries no expectancy, legal or otherwise, of renewal or conversion — however long you serve.
• Legal recourse: full — Full staff-member access to the Tribunals — including challenges to non-renewal.
• Career progression: full — The only track that accrues toward a continuing appointment — eligible after five years, on a capped review.

TA — Temporary Appointment. Identical pay, collapsed shape. The security and career spokes sit at zero. Package density 46% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: limited — Only where the appointment is six months or more. Shorter TAs: nothing.
• Leave: limited — 1.5 annual-leave days a month (capped at 18) and 2 sick days a month; 16-week parental leave after six months — but no home leave.
• Health & risk cover: full — Same medical, Appendix D and malicious-acts cover as any staff member.
• Family entitlements: limited — Dependency allowance applies, but no education grant on a temporary appointment.
• Relocation & mobility: strong — Staff-only travel both ways, a DSA-portion settling-in grant and a 100 kg / $1,500 shipment — but no full removal, repatriation grant or mobility incentive.
• Job security: none — Up to one year, extendable to two in the field only. The least secure staff contract.
• Legal recourse: full — Still a staff member: full access to the UN Dispute Tribunal.
• Career progression: none — Cannot be converted. Does not count toward a continuing appointment — and breaks continuity between two FTAs.

IPSA — UNDP Personnel Service Agreement (international). The most generous affiliate modality — and still not a staff contract. Its national twin is the NPSA, paid on the local scale. Package density 38% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: limited — No UNJSPF. UNDP pays 8.33% in lieu of pension — you invest it yourself.
• Leave: strong — 2.5 annual and 2 sick days a month; 16 weeks paid parental for the birth parent.
• Health & risk cover: strong — Mandatory medical you arrange yourself against a fixed UNDP subsidy; malicious-acts cover at hazard duty stations.
• Family entitlements: none — No dependency allowance and no dependant medical subsidy — the remuneration is all-inclusive.
• Relocation & mobility: limited — UNDP books economy travel to post and back — but no shipment, relocation or settling-in grant.
• Job security: limited — Issued up to twelve months at a time, renewed yearly against project funding; no expectancy of renewal.
• Legal recourse: limited — As affiliate personnel, disputes go to arbitration, not the UN Dispute Tribunal.
• Career progression: limited — Affiliate personnel, not staff — no staff continuity, though eligible for direct hire later.

IICA — UNOPS International Individual Contractor. Often used to host personnel for other agencies. Check who you actually contract with. Package density 33% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: limited — No UNJSPF. The Provident Fund is voluntary for IICA (no UNOPS match); its local twin, the LICA, is auto-enrolled at 7.5% with UNOPS adding 15%.
• Leave: strong — 2.5 annual and 2 certified sick days a month; up to 26 weeks paid parental leave.
• Health & risk cover: limited — UNOPS provides no medical plan to international ICA holders — you insure yourself; malicious-acts cover only at hazard stations.
• Family entitlements: none — The fee is all-inclusive — no dependency or family allowances.
• Relocation & mobility: limited — No relocation or installation at UNOPS expense, beyond authorised official duty travel.
• Job security: limited — Project-funded: it ends when the project funding ends, with no expectancy of renewal.
• Legal recourse: limited — Amicable settlement, then UNCITRAL arbitration — not the UN Dispute Tribunal.
• Career progression: limited — Independent-contractor status — a UN engagement, but no staff continuity.

UNV — UN Volunteer. Service, not a junior staff job — and a broader family of roles than most realise. Package density 42% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: none — None, and not in the UNJSPF. The Volunteer Living Allowance is not a salary.
• Leave: strong — 2.5 days a month (no cash-out); 16 weeks maternity, 10 days paternity.
• Health & risk cover: strong — UNV medical cover through Cigna, plus life, disability and malicious-acts insurance.
• Family entitlements: limited — A with-family / without-family split: a Family Allowance is added to the living allowance.
• Relocation & mobility: strong — Pre-departure and settling-in grants, flights both ways, plus a monthly resettlement allowance and a separate exit lump sum.
• Job security: limited — Assignment-based, no expectancy of renewal or staff conversion; four years of service maximum.
• Legal recourse: limited — Ombudsman, then review by the UNV Coordinator, then arbitration — not the UN Dispute Tribunal.
• Career progression: limited — International or national — Community, Associate, Specialist or Expert, plus online volunteering; a common entry route that accrues nothing on its own.

IC — Consultant / Individual Contractor. A fee for focused, deliverable work, and a flexibility no staff contract offers. WHO, PAHO and WFP run it as the SSA. Package density 8% of the full staff package.

• Pension & retirement: none — None — a consultant is not a staff member and joins no fund.
• Leave: none — No leave entitlement: the fee is for the services, and nothing accrues.
• Health & risk cover: limited — You insure yourself; the UN provides none, bar Appendix-D-equivalent injury compensation.
• Family entitlements: none — No dependency or family allowances of any kind.
• Relocation & mobility: none — No relocation — only subsistence and duty travel when officially authorised.
• Job security: none — Fee for service, no employment — capped at 24 months in any 36.
• Legal recourse: limited — No Tribunal access: disputes go to UNCITRAL conciliation, then arbitration.
• Career progression: none — Consecutive consultancies build no continuity or internal-candidate standing — but there is no mandatory retirement age, so you can keep taking assignments long after staff must retire.