The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is now accepting applications for its 2025 Surge Response Roster for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Experts. This global roster offers experienced professionals the chance to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse during humanitarian emergencies.
As the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health and rights, UNFPA works toward a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is realized. Central to this mission is promoting gender equality, ending gender-based violence, and protecting the most vulnerable from sexual exploitation and abuse.
The PSEA Surge Roster is a vital component of UNFPA’s humanitarian response capacity, ensuring rapid deployment of skilled experts who can strengthen protection systems, coordinate response mechanisms, and uphold the dignity of affected populations worldwide.
About the Role
PSEA Experts deployed through the Surge Roster play a critical role in emergency response operations, ensuring that prevention and response measures are integrated across all UNFPA programmes. These experts provide technical leadership, build local and partner capacity, and promote accountability and survivor-centered approaches.
Deployments are typically short-term (three to six months) and may be conducted remotely or in field locations, depending on the operational context and security situation.
Core Objectives
- Enhance PSEA coordination and implementation in crisis-affected settings.
- Strengthen prevention, risk mitigation, and response systems.
- Build capacity among partners, communities, and institutions.
- Support interagency efforts to ensure a consistent and survivor-focused approach.
What UNFPA Offers
Being part of the UNFPA Surge Roster provides the opportunity to make a tangible, global impact. Selected professionals will:
- Contribute Directly to Humanitarian Response: Play a hands-on role in safeguarding women, girls, and at-risk populations during emergencies.
- Undertake Short-Term Deployments: Serve on 3–6 month assignments, either on-site or remotely, supporting crisis response operations.
- Apply and Expand Expertise: Utilize professional knowledge in PSEA prevention and response, coordination, and capacity building.
- Join a Global Network: Collaborate with UNFPA teams, UN agencies, and partners across humanitarian and development sectors.
Key Responsibilities
Programme Coordination and Implementation
- Provide strategic and technical guidance on PSEA priorities across UNFPA’s humanitarian operations.
- Develop and deliver training and capacity-building materials for UNFPA personnel, government agencies, and civil society partners.
- Lead or support rapid assessments to identify sexual exploitation and abuse-related risks and contributing factors in humanitarian contexts.
- Design and implement sexual exploitation and abuse risk mitigation strategies and integrate these into sectoral and interagency response plans.
- Ensure coordination between Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence services to strengthen survivor support.
- Support the development and dissemination of Codes of Conduct, ensuring all staff and partners understand their responsibilities.
- Advocate for PSEA clauses in partnership agreements and ensure adherence to UNFPA’s protection and accountability standards.
Establishing Safe Reporting and Survivor Support Mechanisms
- Strengthen or establish safe and accessible reporting mechanisms for sexual exploitation and abuse survivors, ensuring confidentiality and survivor-centered principles.
- Work with community-based organizations to design reporting systems that are culturally appropriate and trusted by affected populations.
- Engage with interagency PSEA Networks, the Protection Cluster, and GBV sub-clusters to promote coordinated approaches.
- Map and update sexual exploitation and abuse support services and referral pathways, ensuring survivors have access to timely medical, psychosocial, and legal support.
- Support training for service providers and ensure communities are informed on how to report incidents and where to seek assistance.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting
- Track and monitor PSEA activities implemented by UNFPA and its partners.
- Maintain detailed records of training sessions, awareness campaigns, and risk analyses.
- Conduct field monitoring visits (in person or remote) to evaluate implementation progress.
- Produce regular progress reports, share lessons learned, and identify areas for improvement.
- Contribute to the situation analysis and program evaluation, ensuring that data and insights inform future interventions.
Qualifications and Experience
Required Qualifications
- Advanced university degree in social work, public health, international relations, human rights, law, or related social sciences.
- Five to seven years of relevant experience, with at least three years at the international level.
- Proven expertise in PSEA and/or GBV coordination and programming, particularly in complex humanitarian environments.
- Demonstrated leadership and management experience in multicultural or international settings.
- Strong understanding of the relationship between GBV and SEA prevention programming.
- Fluency in English is required; proficiency in other UN languages such as French, Arabic, or Spanish is an asset.
Desired Attributes
- Direct experience supporting sexual exploitation and abuse survivors or managing survivor-centered programs.
- Familiarity with interagency coordination mechanisms, humanitarian architecture, and UN protection frameworks.
- Strong analytical, communication, and facilitation skills, with the ability to work under pressure and in dynamic contexts.
Selection and Assessment Process
The assessment process is designed to evaluate both technical proficiency and interpersonal suitability for deployment in challenging humanitarian contexts.
Selection Steps
- Application Review: Comprehensive review of qualifications, experience, and motivation.
- Technical and Soft Skills Assessment: Tailored exercises to assess expertise in PSEA coordination, prevention, and response.
- Video Interview: Evaluation of behavioral and technical competencies relevant to humanitarian operations.
- Reference Checks: Verification of professional performance, adaptability, and ethics in past assignments.
Candidates who successfully pass all stages will be included in the UNFPA Surge Response Roster and contacted for deployment opportunities that align with their profiles.
A Global Mission of Protection
Joining the UNFPA Surge Roster as a PSEA Expert means becoming part of a global community committed to protecting the rights and dignity of those affected by crises. It is a call to serve, to lead with integrity, and to ensure that humanitarian assistance never causes harm.
Through this roster, UNFPA seeks professionals who combine expertise, empathy, and resilience—individuals who can uphold the organization’s values and promote accountability wherever crises strike.
Location: Global (Remote)
Position Type: Short-Term Surge Deployment (3–6 months)
Application Period: Ongoing
Closing date: 20 Nov 2025
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