Population and Development Technical Specialist

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2026-2029), firstly, reaffirms the relevance of three transformative results - to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices - and secondly, introduces a fourth Outcome 4 on demographic change as a recognition of the key role of demographic shifts in determining sustainable development trajectories, fiscal sustainability, political stability, and the realization of individual rights. The goal of the fourth outcome of the 2026-2029 Strategic Plan, is to ensure that by the end of 2029, “adaptation to demographic change has strengthened the resilience of societies for current and future generations, while upholding individual rights and choices”. UNFPA’s support to countries in addressing demographic concerns, harnessing associated opportunities, and building demographic resilience is firmly grounded in the ICPD Programme of Action. It is anchored in robust evidence, and is not only consistent with, but actively advances rights and choices, and women’s and youth empowerment. Within the global frameworks of the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development, the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2026-2029 Strategic Plan, this United Nations Volunteers (UNV) assignment is part of the UNFPA flagship Demographic Resilience programme. It focuses primarily on the localization of the Programme in Central Asia through generating, analyzing and facilitating the incorporation of demographic intelligence within sub-regional and national frameworks and policies, informing capacity strengthening initiatives and advancing thought leadership on Demographic Resilience, with the aim to ensure the political, social, economic and environmental contexts, as well as, the realities and aspirations of the respective countries and the subregion, are taken into consideration within tailored pathways to demographic resilience.

Within the delegated authority and under the overall guidance and leadership of the Country Representative, Kazakhstan and Country Director Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, with functional/matrix reporting to the East Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (EECARO ) Demographic Resilience Policy Adviser, the UN Volunteer will: - provide cutting-edge technical and programmatic support to the countries in Central Asia on demographic shifts, their social, economic, and environmental implications for sustainable development, including the intersection with other evolving megatrends (climate change, migration, inequality, and digital transformation). - generate and use data and evidence enabled by cutting-edge tools, methodologies, and modeling approaches to inform the country offices on demographic shifts and their implications on social transformation, macroeconomic development, multidimensional inequalities, social protection system reforms; as well as evidence- and rights-based policy actions that enable demographic resilience. This will include a focus on social policies, human capital development, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, to mention a few. - ensure the Country Offices in the Central Asia region are empowered with the capacity to play a leadership role in advancing the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) Strategic Plan, International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD ) Programme of Action, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, and the Demographic Resilience Programme. - support countries in the translation of evidence into the formulation of rights-based policies, multi-sectoral strategies, macroeconomic frameworks, and development plans that take into consideration demographic shifts. - foster collaborations with UN sister agencies and other development partners at the Central Asia regional and country levels, including joint analytical pieces such as the common country analysis (CCA), development of United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs), UNFPA country programmes (CPDs) , and UN joint programmes, to mention a few. - guide thought leadership within technical cooperation with key stakeholders, including academia, research institutions, civil society, governmental institutions, the UN system, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), multilateral development banks (MDBs ), and donors in the region. - ensure technical knowledge and products tailored to the Central Asia context and benchmarked with other countries across the world are updated, disseminated, and utilized for effective technical collaborations, capacity development, policy dialogue, and advocacy. These will foster South-South and Triangular Cooperation across countries and contribute to corporate thought leadership at regional and Headquarters levels.