UNICEF Local Consultant Kosovo 2026: European Child Guarantee Consultancy – Home-Based with Travel

Overview

UNICEF is looking for a Local Consultant in Kosovo to support a European Child Guarantee (ECG) Deep Dive Analysis. The four-month consultancy centres on social policy, child poverty, social protection, service delivery, institutional analysis and evidence gathering. It is home-based in Kosovo, with field travel to selected municipalities and service sites as needed.

The consultant provides national technical and operational support so that the analysis reflects Kosovo's legal, policy, institutional, service-delivery and subnational context, without duplicating the technical leadership of the international consultant.

What you do

Tasks include identifying, collecting and reviewing national and municipal evidence, supporting stakeholder and service mapping, taking part in qualitative fieldwork such as key informant interviews, focus groups and field visits, and compiling and organizing quantitative and administrative data into clear evidence tables with documented limitations. The consultant also helps verify findings, recommendations, indicators and institutional responsibilities. Advanced statistical modelling is not needed.

Requirements

Applicants should hold a Master's degree in a field such as economics, social policy, public policy, public administration, sociology, development studies, statistics, demography, public finance, law or another social science. A Bachelor's degree with substantial extra experience may be considered where UNICEF procedures allow. At least five years of progressively responsible experience is required in areas such as social policy, social protection, child rights, poverty and social exclusion, public policy research or service delivery analysis.

Candidates need strong knowledge of Kosovo's institutional and policy context for children and its central-local governance arrangements, experience working with municipalities, and practical skills in stakeholder mapping, interviews, focus groups and qualitative synthesis. Experience applying ethical research, confidentiality and child-safeguarding requirements is expected.

Fluent English and at least one official language of Kosovo, Albanian or Serbian, are required, with working knowledge of the other a strong asset. Experience with UN agencies, EU-funded programmes, public budget review, child poverty, the European Child Guarantee, household surveys and indicator frameworks is an asset.