Child Rights, Climate Resilience and Environmental Protection Associate, Hanoi, Viet Nam

General

Description of assignment title:
Child Rights, Climate Resilience and Environmental Protection Associate

Assignment country:
Viet Nam

Duty stations:
Hanoi

Work location:

On UN premises

Expected start date: 10/16/2026

Duration: 12 months

Long-term benefits and allowances

Sustainable Development Goal: 13. Climate action

Host entity: UNICEF Vietnam

Modality:
Onsite

Type:
International

Volunteer category:
Associate UCoS from Apr
2026

Work schedule:

Full-time

Number of Assignments: 1

• UNICEF Viet Nam is one of more than 190 offices of the United Nations Children''s Fund globally and part of the United Nations system in Viet Nam. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF has a universal mandate to promote and protect the rights of every child, especially children who are hardest to reach and most at risk.
• UNICEF has worked in Viet Nam since 1975 as a trusted partner of the Government and other national and international partners. Viet Nam was the first country in Asia and the second globally to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Today, UNICEF supports national efforts to ensure that all 28 million children in Viet Nam are safe from climate and environmental threats, healthy, educated, protected, heard, and able to reach their full potential.
• Under the UNICEF-Government of Viet Nam Country Programme , UNICEF places stronger emphasis on protecting children from climate, disaster and environmental risks. This is reflected in Result Area 3:
  Child-centred Climate, Disaster and Environmental Action, which aims to ensure that children, particularly those most exposed and marginalised, are better protected through disaster risks reduction, preparedness and response mechanisms, have more equitable access to climate-resilient essential services, clean air and water, and participate in related decision-making.
• This focus responds to growing evidence that climate, disaster and environmental risks are no longer episodic events, but structural threats to children''s rights in Viet Nam. Climate-related disaster losses have increased sharply since 1990, costing an estimated 1-1.5 per cent of GDP annually and contributing to more than 16,000 deaths. Major recent shocks illustrate the scale of child impact:
  Typhoon Damrey in 2017 affected more than 4.3 million people, including at least 1 million children; the 2020 central region floods affected 7.7 million people, including 2.5 million children;
  Typhoon Yagi in 2024 affected an estimated 4 million children across 14 provinces; and widespread flooding in 2025 affected at least 1.5 million children.
• Beyond disasters, children also face growing environmental health risks, including exposure to heatwaves, air pollution, pesticides, lead contamination, unsafe water and inadequate WASH services in schools. These risks directly affect children''s survival, health, learning, protection and wellbeing, especially among ethnic minority children, children with disabilities, children in remote and disaster-prone areas, and children from poor households. UNICEF''s work is therefore aligned with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No.
  
  26 on children''s rights and the environment, the UNICEF Strategic Plan , the National Adaptation Plan, the Nationally Determined Contribution, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Viet Nam''s commitment to net zero by 2050.

• Viet Nam''s rapid development and transition toward upper-middle-income status have improved children''s lives, but climate change, disasters and environmental degradation are now increasing risks to child rights, particularly for ethnic minority children, children with disabilities, children in remote and disaster-prone areas, and children from poor households.
• Beyond disasters, children also face growing environmental health risks. An estimated 25.7 million children are highly exposed to PM2.5 air pollution, 3.2 million children are affected by lead exposure, 5.74 million children are highly exposed to heatwaves, only 58 per cent of the population has access to safely managed drinking water, and 7.7 million students lack adequate WASH services in schools.
  
  These risks disrupt education, health, nutrition, WASH, child protection and social protection services, and can deepen existing inequalities.
• UNICEF Viet Nam is supporting the Government to advance child-centred climate, disaster and environmental action under the  Country Programme, particularly Result Area 3.
• This includes strengthening child-sensitive climate and DRR policies, improving disaster preparedness and anticipatory action, integrating climate resilience into essential social services, reducing environmental health risks, and creating safe and meaningful opportunities for children and young people to participate in climate and environmental decision-making.
• Working under the supervision of the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist, the UN Volunteer will contribute to…