Senior Policy Advisor - LGBTI+ Inclusion; Home Based

Job Info

• Job Identification 31461
• Posting Date 02/10/2026, 11:28 AM
• Apply Before 02/18/2026, 04:59 AM
• Job Schedule Full time
• Locations Pretoria, South Africa
• Agency UNDP
• Grade IPSA-13 Expert
• Vacancy Type International Personnel Service Agreement
• Practice Area Health
• Bureau Bureau for Policy and Programme Support
• Contract Duration 1 Year
• Education & Work Experience Master's Degree
  -15 year(s) experience OR Bachelor's Degree - 17 year(s) experience
• Required Languages English
• Vacancy Timeline 1 Week

Please note the appropriate Tier indicated in the vacancy title and ensure that you are holding the applicable contract as defined below:

• Tier 1: UNDP/ UNCDF/ UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed term (FTA) appointments (defined as “internal” candidates)
• Tier 2:
  Staff holding UNDP temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts and Expert and Specialist UNVs with host entity UNDP
• Tier 3:
  All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates.

Over the past decade, UNDP’s Hub on LGBTI+ and Key Populations has led implementation of several important multi-country and regional initiatives in Africa, involving a combination of key populations, LGBTI issues, human rights, law, and inclusive governance. The Hub manages these various Africa-focused projects under the umbrella brand, #We Belong Africa .

#We Belong Africa  currently consolidates five distinct projects: (1) the Gates Foundation funded “Power of Prevention” project (PoP); (2) the Sweden-funded “Inclusive Governance Initiative” (IGI); (3) the Netherlands funded “Southern Africa Young Key Population Initiative” (YKP); (4) the African component of the German-funded “LGBTI Inclusion Index”; and (5) the Africa components of the global “Drug Policy Project” funded by the Open Societies Foundation.

The PoP project focuses on partnerships with key population led community groups to engage in advocacy and policy dialogue around prevention strategies and financing, including in relation to long-acting pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis (PrEP); the YKP project focuses on strengthening the capacity of young key population groups in southern Africa to engage in policy dialogue and advocacy related to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with their national governments;

sub-regional bodies such as the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC); regional institutions including the African Union (AU) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR); and relevant national human rights institutions. IGI includes a similar emphasis on capacity development of civil society groups and facilitation of engagement of such groups with these institutions, although IGI focuses only on LGBTI groups.

The current phase of the Inclusion Index focuses on strengthening the collection, analysis, and use of LGBTI-related data in seven countries globally, including South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire in Africa. The “Drug Policy Project” supports implementation of the UN System Common Position on Drugs, recognizing that people who use drugs are an important key population in the HIV response.

UNDP’s role is to advance evidence-informed, rights-based, and health-oriented reforms to drug policy, with Ghana and South Africa identified as priority countries in Africa.

This ToR outlines the roles of a Senior Policy Advisor to play a technical leadership role in the PoP, IGI and YKP projects, with particular attention to multi-country work on key populations and human rights, in Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Senior Policy Advisor will be responsible for overall technical leadership to the IGI and YKP projects within #We Belong Africa  for issues related to LGBTI+ and key populations human rights in Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe
.

• Provide strategic technical direction and leadership related to LGBTI + key populations and human rights:
• Lead the design and implementation of multisectoral action on the promotion and protection of LGBTI+ and key popualtions rights by state actors at national and regional levels in Africa;
• Advising…