The UN Secretariat's Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is an initiative to recruit talented and qualified graduates who want to pursue a career at the UN. After passing an entrance exam in either administration, finance, law, information/media, social affairs or statistics, successful candidates can also benefit from professional training programmes to complement their new career path in the UN.

The YPP usually takes two years to complete and offers follow-up contracts to candidates that have performed well. Other international organisations also offer YPPs.

Here is a list:

Junior Professional Officers

The aim of the Junior Professional Officers (JPO) programme is to provide qualified junior staff initial working experience in an international organisation. The deployments last between two and three years and are financed by the member country that selects the jobs and the candidates.

Minimum requirements are a master's degree and three years relevant professional experience. The candidate must also be a Swiss citizen and under 32 years of age. Switzerland currently supports the following JPO programmes:

  • The United Nations and International Organisations Division (UNIOD) recruits four to five JPOs every year for various specialist areas at the UN Secretariat and the OECD.
  • The Human Security Division (HSD) recruits around five JPOs a year for jobs in its area of expertise.
  • The SDC recruits around 11 JPOs every year for their priority multilateral partner organisations working in development cooperation and humanitarian aid: UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women, UNFPA, WHO, UNAIDS, IFAD, WFP, UNHCR, UNRWA, and OCHA.
  • The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) finances several JPO jobs each year in the following financial institutions: World Bank, International Finance Corporation, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

All FDFA (UNIOD, HSD, SDC) and SECO-funded JPO jobs are published on the Cinfo jobs portal.

Cinfo: Swiss JPO positions

Last update 26.01.2022

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