Through the United Nations Volunteer (UNV), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is strengthening how country offices raise funds in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Across many emerging markets, more people are giving online—often through mobile phones—but country offices do not always have the skills or tools to keep pace. The Fundraising Excellence (Fx) programme was created to help close that gap.
Led by UNICEF’s global fundraising teams within the Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP), the Fx programme builds long-term fundraising skills across country offices. Its New Talents pathway focuses on digital fundraising, building the practical skills offices need to grow local support sustainably.
The programme supports both existing staff and a new group of digital fundraising specialists recruited through UNV—skilled professionals who bring practical experience in communications, digital content, social media, and data to strengthen fundraising.
Each UN Volunteer is placed where the need is greatest, such as Kenya, Morocco, Oman and Senegal. Their role depends on the local context—what systems already exist, how digitally mature the office is, and what goals it is trying to reach. In practice, this can mean setting up online donation pages, supporting fundraising campaigns on TV or digital platforms, engaging younger audiences through social media, improving donor communications, or helping teams better understand and use donor data.
In many offices, these UN Volunteers are the first people with dedicated digital expertise, helping turn innovative ideas into real action.
Reflecting on the role of UN Volunteers within the Fx Programme, Amanda Mansfield, the Programme Manager, explains: “UN Volunteers bring hands-on digital expertise and a strong understanding of local contexts. Their role is not only to support Country Office fundraising, but also to be part of the work developing digital fundraising for PFP so that skills, confidence, and digital know-how remain in the office over time.”
Milka Njoroge is a UN Volunteer Digital Fundraising Specialist with UNICEF’s East and Southern Africa regional office in Nairobi. For her, stepping into this role has been eye-opening, she says. “With a background in marketing, where the focus was largely on sales and revenue, I’ve come to appreciate a more purpose-driven approach to work. It has pushed me to think differently and consider how my efforts can create real impact.”
A Kenyan national, Milka, values being part of a collaborative team at UNICEF and the exposure that is synonymous with this work.
UNICEF chose the UNV model because it offers a smart, flexible way to bring in talent that understands local markets, languages, and donor cultures. UN Volunteers bring fresh ideas, digital-first thinking, and a strong sense of collaboration, helping teams learn faster and work more confidently in a digital space.
Another Digital Fundraising Specialist, Kaba M’baye, a Mauritanian, based in Senegal, shares, “My progression through UNV has been instrumental in strengthening my technical and strategic capacities across communication, social behavioral change and digital fundraising.”
For Kaba, the Fx programme provided mentorship that enabled him to contribute to individual giving efforts at UNICEF’s West and Central Africa regional office in Dakar. He says, “Despite budget constraints, our coordinated fundraising generated significant performance gains, including a 270 percent increase in digital donations.”
Over two years, the volunteers follow a structured learning journey that includes training on UNICEF’s brand, digital tools, and communications, along with regular learning sessions, mentoring, and close supervision. This ensures that knowledge is not only applied, but shared—so skills stay in the office long after the assignment ends.
Ultimately, the Fx programme—and especially the New Talents pathway—is about more than short-term support. It is an investment in locally led digital fundraising, designed to help UNICEF country offices grow stronger, more independent, and better prepared for the future.