Irish Aid, a division of the Department of Foreign Affairs, manages Ireland’s UN Junior Professional Officer (JPO) programme. The UN agencies with which Ireland places JPOs are selected on the basis of how closely they match Irish Aid's programme objectives. These organisations represent some of Ireland's main development partner agencies in the United Nations. Currently Ireland sponsors three JPOs with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), one with UNICEF, one with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and one with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In 2004 Irish Aid ran a recruitment competition in cooperation with the Public Appointments Service (www.publicjobs.ie), in consultation with the relevant UN agencies, which were represented on the interview board. The successful candidates took up their positions early in 2005, and it is expected that they will complete their assignments in early 2007. A new JPO competition will probably take place in the last quarter of 2006.

Irish Aid maintains a database of individuals who express an interest in our JPO programme, and email notification will be sent to everyone on this database in advance of the next competition. Any individual wishing to be added to this database should send an email to unjpo@dfa.ie, giving contact details including an email address and a daytime telephone number. Advertisements will also be placed in the national newspapers, and on www.publicjobs.ie.

The information booklet prepared for the 2004 recruitment competition can be downloaded here.