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Junior Professional Officer Programme
The UN JPO Programme recruits donor-sponsored junior officers for the Secretariat and associated entities.
Last reviewed: 18 July 2026
About the programme
Most participating governments sponsor their own nationals. UN DESA requires an advanced degree and relevant professional experience. The sponsoring government sets the age limit.
Eligibility at a glance
- Programme type
- Junior Professional Officer (JPO)
- Nationality rule
- Limited to nationals of sponsoring countries.
- Minimum degree
- Master's degree
- Maximum age
- Not stated
- Required languages
- Not stated
- Usual application period
- Set by each sponsor country
- Intake pattern
- Rolling recruitment
Each sponsoring government sets its nationality rule. The Belgian, Dutch and Italian programmes also finance selected nationals of developing countries.
Sponsoring countries
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahrain
- Belgium
- Canada
- China
- Denmark
- North Korea
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Israel
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Liechtenstein
- Luxembourg
- Mongolia
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Türkiye
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
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Application periods
Canadian JPO Programme 2026
Application period closed · Closes 31 March 2026
The programme-wide call covered two UN Secretariat JPO positions and closed at 6:00 PM Eastern.
Last verified: 18 July 2026
Finnish JPO Programme 2026
Application period closed · Closes 20 March 2026
The donor call covered one UNDRR JPO position and closed at 6:00 PM Eastern.
Last verified: 18 July 2026
Norwegian JPO Programme 2026
Application period closed · Closes 16 March 2026
The programme-wide call covered two UN Secretariat JPO positions.
Last verified: 18 July 2026
Dutch JPO Programme 2026
Application period closed · Closes 10 March 2026
The programme-wide donor call covered eight JPO positions.
Last verified: 18 July 2026
Portuguese JPO Programme 2026
Application period closed · Closes 8 March 2026
The original 27 February deadline was extended to 8 March. The official Portuguese call covered one UN DESA JPO position.
Last verified: 18 July 2026
Luxembourg JPO Programme 2026
Application period closed · Closes 9 January 2026
The programme-wide call covered two UN Secretariat JPO positions.
Last verified: 18 July 2026