Contract type: Temporary Appointment, Consultant
Level: P-3
Location: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Seychelles
Categories: Child Protection, Emergency
Seeking external candidates only
Contract Type: Temporary Appointment (TA) or Consultancy
Duration: 3 months to 364 days
Location: Countries based in Eastern and Southern Africa
Job Description
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, hope
Since two years, countries in the ESA region have experienced an alarming increase in the number of new, or re-emerging humanitarian emergencies, including public health (including Ebola, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, wild poliovirus, and Cholera), armed conflicts and natural disasters emergencies.
UNICEF ESAR has prioritized the critical need to support countries to rapidly scale up capacity to prevent, mitigate, and manage ongoing and anticipated emergencies as well as to enhance capacity for preparedness and response to these emergencies.
Purpose
The purpose of this external announcement is to attract suitable Child Protection Specialist on Alternative/Interim Care candidates interested in working in any of the countries within UNICEF’s East and Southern Africa region to respond to emergencies for the next 36 months. The countries within each region are listed on the following website: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html.
How can you make a difference?
Assess, design and initiate interventions to address the interim, medium and long term care needs of children. The care advisor will be responsible for ensuring that quality programmes and capacities are initiated to provide care and protection to children in a range of in-country locations.
Key activities & duties
- Identify and agree within and between agencies and other stakeholders the roles, responsibilities and accountability for planned action and future decision-making around care issues. Ensure that care interventions are informed by and integrated with other core sectors of education, health, nutrition, food security and livelihoods.
- Facilitate coordination between child protection actors who have a role in the provision of interim and longer term care (e.g. through the child protection sub cluster and sub groups of the sub cluster)
- Initiate and/or carry out capacity-building of key international and national staff in specific care and child protection competencies including appropriate approaches, where needed
- Ensure planning and subsequent cooperation and program structures are done in partnership with key stakeholders, in particular the Government, and that they aim to establish/strengthen processes and mechanisms at local, district, national (and broader level) which support identification, monitoring and response to the care and protection concerns of children.
- Closely coordinate with the emergency family tracing intervention (Identification, Documentation, Tracing and Reunification – IDTR), to ensure the primary focus of children in care remains on family tracing and reunification.
- Assist with ongoing assessments of care providers and vetting of interim care provisions based on global standards, principles and practice. Adapt the assessment as necessary and feasible given the context.
- Ensure adequate monitoring and follow up for children in emergency care centres and advocate, plan and programme for longer term community-based care options for children in need of care.
- Design and initiate effective programme and advocacy interventions to address the risks and violations of children’s protection rights raised by the assessment of children in and in need of interim care. Taking into account short term/long term interventions within the framework of overall long-term programme goals as well as a systems approach.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Education-
- Advanced university degree in social work, child psychology, or other relevant field.
Work Experience-
- A minimum of 5 years’ experience with UNICEF and/or other relevant actors, including experience with child protection programming related to interim or alternative care for children in overseas contexts.
- Knowledge of key international standards and guidelines related to alternative care for children.
- Experience working in the context of a natural disaster or armed conflict highly desirable.
Language Requirement:-
- Fluency in verbal and written English and/or French (depending on the country office’s official language).
- Good written and spoken skills in the language of the humanitarian operation in country of assignment and knowledge of another UN language or a local language is an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues
UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)
Works Collaboratively with others (1)
Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.
UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children.
The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.
All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.
Remarks:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions.
Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF.
UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
Deadline: E. Africa Standard Time