Child Protection Officer

Contract

This is a UNV International Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Specialist contracts.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the Organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give more children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations. The UNICEF child protection programme in Angola works combines policy advocacy with field interventions that ensure immediate and long-term results for children. The Child Protection program pivots essentially around the prevention and response to violence against children, especially girls, and birth registration. Furthermore, the programme seeks synergies with other program areas, in particular social policy, through decentralization of social services, and by mainstreaming violence prevention in health, education and early childhood development programs. The UNV Child Protection Officer will assist the UNICEF child protection section with the implementation of interventions on the strengthening of birth registration services and the protection of girls against violence – ensuring access to inclusive, timely, and quality services for survivors - within the new country programme for Angola. The main purpose of this assignment is to contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal 16.2 (SDG target 16.2 “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children”) and 16.9 (“by 2030 provide legal identity for all including free birth registrations”).

The objective of this assignment is to contribute to strengthening UNICEF’s commitment to reduce the risk of violence in children's lives and provide effective responses for child survivors of violence in Angola, particularly girls. The UNV Child Protection Officer will assist the Child Protection section with the implementation of interventions that aim to support the effort of the government of Angola in strengthening its child protection system.

Under direct supervisor of the Chief Child Protection, the the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

a) Support to program development and planning • Participate in strategic and programmatic discussions on the planning, implementation and monitoring of the child protection programme in Angola. • Contribute to the development/establishment of sectoral program goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and report-ing of child protection and other related information for development planning and prior-ity and goal setting. • Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming pro-cesses by executing/administering a variety of technical, program, operational and administrative transactions, preparing related materials/documentations and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support program planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating results. • Prepare required program documentations/materials/data to facilitate the pro-gram review and approval process.

b) Technical and operational support to program implementation • Provide technical and operational support to colleagues and partners to ensure smooth implementation of the Child Protection Programme in Angola with a focus on the following two outcomes: • Scaling-up the registration of children under the age of five through the strengthening of the legal identity agenda in Angola. This stream of work will require for the UNV to work closely with the government agency in charge of birth registration to set up a coordination mechanism, undertake a thorough situation analysis and support government efforts in developing a roadmap for birth registration and improving its integration in health care programmes. • Strengthening coordination mechanisms, services and tools to ensure that children, in particular girls who are survivors or at significant risk of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, receive quality preventive and responsive ser-vices from a functioning child protection system. • Conduct regular program field visits and surveys and/or exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support, take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks, and potential problems for timely action to achieve results. • Provide training and technical support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and under-standing of UNICEF policies, strategies, and best practices on child protection.

c) Networking, resource mobilization and reporting • Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to faci-itate program implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on child protection. • Ensure timely and accurate preparation of donors’ reports. • Support the section to prepare and consolidate their contribution to the country office annual report. • Under the guidance/supervision of the CP Section Chief, develop and prepare fund-raising/donor proposals in line with the Country Office fundraising strategy. This includes coordination with programme colleagues, gathering, compiling and consolidating information as well as writing/editing proposals and preparing proposals for management review/clearance as per country office standard operating procedures. • Write, produce and edit human interest stories for dissemination including for donor re-porting requirements as well as social media.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for in-stance in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities; • Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs: Working closely with the Child Protection team and the UNICEF gender unit, the UNV is expected to achieve the following results: 1. Set-up a multi-sectorial coordination platform for civil registration with clear ToRs and a roadmap to scale-up birth registration in Angola, based on a situation analysis of birth registration and the legal identity system of the country. 2. Strengthen the coordination mechanisms on violence against children/girls to match the requirements from the Global Partnership on Violence Against Children to be a ‘pathfinding’ country with a clear set of priority actions to support adolescent girls in vulnerable situations. 3. Finalise a comprehensive case management guide with harmonized tools, mapping of services and standard processes to address cases of violence, particularly against girls, is finalized and validated by the Technical Working Group on violence against children/girls. 4. Identify and operationalise opportunities for the development of learning outcomes and access to decent employment for out-of-school vulnerable adolescent girls, working closely with the education section. 5. Detailed end of year report, with multimedia materials, case studies and human-interest stories are drafted in a timely manner.

• Integrity and professionalism: demonstrated expertise in area of specialty and ability to apply good judgment; high degree of autonomy, personal initiative and ability to take ownership; willingness to accept wide responsibilities and ability to work independently under established procedures in a politically sensitive environment, while exercising discretion, impartiality and neutrality; ability to manage information objectively, accurately and confidentially; responsive and client- oriented. • Accountability: mature and responsible; ability to operate in compliance with organizational rules and regulations. • Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills and stay abreast of new developments in area of expertise; ability to adapt to changes in work environment. • Planning and organizing: effective organizational and problem-solving skills and ability to manage a large volume of work in an efficient and timely manner; ability to establish priori-ties and to plan, coordinate and monitor (own) work; ability to work under pressure, with conflicting deadlines, and to handle multiple concurrent projects/activities. • Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and harmonious working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity and gender; • Communication: proven interpersonal skills; good spoken and written communication skills, including ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate options and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; ability to communicate and empathize with staff (including national staff), military personnel, volunteers, counterparts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse back-grounds; ability to maintain composure and remain helpful towards the staff, but objective, without showing personal interest; capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of different target groups; • Flexibility, adaptability, and ability and willingness to operate independently in austere, remote and potentially hazardous environments for protracted periods, involving physical hardship and little comfort, and including possible extensive travel within the area of operations; willingness to transfer to other duty stations within area of operations as may be necessary; • Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards the UN core values

the national and/or international level in the field of child protection, civil registration or gender and girls and women’s rights, or other relevant pro-grammes; experience with UNICEF is an asset, as is experience working in the UN or other international development organization. Microsoft Office proficient. Language: Fluent English and Portuguese is preferred; or alternatively English and another Latin language (Spanish or Italian)

Angola is classified as a “B“ Duty Station. This is a scale that assesses the difficulty of working and living conditions, with A being the least and E, the most difficult. Categories are arrived at through an assessment of the overall quality of life. In determining the degree of hardship, consideration is given to local conditions of safety and security, health care, housing, climate, isolation and level of amenities/conveniences of life.