Child Protection Officer (MRM), P2 – TA, Ouagadougou UNICEF, Burkina Faso

Overview

Contribute to the monitoring of child protection and violations in Burkina Faso.

You have:

• A university degree in social sciences or related fields is required.
• Two years of professional work experience in child protection, including MRM and emergencies.
• Advanced technical knowledge of the MRM and UNICEF's role.
• Strong information and data management skills.
• Strong analytical and communication skills (written and oral).
• Knowledge of the context in Burkina Faso or Central Sahel will be an asset.
• Fluency in written and oral French and working knowledge of English is required.

Contract

This is a P-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 2 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 73,806 USD and 100,247 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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, Protection

Burkina Faso is dealing with a growing humanitarian and security crisis caused by threats and attacks by non-state armed groups, the COVID-19 pandemic, and natural disasters.

The armed conflict is affecting the North, Central-North, East, Sahel, Boucle du Mouhoun regions and the ‘Greater West’ area, along the areas bordering with Mali and Niger. 3.5M people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. As a result of violence and insecurity, as of November 30, 2022, 1,810,105 people have been forced to flee, 60% of whom are children. These forced displacements are accompanied by violations of human rights and expose the population to protection risks, whose victims are mainly women, children, and people with special needs

According to the child protection area of responsibility (CPAoR) field reports, about 40 % of families and children of all ages are vulnerable to psychosocial distress and more children are exposed to various life-threatening risks. With recurrent displacements, children are exposed to separation from their caregivers, lack of birth registration, gender-based violence (GBV) including high risks of rape, sexual assault and widespread child marriage, as well as the high risk of worst forms of child labour, child recruitment by armed groups and child trafficking.

In order to support the continued implementation of the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) in Burkina Faso and the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Working Group activities, UNICEF wishes to recruit a Child Protection Officer (MRM) to work closely with the UN agencies and international and local organizations, under the direct supervision of the UNICEF Chief of child Protection.

How can you make a difference?

The Child Protection Officer (MRM) P2/TA, will report to the Chief Child Protection. The Child Protection Officer (MRM) handles sensitive and confidential information and is bound by UNICEF standards of confidentiality in accessing and handling the information.

Major responsibilities

• Work closely with the UNICEF Child Protection Section in Burkina Faso to ensure the monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children in Burkina Faso.
• In close collaboration with the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Working Group:
• Prepare – for Management approval – quality and timely quarterly reports (GHN), country reports and contributions to the Secretary-General (SG) annual report to the Office of the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict.
• Coordinate the CAAC WG.
• Manage the MRM database.
• Ensure the capacity-building of the relevant Child protection actors in affected regions to increase coverage, participants and reported cases of grave child rights violations in order to improve the reporting and analysis of trends and response to children victims, including cross-border capacity-building.
• In collaboration with the Child protection Chief of section, conduct detention and prisons visits to monitor the presence of children detained for their association with armed groups and advocate for their release.
• Liaise with the OHCHR to support the implementation of the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Group of Friends.
• Provide the UNICEF Chief of child Protection with technical, advice on the MRM in order to support UNICEF’s lead role of the MRM Country Task Force.
• Strengthen the link between the MRM and programmatic response to children victims of violations through the child protection referral mechanisms and the Child Friendly Spaces (CFS), including in the broader work of humanitarian clusters (in particular the protection, education, health, and Gender-Based Violence clusters).
• Ensure coordination between the MRM and all other programs within the UNICEF Protection Section, particularly child protection in emergencies.
• Contribute to UNICEF’s advocacy strategy on child protection and children’s rights.
• Contribute to other child protection in emergency issues as requested by the Chief of Section.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• A university degree in social sciences or other related fields, data, information management, programme planning, monitoring and evaluation is required.
• Two years of professional work experience at national and international levels in child protection, including MRM and child protection in emergencies.
• Previous professional experience in human rights and/or child rights monitoring and reporting.
• Advanced technical knowledge of the MRM, including on the specific role of UNICEF within the MRM.
• Strong information and data management skills.
• Strong analytical and communication skills (both written and oral).
• Knowledge of the context in Burkina Faso or the Central Sahel will be an asset.
• Fluency in written and oral French and working knowledge of English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness(3)Drive to achieve results for impact(4)Innovates and embraces change(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity(6)Thinks and acts strategically(7)Works collaboratively with others.

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. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidate are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service. 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.

Eligible UNICEF International Professional (IP) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to a Temporary Appointment, which is dedicated to L3 (or L2) Response, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and their current tour of duty, and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.

Potential interview questions