Child Protection Officer NO-2, Bissau

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 contracts.

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.

Background & Justification:

The new UNICEF/Government of Guinea-Bissau programme (2022-2026) aims for those girls and boys, including adolescents, to have increased access to quality social services and to supportive and safe environments that enable them to survive, thrive, learn, and develop to their full potential, for their well-being and to contribute to positive social change. The programme is derived from the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Guinea-Bissau, 2022–2026, particularly the outcomes related to human capital development and governance.

Under the Child Protection programme, UNICEF Guinea-Bissau is working with Government and Civil Society partners to address bottlenecks in the child protection systems, including harmful social norms, such as Female Genital mutilation and Child Marriage. The programme strengthens the continuum of prevention, early intervention, and response services for child protection (CP), including justice for Children, and enhances the capacity of CP service providers to deliver quality services at the national and community levels. With the CP policy and legal frameworks in place, the programme is supporting the development of an integrated multisectoral referral and case management system to prevent and address all forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation of children, targeting those in more vulnerable situations, such as children with disabilities and risk of exploitation and abuse.

UNICEF engages with partners, including at the community level, to reduce and curtail harmful practices and negative stereotypes that contribute to the persistence of violence against children, especially girls. The programme promotes adolescents' involvement in issues that affect them, and supports their empowerment through the acquisition of life skills, with a focus on out-of-school adolescent girls. Also, the UNICEF programme supports government efforts to expand the coverage of birth registration among children and advocates for the universalization of birth registration. The programme has currently two rolling work plans (2022/2023) signed with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Woman, Family, and social Solidarity.

The Child Protection programme is currently with staff shortage, as the Child protection Officer will start 12 months of leave without pay in September 2022. In this current context, the CP programme is looking for a TA position that will ensure the effective implementation and monitoring of planned activities covered by the CP Officer, in particular the elaboration of a child protection case management mechanism and the implementation of birth registration activities, under the 2022/2023 rolling workplan.

Purpose:

The position will facilitate business continuity in the Child Protection Section , and improve the capacity to respond to the beneficiaries needs in the absence of the CP Officer for 12 months. The Child Protection Officer reports to the Child Protection Manager for supervision.

How can you make a difference?

Support to programme development and planning

• Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning (in the areas of Child Protection System strengthening/Case management and Birth Registration) through research, analysis and reporting of child protection and other related information for the development planning and priority and goal setting.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical, programme, operational, and administrative transactions, preparing related materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating of results.
• Prepare required programme documentations, materials, and data to facilitate the programme review and approval process.

Programme management, monitoring, and delivery of results

• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations and/or to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level interventions and/or decisions. Keep records of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts to assess programmes/projects, and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of programme management.
• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative, and other assets), verifying compliance with approved allocations, organizational rules, regulations, procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. To ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders, report on critical issues and findings. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Prepare regular and mandated sectoral programme/project reports for management, donors, and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys and 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.
• To support program implementation, provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices in child protection.

Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on child protection.
• Participate in inter-agency meetings/events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of child protection programmes/projects, and to integrate and harmonize 'UNICEF's position and strategies with UNDAF development and planning processes.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fundraising and partnership development purposes.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances, and support fundraising for child protection programmes.

Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building

• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for the development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

Specific tasks include:

• Support activities related to HACT, especially programmatic visits, as per the Child Protection programme and Office plan.

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

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, social service, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection-related areas is required.
• Relevant experience in programme development in child protection-related areas in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in French or English is required. Knowledge of Portuguese is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) 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…

(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.

[add the 8th competency (Nurtures, leads and manages people) for supervisory role]

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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.