Child Protection Officer, NO-2, Fixed Term, Recife, Brazil

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.

CHILD PROTECTION OFFICER, NOB, FT, RECIFE, BRAZIL

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defendtheir 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.

And we never give up.

For every child, protection

For further information, please visit www.unicef.org.br

Job organizational context:

As the 5th largest country in the world in population and geographic terms, Brazil has about 59.7 million children and adolescents. About half of these are Afro-descendants. In addition, of the 821,000 indigenous people living in the country, at least one third are children or adolescents. Although Brazil has made significant progress in terms of guaranteeing the rights of children and adolescents in recent years, inequality still permeates the national territory and causes millions of children and adolescents to have denied their most fundamental rights. In this context, one of the most serious aspects of this denial of rights is the frequent subjection of children and adolescents to violence, exploitation, and abuse. Each day, 20 girls and boys aged 10-19 are victims of homicide in the country. Despite the notorious underreporting of incidents of sexual violence in the country, from 2017 to 2020, there were 180,000 cases of rape were reported. Regarding adolescents in conflict with the law, also in 2016 data from SINASE show that there were 18,600 adolescents complying with socio-educational measures, being deprived of their liberty.

To address these issues, UNICEF Brazil will focus on the prevention and response to violence against children, by promoting cultural change of a culture that tolerate violent practices, engaging strategic stakeholders to address issues related to protection of children from violence (at national and subnational levels) and promoting the engagement of adolescents, families and communities, through its local delivery strategies: UNICEF Municipal Seal – for 2,000 municipalities- and #UrbanAgendaUNICEF- for 8 large cities in Brazil.

How can you make a difference?

The Child Protection Officer is to support the Child Protection Programme in Brazil Country Office. The Child Protection Officer reports to Chief of Territory, for direct supervision and to the Child Protection Chief, for technical guidance. The Child Protection Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for child protection programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development planning to delivery of results. H/She prepares, executes, manages, and implements a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

1. Support to programme development and planning

• Conduct and update the situation analysis for the development, design and management of child protection related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (e.g. economic, social, health) and data for use in programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results.
• Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning through research, analysis and reporting of child protection and other related information for 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.

2. 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. Report on critical issues and findings to ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders. 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.

3. 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.
• 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, to support programme implementation.

4. 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 fund raising and partnership development purposes.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for child protection programmes.

5. 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 development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

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, 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.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• 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.
• Fluency in Portuguese and English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and the following competencies: Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1), Works Collaboratively with others (1), Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1), Innovates and Embraces Change (1), Thinks and Acts Strategically (1), Drive to achieve impactful results (1), and Manages ambiguity and complexity (1).

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.

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.

Remarks:

This Vacancy Announcement is open for competition to Brazilian nationals only.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

All candidates who wish to apply to this Vacancy Announcement are requested to prepare and submit their application in English.

In order to promote gender balance within professional services category, male candidates are encouraged to apply.