Child Protection Officer, NOA, Male, Maldives

Contract

This is a NO-1 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-1 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.

And we never give up.

For every child, a fair chance.

Significant strides have been made towards the protection and promotion of children’s rights, gaps still remain. The enactment of the landmark legislation the Child Rights Protection Act (CRPA) 19/2019 and Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) 18/2019 have brought about a systematic overhaul and paved the way to raise the standards of protection for children in the Maldives. The CRPA established an independent children’s ombudsperson, a high-level Child Rights Council, created the Child and Family Protection Services for safeguarding the interests of children in need of care and protection, and criminalized non-reporting of child abuse cases. The JJA raised the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 15 years in line with international standards and established a framework that focuses on diversion and restorative justice as opposed to retributive justice. Ensuring the implementation of these laws requires considerable system strengthening and capacity building of relevant staff.

The Maldives, with its geographical dispersion, presents great challenges in not only attending to cases but also in accessing services. Most of the services are based in Greater Male' Region. The more remote islands face numerous difficulties in accessing violence prevention, protection, and response services. The child protection system’s main challenges include a shortage of qualified workforces and an efficient system for referrals and case management.

The UNICEF Maldives Child Protection Programme, under the current Country Programme 2022 – 2026, work towards strengthening the child protection system of the country through; capacity building; establishing community mechanisms and strengthening the referral and case management, including the system for caring for children deprived of family care; and enhancing child rights promotion and monitoring system.

Job organizational context:

The Child Protection Officer (a national officer at level 1 on a 1 year temporary appointment) will work for the Child Protection Programme of UNICEF Maldives Country Office (MCO) and report to the Child Protection Specialist.

How can you make a difference?

Under the guidance of the supervisor, the Child Protection Officer is accountable for providing professional, technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming and implementation processes in the Child Protection section. More specifically, the proposed child protection officer will contribute to the rollout of community mechanisms and enhancing the functionality of the community mechanisms and assist in following up on the implementation of the other child protection programme interventions, in addition to monitoring and following up on some of the other key interventions at field level, and supporting the programme in the mid-year and annual reviews.

With guidance from the Child Protection Specialist, the Child Protection Officer will perform the following functions and tasks:

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support programme development and planning, programme management, monitoring and delivery of results
2. Provide technical and operational support to programme implementation
3. Support networking and partnership building

4. Support innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

5. Support to programme development, planning, programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• With guidance from the Child Protection Specialist, provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of Child Protection programming processes by preparing materials/documentation for programming discussion and liaise with the implementing partners for the rollout of key interventions.
• Support in preparing required documentation and materials to facilitate monitoring the implementation of programme interventions, following up on financial transactions and programme reviews to monitor the progress towards the planned results.

2. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Undertake field visits to monitor programme implementation and the progress towards the achievement of results and share reports with partners and stakeholders.
• With guidance from the Child Protection Specialist, 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 and promotion of gender equality, and to support programme implementation.

3. Networking and partnership building

• Provide support to the Child Protection Specialist in key planning and conducting meetings with international and national actors, including civil society organisations, to strengthen the partnership to expedite the programme implementation.

4. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and contribute to build capacity of stakeholders to protect children against any kind of violence, abuse and neglect, applying gender-sensitive strategies.
• Support the child protection programme in applying innovative approaches to promote good practices and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results .
• Support the Child Protection Specialist in research, benchmark and report on best and cutting-edge practices for the development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• With guidance from the Child Protection Specialist, support capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

Impact of Results

The efficiency and efficacy of support provided by the Child Protection Officer to programme preparation, planning and implementation, contributes to the achievement of sustainable results to create a protective environment for children against harm and all forms of violence, and ensures their survival, development and well-being in society. Success in child protection programmes and interventions in turn contributes to maintaining and enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to provide programme support to strengthen services for mothers and children especially to the most vulnerable that promotes greater social equality in the country.

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

Education:

• 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.

Experience:

• A minimum of three years of professional experience in social development planning, management and programme implementation in child protection-related areas is required.
• Experience in working at community level is considered as 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: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability

Core 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)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Functional Competencies

• Analyzing (2)
• Applying technical expertise (2)
• Learning and researching (2)
• Planning and organizing (2)

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 are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. 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.

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