Child Protection Project Officer

Volunteering Security

Overview

Provide technical assistance in Child Protection projects.

You 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 3 years of progressive experience in designing, implementing and monitoring projects in the area of social development, including in the child protection field
• Relevant experience in programme development in child protection related areas in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset
• Solid understanding of child protection issues in BiH is a requirement
• Good knowledge of international standards related to child protection and child rights
• Excellent knowledge of the country’s political and governmental system
• Demonstrated ability in communicating with various audiences in local language and in English
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment
• Self-starter and result oriented
• Demonstrated good diplomatic skills
• Ability to quickly build rapports with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of partners

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The Child Protection programme is guided by principles and rights stipulated in international conventions , domestic strategies , UNICEF’s commitment to the rights and needs of girls and boys living in situations of vulnerability ; UNICEF’s commitment to gender equity, gender equality and gender-responsive policies and programming as cross-cutting themes; principles laid out in UNICEF’s Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 and UNICEF’s 2021 – 2030 global child protection strategy; the importance of pursuing a systems approach to child protection; the importance of ensuring participation of girls, boys and adolescents in programme and policy design; a result-based management framework approach; and a life cycle approach that recognises how risks and needs vary by age during childhood and adolescence.

The Child Protection component aims to protect children from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. UNICEF provides support to strengthen the protective environment for children and the overall country’s child protection system. In partnership with governmental and non-governmental organizations, the Child Protection section is currently focusing on developing the child protection system, improving justice for children, fighting violence against children, and strengthening capacities of partners and other stakeholders in order to better protect children.

The programme has been developed in consultation with key stakeholders including government ministries, agencies and institutions, civil society organisations, academia and international organisations. It is based on the evidence included in the 2019 UNICEF Situation Analysis of Children (SitAn) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UN Common Country Analysis (CCA). The programmatic interventions are derived from the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) outcomes for BiH, ensuring people contribute to, and benefit from, accountable and transparent governance systems and rule of law (Outcome 2) and ensuring that health care and social protection systems are providing better quality and more accessible and inclusive services (Outcome 6).

The programme is carried out in partnership with State, Entity/District Brcko, and Cantonal Ministries/Departments responsible for social welfare/protection, justice, security/interior, health, and education, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centres, Police Academies, the Office of the Ombudspersons for Human Rights, academia, statistical institutes, United Nations agencies (IOM, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UN Women, and WHO), international development partners (e.g. EU, SDC, Sida), and international and national non-governmental organisations.

Under the supervision of the OIC Child Protection Head of the Section, the Child Protection Officer will provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for the child protection projects through the application of theoretical and technical skills in researching, collecting, analyzing, and presenting technical programme information while learning organizational rules, regulations and procedures to support the development and formulation of the Child Protection Programme within the UNICEF BiH.

Main responsibilities: • Provide technical and implementation support for Child Protection programming and implementation processes, with a specific focus on the UNICEF-led components of the Gender Accelerator Joint UN programmes related to Women’s Economic Empowerment and Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls; • In close collaboration with the Head of Section of the Child Protection Section work with colleagues and partners to discuss programme implementation, including challenges, provide solutions, recommendations and/or to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level interventions and/or decisions. • Contribute to knowledge management by keeping records of reports and assessments for easy reference and documenting best practices and lessons learned. • Liaise with and provide technical support to government counterparts, non-governmental organizations and other partners implementing activities related to the CP programme. • Support mapping and analysis of data related to violence against children and justice for children. • Conduct regular programme field visits to liaise with partners, monitor ongoing projects, exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support; document findings in trip reports and recommend adjustments as needed. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems to the CP HoS 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, processes and best practices in child protection, to support programme implementation. • Research potential donors, draft/contribute to project proposals, project briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes. • Provide quality inputs to project and donor reports and prepared briefing notes, as needed. Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances. • Attend meetings, prepare minutes and track action points for follow-up. • Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results. • Support the overall functioning of the Child Protection Section, with other relevant tasks assigned on an on-going basis, as needed.

UNICEF values and competency

i) Core Values • Care • Respect • Integrity • Trust • Accountability • Sustainability

Core Competencies (For Staff without Supervisory Responsibilities) * • 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)

• 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 3 years of progressive experience in designing, implementing and monitoring projects in the area of social development, including in the child protection field • Relevant experience in programme development in child protection related areas in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset • Solid understanding of child protection issues in BiH is a requirement • Previous working experience with civil society or governmental organizations in the area of child protection • Good knowledge of international standards related to child protection and child rights • Excellent knowledge of the country’s political and governmental system • Demonstrated ability in communicating with various audiences in local language and in English • Able to work effectively in multi-cultural environment • Self-starter and result oriented • Ability to quickly adapt to a new working environment • Demonstrated good diplomatic skills • Ability to quickly build rapports with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of partners. • Working knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

The UN designated state of alert for Bosnia and Herzegovina is Security Level 1 which is minimal and lowest security level in the Security Level System for the entire country, including the capital of Sarajevo. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is generally quiet; all international agencies consider threats to their staff to be low at this time. However, BiH has the same problems as much of Europe, from pickpockets to traffic accidents, so please make sure you exercise appropriate personal security awareness and common sense. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country with the largest mine contamination problem. Over 670.000 mines and 650.000 unexploded ordinances on 10.000 locations estimated. Contaminated area estimated is over 2.000 km2 which is more than 4 % of the total territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Staff is advised to stay on well-travelled routes while in the country. See the http://www.bhmac.org.

In addition to duty station specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

The applicable volunteer living allowance is provided monthly. Life, health and permanent disability insurance are included.

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials.

You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator.

The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos

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Potential interview questions

Added 1 year ago - Updated 11 months ago - Source: unv.org