Child Protection Specialist, P-4, Panama, LAC Regional Office, FT

Overview

Support UNICEF to eliminate violence against children in LAC region

You have:

• An Advanced University degree (Master’s degree or higher) in international development, psychology, sociology, social work, child and youth worker, family or criminal law, social policy or other similar social science field is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection and other related areas at the international level is required.
• Relevant experience in child protection and related areas, with significant experience programming around violence against children. Programme, project development and management in the UN/UNICEF is an asset.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.
• Fluency in English and Spanish is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian) and/or Portuguese is an asset.

Contract

This is a P-4 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 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 119,262 USD and 153,763 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, a champion

This position is within the child protection team at the regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean. The regional office supports 24 UNICEF country offices covering 36 countries. The child protection programme includes ending violence, safe migration, emergency response, and responding to children separated from their families by the care or justice authorities. It also deals with other critical protection areas such as child marriage, adoption and surrogacy. The team has strong partnerships with regional bodies and leads a number of interagency groups to galvanise results for children.

Purpose

The regional team creates, analyses and assesses evidence to inform the robust support it provides to the UNICEF country teams to better protect children. The Child Protection Specialist will be primarily responsible for supporting UNICEF to end violence against children (VaC) in the region including armed violence, sexual violence and corporal punishment. The incumbent will also be involved in other child protection programmatic areas such as care and justice, all within the framework of the child protection system. The incumbent leads and engages in regional and global networks of government, multilateral and practitioner organisations to ensure that the objectives of better protecting children are included and acted on. The holder of the post is part of the overall child protection team with responsibilities to support the team in planning, reporting, monitoring and knowledge management.

How can you make a difference?

Join our team as a Child Protection Specialst VaC in the Regional Office and contribute in supporting UNICEF to end violence against children (VaC) in the region including armed violence, sexual violence and corporal punishment. You will work under the guidance of the Regional Child Protection Advisor and your responsibilities will include but are not limited to the following:

• Provide technical assistance and advice to colleagues in the Section on all aspects of programming and implementation to enable colleagues to achieve programme, performance objectives, including violence against children.
• Plan and/or provide technical assistance and operational support to the preparation, design, conduct and update of situation analysis to ensure that current comprehensive and evidence- based data on child protection issues are available to guide UNICEF strategic policy advocacy, intervention and development efforts on child rights and protection and to set programme priorities, strategies, design and implementation plans, including on violence against children in the Region.
• Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results in child protection programmes, including on violence against children.
• Provide technical advice to key government officials, NGO, UN system and country offices on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on child protection, including violence against children, and other related issues to support programme development planning, implementation and delivery of results.

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

• An Advanced University degree (Master’s degree or higher) in international developmentpsychology, sociology, social work, child and youth worker, family or criminal law, social policy or other similar social science field is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection and other related areas at the international level is required.
• Relevant experience in child protection and related areas, with significant experience programming around violence against children Programme, project development and management in the UN/UNICEF is an asset.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage;
• Professional experience within and outside the LAC region would be an asset
• Experience working with partner organizations and coordination groups
• Experience providing technical assistance to peers and to partners in the area of child protection an asset
• Experience analysing child protection evidence
• Fluency in English and Spanish is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian) and/or Portuguese is an asset.

To learn more about a P4 level Child Protection Specialist role in UNICEF, click here GJP Child Protection Specialist P4 VaC.pdf

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…

(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. (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

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 male candidates are encouraged to apply.

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

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.

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

Potential interview questions