Child protection Specialist– VAC/case management

Contract

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

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was established in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II. UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress.

The vision underlying the Theory of Change (ToC) for the new Child protection programme within the new Country programme (2022-2026) is that: every child, including adolescents, is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect, unnecessary family separation and harmful practices. The overall objective is that girls, boys and adolescents are better protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices and benefit from the promotion of family-based care, psychosocial support and wellbeing and justice, including in humanitarian contexts. The programme will address violence against boys, girls and women, including a focus on violence in the home and intimate partner violence against women and adolescent girls. Child marriage, family separation and the placement of children in residential care are understood as risk factors for child maltreatment in the home, whereas legal identity and access to justice and case management services are regarded as protective factors against child protection violations. Humanitarian response is also integrated within the Child protection programme to contribute in strengthening systems for child protection and to increase resilience through risk-informed programmes and positive social norm .

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.

In this context, the UNICEF Child Protection programme is seeking a UNV position for a 12 months period that will provide technical support to activities and programme implementation, particularly within the Violence against Children Agenda (VAC) which will encompass system strengthening work at national and subnational levels both in social service workforce strengthening and justice, while also working across sectors to mainstream child protection and VAC in education, health and social protection systems. The UNV will support the Child Protection Section in fostering strong linkages between three program components that contribute to a continuum of care for vulnerable children, namely the i) identification of the most vulnerable children (including children at risk of marriage) through various governmental and non-government structures; ii) the provision of case management to provide holistic support to the most vulnerable children in terms of services, referral, capacity building; and the iii) response to children who have experienced violence, neglect and abuse. The UNV will also support – in collaboration with the P3 Child protection specialist - the inter-sectoral coordination with other programs (ex. Health, Education, Social Policy) ensuring that services are provided to the most vulnerable children and families from prevention to response.

UNICEF is supporting the Government to strengthen systems that provide this continuum of care and further support is also required to strengthen the legislative framework for statistics: data collection process and administrative data on VAC with interoperability with other data systems on child protection 1. Under the supervision of the P3 Child protection Specialist (VAC/case management), contribute to the implementation of the Violence Against Children (VAC) program component by supporting strengthening social welfare system and case management practices and fostering linkages with the VAC response actors in the justice sector. 2. Contribute to the knowledge management work within the section, including documentation, and dissemination of good practices related to the section priority areas of interventions, namely VAC (including child marriage), Justice for Children (J4C), case management. 3. Contribute to strengthen the capacity of social workers to respond to cases of child violence, neglect and abuse and the linkage to other sectors involved in the response (mainly police and justice) to ensure a holistic response. Government guidelines on response to VAC exist but operationalization needs to be strengthened. MCO CP is supporting the government to achieve this. 4. Support the roll out of the comprehensive and integrated national case management (ProSAS) including clarity on referral pathways for services, strengthening of the data management through the information system (MIS) on violence against children, in the context of PROSAS, linked with SIMA (National Information Management System). 5. Support in the harmonization of tools, guidelines related to data collection used by government institution at different levels (national, provincial and district), including in emergency context; and 6. Liaise with field offices to collect and share the lessons learned and prepare case studies on the holistic response to VAC. 7. Support the roll out of the National Registry on Alternative Care in Zambezia, Nampula, Sofala and Cabo delgado? 8. Support the P3 Child Protection Specialist/CRVS and Justice on the on-going work related to Justice for children namely: i) courts capacity gaps assessment; ii) pilot project on diversion/alternative measures.

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Analytical skills • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organising • Professionalism • Self-management

the national and/or international level in Social science, social work, sociology or another relevant technical field or other relevant programmes; experience with UN or other international development organization is an asset, as is experience working in the UN or other international development organization.

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. This position is based in Maputo. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan. National UN Volunteers are expected to be culturally sensitive and adjust to the prevailing culture and traditions.