Consultancy: UNICEF’s Strategy to End Violence Against Children in Latin America and the Caribbean Type - LACRO, Panama

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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, Protection

How can you make a difference?

Background

The UNICEF Strategic Plan 2018-2021 details UNICEF’s future direction and strategic priorities over the coming four years. It provides a vehicle to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and responds to its call to ‘leave no one behind’. Both the Strategic Plan, UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan and its Child Protection Strategy include measures around violence and a commitment to addressing the gendered causes and forms of violence. UNICEF’s new Strategic Plan (2022-2026) continues this commitment to programming to contribute to the achievement of Goal Area 3 outcome, ‘Every child, including adolescents, is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices’. This is also reflected in the Regional Office Management Plan that maintains the End of Violence against Children (EVAC) as a priority, a priority also reflected within the country office plans.

The protection of children from all forms of violence is a fundamental right enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The inclusion of a specific target (SDG 16.2) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to end all forms of violence against children gives renewed impetus towards the realization of the right of every child to live free from fear, neglect, abuse and exploitation. Several other SDG targets address specific, and gendered, forms of violence and harm towards girls and boys including, violence against women and girls including sexual exploitation (5.2). It is also recognised that children in different situations such as child marriage (target 5.3) and child labour (target 8.7) as well as in places separated from their families such as when migrating (SDG 10.7) or in care outside of the family (e.g., 16.3) may be more at risk of violence.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent region and unequal in the world; violence, gender and ethnic inequalities are normalized. Violence is seen in the communities and also, in spaces considered to be ‘safe’ such as the home, schools and childcare services. A few figures can illustrate this:

  • LAC is the only region that has seen an increase in homicide rates among adolescents aged 10 to 19 since 2007. Slightly less than 10% of the world’s adolescents live in the region, but nearly half of all homicides among adolescents in 2015 occurred here.1
  • 14 of the 25 countries with the highest femicide rates are in Latin America.2. 2 out of 3 children between ages 2-4 regularly experience some kind of violent discipline at home.3
  • In school, 2 in 5 6th grade students were victims of some form of bullying.4
  • It is estimated that between 230,000 and 375,000 children live in institutions in the region and are likely to suffer all forms of violence and neglect.5
  • 1.1 million adolescent girls (15-17 years old) report having been victims at least once of sexual abuse and 4 out of 10 report intimate partner violence in their lifetime. We know that boys are also suffering sexual violence, but data on this is scarce. 6

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1 UNICEF (2017), A Familiar Face. https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Violence_in_the_lives_of_children_and_adolescents.pdf 2 https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/14-de-los-25-paises-con-mas-feminicidios-se-ubican-en-America-Latina- -20181120-0048.html 3 UNICEF (2017) Violence in early childhood. Regional framework for UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://www.unicef.org/lac/media/691/file/PDF%20Violence%20in%20early%20childhood.pdf 4 UNICEF (2020) Draft document pending publication: School related violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: Building an evidence base for stronger schools. 5 LUMOS (2020), En nombre del cuidado y la protección de los niños, niñas y adolescentes: La institucionalización en América Latina y el Caribe. 6 UNICEF (2017) El camino al empoderamiento de las niñas en América Latina y el Caribe: 5 Derechos https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/reports/path-girls-empowerment-latin-america-and-caribbean-5-rights

Violence changes as children grow: For infants and younger children, violence mainly takes the form of maltreatment at the hands of parents, caregivers and other authority figures. As children grow older, peer and intimate partner violence of the region.

As the numbers show, violence against children is one of the top issues affecting children in LAC. It compromises their present and their future wellbeing with results such as: early pregnancies, low school performance/attendance/completion, health issues (STIs, mental health disorders, brain development, physical injuries), social exclusion, etc. VAC is a reality in all countries in the region.

The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office is based in Panama, operating in 36 territories, including 24 country offices. The UNICEF offices in the region have prioritised the ending of violence against children, recognising this as critical for the fulfillment of all child rights. The types of violence that is of specific focus is ending armed violence, corporal punishment, and sexual violence.

Purpose of the Assignment

Under the overall guidance of the Regional Advisor of Child Protection, in collaboration with the Regional Gender Advisor, the purpose of this assignment is to finalize the Theory of Change (ToC) to End Violence against Children (EVAC) for UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean and to develop a regional, 4-year EVAC strategy. Three types of violence will have a particular focus: corporal punishment, sexual violence, and armed violence.

The Theory of Change will be developed based on the working version of a ToC prepared based on the multi-country evaluation on VAC and the workshop with COs in February 2020. Other contributing documents from the RO will be provided for the development of the Strategy, which should be based on UNICEF’s normative principles around equity, gender and inclusion and provide a clear linkage to the SDG declaration and the Leave No One Behind principle.

Specific Tasks

The assignment will include:

  1. Develop a consolidate methodology for the assignment. This should include participation of the relevant stakeholders, especially UNICEF COs, at relevant points.
  2. Advance the draft EVAC ToC for Latin America and the Caribbean. This will be fully referenced and developed with regional and country offices staff and benefit from review and comments from partners such as the Issue Based Coalition (IBC) on Crime and Violence and other reference groups.
  3. Finalise the EVAC TOC based on all inputs. The document will be validated by the regional EVAC Task Force and final EVAC ToC produced.
  4. Draft a UNICEF EVAC strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, inclusive of a M&E framework. This will be fully referenced and developed with regional and country office staff and also, with the IBC on crime and violence.
  5. Finalise the UNICEF EVAC strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean based on all inputs. The document will be validated by the regional EVAC Task Force.
  6. Executive summary of the EVAC Strategy (max. 10 pages) and PPT in Spanish and English
  7. Webinar to share the results

Expected Results

The following results are expected at the end of the consultancy:

  • EVAC ToC
  • EVAC Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean,
  • Executive Summary of the EVAC Strategy
  • PPT
  • Webinar

Deliverables

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

  • Advanced university degree in social sciences
  • A minimum of fifteen years working in the social sectors of international development
  • Experience developing consultation processes to inform ToCs and strategies
  • Knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean region
  • At least 5 years of demonstrable experience working on gender inequality, gender norms
  • At least 12 years demonstrable experience working on violence against children, including GBV.
  • Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
  • Expertise on Violence Against Children. And specially in at least one of the three forms of violence prioritized: corporal punishment, sexual violence or armed violence.
  • Proven experience in developing Theories of Change and strategies/strategic plans and informed by multiple stakeholders
  • Gender planning and GBV expertise required.

Other Skills and Attributes

  • Experience in monitoring desired.
  • Demonstrated excellent skills in verbal and written communication
  • Demonstrated ability to work virtually and establish virtual working relationships with many partners
  • Able to work effectively in a multicultural environment
  • Ability to clearly define objectives and plan activities
  • Previous work with UNICEF will be considered an asset.
  • Fluency with ICT tools such as email, Teams, Skype, Zoom

Supervision

This assignment will be supervised by the Regional Adviser Child Protection in collaboration with the Regional Adviser Gender for UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean. The EVAC TF will provide guidance in its development.

A reference group will be established for this assignment. The reference group will be given 2 weeks to review the ToC draft, final ToC and final strategy and 3 weeks to review the draft strategy. The consultant would then revise the documents accordingly and use the inputs on the draft report to finalize the different documents (ToC and strategy).

Duration

The selected candidate will be working 58 days over 5 months. The estimated start date will be 26 July 2021.

Workplace

This is a home-based consultancy.

How to Apply

Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter, Technical and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

Travel

There will be no travel involved in this consultancy.

*****

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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:

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

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org