Consultant (Fund Portfolio Management -Safe Online), End Violence Against Children (EVAC), Home based, Hosted Fund, 45 working days in 3 months, Req

Contract

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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, OPPORTUNITIES

Safe Online is a priority initiative of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and this positions its work at the forefront of a global movement that is seeking to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.2 and secure a future where every child grows up in a safe, secure and nurturing environment.

Safe Online focuses on how digital technologies and connectivity intensify existing and facilitate new forms of violence against children, especially one of the worst forms of that violence: online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). Safe Online invests in solutions, technologies, programmes, and capacities to tackle online CSEA. Importantly, our work in developing a global evidence base along with our advocacy, policy influence and collective action impacts intersecting areas of digital harm. These include cyberbullying, harassment, mental health and radicalisation and the role of the internet in facilitating criminal activity such as human trafficking.

With a growing investment portfolio, Safe Online continues to evolve its strategy to better support the collective impact of the portfolio of grantees and lay the foundations for systemic change at scale, all in view of making the internet safe for children. Four key goals for 2023-25 are to 1) Invest for Impact, 2) Evidence and Knowledge, 3) Advocacy and Action, and 4) Measure Change.

How can you make a difference?

The Opportunity

End Violence's Safe Online Initiative (Safe Online) is seeking an experienced Fund Portfolio Management professional to support the sifting of a new open call for proposals and other grant management aspects. The successful candidate will have experience in project/program management, as well as monitoring and oversight of international development projects. Experience in the international development sector and grant management field, including UN, international donors, INGOs, and foundations, would be a strong asset. We are seeking a solutions-driven and entrepreneurial individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment, with limited supervision and good capacity to absorb feedback in a timely and constructive manner.

Purpose

Safe Online also supports its grantee community by creating a strong network which maximizes the collective impact and leverages synergies i.e. we invest in more than just individual projects, we invest in global prevention and response to online CSEA. This is done in several ways: through tailored technical support in the form of programmatic visits, check-in calls, in-person convenings, networking facilitated by Safe Online, and knowledge exchange opportunities via the Safe Online Network Forum and global and regional webinars to promote learning within the grantee community and the wider ecosystem. Going forward, the Safe Online team aims to continue investing in the online CSEA ecosystem and collaborative efforts, while also promoting a collaborative culture by connecting grantees to each other, and relevant key resources and mentors to ensure cross-collaboration, knowledge exchange, and learning.

With a growing portfolio, Safe Online is seeking a consultant to support the creation and maintenance of key systems, platforms, and processes to maximize the Safe Online’s return on investment from its Safe Online grants and support its grantee network in sharing and leveraging learning. This role will contribute to the assessment of the portfolio’s needs, manage technical assistance, identify opportunities, and guide cohorts and technical collaboration between grantees and other Safe Online partners.

Key deliverables:

The consultant will work within the Safe Online team for a period of three months and be supervised by the Fund Portfolio Manager, in close coordination with the Senior Evaluation Specialist, with a specific focus on monitoring and evaluation, and reporting, including technical support to grantees in this area. The consultant is expected to perform the following key tasks:

1. Financial and project management analysis of progress reports from the Safe Online grantees (approx. 10 reports): This will include analysis on financial delivery, budget and project plan deviations, and compliance with the applicable financial and grant management regulations and practices.
2. Processing of project refunds (approx. 10 requests): This will include the conduction of financial checks to ensure the correct financial closure of the grants, in a timely manner and in coordination with UNICEF FSO.
3. Sifting of applications received for the 2023 open call for proposals (approx. 150 applications per Call): This will include the initial proposal analysis and filing of all the applications received.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, international development, journalism, business administration, monitoring and evaluation, data analysis or related disciplines.
  • A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience, including experience designing and implementing programs, preferably in the international development context.
• 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.

Desired Experience

• Knowledge of issues related to violence against children, particularly online, will be considered a strong asset.
• Experience in grant management is strongly preferred; partnerships experience would be also desirable.
• Experience with Grant Management Systems or other Management Information Systems (preferably MS Office 365 environment and SharePoint) is strongly preferred.
• Ability to synthesize technical information and translate it into accessible products and systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and excellent technical communication with peers and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrable knowledge of cutting-edge technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain) will be considered an asset.
• Comfortable working and negotiating with others to produce the best outcomes.
• Experience working in an international development context and remotely, particularly at the field level and conducting monitoring visits, and ability to work in a diverse, multicultural, and highly-collaborative environment.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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 selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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:

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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates 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 assignment. It does not apply to consultants 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 consultancy contracts.