Individual Contractor, PSEA Specialist, 6-month assignment, WCARO Dakar-Senegal (Home-based)

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.

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How can you make a difference?

Objectives

The purpose of the position is to provide technical support to UNICEF West and Central Africa Country Offices (COs) and to the Regional Office (RO) in the area of Protection from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (PSEA). The position aims at ensuring that COs across the region have the required capacity and systems in place to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) concerning UNICEF Personnel, other UN entities or anyone associated with them or any other aid/humanitarian worker whether or not within the United Nations system, in line with UNICEF instructions and guidelines and institutional accountabilities (including vis-à-vis the United Nations system more broadly).

Guidance and support will be provided to the 24 Country Offices of the Region in continuity of work that has been done in West and Central African Region (WCAR) over the past number of years. WCARO’s PSEA Specialist will help ensure that all countries in the region implement a set of minimum and sustainable measures to prevent and respond to SEA, to be embedded across Country Office sectors and within the broader regional programming on UNICEF’s “Key Result for Children” (KRC) #5 on Protection of Children from Sexual Violence in West and Central Africa, across humanitarian and development contexts and including as related to UNICEF’s gender-based violence (GBV) programming. Evidence shows that prevention and response to SEA is more effective when it is included in broader child protection and social welfare system strengthening efforts that include prevention and risk mitigation to all forms of violence including GBV.

Background

Over the past few years, the UN has increased its commitments to push forward the agenda of Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). In 2017, in its Report on Special Measures for Protection from SEA, the Secretary-General announced “a new approach”, which puts victims’ rights at the center of the UN response to SEA. A UN Special Coordinator for PSEA and a Victims’ Rights Advocate (VRA) were assigned, and field VRAs were deployed in four peacekeeping missions. A UN Protocol on SEA involving Implementing Partners was issued in 2018 and a UN Victim Assistance Protocol was adopted in 2019.

From approximately 2016, UNICEF has also been scaling up its efforts to effectively prevent and respond to SEA. In 2018, UNICEF’s Executive Director took over the role of Inter Agency Standing Committee Champion on SEA and Sexual Harassment, leading to a number of interagency and internal initiatives, including an independent review of UNICEF’s work on PSEA and the development of an institutional Strategy on PSEA (issued in January 2019). UNICEF’s contractual agreements were reviewed to include stronger requirements for implementing partners on PSEA and a Procedure for Assessing SEA Risks in Implementing Partnerships and a PSEA Toolkit were issued in February 2020.

UNICEF globally has a front-line role and accountability in providing assistance to children victims of SEA. In this light, from 2016 through to 2021, UNICEF’s Executive Director provided dedicated 7% set aside funding with a view to set up systems to address SEA at regional level and across a number of high-risk contexts, including seven countries in the West and Central Africa Region and in the Regional Office. With the support of these dedicated funds, PSEA specialists were deployed, trainings and support missions were organized, and Child Protection including GBV services for victim assistance were strengthened. Advocacy was also led in the region on key PSEA issues, particularly on SEA victims’ access to justice and on a victim centred approach to investigations involving child victims of SEA. More recent supported interventions explored opportunities for better integration between GBV mitigation, prevention and response programming and PSEA, including service delivery and training.

In May 2021, a new Instruction and a Guidance Note for reporting allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) and Concerns of Abuse (“significant harm to a child”) were issued by UNICEF HQ under the authority of DED-M, effective 28th May 2021.

In January 2022, UNICEF WCARO issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for reporting such allegations and linked to the Instruction and Guidance. That is currently being implemented across the region.

Scope of work

In collaboration with the concerned Regional and Country office colleagues,

Support to WCAR 24 Country Offices

• Coordination

• Strengthen in-country capacities for the roll out of guidelines and policies (development and roll out of action plans, training of PSEA focal points, collaboration with implementing partners) and, when necessary, contextualize them.

• Strengthen the UNICEF PSEA regional community of practice (support learning exchanges between countries, identify document and share good practices including as related to strengthening the links between GBV programming and PSEA, keep the regional SharePoint of PSEA materials updated with tools and resources etc).

• Support, upon requests, all 24 Country Offices (COs) in the implementation of their PSEA Action Plans.

• Respond to specific technical support needs of COs, including through:

• • Regular bilateral calls with PSEA Focal Points from COs to jointly review progress in the implementation of the CO PSEA Action Plans, identify priority actions and support needs.
  • Support to trained PSEA focal points with their training plans as needed including on GBV risk mitigation, prevention and response whenever possible and in coordination with relevant staff in UNICEF WCARO’s CP team.
  • Review of draft versions of PSEA Action Plans, of internal and external ToRs and interagency information sharing protocols, CO concept notes/strategies on PSEA, risk assessments, PSEA Action Plans of Implementing Partners, etc.
  • In coordination with relevant Operations and Programme colleagues, support COs with finalising Implementing Partner (IP) SEA risk assessments.

• Support to CO’s Prevention & Response interventions

• Support COs in the response to SEA allegations reported in countries, as needed.

• Work with the COs’ PSEA Focal Points in defining sustainable systems to be in place within the CO for prevention and response to SEA: review and update accordingly to the Country Office PSEA Action Plans.
• Support the integration of PSEA actions into sections’ PCAs (SEA risk assessment, community sensitization on PSEA into Programme Documents).
• Support the CO in the establishment/strengthening of community reporting channels in consultation with local communities/beneficiaries and identify possibilities of alignment with existing mechanisms such as the ones used for child protection and/ or GBV with the PSEA focal points.
• Support UNICEF’s engagement with the interagency PSEA, GBV Networks/Task Forces and CPAoR or CP working groups in-country on prevention of SEA, community sensitization, community reporting channels, information sharing/referral mechanisms, and availability of GBV services.
• Support the technical development and the delivery of trainings on investigations in at least 3 priority countries.

Support to Regional Office (WCARO)’s actions on PSEA

• Provide guidance and advice for RO senior management on priorities and strategies to advance the PSEA agenda in the region.
• Lead the mobilization of dedicated financial and human resources to support PSEA (including inputs to funding proposals, presentations etc).
• Review the SEA cases reports (Significant Incident Reports/SIR) submitted to the Regional Office and follow up with COs as needed.
• Prepare briefings and updates for the Regional Director and RO senior management on PSEA in the region upon request.
• Keep track on SEA allegations in the region through an internal monitoring mechanism and develop a process to follow up on assistance provided at Country level to victims.
• Support the implementation of WCARO’s Action Plan on PSEA, particularly through:
  • Support the delivery of PSEA onboarding as well refresher trainings for WCARO’s personnel.
  • Support the cross sectorial engagement on PSEA within WCARO, by prompting the inclusion of PSEA actions in relevant sections’ work (WASH, Education, Emergencies, C4D, Health, Child Protection).
• Support the strengthening of linkages between PSEA prevention and response and sexual violence programming (KRC5) (and as part of a child protection system strengthening approach for the prevention and response to violence against children, including GBV) in at least 2 model countries.
• Collaborate with the social and behaviour change (SBC) and Communications sections at regional and country office levels related to the development of standard child-friendly information, education and communication (IEC) materials for communities for the region
• Support Regional Coordination mechanisms in Dakar, like the Protection cluster or the CPiE Working Group, in their efforts to better address PSEA.

Contribution to global policy and guidance on PSEA

• Liaise closely with relevant focal points in UNICEF’s Office of the Executive Director and Child Protection, NYHQ on PSEA policy developments at global level, and feed country-based experiences into HQ’s policy and guidance on PSEA.
• Prepare inputs for WCAR’s contribution to global consultations, and to global PSEA policy and guidance initiatives and materials led by HQ.
• Contribute to global initiatives including on matters such as SEA victims’ access to justice and legal aid and roll out of PSEA policies with government partners
• Prepare or review updates on the status of SEA cases in the region for submission to UNICEF’s Headquarters upon request
• Participate in inter-regional PSEA Focal Points meetings to contribute to global guidance on PSEA.

Deliverables and Schedules

Deliverable/Output

Timeframe

Payment

The Individual Contractor will be paid on the basis of the interventions undertaken in relation to the Scope of the Work:

1. Track progress, provide support to WCAR 24 Country Offices in the implementation of their CO PSEA Action Plans, with a focus on CO cross sectorial engagement in PSEA and strengthening capacity of partners on PSEA and whenever possible GBV
2. Provide support to the Regional Office in its leading role for the region on PSEA in line with UNICEF global policies, standards and guidelines
3. Contribute to the development of global policy and guidance on PSEA

Monthly reports delivered within 5 days of the end of every month to reflect progress against the 3 deliverables

Monthly payments

Timing

The assignment is full time for a period of 6 months and will start on May 1st 2022.

Reporting Requirements

The Individual Contractor will be under the supervision of the Regional Child Protection Specialist, Child Protection in Emergencies, who will be responsible for certifying that activities have been appropriately carried out on a monthly basis in line with the reporting requirements and at the completion of the assignment.

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

The ideal candidate will have:

Education

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields: international development, human rights, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science field. A Bachelor’s degree with 2 additional relevant work experience might be accepted in lieu of the Master.

Experience

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in design, implementation and management of Human Rights, Protection/Child Protection or GBV programming; in PSEA and/or child safeguarding, preferably with the UN.
• Familiarity with global developments on PSEA.
• Experience working in humanitarian contexts.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Proven ability to work independently under difficult conditions.
• Excellent facilitation and training skills
• Proved networking and advocacy skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and to establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the organization

Language Requirements

Fluency in French and English is required.

Administrative Issues

The consultancy will be home based, supporting the 24 COs of WCAR in the area of PSEA with particular priority given to the countries indicated above in the TOR. A minimum of weekly calls will be organized with the supervisor of the contract.

The Individual Contractor will receive a daily fee paid on a monthly basis as per the deliverables outlined above. The Individual Contractor will cover both flights and DSA for the mission, which will be reimbursed on the basis of submission of receipts and proof of travel to the mission country.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

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

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.