Internal Only: Child Protection Specialist – Birth Registration and Legal Identity (P-4), Child Protection Section, Programme Division, NYHQ

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 171,387 USD and 220,969 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, hope.

The right of every child to be registered at birth and to be recognized as a person before the law (legal identity) is prescribed in several human rights conventions including the Convention on the Rights of the Child which underpins UNICEF’s work around birth registration and legal identity. Increasing the rate of birth registration – and reaching even the most marginalized and excluded children - is a strategic priority for UNICEF and one of the three core child protection impact indicators of the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan.

How can you make a difference?

You will report to and work under the direct supervision of the P5 Senior Adviser Child Protection (Social Welfare and Justice Systems). You will play a key intra-sectoral role in promoting birth registration and legal identity, particularly through ongoing collaboration with colleagues working in Programme Division, Regional Offices, the Division of Research and Policy and the Division of Communication, to ensure alignment and consistency of UNICEF positioning and programming around birth registration and legal identity.

You will be responsible for providing overall strategic and technical guidance on child protection birth registration/legal identity programmes and activities, including UNICEF’s lead role in advancing the UN Legal Identity Agenda.

The post is HQ office-based, with international travel to UNICEF regional and country offices, international conferences, workshops and seminars.

Summary of key functions and accountabilities:

1. Programme Policy and Strategy Formulation, Programme Management and Support

• Supports development and implementation of UNICEF’s global child protection strategies, guidance and tools on birth registration and legal identity to promote the right of all children to free and universal birth registration, including the most marginalized and excluded children.
• Provides support to country offices, regional child protection teams and other networks for situation analysis, strategy formulation, project and programme development, and assessment of programme recommendations and programme evaluations to operationalize and implement the legal identity agenda at country level.

2. Global Partnerships and Advocacy

• Represents UNICEF positioning in global birth registration and legal identity partnerships and in other coalitions and groups relevant to or associated with birth registration such as the Coalition on Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality.
• Supports global advocacy, information exchange and dissemination of information as required across the United Nations Development System (UNDS), with the World Bank Group, governments, the private sector and civil society to promote a rights-based approach to birth registration and legal identity.

3. Advisory Services and Technical Support

• Provides technical guidance to ensure the effective roll-out of agreed indicators for birth registration, including in emergency and post-emergency settings. Provides technical guidance for applying innovative approaches in birth registration and legal identity that help reach the most marginalized populations, including through the appropriate use of mobile and digital technologies.

• Identifies strategic areas that require further elaboration

  4. Knowledge Acquisition and Dissemination

• Identifies and disseminates relevant research as well as examples from the field to support advocacy, enhanced analysis and programming around birth registration and legal idenity, with special attention to new and innovative areas of work around biometrics and digital idenity

• Strategically identifies gaps in policy evidence in order to support and promote further research and development of guidance that fills identified gaps.

5. Team and Management Contributions

• Serves as section focal point on birth registration and legal identity issues for child protection and Iiaises regularly with staff working on global policy, health, social inclusion, data and analytics and migration issues.
• Participates in the development of the sectoral work-plan.
• Ensures the achievement of specific assigned objectives within the Section Work Plan, including by providing guidance and support to other staff and colleagues in meeting defined work-plan tasks and reporting requirements.
• Participates in the preparation of all programme reports required and carries out budget reviews and programme analysis.

• Contributes to resource mobilization by drafting project proposals and budgets and liaising with donors and country programmes on developing programme documents.

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

• Advanced university degree in Social Policy/Sciences, International Relations/Development, Community Development, Anthropology, Public Health or other closely related field
• At least 8 years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and international levels in birth registration/legal identity and CRVS programme formulation, design, management and evaluation with emphasis on strategic planning
• Strong field experience in managing and implementing birth registration, legal identity, CRVS and identity management programmes is desirable
• Stong understanding of national CR systems and processes, including interoperanility with other identity management systems, knowledge of new and innovative technologies and their relevance for birth registration/legal identity is an asset
• Strong capacity to manage multi-stakeholder partnerships and programmes
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English and knowledge of at least one other UN language is an asset For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respective, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEF’s Entitlements’ page*. If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online* Salary Estimate Calculator

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.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, 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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

“UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/