Online Safety Programme: Consultant for Data Review. Pretoria, South Africa, 9 months

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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?

PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT:

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, the consultant for Data Review will directly work with the Department of Social Development, SAPS, ChildLine, Film and Publication Board, Save the Children and other partner organizations focusing on the online protection of children to examine and review data on online safety. The consultant will identify areas of synergy and system collaboration processes and use technologies to identify common reporting pathways for alignment. The consultant will review existing data systems and generate recommendations for data consolidation platforms as well as categorization and disaggregation in reporting. The consultant will review the literature and relevant documents including the data from other organisations, and organize validation workshops with government agencies and other relevant stakeholders for alignment in reporting cases of online violence.

SCOPE OF WORK:

Background:

South Africa is a middle-income country more than 27 years into the advent of democracy with remarkable progress to improve the well-being of its citizens. South Africa is recognised for its strong legislative framework and policies, including implementing children’s rights as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, enshrined in the Constitution of SA and the Children’s Act. South Africa is faced with the triple challenges of enduring poverty, inequality and unemployment, which impact the lives of children. Almost two-thirds of the South African children live in families below the upper bound of the poverty line with children in rural areas and those living in female-headed households, particularly at risk. This in itself creates more vulnerability for these children whilst also denying them opportunities of enjoying the benefits that technology brings about.

The fast-developing and continuously changing information and communication technology (ICT) environment is reshaping children's lives globally. Now more than ever children are increasingly relying on online and mobile technologies to learn, participate, play, entertain and socialise. The digital age has brought opportunities to children and the use thereof has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite the many positive opportunities it provides, the internet also increases children's risk of abuse and exploitation and compounds offline risks and negative experiences such as bullying and harassment, exposure to pornographic and other potentially harmful materials, and possible dangerous contacts.

In 2021 UNICEF in partnership with the South African government conducted the National Kids Online Study as part of the Disrupting Harm Study to examine the opportunities and risks of ICT within a national context. The study revealed that most children (95.3%) and their parents/caregivers (80.2%) have access to the internet via a mobile device - which brings significant opportunities as well as risks. 70% of children use the internet without parental supervision and 1 in 3 children in South Africa are at risk of online exploitation. Risky online activities included meeting someone they met on the internet face-to-face, actively seeking new friends, adding strangers as friends and sharing photos or videos of themselves with persons they have never met. In South Africa, there are pockets of interventions to address online violence as well as to report cases of violation of children online. Different organizations report differently on cases of violence against children online. This discrepancy creates a challenge for national statistics/reporting in providing the magnitude of the challenge and developing appropriate interventions.

Scope of Work:

The scope of work will include a situational analysis of child online safety data by data gathering and analysis including systems review for different organizations. Followed by sharing global categorization and classifications of online violations against children, and supporting organizations in aligning their own data systems for coherent reporting.

Activities and tasks:

Desk review: The consultant will conduct a literature review and consider numerous online research documents developed globally and in South Africa to conceptualize the challenges of internet use by children and adolescents. The Desktop review will clearly indicate the data systems in SA as used by different organisations reporting on lie violence Organize joint consultations with relevant focal government counterparts and non-governmental agencies within the Online / digital space to understand their data management systems. Conduct focused interviews with stakeholders IT experts or/ data system representatives and management to solicit buy-in on respective organisations’ systems alignment. including government officials, frontline workers, Childline, Film and Publication Board and Save the Children for the conceptual framework Establish the working group across different stakeholders to work together and provide inputs for data management systems review, Develop and provide guidelines for systems review Provide technical IT support Submit comprehensive reports to generate recommendations.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Estimate Budget

Desk review of literature and documents

Inception report

1st two weeks after joining/ 15th November 2022

20%

Data system review and analysis

Analysis report/findings

30

December 2022

20 %

Consultations with data systems experts/custodians and management

Conceptualisation framework and guidelines for data systems review

12 weeks/ 28 March 2023

20%

Prototype for dashboard development and piloting

Dashboard Developed

12 weeks/ 30 June 2023

20%

IT Technical support for data systems alignment and report generation

08 weeks/ 31 August 2023

20%

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

An advanced university degree or diploma in business, computer science, engineering, or information technology. Educated to a Masters or PhD level in a mathematical subject with 8-10 years of experience in data review, analysis, and research in the field of digital platforms.

KNOWLEDGE/EXPERTISE/SKILLS required:

Fluent in SQL, Python, and a variety of programming languages, software, and systems. Outstanding ICT Knowledge including analytical skills, strong ability to analyse data, reports, integrate and summarise information, and data in the digital space.

Good command of English and excellent writing skills in English.

Ability to work independently and ensure high-quality deliverables.

Demonstrated capacity to engage key stakeholders and facilitate workshop dialogue with government officials.

Demonstrated capacity to carry out the assignment within the time frame.

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.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit their application and one sample of written work to the following link: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=XXXXXX by 18 November 2022.

This notice will also appear on http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/, http://www.unicef.org/southafrica, UN Job List, UN Jobs Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in ZAR) to undertake the terms of reference above (including admin cost if applicable). 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, by local or other applicable laws.

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.