Program Officer – Children with Disabilities

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Application deadline 2 years ago: Wednesday 29 Dec 2021 at 00:00 UTC

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Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

Some 10% of children are estimated to have some form of disabilities with number higher in developing countries, especially in humanitarian contexts. It is also estimated that only 5% of these children needing assistive devices and services have access to them, and there is an overwhelming 95% unmet need. Further, most of these children are from poor communities who are unable to access basic social services at the outset and the gap in rehabilitation services impacts beyond health outcomes as this is missed opportunity for improved functionality, productivity, and inclusion. The family thus sinks deeper into poverty and this vicious cycle of deprivation continues.

When the person is a child, there is that “window of opportunity” to mitigate the effects of disability by ensuring optimal development in the face of the impairment. When the impairment is identified and addressed in early childhood when the brain is developing at an enormous and unequalled pace, the impact of disability into adulthood is reduced maximally and the child is given the best start in life. Children with disability population, especially in early childhood, is thus an intersection of vulnerabilities and of opportunities.

Over the last 5 years, UNICEF Philippines has been working to improve care of Filipino children with disabilities mainly by building and strengthening the health system that will sustainably respond to their health and rehabilitation needs. Despite all the system challenges, tangible results have been demonstrated. First, PhilHealth packages for children with 4 major categories of disabilities (hearing, vision, developmental, mobility) were developed and approved. Second, Children with Disabilities “ACCESS” or Hubs have been established across major island gro

Under the direct supervision of Children with Disability PCO focal point, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

  • Lead the PCO in cross-sectoral work for and with children with disabilities and families, working closely with sectoral focal points.

  • Data: support information and knowledge management on relevant initiatives, including support to evidence generation and reporting (e.g. support to process and consolidation of reviews child disability knowledge products and publications)

  • Accessibility: Support making UNICEF PCO office progressively accessible by coordinating accessibility needs in the PCO and partners, including but not limited to SLI provision, support to IT team in integrating and use of basic accessibility features

  • Participation: Lead in promoting inclusion of children with disabilities, through meaningful participation of children and their families

  • Partnerships: Strengthen partnerships and networks with other organizations (especially parents’ organizations of children with disabilities, organizations of children and youth with disabilities, organizations of persons with disabilities), donors, and media to improve outcomes for children with disabilities. This would entail supporting the activities of the Council for the Welfare of Children Subcommittee on Children with Disabilities (CWC SC-CWD).

  • Other tasks as deemed appropriate by the supervisor

, Accountability, Adaptability and Flexibility, Building Trust, Client Orientation, Commitment and Motivation, Commitment to Continuous Learning, Communication, Creativity, Empowering Others, Ethics and Values, Integrity, Judgement and Decision-making, Knowledge Sharing, Leadership, Managing Performance, Planning and Organizing, Professionalism, Respect for Diversity, Self-Management, Technological Awareness, Vision, Working in Teams

Desirable: Lived experience of disability (physical, visual, hearing, mental, psychosocial, learning/intellectual, and others) personally or of a child (if a parent of child/children with disability/ies) or other family member/s

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials in the duty station. National UN Volunteers are part of the insurance plan (medical, life, permanenet disability), including recognized the primary family unit (dependents) if applicable.

National UN Volunteer Specialist receives approximately PHP 36,997.67 as Monthly Living Allowance.
Provided with assignment travel cost and settling in grant (if relocated to duty station from another location which is beyond the commuting distance).
Enrolled in health, life, disability insurance.
Applicable dependents (primary family unit, up to 3) are eligible for health insurance.
Entitled to annual leave, 2.5 days per month.
Provided with resettlement allowance to support transition at the end of assignment.

For more infornation about UNV Conditions of Service and Entitlements, please refer to the following:

https://www.unv.org/become-volunteer/volunteer-your-country
https://vmam.unv.org/calculator/entitlements

Office accessibility:

The office is physically accessible with an in-house elevator dedicated to persons with physical disabilities. Corridors are sufficiently wide for wheelchair users and so are the entrances to common areas (staff lounge, restrooms, printing areas) and individual working stations. There is a dedicated restroom for persons with physical disabilities on each of the two (2) floors of the UN House Manila

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