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, a champion.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

As part of the Global Child Protection Area of Responsibility’s (CP AoR) efforts to promote locally-led humanitarian responses and ensure greater accessibility to technical support in more working languages among coordination group members, the Global CP AoR employs three decentralized, regional Help Desks (i.e., Arabic, French, and Spanish Help Desks) along with the Global Help Desk. The Arabic Help Desk primarily provides support to countries and coordination groups through the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In addition, the Arabic Help Desk covers other country requests outside of MENA as necessary and contributes to global policy, standard setting, and capacity strengthening initiatives, with a focus on MENA perspectives and opportunities.

The Global CP AoR Arabic Help Desk provides an on-demand field support service for inter-agency Child Protection Coordination Group Members (i.e., NNGO, INGO, Government, and UN members) through 1) rapid one-on-one, tailored remote support; 2) Communities of Practice (CoP) facilitation, where peers can share and discuss experiences and good practices in Arabic and/or the MENA region; 3) referrals and linkages with relevant regional or global experts and peers; 4) management of an Arabic Child Protection resource library, complementing other existing resource libraries in the region; 5) coaching and capacity strengthening (e.g., identification of needs, organization of learning sessions, and facilitation/co-facilitation; 6) co-development of brief coordination group resources; 7) translation; and 8) any other activities that respond to emerging needs and trends from coordination groups.

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide tailored and timely child protection and coordination support to Arabic-speaking coordination groups and actors involved in child protection in humanitarian action and contribute to regional and global level groups/initiatives of MENA perspectives, needs, gaps, achievements, and opportunities.

Scope of work

• Update and disseminate the Arabic Help Desk information sheet, presentations, and other communication materials, outlining the purpose, functions, and other relevant information about the Help Desk.
• Conduct Help Desk and Global CP AoR orientation sessions with Child Protection actors and coordination group members within the region.
• Facilitate a child protection community of practice in Arabic in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
• Contribute to the Global Child Protection for Humanitarian Action (CPHA) Community of Practice.
• Provide individual, tailored technical support for child protection coordination teams and group members in collaboration with the Global Help Desk and CP AoR Rapid Response Team Regional Focal Points.
• Make linkages with coordination group members in other countries or technical experts, such as Alliance Working Group (WG) and Task Force (TF) leads, depending on the request and follow up on referrals.
• Through regular analysis and reflection, identify capacity and resource needs and gaps and respond in a timely manner through the 1) organization of and contributions to webinars, 2) facilitation of online and face-to-face learning sessions, 3) creation of and contribution to interim tools and guidance, and 4) translation of documents to support the CP Actors in the region.
• If insufficient tools or guidance currently exists to respond to a particular request, assist with the development of interim guidance and refer to relevant CP AoR team members and/or the relevant Alliance WG/TF.
• Represent the Global CP AoR in designated global or regional meetings, such as the Alliance UASC Task Force, Child Labour Task Force, Child Marriage Case Management Advisory Group, and any other Working Groups, Task Forces, and Advisory Groups as needed.
• Organize and co-facilitate both remote and in-person webinars and trainings or workshops.
• Maintain a log of incoming requests and conduct analysis of inquiry trends, field needs, and resource gaps to be reviewed and discussed with the Help Desk team regularly.
• Highlight key analytical trends and other Help Desk achievements and contributions in the Help Desk online dashboard on at least a quarterly basis, more often as needed.
• Create trending topic posts and documents for frequently asked questions to be included on the CP AoR Help Desk webpage.
• Maintain a contact list of active child protection coordinators, co-coordinators, information managers, and coordination structures within each country covered by the Arabic Help Desk.
• Collaborate with all of the other Help Desks and other Global CP AoR team members to promote wider engagement and viewpoints, strengthen the overall work of the Help Desks, and ensure coherent support.
• Organize and maintain an Arabic resource repository of field-level examples and tools collected.
• Translate relevant documents as needed.
• If funding is available, deploy to emergency settings to support coordination group(s) in person in the region.
• Any other tasks as required.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

208 working days between October 2024 and October 2025

The Consultant will be home-based.

As part of this assignment, some international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 208 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as this will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• Master’s degree in social sciences or an area related to Child Protection.
• At least 5 years of experience in Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPHA) programming or CPHA coordination or related fields;
• Experience directly implementing child protection programming, including child protection case management, violence prevention and risk mitigation, etc. in the region desired
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills
• Fluency in English and Arabic (written and spoken); ability to translate technical child protection documents
• Proven ability to work independently and deliver results
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• Research skills; resourcefulness
• Ability to work under pressure
• Excellent understanding of the humanitarian architecture at global and field levels and the transformative agenda
• Familiarity with the work, working methods, and members of country level child protection coordination groups; Former or current participation in or leadership of country level child protection coordination groups in emergency settings is desired
• Familiarity with the work and working methods of country-level child protection coordination groups
• Experience designing and delivering child protection-and/or CP Coordination-related training, particularly in humanitarian contexts, to inter-agency groups desired

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.