Batch Recruitment (2 positions): Child Protection Officer, NOB, FT, ( #128767, #128768), Ad-Damazine/ Kassala – Sudan, MENA

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. 

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling. 
UNICEF is a place where careers are built, we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package. 

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF. 

For every child, Protection 

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organisation does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasising the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while supporting nations’ equitable development. 

After years of protracted crisis, Sudan plunged into a conflict of alarming scale in mid-April 2023 when fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in the capital Khartoum, before quickly expanding to other areas across the country. Since the onset of the conflict, more than 3.8 million children have been displaced, and a staggering number of grave child right’s violations have been reported, with verified incidents showing a four-fold increase in 2023 as compared to 2022 figures, with more than 15 per cent / 60 per cent of grave violations reported from South Kordofan, West Kordofan and North Kordofan, and Darfur region respectively.  

The purpose of this assignment depends on the area you will be serving in which you need to ensure that child protection programmes in the refugee camps and communities hosting Sudanese in Eastern Chad protect children and adolescents from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices. Also, you will need to ensure that effective monitoring, reporting and response mechanisms of grave violations of children’s rights are in place in Southern Area and support to the overall child protection humanitarian response, so that children and adolescents are protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices: 1)scale up Monitoring and reporting on grave violations; 2) prevent and address Child recruitment and use by armed actors, as well as illegal and arbitrary detention and criminal processing of conflict-affected children; 3) Prevent and address the impact of the use of landmines and other indiscriminate or illicit weapons by state and non-state actors; 4) Mitigate, prevent and Respond to GBV; 5) Engage with communities for behavior and social change 6)Identify and address MHPSS needs of children, adolescents, and caregivers through coordinated multisectoral and community based MHPSS services. 

How can you make a difference?  

You report to the Chief-Field Office / Area Team Leader for Southern Area (South Kordofan, West Kordofan, North Kordofan, Blu Nile and White Nile, and Sennar). You provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for child protection programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development planning to delivery of results. H/She prepares, executes, manages, and implements a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating, and reporting. 

Summary of key functions/accountabilities: 

1. Support to programme development and planning 

1. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results 

1. Technical and operational support to programme implementation 

1. Networking and partnership building 

1. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building 

for more details please check the JD :  TOR – Child Protection Officer (2 post) NO2, 128767, 128768, Ad-Damazine Kassala.pdf

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

The following minimum requirements: 

• Education: A university degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science field.
• Work Experience:  A minimum of two years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection related areas is required.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Arabic and French is an asset.