Child Protection Specialist

The incumbent will be accountable for ensuring multi-sectoral strategies to end VAGBW and harmful practices are in line with sector standards and best available evidence.  This will be done through high-quality, solutions oriented technical assistance to country offices and partners informed by data and evidence.  

The CP specialist will be accountable for codesigning practical solutions and supporting advocacy under the leadership of concerned country offices/sectors.

• Provide technical advice to country offices, governments, and key stakeholders on policies, programmes, and interventions to prevent and respond to violence against girls, boys, and women.
• Establish systematic policy dialogue and learning exchanges with governments and civil society on evidence informed approaches and interventions to prevent/respond to VAGBW.
• Enhance country offices capacity in designing and implementing violence prevention and response programmes, building on child protection system strengthening and SBC approaches.
• Assist with the development of programmatic interventions at country level and provide technical guidance to country offices.
• Identify practical steps and strategies to better address the specific needs of women and child survivors of domestic violence/ intimate partner violence at service level (helplines, case management, shelters)
• Integrate gender equality, inclusion of children with disability and migrant/refugee children in programme and policy design. Provide technical leadership on the child online safety agenda.
• Provide technical advice to country offices, governments, and key stakeholders policies, programmes, and interventions contributing to the elimination of FGM and ending child marriage. Establish systematic policy dialogue and learning exchanges with governments and civil society on evidence informed approaches and interventions to end/abandon child marriage and FGM.
• Consult and collaborate with colleagues and partners to provide technical and operational support on programme planning, management, and implementation, and to ensure integration, coherence, and harmonization of programmes/projects with other UNICEF sectors throughout all stages of programming processes.
• Lead multi-sectoral planning and implementation to maximize results for girls at scale.
• Develop partnerships and collaborations. Lead the coordination with UNFPA on the Global Programme to End Child Marriage and the Joint Programme on the elimination of FGM. Lead the collaboration with the SRSG VAC and WHO on ending violence against children.
• Develop systematic collaboration with GBV stakeholder for better services integration (women, children) Lead the resource mobilization efforts and leverage of national/local resources under areas of responsibility.
• Lead the regional advocacy agenda on VAGBW and harmful practices.  Represent UNICEF’s leadership in VAGBW, child online safety and harmful practices at regional level.

Develop an evidence, M&E, and knowledge generation agenda:

• In collaboration with relevant sectors, develop research, evaluation, and data analysis to inform policy, programmes, and interventions.
• Disseminate evidence and knowledge.
• Contribute to and coordinate where needed, major monitoring and evaluation exercises to assess progress regionally and to engage stakeholders to take required actions to achieve results; identify and document lessons learned and facilitate strategic use of knowledge gained.

Impact of Results:

The commitment of governments to ending VAGBW, addressing child marriage and FGM translate into adequately resourced strategies informed by evidence.

SBC approaches are implemented at scale and supported by robust monitoring and generation of evidence on what works at scale.

Gender equality and inclusion (children with disability, migrant and refugees) are fully integrated into policies and practices in the MENA region.

Concrete models of multi-sectoral collaboration are implemented.

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

Education:

• Advanced university degree in one of the following academic areas:  public health, social work, behavioural sciences, public policy, psychology, or related fields.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of relevant national and international experience in child protection with focus on system strengthening, ending violence against children and harmful practices.
• Practical experience integrating SBC, gender equality and multi-sectoral collaborations into child protection work is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of Arabic and or French or another official UN language (Chinese, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Source:  https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/570407