VAC-11451 Child Protection Information Management Officer

Background:

• Child protection remains a chronic concern in Cox’s Bazar. The government of Bangladesh is under strain from the influx of refugees & needs support to meet the needs of both the Bangladeshi & Rohingya communities. The child protection system is disjointed with no meaningful continuum of care afforded to the most vulnerable children. Coordination between government ministries & departmental jurisdictions is fragmented & there are gaps in the technical capacities of personnel.

• The number of children affected by violence, abuse & exploitation is concerning. High levels of Gender Based Violence (GBV), child marriage & child labour persist. The refugee crisis has exacerbated pre existing child protection, from mental health & psychosocial wellbeing to domestic violence, with a widespread elevation in anxiety reported alongside an increase in reported intermate partner violence. The August 2020 analysis report of the GBV information management system showed that intimate partner violence constituted 84.4% of all report GBV incident compared to 72 % before the pandemic. Such dynamics within the household have a terrible impact on the wellbeing of children & adolescents exposed to it.

• Refugees live in cramped & overcrowded conditions & must deal with frequent floods & fires. The gradual relocation of refugees to Bhasan Char continues amid ongoing concerns around the involvement of refugees in decision making & the overall protection conditions that await them on the island.

• There is a gradual downturn in funding baskets for child protection, especially for activities outside the humanitarian theatre. Funding for strengthening child protection systems, including a child friendly justice system, is limited. Our clients country program 2022 – 2026 will see an increased child protection focus on prevention, building the capacities of families & communities to identify vulnerable children & facilitate their access to services, as well as to mitigate social norms & harmful practices that put children at risk. This is not only a rights based imperative, but it is cost effective & offers the best return on investment.

Purpose of activity / assignment:

• Cox’s Bazar is a high profile emergency with significant protection concerns for children & women. The purpose of the child protection information management assignment is to oversee the organization, storage, retrieval & security of child protection information to ensure its accessibility, accuracy & integrity. Our clients child protection program is part of a complex, interagency response where coordination, coverage & accountability are key. It is imperative that child protection is represented clearly & accurately, that resources are well managed & that needs are covered. The ability to identify, map, assess, analyse, represent, report on & use child protection data effectively is central to the good functioning of the program.

• High quality, timely & accurate information management is central to the effective running of the child protection program. Information management covers a continuum that includes building the capacities of government & NGO implementing partners to monitor & report, ensure free flow of data & information between stakeholders, analysing & using data for program design & targeting & collating & representing data for resource mobilization & reporting.

• Our clients child protection program in Bangladesh seeks to strengthen the overarching child protection system in the country. The outputs of the program are therefore national endeavours that all field offices, including Cox’s Bazar, contribute to. At the same time, our client recognises the significant impact of humanitarian emergencies, including climate change on children & the role of our client in humanitarian action is a major cross cutting concern across all programmatic areas. With this framework, our clients child protection response to the Rohingya refugee crisis is not delivered as a stand alone project but in line with national strategic goals.

• Our clients response also aligns with the interagency approach to meet the needs of Bangladeshi host communities in two upazila in Cox’s Bazar district. The impact of the refugee influx on host communities is considerable & further exacerbates the pressure on the social welfare architecture to meet the needs of all children in the country.

This role will report to the line manager & given that the child protection information management system is an ongoing process, the Information Management Officer will submit a monthly written report detailing the activities completed based on the agreed deliverables. Payment will be made monthly upon certification of the progress report for that month.

• Bachelors degree in social science, information technology / data science, planning & monitoring or statistics.

• Strong IM skills with the ability to lead, manage & train others on, inter alia, monitoring, research, data gathering, data analysis, data representation (mapping & visualization) & reporting.

• Minimum 6 years work experience with international & national organizations in humanitarian settings (i.e., government, UN, Red Crescent, NGO, civil society, etc.).

• Excellent understanding of child protection monitoring & data requirements & our clients overarching programmatic vision & goals.

• Excellent skills in using ONA platform, Power BI for data analysis & presentation & excel.

• Fluent in spoken & written English & Bangla.

• Knowledge of Chittagonian / Rohingya is a significant asset.

This role has no team management responsibility.

• The consultant will perform quarterly duty travel to Bhasan Char & occasional duty travel to Dhaka country office in Dhaka.

• The consultant will be paid fixed DSA for duty travel.

• Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for this role.