Vacancy Announcement: Child Protection Specialist – Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and GBV Risk Mitigation, P4, TA, Amman, Jordan (MENARO)

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, protection.

UNICEF is committed to creating environments where women, children and their communities are safe and respected by humanitarian and development personnel and can access the protection and assistance provided by them without fear or risk of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA).

UNICEF is committed to accelerating protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) across all humanitarian settings and the development and peace nexus.  PSEA is an organization-wide accountability, and UNICEF Child Protection plays a leading role and is a key contributor to this work. UNICEF’s Child Protection strategy prioritizes the prevention of violence, which includes prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.  The UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 includes core commitments on PSEA, including within Goal Area 3: Every child is protected from all forms of violence, exploitation, abuse, and harmful practices.  The Strategic Plan also includes a strategic enabler on the establishment and strengthening of PSEA systems at country-level, for which Child Protection plays a leading role.  UNICEF’s PSEA commitment is further grounded in UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) and Emergency Procedures.

As a leader in child protection globally and as an agency mandated to strengthen the protection of children and women, UNICEF is also committed to driving forward best practice to deliver on the shared IASC PSEA framework and priority areas and is scaling up its programming to prevent and respond to SEA. UNICEF’s approach stems from the former Executive Director’s (ED) work as IASC Champion on PSEA in 2018 and 2019. Under ED’s Office leadership, the IASC developed and endorsed the IASC Plan for Accelerating PSEA in Humanitarian Response at Country Level (“the IASC Acceleration Plan”); and a common IASC PSEA Country-Level Framework; and the IASC PSEA strategy to effectively deliver on its commitments to prevent and respond to SEA, and to advance a survivor-centered approach. UNICEF continues to advance the PSEA work as a key contributor to the IASC Acceleration Plan and the new IASC Strategy and Vision on the PSEA and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH) 2022−2026.

Children in the Middle East and North Africa face life-threatening situations and multiple vulnerabilities caused by a variety of natural and social hazards, protracted and acute armed conflicts, public health emergencies and climate change-related disasters.

 UNICEF prioritizes emergency preparedness and response to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of children and communities affected by deteriorating humanitarian situations across the region.

In 2024, UNICEF MENAR will focus on building capacity internally and among partners to effectively address vulnerabilities and ensure readiness to respond to the humanitarian and protection needs of the hardest to reach and most vulnerable children, including those who are separated, unaccompanied and displaced. Building gender-responsive and inclusive national and local capacities for child rights and protection and providing access to vital services to marginalized populations are a must.   34 million children need protection services.  The number of forcibly displaced children (IDPs and refugees) has increased from 13 million in 2022 to over 16 million at the end of 2023.

How can you make a difference?

Under the leadership and supervision of the Child Protection Regional Adviser, the Child Protection Specialist for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) will develop and support UNICEF’s work on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse to meet its institutional and programmatic commitments on PSEA, in line with the CCCs.

The Child Protection Specialist (PSEA) will serve as the key technical resource on PSEA and will provide programme guidance and technical support to UNICEF Country Offices in the MENA Region in strengthening UNICEF’s PSEA programming and scaling up prevention and response efforts to SEA in line with the office wide PSEA Action Plan, as well as technical leadership in the interagency space for PSEA.

The post holder will also contribute to the achievement of concrete and sustainable programme/project results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

Responsibilities and Tasks:      

1- Provide strategic and technical support to UNICEF MENARO and COs to scale up efforts to address PSEA

• Contribute to the implementation and roll out of global and regional guidance and strategies to improve efforts to address SEA including survivor assistance, SEA investigations, SEA risk assessments and engagement with government and other partners
• Provide technical support to COs for implementation of survivor assistance to ensure survivors have access to appropriate services i.e., medical, psychosocial, legal, and material support, in accordance with the UN Victim Assistance protocol
• Strengthen COs capacities to develop and improve access to safe, gender and age sensitive reporting channels including community-based complaint mechanisms (CBCM)
• Promote adherence to global procedures for SEA reporting and strengthen understanding among UNICEF staff and partners on UNICEF PSEA policies and reporting procedures
• Provide technical support to MENARO and COs Senior Management, and quality assurance to COs for receiving, handling, and referring SEA allegations including submitting Significant Incident Reporting (SIR) in line with UNICEF instruction for reporting allegations of SEA and Concerns of Abuse
• Provide technical support to programmes (WASH, Health, Nutrition, Education, Child Protection, etc.) on PSEA and GBV risk mitigation.
• Lead initiatives for COs to build capacity of partners for SEA investigations including documentation of reported SEA allegations and taking appropriate measures to ensure safety and confidentiality of survivors, complainants, and witnesses
• Review CO planning and reporting documents

2- Strategic and technical support on GBV risk mitigation

• Incorporate GBV prevention and mitigation strategies into the policies, standards, and guidelines of all programmes in humanitarian action
• Advocate for the integration of GBV risk-reduction strategies into national and local policies and plans
• Equip and train UNICEF and partners on GBV risk mitigation
• Advice CO on safety audits across all programmes

3- Work closely with the Programme Specialist for IP Management and Risk Management team to operationalize the UNICEF Procedure for PSEA Assessments of CSO Implementing Partnerships and overall risk management policies and procedures

• Support the IP Management Specialist in the regional office to monitor quality standards of PSEA Assessments conducted by Cos, advise COs on actions based on partner assessment, and provide technical support to the development of IP Action Plans as needed
• Strengthen capacity for country offices to conduct partner assessments, including transitioning to the UN common system for assessments, strengthen field monitoring and partner capacity for both CSOs and government, building CO capacity through PSEA Toolkit and Action Plan
• Engage with the Risk Management team to ensure PSEA is fully integrated in UNICEF work (Programme and Operations)

4- Improve coordination of UNICEF PSEA interventions internally and at the interagency level

• Support UNICEF CO PSEA Focal Points (FPs) and Specialists by organizing regular meetings, providing trainings, enhancing communication and information sharing among COs on PSEA
• Strengthen implementation of COs PSEA inter-agency initiatives/networks, including the setting-up of in-country PSEA Networks
• Represent CP in Regional Office coordination mechanisms for thematic areas with strong linkages with PSEA e.g., Accountability to Affected Populations and Disability inclusion
• Represent UNICEF on the inter-agency PSEA regional working group and on UNICEF HQ coordination groups and maintain close relationship with PSEA focal points in other regions
• Regularly support COs capacity building efforts including co-facilitating PSEA training modules for UNICEF and IPs staff as appropriate on international standards on PSEA, roles and responsibilities, and how to submit and receive complaints and strengthening GBV services for survivor assistance

5- Innovation and knowledge management

• Develop programme knowledge acquisition through systematic collection of country programme experience (lessons learned, best practices, reviews, evaluations) in the area of PSEA, including a key focus on the best practices; facilitate sharing of this knowledge between UNICEF country offices.
• Promote critical thinking and innovative approaches on PSEA, keeping abreast of current research and introducing and implementing cutting edge practices on reporting (e.g., U-report, Primero), victim/survivor assistance and protection, accountability, and prevention. Work to institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned, including in humanitarian emergency settings.
• Contribute to innovative approaches for Accountability to Affected Populations, including the Complaints, Feedback and Response Mechanisms

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

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science field.

• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in programme design, planning, implementation, and management relevant to child protection, GBV, PSEA or related field, preferably with the UN and/or international NGO.
• Experience working in multiple humanitarians and/or development contexts on implementing PSEA or protection related programming for children or adults.
• Familiarity with the latest developments in PSEA, inter-agency PSEA responses and humanitarian cluster systems and understanding of the intersections of PSEA with other technical areas (e.g., GBV, Child Protection, AAP, etc.)
• Experience with training and capacity building in PSEA or relevant technical areas
• Excellent communication, facilitation, training, networking, and advocacy skills.
• Proven ability to work independently under difficult conditions and exercise sound judgement in high-pressure situations.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the organization.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. 

Remarks:

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is:a role with direct contact with children, works directly with children, is a safeguarding response role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) applies.

“UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable [underrepresented demographic group, e.g., women from programme countries -or male candidates-] will be prioritized.”

[If Applicable] Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.