The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

POSITION : Child Protection Specialist, P-4

Purpose

Reports to the Representative or Deputy Representative for general guidance and direction. The Chief is responsible for managing and supervising all stages of child protection programs/projects from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable contributions to national and international efforts to create a protective environment for children against all harm and to protect their rights to survival, development and well being as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international treaties/framework and UN intergovernmental bodies.

Responsible for establishing the plans of action and overseeing work progress to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable programs/projects results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

Managerial Leadership:

• Establish the Section’s annual work plan with the child protection team; set priorities/targets and performance measurement. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
• Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the Team.
• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives and goals, direction and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

Program Development and Planning:

• Provide technical assistance and operation support to the preparation/design and conduct/update of situation analysis to ensure that current comprehensive and evidence based data on child protection issues are available to guide UNICEF’s strategic policy advocacy, intervention and development efforts on child rights and protection and to set program priorities, strategies, design and implementation plans.
• Keep abreast of national/regional/international development priorities on child protection and rights to leverage UNICEF position and competencies with donors, national governments, communities and constituents to advocate/promote child protection interventions and policies and social change to achieve goals on child’s right, protection, survival and well-being as productive members of society.
• Supervise the development of child protection programs/projects (as a full component of the CO and/or UNDAF programs). Establish plans of action, program goals and results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).
• Guide/coordinate the timely preparation of program recommendation and related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Program recommendation ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF’s Strategic (Child Protection) Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Collaborate with national/global colleagues/partners/allies to develop partnerships framework to address specific needs and to leverage resources for enhancing/scaling up child protection programs/projects. Ensure synergy, integration, coherence, and harmonization of programs/projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities, donors’ development strategies/policies, national priorities/competencies and UN System development interventions/initiatives.
• Ensure emergency preparedness is contained in national programs/projects to ensure the protection and well-being of children in cases of armed conflict and natural disasters and other emergency situations.

Program Management, Monitoring and Quality Control of Results:

• Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results in child protection programs.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Monitor programs/projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Plan, approve, monitor, certify and control the use of program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Submit/prepare program/project reports to donors and other partners to keep them informed on program progress and critical issues.

Advisory Services and Technical Support:

• Provide technical advice to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on strategies and best practices to influence approaches/policies and to support social/economic/political/legal development planning, implementation and delivery of results on child protection, human rights and other related issues.
• Coordinate/ensure the availability of technical experts (with Regional Office/HQ) to ensure timely support throughout all stages of programming/project processes.
• Participate in strategic discussions to influence policy and agenda setting for combating poverty and all forms of discrimination against women/children by advising on and advocating strategies and approaches to promote/catalyze social changes for a protective environment for children.
• Lead in country discussions on child protection emergency preparedness, programming and contingency planning to ensure proactive and appropriate response are in place to meet onset of emergencies nationally or other designated locations.

Advocacy, Networking and Partnership Building:

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organization, research institutes and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on child protection.
• Prepare communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances for sustainable results and support fund raising for UNICEF and Country Office child protection programs and emergency interventions.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on child protection and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues UNDAF planning and preparation of programs/projects including emergency preparedness.

Innovation, Knowledge Management and Capacity Building:

• Promote critical thinking and innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable child protection programs/projects initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting edge practices on child protection management and information systems. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned.
• Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.
• Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on child protection and related programs/projects.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate
Education:

• An Advanced University Degree in International Development, Human Rights, Psychology, Sociology, International Law or other Social Science field is required.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection and/other related areas at the international level some of which preferably were served in a developing country is required.
• Relevant experience in child protection and related areas, program/project development and management in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.  Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset

Competencies of Successful Candidate
Core Values:

• Commitment
• Diversity and inclusion
• Integrity

Core Competencies:

• Communication (II)
• Working with people (II)
• Drive for results (II)

Functional Competencies:

• Leading and supervising (I)
• Formulating strategies/concepts (II)
• Analyzing (III)
• Relating and networking (II)
• Deciding and initiating action (II)
• Applying Technical Expertise (III)