Details
Mission and objectives
UNICEF VUT organization mission TBD
Context
Children and adolescents in Vanuatu are exposed to a range of stressors that can affect their mental health, psychosocial wellbeing, safety, learning, and development. These may include the impacts of disasters and climate-related emergencies, family and community stress, violence, displacement, poverty, school-related pressures, and other forms of adversity. Strengthening mental health and psychosocial support for children and adolescents is therefore an important part of child protection, education, emergency preparedness, and community resilience.
Schools are a particularly important setting for mental health and psychosocial support, as they provide regular contact with children and adolescents and can help identify distress early, promote positive coping, strengthen peer and adult support, and connect children to appropriate services when needed. Teachers, school leaders, counsellors, education officials, parents, caregivers, peers, and community actors all have important roles to play in creating safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments.
UNICEF, in partnership with the Government of Vanuatu, including the Ministry of Education and Training, is supporting the rollout of I Support My Friends, a peer-to-peer approach that equips children and adolescents to recognise signs of distress among their peers and provide safe, supportive, age-appropriate assistance. In Vanuatu, the initiative is being rolled out in schools, where trained children and adolescents support peers in distress under the guidance of trained adults, using psychological first aid principles such as Look, Listen and Link.
The rollout requires coordinated support for planning, training delivery, mentoring, follow-up with schools and trained adults, documentation of lessons learned, and coordination with government and other stakeholders. The National UN Volunteer will support UNICEF's Child Protection team to strengthen implementation quality, promote child safeguarding standards, and ensure that learning from the rollout informs future programming.
Schools are a particularly important setting for mental health and psychosocial support, as they provide regular contact with children and adolescents and can help identify distress early, promote positive coping, strengthen peer and adult support, and connect children to appropriate services when needed. Teachers, school leaders, counsellors, education officials, parents, caregivers, peers, and community actors all have important roles to play in creating safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments.
UNICEF, in partnership with the Government of Vanuatu, including the Ministry of Education and Training, is supporting the rollout of I Support My Friends, a peer-to-peer approach that equips children and adolescents to recognise signs of distress among their peers and provide safe, supportive, age-appropriate assistance. In Vanuatu, the initiative is being rolled out in schools, where trained children and adolescents support peers in distress under the guidance of trained adults, using psychological first aid principles such as Look, Listen and Link.
The rollout requires coordinated support for planning, training delivery, mentoring, follow-up with schools and trained adults, documentation of lessons learned, and coordination with government and other stakeholders. The National UN Volunteer will support UNICEF's Child Protection team to strengthen implementation quality, promote child safeguarding standards, and ensure that learning from the rollout informs future programming.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Specialist / Child Protection Officer, and in close collaboration with other UNICEF colleagues, the Ministry of Education and Training, schools and relevant partners, the National UN Volunteer will support the rollout of I Support My Friends in Vanuatu.
The National UN Volunteer will:
• Support the Ministry of Education and Training to plan and coordinate rollout activities, including schedules, logistics, materials, participant lists, workplans and activity trackers.
• Support the organisation and delivery of I Support My Friends trainings for adult facilitators, school staff, children and adolescents, ensuring sessions are safe, inclusive, age-appropriate and aligned with child safeguarding and MHPSS principles.
• Provide mentoring and follow-up support to trained adults through school visits, remote check-ins, coaching and refresher activities.
• Document implementation progress, challenges, safeguarding or referral issues, support needs, lessons learned, promising practices and participant feedback.
• Support schools and trained adults to apply safe referral pathways and maintain confidentiality, informed participation, psychological first aid and survivor-centred approaches.
• Prepare concise activity, training, follow-up and learning reports, and provide inputs to programme, monitoring and donor reporting as required.
• Support coordination and communication with UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Training, provincial education officers, schools, communities and other relevant stakeholders, including meeting notes and follow-up actions.
• Provide general programme, administrative and logistics support for related child protection, MHPSS, adolescent participation, violence prevention and emergency response activities, and perform other related tasks as assigned.
The National UN Volunteer will:
• Support the Ministry of Education and Training to plan and coordinate rollout activities, including schedules, logistics, materials, participant lists, workplans and activity trackers.
• Support the organisation and delivery of I Support My Friends trainings for adult facilitators, school staff, children and adolescents, ensuring sessions are safe, inclusive, age-appropriate and aligned with child safeguarding and MHPSS principles.
• Provide mentoring and follow-up support to trained adults through school visits, remote check-ins, coaching and refresher activities.
• Document implementation progress, challenges, safeguarding or referral issues, support needs, lessons learned, promising practices and participant feedback.
• Support schools and trained adults to apply safe referral pathways and maintain confidentiality, informed participation, psychological first aid and survivor-centred approaches.
• Prepare concise activity, training, follow-up and learning reports, and provide inputs to programme, monitoring and donor reporting as required.
• Support coordination and communication with UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Training, provincial education officers, schools, communities and other relevant stakeholders, including meeting notes and follow-up actions.
• Provide general programme, administrative and logistics support for related child protection, MHPSS, adolescent participation, violence prevention and emergency response activities, and perform other related tasks as assigned.
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Before applying, please make sure that you have read the requirements for the position and that you qualify. Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.