Child Protection Specialist

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favouritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated.

UNICEF works to realize children’s rights to protection, survival, development and participation. In Viet Nam, children face a range of protection concerns, including violence, neglect, exploitation, abuse, child marriage, family separation, limited access to protection and social services, increasing mental health and psychosocial support needs, and gaps in parental knowledge and skills to provide nurturing care and positive discipline.

Viet Nam is also highly exposed to recurrent natural disasters and climate-related hazards, which can further exacerbate existing child protection risks and disrupt essential services, particularly for children with disabilities, children from ethnic minority communities, children in remote and disaster-prone areas, children without adequate parental care, and children from poor or vulnerable households.

UNICEF Viet Nam supports national and sub-national authorities to strengthen child protection systems and services across prevention, early intervention, response and recovery. This includes parenting support; prevention of and response to child marriage, violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse of children; mental health and psychosocial support linkages; emergency preparedness and response; capacity strengthening; monitoring, documentation and learning.

In this context, UNICEF Viet Nam requires additional support to strengthen implementation, coordination, monitoring and documentation of child protection interventions, particularly parenting support, MHPSS-related linkages, child marriage prevention, and child protection in emergencies, in line with UNICEF’s mandate, national priorities and the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.

Under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Specialist and overall guidance by the Chief of Child Protection Section of UNICEF Viet Nam, the national UN Volunteer Child Protection Specialist will provide timely technical, coordination and programme support to UNICEF Viet Nam and implementing partners for the planning, implementation, monitoring and documentation of selected child protection activities related to the Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE), Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), Parenting Programme and Child Marriage prevention. Specifically, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

Task 1: Support CPiE preparedness, risk analysis and response planning, in line with UNICEF guidance and agreed work plans.
1.1. Support the review, compilation and analysis of available information on child protection risks before, during and after emergencies, including violence, neglect, family separation, exploitation, trafficking, psychosocial distress and disruption of essential services.
1.2. Assist in updating CPiE preparedness materials, contingency planning inputs, contact lists, service mapping, referral information and action trackers, and prepare brief updates, meeting notes and background materials to support timely preparedness, response planning and coordination with UNICEF colleagues, Government counterparts and partners.

Task 2: Support coordination, implementation, monitoring and learning for CPiE-related activities.
2.1. Assist in coordinating with Government counterparts, mass organizations, United Nations agencies, civil society partners and service providers, and provide technical, and administrative support for CPiE-related meetings, trainings, communication activities, field missions, planning, procurement, and monitoring of child protection supplies. Maintain action trackers and ensure timely follow-up on agreed actions.
2.2. Support the collection, organization and summary of monitoring information on CPiE preparedness, response, recovery and capacity-strengthening activities, including progress, participant data, field observations, partner updates, emerging child protection issues, achievements, challenges, good practices and lessons learned.

Task 3: Support the planning, coordination and documentation of the Integrated Parenting Programme.
3.1. Assist in planning, coordinating and following up on Parenting Programme activities, including consultations, trainings, field implementation, partner coordination, documentation and compilation of updates, with attention to strengthening parents’ and caregivers’ knowledge and skills on nurturing care, positive discipline and child protection.
3.2. Support the preparation of simple activity updates, meeting notes, partner follow-up and documentation of emerging learning from parenting-related activities, under the guidance of the Child Protection Specialist.

Task 4: Support child protection-related MHPSS activities and coordination
4.1. Assist with analysis of children’s mental health and psychosocial needs in child protection, service availability, referral pathways and implementation gaps, and provide technical inputs to strengthen MHPSS integration within child protection programming.
4.2. Provide technical and coordination support for MHPSS-related interventions with UNICEF colleagues, Government counterparts, service providers and partners, including monitoring progress, identifying emerging issues and ensuring timely follow-up on agreed actions.