Consultant (Structural Violence against Children in South Asia)

Consultancy to carry out a study on structural violence against children in South Asia

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. 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.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The purpose of this consultancy is to conduce a literature review on the nature of structural violence against children, including adolescent girls and boys, in South Asia. The study is to look at country and cultural contexts in order to understand the way age, gender, caste (in countries where appropriate) and class (including poverty), among other social constructs, intersect and further influence the response of institutions and their reactions to violence against boys and girls, including adolescents). The study will inform the UNICEF country programmes, including their approaches to child protection systems and institutional development and evidence of good practises that address structural violence.

Assignment Tasks:

Under the general guidance from the South Asia Regional Child Protection Advisor and the Regional Gender Advisor the consultant will undertake a literature review that:

• articulates the relationship and distinctions between structural and interpersonal violence, and specifically violence against children. This includes consideration of how the structural violence in the countries in South Asia influences the interpersonal violence in the same countries;
• explores the nature of structural violence in South Asia to clearly understand the responsiveness of institutions to violence in South Asia and the assumptions that influence the ending of violence against girls and boys;
• articulates similarities and differences in the nature of structural violence between and within the countries;
• considers the inter-relationships between each of the types of structural violence, specifically as it connects with both boys and girls; and,
• provides as a section of the report examples and evidence of good practise programming and strategies that address structural violence, and specifically as it affects boys and girls, as found during the review of the literature.

The review must specifically consider violence against children and adolescents (for both girls and boys), while the assignment has specified the areas of age, gender, caste, and class. The consultant should also consider other social structures that may result in violence or discrimination, such as religion, ethnicity and conflict/war. The consultant should also consider the 'types' of violence that may be experienced specific to these structural areas.

The specific tasks are:

1. Refine the methodology for the assignment. This research protocol should describe how studies will be located (inclusion criteria and search strategy), appraised (methodological quality criteria), and synthesized, specifying the timescales.
2. Review the literature available. The literature reviewed should primarily be academic literature, and quality grey literature. It should also include a review of quantitative data that is available on violence against children in the countries in South Asia and at regional level and include a section with evidence of good practise programming and strategies that address structural violence.
3. Prepare a draft literature review.
4. Prepare a final literature review, incorporating comments from the reference group.

The literature review should be in academic style and clearly referenced.

Expected Deliverables:

• Methodology
• Draft literature review
• Finalise the literature review, incorporating any feedback on the draft report

Qualifications of Successful Candidate:

Education

A master's degree in anthropology, sociology, or other social science field

Years of relevant experience

• At least 8 years of proven experience in literature reviews and research on child protection
• Proven understanding of different forms of structural and interpersonal violence against children
• Strong track record of peer reviewed publications.
• Knowledge of and experience working in South Asia desirable

Language:

• Excellent written and spoken English

Competencies of Successful Candidate:

• Analysing (III)

• Applying technical expertise (III)

 To view our competency framework, please click here. 

Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter, outline methodology for the assignment with the timeline and an example of their published work.

Please indicate your ability, availability with specific date and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable).  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.