Child Protection Specialist, P-3

UNICEF Liberia is seeking a qualified individual to provide support to the Child Protection Section in the absence of the Chief (expected out from Sept to Oct, potentially longer), as the PO’s who take up additional OIC responsibilities in addition to their regular work. Secondly, this stretch assignment is necessary to provide technical oversight and support to the development of one major policy, one treaty report, one strategy roll-out and document development for the Country Programme Document.

Background and Purpose:

In 2017, UNICEF’s child protection work in Liberia focuses on system’s strengthening and policy development.  The primary partner, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) is mandated to provide child and gender sensitive social welfare and child protection services for vulnerable children and families. UNICEF has worked closely with the Ministry to scale up these services and build the capacity for service delivery in the wake of the Ebola crisis. The Children’s Law of 2011 has yet to be written into an implementable strategy, and hence in 2017 UNICEF is supporting the MoGCSP to write the National Plan of Action for Children to operationalize the law. As well, UNICEF is providing technical support to the MoGCSP to write the UNCRC report due January 2018.

In the area of youth and adolescent empowerment, UNICEF has been working with the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MoYS) to develop a peer led life skills manual and the National Adolescent Empowerment Strategy to be rolled out in youth centers and adolescent resource centers around the country. The manual and the Strategy are slated to be rolled out (facilitators trained, awareness sessions on the Strategy held) through the remainder of 2017. As well, UNICEF is supporting the MoYS in their work to empower youth for peaceful elections, running town hall meetings to disseminated peacekeeping messages and provide avenue for collecting feedback throughout the elections.

In 2017 and early 2018 UNICEF is also writing the new Country Programme Document (CPD) for 2019-2023. Already the section has contributed to the development of the situational analysis for children and women, and is entering further planning stages for the CPD.

This stretch assignment has two purposes. It is to provide support to the section in the absence of the Chief (expected out from Sept to Oct, potentially longer), as the PO’s who take up additional OIC responsibilities on top of their regular work. Second, this stretch assignment is necessary to provide technical oversight and support to the development of one major policy, one treaty report, one strategy roll-out and document development for the Country Programme Document. The stretch is requested for a period of two months, in line with HR policies and procedures. The background on the work is described below.

Priority Actions:

Objective 1: Provide review and technical support to the consultant writing the National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC).

Activities:

• • Provide technical support to the MoGCSP as they prepare for the development of the NPAC
  • Provide technical support to the consultant in their role of writing the NPAC- include editing support as the NPAC is drafted
  • Support the PO supervising the consultant.
  • Engage with the MoGCSP staff and partners to facilitate gaining feedback on the drafted documents the consultant shares for review. 

Deliverable 1: The first draft of the NPAC is developed and comments have been collected and provided to the consultant for final drafting.

Objective 2: Support the UNICEF Child Protection Officers for the Adolescent and Youth Programme in their work rolling out the life skills curriculum within the youth and resource centers and following up on the town hall meetings for youth prior to the elections and throughout.

Activities:

• • Support the follow through on the training of facilitators on the peer led methodology for the life skills curriculum
  • Support the POs in conducting the first training of the peer facilitators for the use of the life skills manual.
  • Support the POs in ensuring the facilitators are active in their spaces, and the manuals are in place in the centers.
  • Support the POs to ensure the plan for the town hall meetings is followed by the MoYS

Deliverable 2: Life Skills manual rolled out to youth and resource centers and peer facilitators trained.

Objective 3: Provide technical support to the MoGCSP on their writing of the UNCRC report.

Activities:

• • Provide technical support to the local consultant hired by the MoGCSP to guide the writing of the UNCRC report (critical elements to contain, stragised plan for obtaining data necessary, reviewing the prior UNCRC and UPR recommendations)

Deliverable 3: A plan has been developed for obtaining data, and note written detailing the support provided.

Objective 4: Support the development of CP programming beyond 2017 as part of the CPD process, and begin review of the 2017 accomplishments (as part of the annual review process).

Activities:

• • Support the section as they prepare their 2017 annual review presentations in advance of the annual review expected November
  • Under the direction of the Deputy Representative, support the contribution of the Child Protection Section in the CPD planning process.
  • With the current Chief, and under the direction of the Deputy Representative, follow up on any leads for new funding for 2018, which may include contributing to proposals or concept notes.
  • Support the section with contributing to donor and other reports as the need arises

Deliverable 4: Preliminary child protection programme strategy note written and the presentations for the 2017 annual review successfully prepared.

Duration of the Assignment:  2 months (1st October - 30th November 2017).

Qualifications of Successful Candidate:

• Advanced university degree in the social sciences, law or other relevant field.
• Seven years of professional work experience at national and international levels in child protection, three years of which international work experience for IP or field work experience for NGO.
• Experience working with strategy and policy development (such as National Action Plans for Children)
• Experience in community mobilization or youth and adolescent empowerment initiatives
• Advanced technical knowledge of theories, principles and methods in the following: Strengthening child protection systems and partner capacity for protecting children against violence (especially SGBV); developing equity focused social policies.

Competencies of Successful Candidate:

• Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including formal public speaking.
• Excellent writing skills, with strong experience writing donor reports and proposals
• Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals.
• Has good leadership skills; co-ordinates group activities, ensuring that roles within the team are clear.
• Translates strategic direction into plans and objectives.
• Analyzes and integrates diverse and complex quantitative and qualitative data from a wide range of sources.
• Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of individuals across organizational departments. Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural team environment.
• Demonstrates, applies and shares expert technical knowledge in social protection/social policy and SGBV
• Self-motivated and driven to see positive change in developing countries for the sake of children’s rights

Release Arrangement: 

• Once the selection process has been completed, the receiving and releasing offices will communicate to reach an agreement on the start date for the recommended staff member.
• If the recommended staff member needs to relocate, receiving office will pay for a return travel (per UN regulations) and 50% DSA.

Retaining Current Post:   If selected for this opportunity, the concerned staff member will remain on their existing post and will be temporarily situated with the Child Protection Section in UNICEF Liberia for the duration of the stretch assignment. Upon completion of the stretch assignment, the staff member will return to their respective post. Thus, no changes will be made to s/m’s existing status (post number etc., will all remain as is).

How to Apply:

1. 1. If interested, please discuss this assignment with your Supervisor and obtain your Supervisor’s / Head of Office’s agreement for your application to be submitted. The agreement is a pre-requisite for this stretch assignment.
   2. Upon receipt of the Supervisor/Head of Office’s agreement, please send an e-mail to the Sr. HR Assistant, HR Office at mfreeman@unicef.org  with copy to Mr. Mirza Mohammad, HR Specialist at mmirza@unicef.org and Mrs. Teeranuch Dibanuka, Chief of Operations at tdibanuka@unicef.org under title “Stretch Assignment Child Protection Specialist”.
   3. Please include the following:

• Cover letter
• Up-to-date P11 Form/e-Recruitment profile
• Two latest PAS
• Agreement from your Supervisor

 The deadline for applications is Monday 18 September 2017.​