International Consultant to support child online protection, Accra, Ghana

UNICEF Ghana in partnership with the Ghana Police Service seeks the services of a highly skilled and experienced professional who has passion to make a difference for the children. The individual will be engaged as an international consultant to provide technical assistance to Ghana Police Service cybercrime unit for development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for prevention and response to child online protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. The assignment will be for 60 working days spread over a period of 11 months. The consultant will work from his/her home base and will make few visits to Ghana. Only non-Ghanaians are eligible to apply including those already residing in Accra. Please read attached Terms of Reference for details.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, [a Champion]

The Government of Ghana through its Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) and the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit has been making good progress in preventing and responding (as survivors are also catered for) to violence and in creating an enabling legislative and policy environment. This has led to the pivotal National Child Protection Policy framework and included initiatives to change behavior through media campaigns and community-based use of the child protection toolkit to facilitate community engagement.

Information and Communication Technologies have been rapidly developing and spreading globally. These advancements have allowed both adults and children to enjoy unprecedented opportunities and benefits in terms of socialization, education, and entertainment. The most prominent spaces used to interact and form social relationships with others are chat rooms, peer-to-peer (P2P) websites, and social networking sites (social media)2^[1]. However, these advances in ICTs also allow online perpetrators to commit crimes and online abuses. Because of children’s inherent curiosity and naive, associated with a poor understanding of the potential risks of being exposed to illegal activities committed through the use of ICTs, they are more vulnerable to exploitation and harm than adults3^[2]. Child pornography (also knowns as “child abuse images), online grooming, and cyberbullying are key concerns. It should be noted that the Ghanaian population is largely young. By 2015^[3] Ghana's population structure entailed the age group from 0 through 14 years old estimated to represent 38.8% of the total population. The age group from 15 through 24 years old was estimated to represent an additional 18.69% of the total population.

While many opportunities for learning, recreation, play and socialization are provided by the new technologies, they may also increase the risk of abuse and exploitation of the children. A study carried out by the DOC (2007) of the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) on the use of the internet by school children in the Accra Metropolis did indicate that, some children use the internet for harmful purposes such as pornography, violet materials and fraud. 14% of children in the same study indicated they have used the internet for pornography. Results from a global poll conducted by UNICEF/IPSOS (2016) in 25 countries including Ghana also affirmed the global results and indicated that 82% of children and adolescents are in danger of being sexually abused or taken advantage of online

Advances in technology allows offenders to remain anonymous, cover their digital tracks, create false identities, pursue many victims at once and monitor their whereabouts. The increased use of mobile devices and greater access to broadband internet has made children more accessible than ever through unprotected social media profiles and online game forums. Offenders often begin grooming their victims on these platforms, where they gain a childs attention or trust, before moving the communication to video- and photo-sharing platforms, which can lead to content-driven or financially driven extortion or meeting offline yet professionals working in key departments of the Government lack adequate capacities to prevent and respond to cases of online abuse, violence and exploitation

.

The Cybercrime Unit, set up in 2015 as part of the Criminal Investigation Department of Ghana Police Service, does not have the infrastructure, skills and tools to conduct forensic analysis of electronic devices (incl. computers and mobile phones) containing indecent imagines or other material linked to child online sexual exploitation. While the Unit is staffed with dedicated IT professionals, it lacks a forensic laboratory to analyze and process digital evidence. There is not standard operating procedure to handle digital evidence and to procure, analyses and present child online sexual exploitation cases to courts. There is also no system in place to systematically catalogue the images gathered from different cases or keep track or suspected IP address flagged during investigations. Further, there is no mechanism in place to report indecent content from internet in order to be taken down.

Based on the above, UNICEF Ghana and the Ghana Police Service are looking to engage the services of a highly skilled and experienced individual consultant in engaging with the Police for purpose of the development of standard operating procedures for prevention and response to child online protection from sexual exploitation and abuse

How can you make a difference?

In close collaboration with Ghana Police Service and UNICEF Child Protection Programme the Consultant will undertake the following activities:

• Review existing standards operating procedures of the Cyber Crime Unit of Ghana Police Service and its compliance with international standards for protection of children from online sexual exploitation within broader context of protection of children from violence and abuse
• Conduct a needs assessment of the capacity of Cyber Crime Unit of Ghana Police Service (both infrastructural and human) in term to preventing and responding to child online sexual exploitation and abuse
• Support the revision of child online protection framework of the Government of Ghana To ensure inclusion of the emerging issues on online protection within the broader context of cyber security in Ghana
• Support the development of a plan that includes technical specification of equipment and human resources and capacities needed to equip Cyber Crime Unit of Ghana Police Service to prevent and respond to child online sexual exploitation
• Support the development of specific Standard Operating Procedures, evidence handling guidelines and training material for the cybercrime unit to acquire, analyze, investigate and report digital content related to child online sexual abuse and exploitation
• Support setting up a monitoring and reporting portal for indecent images and other inappropriate content in the context of child online protection

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• Advanced university degree in law, IT, online protection or related field;
• At least five years of relevant work experience
• Extensive experience in research design, analysis, and report writing.
• Experience in working on Child online Protection issues
• Understanding of human, child rights and COP
• Excellent writing and presentation skills and excellent command of the English language
• Ability to communicate effectively both in English (spoken & written).
• Prior experience of working with UNICEF and Governments in development contexts will be an asset

Please read attached Terms of Reference for details about this assignment. 

 Application Procedure:

Interested candidates should apply on-line to the link provided indicate their professional fees in US dollars. The fee should be expressed as a daily rate. In addition to the CV/Resume, candidates should attach a two-page note on how he/she intends to effectively accomplish this assignment within time frame

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.