Child Protection (Violence against Children) Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families. UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children – victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and those with disabilities. UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care. UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority. UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social and economic development of their communities. UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realization of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Context

The Kyrgyzstan Country Office will start a new Country Programme in 2023 with four outcome areas: 1) social policy, 2) child protection, 3) education and adolescent development and participation (ADAP), 4) health, nutrition and safe environment. There is a communications team, social and behaviour change specialist, and the office has a dedicated gender officer. Work on addressing violence against children (VAC) cuts across all outcome areas. The UN Volunteer will support coordination of efforts to ensure harmonised implementation across outcomes/sections. The Country Office is currently implementing, and will finalise by mid-2023, the EU funded UN Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls (joint project led by Resident Coordinators Office with UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and UNODC).

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Child Protection, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1) Support conceptualisation of a multi-sectoral gender transformative prevention and response of violence against children (VAC) programme for UNICEF Kyrgyzstan. This includes defining VAC for the Kyrgyzstan context (it can for example include child marriage, child trafficking (linked to child labour)). It will involve liaising with all UNICEF sectors (child protection, social protection, health and education sections), as well as the communications and social and behaviour change units to define the different roles and responsibilities each sector/unit has to preventing and responding to VAC/GBV (gender-based violence). The Volunteer will also reach out to other key UN agency partners working on VAC/GBV to ensure harmonisation and collaboration across the UN. 2) Support efforts to identify potential donors to fund the multi-sectoral VAC programme; draft concept notes and proposals for VAC programming. Prepare documents and presentations to explain the UNICEF Kyrgyzstan programme in an interesting manner. 3) Support efforts to strengthen the roles of different actors at all levels. This may include designing practical competency-based training for community level workers (para so-cial workers) to address VAC and GBV; training adolescents and young people to support disclosure of violence and peer-to-peer psychosocial support. Preparing ad-vocacy briefs and orientation sessions for Members of Parliament, child rights moni-toring institutions. 4) Support ongoing VAC and GBV programmes. 5) Where needed support work across section on GBV risk mitigation and PSEA (pre-venting sexual exploitation and abuse).