Child Protection Officer/Violence Against Children Specialist

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. UNICEF Health program is designed to support national health priorities with focus on programs that will positively impact on the lives of the most disadvantaged children, such as the prevention and treatment of diseases through establishing community-level efforts and services to promote the health and well-being of children. In line with this strategy, UNICEF supports immunization and health prevention programs for childhood diseases and funding for sustainable health services. UNICEF programs have been guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which affirms the right of all children to “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health.” UNICEF is committed to realizing the rights of all children to help them build a strong foundation and have the best chance of fulfilling their potential. We believe that ensuring a happy and healthy child begins before birth: from ensuring his/her mother has access to good neonatal care and delivering in a clean, safe environment to reaching adulthood as a responsible, healthy and informed parent to the next generation. This journey relies on a child having access to shelter, good nutrition, clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education.

Context

Violence against women and girls in Nigeria is widespread and exists in all forms in public and private spheres. According to the 2014 Violence Against Children Survey (VACS), one in four girls, one in two girls and one in six girls have experienced sexual, physical and emotional violence respectively. Domestic violence remains pervasive (16% intimate partner violence prevalence rate) while 30% of women aged 15-49 have experienced sexual abuse (33% in urban and 24% in rural areas) (NDHS 2013). Moreover, out of the 10.5 million out-of-school children, two-thirds are girls and statistics reveal that by the age of 16, 21% of adolescent girls are either pregnant or have given birth. Violence can take many forms, including physical, sexual and emotional violence, and varies in severity. While both boys and girls may experience violence, being a girl presents unique vulnerabilities – some with consequences that can last a lifetime. Gender discrimination, norms and practices mean that adolescent girls are likely to experience certain forms of violence, such as sexual violence, at much higher rates than boys and to be exposed to certain harmful practices, notably child marriage and female genital mutilation. Globally, Nigeria accounts for the third highest number of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), reported at 25 percent prevalence and has the largest number of child brides in Africa and one of the highest prevalence rates in the world: 23 million (or 43 percent of girls) married before age 18, and 17 percent married before they turn 15. These harmful practices occur in a context of limited knowledge and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services, with complications of early childbearing (maternal mortality ratios is at 576 per 100,000) and obstructed labor such as obstetric fistula which affect an estimated 20,000 women and girls every year. The Spotlight Initiative (SI) is a global partnership between the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in support of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The Initiative provides a model for partnerships with donors, civil society, and the UN to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in a comprehensive manner leveraging comparative expertise. In Nigeria, the Initiative is led by UN Women, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO and is being implemented in six focus states – Adamawa, Cross Rivers, Ebonyi, FCT, Lagos and Sokoto. UNICEF’s mandate for the protection of the rights of children and protecting them from all forms of violence aligns perfectly with the goal of the Spotlight Initiative to end violence against women and girls and ending harmful practices including child marriage. The focus for UNICEF will be on prevention efforts, particularly addressing root causes of violence against women and girls; and ensuring access to inclusive, timely, and quality services for victims and survivors.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Child Protection Specialist (Harmful Practices) or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Child Protection Officer (VAC Specialist) will assist in providing technical support to the child protection programme to ensure that children, in particularly girls who are victims or at significant risk of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation receive quality preventive and responsive services from a functioning child protection system at Federal level and in targeted States. The incumbent will be expected to travel to the six locations of the programme. The position will contribute to the following outcomes of the Spotlight Initiative (SI): • Strengthening the Legislative and policy frameworks on all forms of violence against women and girls and harmful practices are in place and translated into plans. • Supporting the development of systems at national and sub-national levels to deliver evidence-based programmes that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls and harmful practices, including in other sectors. • Strengthening gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behaviors change at community and individual levels to prevent violence against women and girls and harmful practices. • Strengthening access to quality essential services including for women and girls who experience violence. • Collecting and analyzing quality, disaggregated and globally comparable data on different forms of violence against women and girls and harmful practices. More specifically, the incumbent will support the following aspects of the programme, in close collaboration with the Child Protection Specialist: Implementation • Expedite and coordinate the implementation of activities under the SI workplan establishing collaborative relationships with UN partner agencies, experts, government counterparts and other partners facilitating timely and efficient delivery of inputs. • Provide technical support to the Child Protection Specialist/Project Team Leader on drafting, development of concept notes and implementation of activities in line with the SI workplan and Steering Committee and EU recommendations as follows: o Finalisation of the draft costed National Plan of Action to End violence against children by 2030 for validation at Federal level and State levels o Conduct a social norms study on the drivers of VAC and its linkages with gender inequality approaches in 6 States o Roll out of a “Speak-Up” Campaign to change norms and behaviour around gender and violence, and encourage the reporting of VAG and engage adolescent girls on the issue of violence, using U-Report and other medium o Support the establishment of a national toll-free child helpline to increase the reporting of violence against children, especially girls, and referral mechanisms based on existing platforms (starting with Lagos and FCT) in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum as the key partner in this process; o Support the organisation of High-level advocacy event in collaboration with the Nigerian Governor’s Forum and Inter-ministerial Committee on GBV on violence against girls/children o Support to existing health care facilities including Sexual Assault Referral Centers to strengthen service provision to child survivors of sexual violence and other forms of VAWG, exploitation and abuse including gap assessments, particularly on case management and referral processes. o Support the development of a mental health framework of interventions to support child survivors of violence and their families o Support the development and validation of a National Policy and Costed Action Plan on ending Child Marriage o Support CSOs involved in implementing UNICEF programmes on engaging youth in advocacy and reporting on harmful practices through U-Report Coordination/Meetings • Provide technical support to the Child Protection Specialist/Project Team Leader on inter-agency coordination related activities by representing UNICEF in SI meetings, events, and participating in working groups and committees as needed. • Contribute to inter-agency coordination on ending violence against women and girls, including harmful practices to achieve coherence and alignment of UNICEF programmes with other agencies and partners in Nigeria in line with the SI workplan and activities recommended by the EU. • Represent UNICEF in SI meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to ending violence against women and girls and child marriage especially at focus state’ levels as necessary Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation • Participate in field visits and travel to the six locations of the programme to supervise and monitor field level activities of the programme. • Gather inputs from SI Field Officers and coordinate the preparation of quarterly and annual narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports. • Drafting of quarterly and annual narrative reports and expenditures status reports. Communication • Develop Human interest stories, advocacy papers, communication reports and support the documentation of programme implementation process, best practices and lessons learnt Other • Ensure all SI Program support and interventions are considerate of Persons living with disability (PLWD) • Any other related tasks required by the section, in particular, to support the harmful practices (child marriage and FGM) portfolio.