Child Protection Manager at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (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.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Child Protection Manager, (P-4)

Job Number: 529375
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Work Type: Fixed Term Appointment

For Every Child, Champion

• The Child Protection Manager reports to the Chief Field Office (Level 5) for general guidance and direction. The Child Protection Manager is responsible for managing and supervising all stages of child protection programmes/projects from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable contributions to national and international efforts to create a protective environment for children against all harm and to protect their rights to survival, development and well-being, as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international treaties/frameworks and UN intergovernmental bodies.
• The Child Protection Manager is responsible for establishing the plans of action and overseeing work progress to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable programme/project results according to plans, allocation results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

How can you make a difference?
Managerial leadership:

• Establish the annual work plan with the child protection team; set priorities/targets and performance measurements. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
• Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the team.
• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives and goals, direction and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

Programme development and planning:

•  Provide technical advice and operational support to the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis to ensure that current and comprehensive evidence-based data on child protection issues is available to guide UNICEF’s strategic policy advocacy, intervention and development efforts on child rights and protection, and to set programme priorities, strategies, design and implementation plans.
• Keep abreast of national, regional and international development priorities on child protection and rights to leverage UNICEF’s position and competencies with donors, national governments, communities and constituents to advocate and promote child protection interventions, policies and social change to achieve goals on child’s rights, protection, survival and wellbeing, as productive members of society.
• Supervise the development of child protection programmes/projects (as a full component of the CO and/or UNDAF programmes). Establish plans of action, programme goals and results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).
• Guide and coordinate the timely preparation of programme recommendations and related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Programme recommendation ensuring alignment with overall UNICEF Strategic (Child Protection) Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Collaborate with national and global colleagues, partners and allies to develop partnership frameworks to address specific needs and to leverage resources for enhancing and scaling up child protection programmes/projects. Ensure synergy, integration, coherence, and harmonization of programmes/projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities, donors’ development strategies/policies, national priorities/competencies and UN System development interventions/initiatives.
• Ensure emergency preparedness is contained in national programmes/projects to ensure the protection and well being of children in cases of armed conflict, natural disasters and other emergency situations.3. Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results

Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results:

• Plan and collaborate on monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results in child protection programmes.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action and interventions to achieve results.
• Prepare and assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths, and/or weaknesses in programme management. Identify lessons learned and use the knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Monitor programmes/projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems. Take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Plan, approve, monitor, certify, and control the use of programme resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Submit and prepare programme/project reports to donors and other partners to keep them informed on programme progress and critical issues.

Advisory services and technical support:

• Provide technical advice to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on strategies and best practices to influence approaches/policies, support social/economic/political/legal development planning & implementation, and to support the delivery of results on child protection, human rights and other related issues.
• Coordinate and ensure the availability of technical experts (with Regional Office/HQ) to ensure timely support throughout all stages of programming/project processes.
• Participate in strategic discussions to influence policy and agenda setting for combating poverty and all forms of discrimination against women/children by advising on and advocating strategies and approaches to promote and catalyze social changes for a
• protective environment for children.
• Lead in-country discussions on child protection emergency preparedness, programming and contingency planning to ensure proactive and appropriate responses are in place to meet the onset of emergencies nationally, or in other designated locations.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building:

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organizations, research institutes and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on child protection.
• Prepare communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances for sustainable results and support fundraising for UNICEF and Country Office child protection programmes and emergency interventions.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on child protection and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated into the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda-setting.
• Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF planning and preparation of programmes/projects including emergency preparedness

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:

• Promote critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable child protection programme/project initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting edge practices on child protection management and information systems. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned.
• Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.
• Organize, plan and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders to promote sustainable results on child protection and related programmes/projects.

Requirements
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university Degree (Master's or higher) in one of the following fields is required: International Development, Human Rights, Psychology, Sociology, International Law, or another relevant Social Science field.
• A minimum of [8] eight of relevant professional experience in developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset. Relevant experience in programme development in child protection related areas in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

• UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The functional competencies required for this post are:
Core Values:

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

Core competencies:

• Communication (II)
• Working with people (II)
• Drive for results (II)

Functional Competencies:

• Leading and supervising (I)
• Formulating strategies/concepts (II)
• Analyzing (III)
• Relating and networking (II)
• Deciding and initiating action (II)
• Applying Technical Expertise (III)

View our competency framework at:
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Application Closing Date
5th February, 2020; 23:55:00 GMT+0100 (West Africa Standard Time)

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Important Information / Notice

• 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.
• UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.