Child Protection Officer 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 position below:

Job Title: Child Protection Officer

Job No: 566828
Location: Abuja
Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment
Level: NO-2
Categories: Child Protection

How Can You Make a Difference?

• The Child Protection Officer reports to the Chief, Child Protection or Child Protection Specialist for supervision.
• The Child Protection Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for child protection programmes/projects within the Country Programme from development planning to delivery of results.
• H/She prepares, executes, manages, and implements a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

Summary of Key Functions / Accountabilities
Support to programme development and planning:

• Conduct and update the situation analysis for the development, design and management of child protection-related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (e.g. economic, social, health) and data for use in programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results.
• Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning through research, analysis and reporting of child protection and other related information for development planning and priority and goal setting.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical, programme, operational, and administrative transactions, preparing related materials and documentation, and complying with organizational processes and management systems to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluating of results.
• Prepare required programme documentation, materials and data to facilitate the programme review and approval process.

Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results:

•  Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss implementation issues, provide solutions, and recommendations and/or to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level interventions and/or decisions. Keep records of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts to assess programmes/projects, and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of programme management.
• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verifying compliance with approved allocations, organizational rules, regulations, procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on critical issues and findings to ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
• Prepare regular and mandated sectoral programme/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

Technical and operational support to programme implementation:

• Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys and exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support. Take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices in child protection to support programme implementation.

Networking and partnership building:

• Build and sustain close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build the capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on child protection.
• Participate in inter-agency meetings/events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of child protection programmes/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with UNDAF development and planning processes.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fundraising and partnership development purposes.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances and support fundraising for child protection programmes.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:

• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

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

• A University Degree in one of the following fields is required: International Development, Human Rights, Psychology, Sociology, International Law, or another relevant Social Science field.

Experience:

• A minimum of two years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection-related areas is required.
• 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.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Application Closing Date
6th November, 2023.