Child protection Consultant

The Child Protection Consultant will support the development and implementation of strategic partnerships and programmes focused on child protection, particularly the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Program 2.0 activities. The role involves programme development, planning, monitoring, advocacy, and ensuring children and young people are central to all interventions under the guidance of the Program Specialist at UNICEF Office to the African Union and ECA.

Responsibilities

• Support programme development and planning.
• Manage programme monitoring and delivery of results.
• Provide technical and operational support to programme implementation.
• Facilitate networking and partnership building.
• Promote innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building.

Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in development, peace and conflict, economics, psychology, sociology, or another relevant technical field is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in child protection, child rights, human rights, gender studies, development, sociology, or related social sciences, including programme planning, management, and/or research.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.
• Work experience and/or familiarity with a continental organization is an additional advantage.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of children’s rights, protection, violence against children, gender issues, violence against women and girls, and harmful practices.
• Understanding of child rights protection context including EVAC/VAWG, prevention and elimination of harmful practices, SRHR, and inter-sectoral approaches involving Social Policy, Education, Nutrition, WASH, Health, and Communications.
• Ability to support policy dialogue with strong analytical skills and translate findings into programme and policy discussions with partners including government, development partners, CSOs, and academia.
• Experience in programme design, planning, costing, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on child rights protection and related issues.
• Experience working with African Union organs and knowledge of AU mechanisms.
• Ability to support partnership, networking, and engagement with partners including AU entities, CSOs, young people, and UN organizations.
• Knowledge of child rights and familiarity with gender equality and disability inclusion principles.
• Ability to conduct literature reviews, present findings, and prepare concept papers.
• Excellent computer skills including PowerPoint, social media content creation, email communication, and digital collaboration tools (Teams, Zoom, Jamboard).
• Ability to write clearly and concisely technical and non-technical information related to child rights protection and gender-based violence.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-cultural environment.
• Demonstrated diplomacy, collaboration, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to handle sensitive data ethically and confidentially.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is an asset.

Skills

• Child Protection
• Child Rights Understanding
• Human Rights
• Gender Studies
• Programme Planning
• Programme Management
• Research
• UN System Experience
• Continental Organization Familiarity
• Violence against Children
• Gender-Based Violence Awareness
• Harmful Practices
• Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Intersectoral Approaches
• Policy Dialogue
• Analytical Skills
• Programme Monitoring
• Programme Evaluation
• Reporting
• Partnership Building
• Networking
• Literature Review
• Concept Paper Development
• Power Point
• Social Media Content Creation
• Email Communication
• Digital Collaboration
• Technical Writing
• Confidential Information Handling

Languages

English