Organization: UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund
Location: Kakuma | Garissa
Grade: Junior level – NO-B, National Professional Officer – Locally recruited position
Occupational Groups:
Children’s rights (health and protection)
Protection Officer (Refugee)
Closing Date: 2024-12-16
Description
The Child Protection Officer reports to the Chief, Zonal Office 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, with focus on refugee settings.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Responsibilities
1. 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 documentations, 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 documentations, materials and data to facilitate the programme review and approval process.
2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results
- Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss implementation issues, provide solutions, 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 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 UNSDCF operational planning and preparation of child protection programmes/projects, and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with UNSDCF development and planning processes.
- Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.
- Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for child protection programmes.
5. 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
- 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.
- Work 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.
Desirables:
- Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.
Special Considerations for the posts
- Both Kakuma and Garissa posts will be filled for a limited duration of three (3) years until December 2027.
- The Garissa post will be filled as such, however there is a prospect of lifting and shifting it to Dadaab.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships, (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness, (3) Drive to achieve results for impact, (4) Innovates and embraces change, (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity, (6) Thinks and acts strategically, (7) Works collaboratively with others.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.
How to apply
Simply click on the apply button, fill out of the form, and upload your documents