Child Protection Specialist

Job Title: Child Protection Specialist

Organization: United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

Host entity: UNICEF

Assignment country: Panama

Expected start date: 02/10/2023

Sustainable Development Goal: 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions

Volunteer category: International UN Volunteer Specialist

Type: Onsite

Duration: 12 months (with possibility of extension)

Number of assignments: 1

Duty stations: Panama City

Details

Mission and objectives

La misión fundamental de UNICEF es promover los derechos de todos los niños y niñas, en todas partes, en todo lo que la organización hace en los programas, en la promoción y en las operaciones. La equidad, haciendo hincapié en los niños, las niñas, adolescentes y las familias más desfavorecidos y excluidos, traduce este compromiso con los derechos de los niños en acciones. Para UNICEF, la equidad significa que todos los niños y niñas tienen la oportunidad de sobrevivir, desarrollarse y alcanzar su máximo potencial, sin discriminación, prejuicios o favoritismo. En la medida en que cualquier niño o niña experimenta una desigualdad de oportunidades en su vida en las dimensiones sociales, políticas, económicas, cívicas y culturales, sus derechos son violados. Cada vez hay más pruebas de que invertir en la salud, la educación y la protección de los ciudadanos más desfavorecidos de una sociedad, abordando la inequidad, no sólo dará a todos los niños y niñas la oportunidad de desarrollar su potencial, sino que también conducirá al crecimiento sostenido y la estabilidad de los países. Es por eso que el enfoque en la equidad es tan vital. Acelera el progreso hacia la realización de los derechos humanos de todos los niños y niñas, que es el mandato universal del UNICEF, como se describe en la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño, al tiempo que apoya el desarrollo equitativo de las naciones.

Context

UNICEF promotes the rights and welfare of all children and adolescents in everything we do.Together with our allies, we work in 190 countries and territories to transform this commitment into practical actions that benefit all children, especially focusing our efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded, worldwide. The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office is based in in Panama, operating in 36 territories, including 24 country offices. UNICEF works to put the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children at the heart of the social, political, and economic agenda, in line with our equity focus, working across our organization and with our partners in government, civil society and the private sector to support shifts in public policy, fuel social engagement, and increase investment for children. The LACRO Child Protection Section supports the UNICEF country offices to protect all children from violence, abuse and exploitation in all contexts and including those who are on the move, in alternative care and in contact with the law. The Child Protection Section co-leads the flagship result for all countries in the region to eradicate violence against children, and a priority result to respond to children on the move. UNICEF has a vision to be an organization that puts knowledge to work to achieve results for children and fulfil their rights (UNICEF KM Strategy 2021-2022) and knowledge management (KM) is an enabler to achieve this vision (UNICEF KM Strategy 2021-2022). KM is defined as “The deliberate and systematic coordination of an organization’s people, technology, processes and organizational structure to add value through reuse and innovation. This is achieved through the promotion of creating, sharing, and applying knowledge as well as through the feeding of valuable lessons learned and best practices into corporate memory to foster continued organizational learning.” (Dalkir, 2011, p. 469). KM requires the combination of knowledge generation/capture, knowledge dissemination and knowledge use. The UNICEF LACRO Child Protection section currently has several products to support the delivery of this vision, specifically an internal and external website, ebulletin, document library, learning webinars, face to face meetings. Based on demand from the country offices, it has just developed a knowledge management strategy that specifically aims to ensure that UNICEF staff (and partners) have access to the latest information in a timely manner to better inform their programmes. The resulting strategy indicates some directions such as on revamping the document library, introducing different knowledge management forums, adjusting the website, as well as continuing and improving existing products and promote innovations models to learn and share knowledge. What is now required is the development of a sustainable implementation plan for the strategy, identifying the priorities and within the resources available. etc., and to put it into action. While the strategy is comprehensive, the effort for implementation needs to continue to be ‘light’. To get to this point, it is necessary to have a UN Volunteer to design, operationalise, test, adapt and establish the structure.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of Child Protection Regional Adviser, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: · To produce or maintain knowledge management products such as e-bulletins, document library, discussion forums, webinars, internal/external website, in line with the strategy and action plan. · To develop an implementation plan for the KM strategy, operationalize and test the same, and follow up. · To support the knowledge capture, such as through producing a reporting and monitoring dashboards, and webinar documentation and recording. · Support the LACRO child protection section in facilitating knowledge gathering, exchange and use across the areas of child protection, and cross sectorial on the themes of migration and violence against children. Results/Expected Outputs Consolidation of a knowledge management strategy for Child Protection Section in place and in line with the technical requests of the LAC UNICEF country offices, considering a light, effective and easy to manage knowledge management system that reinforces LACRO's technical leadership role in child protection in the region.

Eligibility criteria

Age

27 - 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

5 years of experience in child protection, information management (specific thematic/technical area) required. Technical knowledge and expertise in Microsoft, web-based platforms and other products, tools and databases that can be used for knowledge management an advantage. Professional technical knowledge on child protection systems and issues. • Responsible relevant work experience at the national and international level in child protection, as well as experience in knowledge management or information management. • Experience in similar assignment(s) in LAC region and/or other parts of the world. • Experience working in the UN and other international development organizations an advantage. • Strong written and spoken communication skills. • Proven capacity to work in an international environment.

Area(s) of expertise

Development programmes, Information technology, Security and protection

Driving license

-

Languages

Spanish, Level: Fluent, Required English, Level: Fluent, Required

Required education level

Master degree or equivalent in Knowledge/Information Management with a Child Protection background, or a Master or Advanced university degree in a Child Protection related disciplines with an information management background, or other related fields.

Competencies and values

Core Values: Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). Care: We are mindful of each other’s well-being, professional growth, and development. We recognize that our staff are often working in stressful environments where insecurity and risk are a daily fact of life. Respect: We treat each other with the same level of thoughtfulness we want for ourselves, and we promote diversity, inclusion and a sense of belonging for all. Integrity: We act ethically, with honesty and transparency, setting the highest standards for ourselves as we work together and with partners, donors and the global community. Trust: We depend on and believe in each other to act in line with the core values and mission of UNICEF and in the best interests of children. Accountability: We hold ourselves and each other responsible for our behaviors; this means being answerable for our actions. Sustainability: We apply environmental sustainability in our personal life and at work, including in the design and implementation of UNICEF activities, so that our work protects the planet and its resources for the children we serve, now and in the future. Core Competencies • Builds and maintains partnerships: Build a network of external stakeholders and alliances with government counterparts, civil society, the media and the private sector, in order to promote and advance the work of the organization. • Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness: Self-aware of own strengths, limitations, working style and deeply held convictions and biases. Displays ethical awareness through behaviours that are consistent and compliant with the standards of conduct for international civil servants, UNICEF’s values and relevant UNICEF policies and procedures. • Drive to achieve results for impact: Commits to action and assumes responsibility and ownership for own performance and the associated outcomes. • Innovates and embraces change: Is open to and proposes new approaches and ideas. Adapts and responds positively to change • Manages ambiguity and complexity: Demonstrate resilience and composure, get things done despite challenges and maintain performance levels in pressured, adverse and uncertain environments. • Thinks and acts strategically: Understands the big picture and is able to identify potential opportunities for action and challenges that exist. Forms sound evidence-based judgements in the delivery of UNICEF’s results. • Works collaboratively with others: Establish and maintain mutually supportive working relationships, demonstrating sensitivity to people of diverse backgrounds, respecting differences and ensuring that all can contribute and succeed.

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

Panama is in Central America with a population of 4,300,000 million, the official language is Spanish, but most Panamanians are bilingual. Panama has a lower crime rate than many other countries in the region. Panama City is largely a safe city – but care does need to be taken in some areas and with personal property. It is your choice whether you opt for a house or an apartment. Beautiful spacious houses, with gardens are available. Those staff that have opted for an apartment have done so on the basis that they offer more security and more facilities. The US Dollar is used as a legal currency in Panama. There are also coins of the Balboa, which is the national currency, similar in shape and value to the US Dollar. Please make sure to leave Panama only with US Dollar currency, as there are some international difficulties changing the Balboa abroad. Panama has a tropical climate with practically the same average temperature of 27°C year-round with 78% humidity. The rainy season in Panama is from March until November each year, we recommend you bring an umbrella. The air conditioning may be cool at times in the office and in local shops, so we suggest you bring a jacket or sweater. The voltage in Panama is 110v, 60 cycle with two and three prong plugs. Wall plugs are mostly for 110v. In some properties there may by 220v for air conditioning or similar. Current fluctuations are common and electricity cuts are still possible. There are many clinics and medical centers in Panama: For your information, below the largest private hospitals in Panama City. Hospital Paitilla +507 265 8888 +507 265 8800 Hospital Pacífica Salud [former Punta Pacífica] +507 204 8184 +507 204 8000 Hospital San Fernando +507 305 6305 +507 305 6300 Hospital Nacional +507 306 3300 +507 207 8100 There is also an Emergency Ambulance service, government-owned 911. If you open a local bank account, banks in Panama request the following documents. - Reference letter from your bank. - Present original and bring copy of your national Passport, - Employment letter. The UNV would live in Panama City with access to a good level of services and living conditions. In addition to duty station specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts. UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Reasonable accommodation

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.

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