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For every child, a voice

Child Protection remains a serious concern in Cox’s Bazar, with children exposed to all forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation across the Rohingya camps and host communities. High levels of Gender Based Violence (GBV), domestic violence, child marriage and child labor are reported, together with widespread mental health and psychosocial challenges for children and adults. 

Recent months have seen an escalation of armed violence. Armed groups linked with the conflict in Myanmar are increasingly active on the Bangladesh side of the border. Children are now impacted directly, with reports of children being killed, injured, abducted, and recruited. Humanitarian volunteers in the camps have been threatened and harassed, and community leaders coerced. Families are reluctant to report child rights violations for fear of reprisals. Children who have returned from fighting or from training are at particular risk. Staff tasked with verifying cases, and the respondents they meet, are also exposed. Intimidation of volunteers has resulted in volunteers being too scared to show up for work. In the 1st Quarter 2024, 14% of child protection volunteers were found to be absent from work due to fear of harassment by armed groups. 

Armed groups and criminal entities are now an important consideration in the overall Protection landscape, with the hostile environment having the potential to destabilize the whole area. In July and August, the Arakan Army began to assert dominance over the Myanmar Armed Forces in the Northern Rakhine town of Maungdaw. This has prompted further displacement and exacerbated the risks to children.

In May 2024, the situation of violence necessitated the establishment of a Child Rights Monitoring Mechanism (CRMM) in Bangladesh. The Country Working Group for Child Rights Monitoring (CWG CRM), a heads-ofagency level committee co-chaired by the UN Resident Coordinator and UNICEF Representative, was established and had its first meeting in May 2024. While the CRMM is a UN-wide responsibility, UNICEF is the lead agency and has been spearheading CRMM roll-out since its inception. 

UNICEF has developed encrypted reporting tools and opened channels for child rights violations to be documented and screened for verification. More than 150 stakeholders have been trained and orientated. Project documents have been crafted with two NGOs to accelerate further roll out and contribute to prevention measures at community level. However, limited knowledge, fear of reporting, and incomplete information required to verify reports, likely contribute to under-reporting from every camp. 

UNICEF is leading the verification of reports with the aim of better understanding the scale of the issue, the dynamics involved, and to ensure the best possible outcomes for affected children. Workflows that link children and families with existing case management and referral pathways are being mapped. The CRMM is one component of much broader suite of activities implemented by the Child Protection Sub-Sector to prevent and respond to child rights violations, which in turn contributes to a plan of action at the Protection Sector level. 

How can you make a difference? 

The Child Protection Officer (NOA) for the CRMM will support effective monitoring, reporting, and verification in the context of armed violence in Bangladesh. The Child Protection Officer will document and track reports of child rights violations, verify, and follow up on cases, and ensure that information is timely, accurate, objective, and reliable.

The Child Protection Officer (NOA) will support capacity building on the CRMM, focusing on monitoring and reporting by NGOs and community volunteers; with trainings and orientations covering reporting guidelines, verification standards, etc. In addition, she/he will support other workstreams related to broader prevention and response of child rights violations, and other issues affecting children in the context of violence in Bangladesh.

The Child Protection Officer will work in close collaboration with the Protection Sector, Child Protection SubSector, GBV Sub-Sector, and associated working groups, to ensure that monitoring and reporting links seamlessly with prevention and response, with the CRMM being an integral component of a much wider child protection response in Cox’s Bazar, and the rest of the country.

As a national officer, she/he will facilitate communication and dialogue with local stakeholders including volunteers and other members of the community, including primary and secondary sources.

The Child Protection Officer will report to the Child protection Specialist (P3) with a strong dotted-line to the Child Protection Manager (P4) and Chief of Child protection (P5) for technical oversight. 

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

• Programme management, monitoring, and delivery of results

• Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Networking and partnership-building

• Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building

1. Programme management, monitoring, and delivery of results

• Contribute to ensuring that serious child rights violations are monitored, reported, documented, verified.
• Contribute to ensuring that cases of serious child rights violations are referred for responses as appropriate.
• With the clearance of the Chief of Child Protection P5, ensure that timely and accurate information on the CRMM is available to UNICEF Senior Management; this will include information of the scope and scale of violations (numerical data), as well as evolving security dynamics, the impact on children, and ongoing responses.
• Support development of a CRMM workplan, milestones and indicators to measure performance. Help identify bottlenecks and potential challenges.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises and programme reviews as required.
• Take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant actors for resolution.

2. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

With the technical guidance of the Child Protection Manager P4, and Child Protection Specialist P3: 

• Support verification missions in line with best practice and in accordance with minimum verification criteria; this will include planning and logistics considering the prevailing security situation and the standing procedures of the office.
• Monitor sources of information including but not limited to the CRMM confidential email, incident report forms (aka. Notification Form), periodic security and protection reports, and media, for cases of child rights violations, e.g. Protection monitoring reports, CARU reports, border updates, flash reports, etc. and populate the tracking sheet with all reports that fit CRMM criteria.
• Ensure that reports of child rights violations are screened for verification and/or work-flowed for response.
• Review cases to ensure credibility and reliability and prepare case information for the monthly CRMM technical working group meetings. •
• Ensure that cases are referred for case management and/or other services as required, in collaboration with the Child Protection Sub-Sector – especially the Case Management Technical Working Group – and other stakeholders.
• Support training and orientation of UN agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders on the CRMM, including helping with translation as may be required.
• Contribute to the roll out of advocacy and communications messages in collaboration with the Protection Sector, Child Protection Sub-Sector, GBV Sub-Sector, UNICEF Social & Behavioral Change, UNICEF Communications, and the CWG CRM.
• Contribute to reports, sitreps, briefing notes, white papers, etc. as required.

3. Networking and partnership-building

• Help build the visibility of the CRMM vis-a-vis the Protection Sector and other stakeholders; this will include participation in meetings as necessary and appropriate.
• Collaborate with other UNICEF programme/project officers to ensure linkages between CRMM and other sectors.
• Strengthen linkages between the CRMM and programmatic response to child survivors through the reinforcement of coordination and referral mechanisms.
• Ensure exchange of information, and experience, and identify new strategies and courses of action to improve CRMM data collection, reporting, and analysis.
• Collaborate with the UNICEF Communications and Social & Behavioral Change teams for developing communication materials to prevent child rights violations.

4. Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building

• Organize and support the implement of capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of stakeholders on the CRMM.
• Contribute to exchange of information and experience to improve CRMM data collection, reporting, and analysis.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: ToR - Child Protection Officer (CRMM).pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: A university degree in one of the following or related fields is required: Child Rights, Human Rights, Law, Child Protection, Social Work, Peace & Conflict, Development, etc.
• Work Experience: A minimum two years’ relevant professional experience in Child Protection is required. Experience of working with the UN, NGOs, and/or relevant sectors and sub-sectors is required. Experience of working in refugee settings or situations of armed violence is a significant asset
• Skills :   • Strong organizational skills and the ability to produce high-quality written work are required. • Strong coordination and communication skills are required. • Strong analytical skills involving multiple sets of data is required. • Strong capacity-building/training skills are a significant asset. 
• Language Requirements: Fluency in spoken and written English and Bangla are required. A working knowledge of Chittagonian, Rohingya, or Burmese is an asset.

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 (1)

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (1)

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact (1)

(4) Innovates and embraces change (1) 

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

(6) Thinks and acts strategically (1)

(7) Works collaboratively with others (1) 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is an equal-opportunity employer, we actively encourage applications from female candidates, gender-diverse individuals and people with disabilities.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/

The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates)

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

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.

Internal candidates may be given preference over external candidates. The term "Internal" refers to all staff members with fixed term, continuing or permanent appointments. Internal candidates who are legally permitted to work for UNICEF in Bangladesh, independently of UNICEF appointment, will also be considered.

Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their candidate profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in the Applicant system in order to be considered.  The information submitted will be used for administrative purposes, salary/step determination and conditions of employment. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be accepted for applications that have already been submitted for this position.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.