Current vacancies

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.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, protection from violence

Since 1950, UNICEF has supported the most important transformation for children and adolescents in Brazil. UNICEF Brazil with its main office in Brasília and nine field offices UNICEF works in close partnership with national and sub-national government, corporate partners, youth, and civil society organizations. For information of the work of our organization in Brazil, please visit our website: UNICEF Brazil.

How can you make a difference?

The Child Protection Specialist will be based in the Rio de Janeiro Office, reporting to the national Chief, Child Protection and working in close coordination with the Chief Field Office in Rio de Janeiro.. The Specialist will also work in close coordination and alignment with the national Child Protection team to support programme design and planning), with a special focus on strategies aimed at tackling violence against children in contexts of armed violence, and to collaborate with the implementation, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of results within the country programme. The Specialist will contribute to the achievement of concrete and measurable results through results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM), and guided by UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, including  Child Protection Strategy, Country Development Plans, Rio de Janeiro’s Strategic Framework and standards of performance and accountability framework.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support programme/project design and planning, with a focus on contexts affected by armed violence.
2. Collaborate with programme implementation, monitoring and delivery of results, in alignment with the child protection national strategic priorities and the Rio de Janeiro Strategic Framework
3. Contribute with to networking and partnership building efforts, in coordination with the national child protection  and the Rio de Janeiro team, with a focus on enhancing the realm of available public and private partnerships for the area.
4. Support innovation, knowledge management, information sharing, and capacity building.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have:

• Education:

• A Master’s Degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, international relations, human rights, sociology, anthropology, social assistance, law, or another relevant social science field.

• Experience

• A minimum of five years of proven professional experience in the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of child protection strategies at national, subnational or international level is required.
• Deep understanding of the Child Protection System in Brazil, and the laws, policies, plans, and strategies that operationalize it is essential.
• Understanding of Child Protection scene, stakeholders and context in Rio de Janeiro, including the impact of armed violence in the life of children
• Experience in building relations to advocate for violence prevention and response strategies, mobilizing cross-sectoral efforts and resources from public, private and third sector stakeholders is required.
• Expertise in project management, including budgets, narrative reports, and development of workplans and partnership instruments.
• Experience in team supervision, including interns and consultants.

        Desirable:

• Experience in violence prevention and response measures in contexts of armed violence is an added advantage.
• Relevant experience in programme development in child protection related areas in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Demonstrated political acumen and familiarity with the complexities of the inter-federative system and how it reflects on the structure and functioning of local child protection systems is an advantage.

       Language

• Fluency in English and Portuguese required. Knowledge of Spanish will be considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS).

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1).
• Works Collaboratively with others (1).
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1).
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1).
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1).
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1) and
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1).

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Child Safeguarding

Child safeguarding involves proactive measures to limit direct and indirect collateral risks of harm to children, arising from UNICEF’s work, UNICEF personnel or UNICEF associates. The risks may include those associated with physical violence (including corporal punishment); sexual violence, exploitation or abuse; emotional and verbal abuse; economic exploitation; failure to provide for physical or psychological safety; neglect of physical, emotional or psychological needs; harmful cultural practices; and privacy violations.

Certain UNICEF positions present elevated child safeguarding risks (“elevated risk roles”) and candidates and/or incumbents may be subject to more rigorous vetting and training. Roles may be elevated risk roles because of significant unsupervised direct contact with children, their data, having a role in responding to safeguarding incidents, or being otherwise assessed as presenting an elevated risk.

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. 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.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children.

Remarks:

• We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
• Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF.
• UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable from diverse populations (afro-descendants, indigenous, LGBTQIA+ and other minorities) are especially encouraged to apply. We are committed to supporting inclusion and diversity within UNICEF Brazil.
• UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

This job opportunity is presential and for Brazilians nationals only or international candidates with a work permit for Brazil.