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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

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Consultancy Title: GBV/ Education Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Child Protection Team - Programme Division, NYHQ

Duration: July 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026

Home/ Office Based: REMOTE 

About UNICEF 

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For over 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND 

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Related to this mission, UNICEF is directly involved in addressing gender-based violence (GBV) in some of the world’s most intense and complex conflicts and disasters. GBV in its various forms constitutes a global crisis which undermines social and economic progress; as one of the world’s greatest human rights violations, GBV must be addressed to ensure universal rights and principles with regard to equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of human beings.  Addressing gender-based violence in emergencies (GBViE) is recognized as a life-saving measure and an essential component of humanitarian action. UNICEF has made GBViE (prevention, risk mitigation and response) one of its targeted priorities in its Strategic and Gender Action Plans (GAP) 2022-2025, as well as in the Child Protection Strategy. GBViE contributes to the results under Goal Area 3 and is a cross-cutting priority across the Strategic Plan, making GBV risk mitigation one of UNICEF’s change strategies and a key contributor across all Goal Areas. GBViE risk mitigation cuts across all sectors and areas of work in UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children.

As part of the GBV risk mitigation pillar of the GBViE portfolio, UNICEF was granted a multi-year funding under the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) “Acceleration Facility” to advance gender transformative education and GBV risk mitigation in emergencies and protracted crises. Since June 2023, UNICEF has made significant progress on developing and implementing tools to measure the effectiveness of GBV risk mitigation within Education in Emergencies programming. An Education Menu of Measures (MoM) and an accompanying Guidance Note were successfully piloted in two MYRP countries (Chad and Burkina Faso), availing indicators and M&E tools to track the GBV risk mitigation actions implemented by the Education Sector and analyze their appropriateness, effectiveness and sustainability.

Until the end of March 2026, UNICEF’s GBV/Education work will focus on expanding the accessibility and uptake of the methodology and existing technical resources within UNICEF institutional structures and beyond, including ensuring wide dissemination to EiE practitioners around the world. A highly skilled GBViE consultant is required to support this workstream.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the GBViE Specialist, the consultant will:

1.   Increase awareness and uptake of the new suite of GBV / Education technical resources;

2.   Contribute to advance the GBV Risk Mitigation Institutionalization agenda;

3.   Provide in-country and/or remote technical support on GBViE.

The consultancy will be home-based with potential  travel to emergency-affected contexts relevant to the above tasks, as necessary. 

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Increase awareness and uptake of the new suite of GBV / Education technical resources

Socialize the new tools and resources across the UNICEF and the Education sector         

• At least 4 webinars completed, including a deep dive in the MoM and Guidance Notes and lessons learned from the field pilots (2 for UNICEF Staff and 2 for broader audience)

15 October 2025

• At least 3 presentations given in key fora (such as the global Education Cluster, INEE, etc.)

31 December 2025

• GBV/Education Sharepoint page created and widely disseminated widely in house (via Yammer, Emails to Regional Education Coordinators etc)    30 September 2025

            MoM and Guidance Note uploaded in relevant platforms, including the ECW Resource Library   30 September 2025

Contribute to advance the GBV Risk Mitigation Institutionalization Agenda

Identify and implement initiatives aiming at improving the sustainability of the tools      

• Dissemination GBV/Education package (PPT slide decks, talking points by target audience etc) focusing on opportunities to integrate the resources into institutional systems and structures developed and approved  

31 August 2025

• At least 5 working sessions held to integrate the indicators and M&E tools to track the GBV risk mitigation actions into the EIE training module developed under the ECW projects 

30 September 2025

• At least 2 more initiatives to institutionalize the GBV Education methodology and tools (such as contractual agreement with implementing partners, M&E plans for UNICEF Education programmes and cluster coordination) implemented and documented  

31 December 2025

• Institutionalization sub-page of the GBV Guidelines website updated with developments on GBV Risk Mitigation in the Education Sectors

31 December 2025

Provide in-country and/or remote technical support on GBViE

Provide GBViE technical support to UNICEF COs in francophone contexts.       

• At least ten technical exchanges with UNICEF COs (reviews of documents, online trainings, meetings/learning exchanges, etc.)

31 December 2025

Provide mentoring / coaching with pilot countries (Chad and Burkina Faso) to support their GBV risk mitigation effort           

• Country Plans (2) developed to support implementation of key risk mitigation measures in UNICEF-led sectors           

30 November 2025

• At least 3 support sessions with each of the pilot countries delivered, with notes (discussion and action points)           

31 March 2026

Qualifications

Education:

Advance University Degree (Masters) in Public health, social work, political science, human rights and international law or other related degree, or equivalent programming experience.

Language Proficiency:

Fluency in English required, working proficiency of another official UN language an asset (French preferred)

Work experience:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

•     At least 5 years of humanitarian or related work experience in GBV programming in natural disasters and conflict-affected countries.

•     Knowledge and experience in GBViE M&E, measurement, and research.

•     Experience with humanitarian coordination structures (at global and/or field level) preferred.

•     Solid understanding of GBV guiding principles and the survivor-centred approach.

•     Experience working in and/or with the Education in Emergencies sector. Experience with IM for EiE particularly useful.

•     Flexible work attitude: ability to work productively in a team environment and independently, and to handle requests or issues as they arise.

•     Excellent interpersonal and communication skills: the ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people in a wide range of functions in a multi-cultural environment.

•     Fluency in English required; working proficiency in at least one other official UN language (French preferred). 

•      Requirements: 

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

• Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :
  • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

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.

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates 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 assignment. It does not apply to consultants 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 consultancy contracts.