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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 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 fordeveloping 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.

Consultancy: Consultancy on the CRC Implementation Handbook Update – Phase Five

Duty Station: Programme Group, Human Rights Unit

Duration: 1 December 2025 – 30 November 2026

Home/ Office Based: Remote

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child has long been regarded as the most comprehensive guidance available for interpreting the Convention. Originally issued by UNICEF in January 1998—following an extensive consultative process involving a broad range of child rights stakeholders—the Handbook was subsequently revised in 2002 and 2007.

Over the years, the Handbook has become a widely used practical resource for governments, UNICEF and other UN entities, NGOs, national human rights institutions, and academics. As the leading authority on child rights, UNICEF has a responsibility to ensure the Handbook reflects the most up-to-date and relevant analysis of the Convention.

Since the last edition in 2007, the child rights landscape has evolved significantly—including major developments in jurisprudence, the issuance of new General Comments, Concluding Observations, and decisions under the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OPIC). Moreover, the current 775+ page hard copy format of the Handbook must be modernized to ensure accessibility in today’s digital age.

In 2021, UNICEF determined that a comprehensive update of the Handbook was both urgent and essential—both in terms of content and format. This decision led to the launch of a multi-phase project aimed at revising and modernizing the Handbook:

• Phases One to Three (2021–2024): These initial phases focused on developing the methodology and roadmap for the update, in close consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. Drafting of updated content for 22 CRC articles was successfully completed.
• Phase Four (Ongoing): This phase includes drafting the remaining 20 articles, stakeholder consultations on draft chapters, and a comprehensive review of all 42 chapters, incorporating feedback and ensuring consistency across the Handbook.

We are now entering Phase Five concurrently with Phase Four, which will focus on the final steps toward publication. This includes the finalization of the full Handbook, support for design and layout, and support to the dissemination and awareness raising about the Handbook. The final version of the Implementation Handbook is scheduled for publication in 2026.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Global Lead, Human Rights, the consultant will carry out the following tasks:

1. Support for Online Format Design

• Participate in meetings with digital design teams.
• Contribute to key design decisions to ensure the Handbook’s format is accessible, user-friendly, and coherent across all platforms.

2. Final Drafting and Proofreading of the CRC Implementation Handbook

• Revise and refine Handbook content based on feedback from peer reviewers.
• Collaborate with the copyeditor to ensure clarity, consistency, and adherence to UNICEF’s editorial standards.
• Update introductory chapters to reflect recent developments and align with the revised structure.

3. Support for Dissemination and Awareness-Raising

• Prepare supporting materials for outreach, including articles, chapter summaries, abstracts, videos and other relevant resources.
• Contribute to dissemination activities, such as launch events, webinars, and stakeholder briefings.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

1. Support the design of online format of the updated CRC Implementation Handbook

- Participate in at least 10 coordination meetings with digital design teams.

- Review and provide documented feedback on design prototypes, and mock-ups within 5 working days of receipt

15 Nov 2026

2. Final Drafting and Proofreading of the CRC Implementation Handbook

- Revise and refine Handbook content based on feedback from peer reviewers.

- Collaborate with the copyeditor to ensure clarity, consistency, and adherence to UNICEF’s editorial standards.

- Update introductory chapters to reflect recent developments and align with the revised structure

30 Sept 2026

3. Support dissemination and awareness raising on the CRC Implementation Handbook.

- Develop at least five types of outreach materials to support dissemination, including chapter summaries, 1 feature article for academic publications, short videos, abstracts and other relevant resources.

- Organize and facilitate at least three dissemination events (hybrid or in person event, webinars, and stakeholder briefings)

30 Oct 2026

Qualifications

Education:   

Masters in social sciences, international law, international relations, political science, or related field

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• A minimum of 16 years of experience in the field of human rights/child rights required.
• Up-to-date knowledge of the international legal framework on child rights and related evolution of jurisprudence;
• Demonstrated experience in project management and coordination within international organisations;
• Experience in facilitating consultation processes with a variety of stakeholders; and
• Excellent English-writing skills, with particular experience in writing technical guidance documents on interpretation of international law

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 core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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 selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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. 

Remarks:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.