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. 

For every child, child protection is a must!!

How can you make a difference? 

Country Context:

Most of Liberia’s children, adolescents and youth are trapped in a cycle of violence, poverty and deprivation, experience violence, struggle to get educated, and find it difficult to find decent employment. Violence against children and adolescents, especially girls, remain a challenge, including rape, abuse, harassment, and exploitation. Sexual harassment in schools in the form of ‘sex for grades’ and ‘sex for school fees’ is common. Violent discipline is also a widely accepted practice, while at least 31 per cent of children (2-14 years old) were engaged in some form of labour.

Harmful cultural and traditional practices, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) are among the gravest forms of violence practiced against children in Liberia. Birth registration is the first critical first step towards safeguarding lifelong protection for a child. Despite the increase in birth registrations from 25% in 2013 to 66% in 2019, it remains out of reach for many children in Liberia.  The country has one of the lowest levels of birth registration in the world: less than one quarter of all births are registered. When vulnerable children and adolescents come into conflict with the law, they are often exposed to even more violence and distress.

UNICEF has been working in Liberia for close to 30 years, turning our vision for children into practical action and helping build a comprehensive child protection system to keep children safe. This means supporting the implementation of laws, especially the Children’s Law, and relevant policies, regulations and services that protect children from harm, and that respond to, and support victims and survivors. This includes support to rule of law and transitional justice in Liberia and the country’s efforts to prosecute crimes committed during the Liberian Civil War. Protection starts at birth. UNICEF supports the delivery of birth registration services by building the capacity of government, increasing the availability and quality of services and mobilizing parents and communities to register their children.

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose for the Job:

The overall purpose of this internship post is to support UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme on reporting, communication, and visibility. The intern will report to the Chief of Child Protection and will receive ongoing mentorship from the Chief Communication.  

Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

• Proofread and provide layout support for concept notes, proposals, presentations, posters, donor reports and other communication materials for donor communication.
• Keep track of success stories at result and impact level and develop e-bulletin articles, human interest stories, ICON stories and other materials to showcase the work and achievement of child protection programmes.
• Support Child Protection and Communication sections to develop high quality products such as guidelines/manuals, data visualization, infographics, online contents, leaflets, brochures, photos, videos, social media messages, etc. to ensure proper communication and visibility of the results achieved.
• Support the planning and management of national and international events (e.g., International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, World Social Workday, Day of the African Child, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day, International Day of the Girl Child, and World Children’s Day) with partners and stakeholders.

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

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in communication, journalism, media, marketing, design, English language or relevant fields.

Experience:

• Relevant work experience in writing/editing of reports and publications, presentation design, photography and videography, and event management.
• Demonstrated experience with Infogram, Indesign, iMovie, Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Canva, and other design and editing applications.
• Knowledge and/or experience in child protection programming or related area would be an asset, especially experience within the United Nations system.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 

For every Child, you demonstrate... 

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness(
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others.

 During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for personnel 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. 

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:  

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