Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: Child Protection Systems Strengthening Consultancy

Section/Division/Duty Station: Child Protection Programme Team, New York

Duration: June 1, 2025, May 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 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. 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:  

In 2021, UNICEF launched its updated approach to Child Protection Systems Strengthening (CPSS). At present, UNICEF, together with other partners, is implementing an ambitious child protection programme to support global, regional and country-level actors to operationalize and implement inclusive and effective child protection systems, including children on the move (migrants and refugees) and children with disability. 

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide high-quality technical assistance to the child protection team by supporting several initiatives for dissemination and implementation of the CPSS approach on the ground and to strengthen the inclusion agenda, especially with a focus on children on the move in national CP systems through comprehensive and effective knowledge generation, dissemination and utilization. This will include the development, validation, and dissemination of several global public goods in the form of technical notes/guidance on various aspects of the CPSS approach. 

UNICEF HQ supports country offices to apply the CPSS benchmarking tool to measure the effectiveness of CPSS interventions across 158 countries. In 2024, UNICEF, along with partners, developed and launched the Child Protection Systems Strengthening Framework of Action during the 1st Ministerial Conference to end violence against children in Bogota, Colombia. UNICEF will continue to work with partners to advocate for endorsement of the framework by countries and its implementation. As part of our CPSS work, UNICEF also prioritizes social service workforce strengthening (SSWS) as a strategic intervention. UNICEF has undertaken several initiatives to provide technical assistance to governments and local partners to better plan, develop, and support the social service workforce for child protection. 

This consultancy will be aimed at supporting these strategic initiatives by providing ongoing technical assistance to UNICEF offices, in collaboration with our partners, to develop and deliver a series of discrete outputs.

 

Scope of Work:

UNICEF Strategic Plan (2022-2025) and Child Protection Strategy (2021-2030) identify strengthening inclusive child protection systems as one of the three core programming strategies to ensure that every child is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect, and harmful practices. In line with this priority, the purpose of this consultancy is to support the implementation of key UNICEF programme priorities in child protection systems strengthening (CPSS) work. 

There are four key objectives to this consultancy in terms of high-quality technical support to global, regional, and national initiatives:

(1) Strengthen UNICEF CPSS work including by providing high-quality technical assistance to develop, disseminate and facilitate uptake of several guidance and technical notes on various aspects and pillars of child protection systems, with a focus on inclusive child protection systems, particularly children on the move.

(2) Develop, document and disseminate the knowledge around emerging practices to strengthen inclusive CP systems through a vibrant community of practice.

(3) Support UNICEF’s social service workforce strengthening work as a critical element of CP Systems, with a particular focus on children on the move.

(4) Facilitate dissemination and endorsement of the Child Protection Framework of Action that was developed and launched with partners at the 1st Global Ministerial Conference to end violence against children. 

 

Terms of Reference / Specific Deliverables

1. Support the UNICEF HQ team to provide expert technical advice on Child Protection Systems and Social Service Workforce on CPSS/SSWS related to specific country contexts

Provide support in providing at least 20 expert technical advice based on requests received from UNICEF Country Offices and Regional Offices throughout the consultancy period.

01 June 2025-31 May 2026

2. Undertake an in-house review of the process of CPSS benchmarking, including a survey and consultations to capture CO experience in various contexts on measurement/assessment process including addressing issue of government led collaborative assessment; federal v state level assessment; inclusion, etc.

• Summary Survey report, including recommendations for the next SP and implications for inclusion through CO global survey and consultations with country offices on CPSS measurement and assessment

15 August 2025

• Present findings in CPSS Community of Practice (COP) webinar

15 September 2025

3. Write an addendum to the UNICEF CPSS approach, focusing on how to define, measure and monitor the extent to which child protection systems are inclusive (based on the work being done with UNHCR and IOM on COM and with Disability Inclusion). This will include discussions on the most effective use of the benchmarks in the next SP

• 10–15-page addendum to CPSS approach on how CPSS work can have a greater and more explicit focus on inclusion and a memo guidance for next SP

15 November 2025

• Share the addendum in 2 global webinars

15 December 2025 and 15 January 2026

4. Strengthen and expand the CPSS Community of Practice (COP)

• Organize 3 CPSS COP webinars: identify webinar topic; plan, develop, and promote the webinar; develop session content, session plan, PowerPoint

1) 30 July 2025

2) 31 September 2025

3) 15 Feb 2026

• Two (2) learning briefs: Review annual reporting and existing material, consult with colleagues as appropriate, work with designers to finalize draft, disseminate through various internal CPSS SharePoint pages and Community of Practice Channels  

15 March 2026

• Undertake at least four periodic updates of the CPSS COP page, SharePoint site, Teams Channel and Yammer

31 March 2026 

5. Development of policy briefs to accompany the CPSS Framework for Action, elaborating on the six key asks, as a working paper to be finalized in the lead up to the CPSS Global Conference and other related follow-up actions

• Draft CPSS website content and work with web designers to maintain and update

01 June 2025- 31 May 2026

• A policy brief to accompany the CPSS Framework for Action, elaborating on the six key asks, as a working paper to be finalized in the lead up to the CPSS Global Conference

31 July 2025

• Develop at least 6 intro blurbs for documents to be uploaded from UNICEF in the ‘CPS Framework for Action’ website and 6 periodic updates in the contents 

15 August 2025 and throughout the consultancy

• Convene at 6 CPSS task force meetings focused on accelerating progress on the CPSS Framework for Action established and functional. 

01 June 2025 to 31 May 2026

• Develop one concept note for the CPS global conference and one global progress note to date (max 5 pages with infographics) on effective and inclusive Child Protection Systems

15 October 2025

6. Support to document, publish and disseminate good practice and lessons learned on acceleration of SSWS in acceleration countries

• Write two learning briefs developed, designed, published and shared through the community of practice that report on country office  activities to scale up the SSW for child protection

15 January 2025 and 15 March 2026 

7. Work with the Prospects coordinator to finalize and publish a joint UNICEF-UNHCR Study on cross-border case management to strengthen national authorities' role and capacity in cross-border individual case management processes

• 30-page report on cross-border case management 

15 September 2025

• 10-15 page guidance notes

15 November 2025

8. ESARO cross-border agreements and process  

• One report on Mapping and Assessment of existing cross-border agreements and processes, and the degree to which they are child-sensitive (ensure the best interests of the child) 

15 January 2026

• Develop a practical guide on advocacy for the setting up of cross-border agreements and processes 

15 May 2026

 

Qualifications

(1) Education

Masters level. An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: social science, social work, international development, human rights, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science.

Language Proficiency: 

• Fluency in English is required. Working proficiency of another official UN language is highly desirable. 

 

(2) Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required: 

• A minimum of five years of professional experience in child protection programme planning and management in the areas of child protection systems strengthening is required; 

• Previous experience on systems strengthening with a focus on the social service workforce and inclusion of children on the move.

• Experience in developing global public goods (Guidance/Technical Note) on Child protection systems related issues

• Experience on collaboration with key partners on child protection systems at global level

• Relevant experience in programme development in child protection systems, social service workforce, alternative care, and so on, in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.

 

Requirements: 

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and 

- Upload copy of academic credentials 

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

o the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.

o travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR. 

o Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.

o 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.