Vacancies at UNICEF

PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT:

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, the consultant will review/adapt and develop a training package content relevant to online violence prevention and safety measures for children using online platforms and will provide content to law enforcement agencies and frontline workers on their roles for prevention and risk mitigation including service delivery. The consultant is expected to review the literature and relevant documents including existing training materials, and then she/he will organize validation with government agencies. Develop a training roadmap and provide the training to front-line workers and law enforcement officials.

SCOPE OF WORK:

Background:

South Africa is a middle-income country more than 27 years into the advent of democracy with remarkable progress to improve the well-being of its citizens. South Africa is recognised for its strong legislative framework and policies, including implementing children’s rights as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, enshrined in the Constitution of SA and the Children’s Act. South Africa is faced with the triple challenges of enduring poverty, inequality and unemployment, which impact the lives of children. Almost two-thirds of the South African children live below the upper bound of the poverty line with children in rural areas and those living in female-headed households, particularly at risk.

The fast-developing and continuously changing information and communication technology (ICT) environment is reshaping children's lives globally. Now more than ever children are increasingly relying on online and mobile technologies to learn, participate, play, entertain and socialise. The digital age has brought opportunities to children and its use has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite the many positive opportunities it provides, the internet also increases children's risk of abuse and exploitation and compounds offline risks and negative experiences such as bullying and harassment, exposure to pornographic and other potentially harmful materials, and possible dangerous contacts.

In 2021 UNICEF in partnership with the South Africa government conducted the National Kids Online Study as part of the Disrupting Harm Study to examine the opportunities and risks of ICT within a national context. The study revealed that most children (95.3%) and their parents/caregivers (80.2%) have access to the internet via a mobile device - which brings significant opportunities as well as risks. 70% of children use the internet without parental supervision and 1 in 3 children in South Africa are at risk of online exploitation. Risky online activities included meeting someone face-to-face with whom they met on the internet, actively seeking new friends, adding strangers as friends and sharing photos or videos of themselves with persons they have never met. Yet, many children remain silent about their experiences, with 50.5% of children not telling anyone what happened.

Scope of Work:

This consultancy reviews the package for capacity development material for the frontline workers and law enforcement agencies focusing on material developed in the previous phase. The package will be adopted in the South African context to ensure social and cultural sensitivity and relevance. The developed materials and toolkits will be aligned with the UNICEF global platforms of online safety, international instruments and national legislation and the network of ICT platforms available in SA. It will consider the law enforcement agencies and front-line workers who, support, work and educate children for prevention and response.

Activities and tasks:

Desk review: The consultant will conduct a literature review and pursue numerous online research documents, and training materials developed globally and in South Africa to produce relevant training packages for law enforcement and front-line workers.
Organize need-based joint consultation with relevant UNICEF section focal and government counterparts and non-governmental agencies within the National GBVF Collaborative addressing violence against women and children through the NSP on GBV implementation.
Conduct two focused interviews with stakeholders including government officials, and frontline workers that will support the development of training need assessment.

Develop the package of training materials and toolkits for the capacity development of law enforcement agencies and frontline workers. The consultant will cover materials for knowledge development on online safety issues including risk, prevention and mitigation strategies, the role of caregivers, and service providers, including appropriate content to promote the safety of children both online and offline. Take initiative for wider sharing with the Government counterparts, CSOs, and networks for final inputs on the content and training package.

Develop a roadmap for training delivery for law enforcement agencies and frontline workers within the timeframe.
Conduct training sessions with law enforcement agencies and front-line workers according to the training roadmaps.
Submit to UNICEF compiled reports to articulate the key progresses with challenges and the way forward for future implementation of the training package.

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PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT:

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, the consultant for Data Review will directly work with the Department of Social Development, SAPS, ChildLine, Film and Publication Board, Save the Children and other partner organizations focusing on the online protection of children to examine and review data on online safety. The consultant will identify areas of synergy and system collaboration processes and use technologies to identify common reporting pathways for alignment. The consultant will review existing data systems and generate recommendations for data consolidation platforms as well as categorization and disaggregation in reporting. The consultant will review the literature and relevant documents including the data from other organisations, and organize validation workshops with government agencies and other relevant stakeholders for alignment in reporting cases of online violence.

SCOPE OF WORK:

Background:

South Africa is a middle-income country more than 27 years into the advent of democracy with remarkable progress to improve the well-being of its citizens. South Africa is recognised for its strong legislative framework and policies, including implementing children’s rights as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, enshrined in the Constitution of SA and the Children’s Act. South Africa is faced with the triple challenges of enduring poverty, inequality and unemployment, which impact the lives of children. Almost two-thirds of the South African children live in families below the upper bound of the poverty line with children in rural areas and those living in female-headed households, particularly at risk. This in itself creates more vulnerability for these children whilst also denying them opportunities of enjoying the benefits that technology brings about.

The fast-developing and continuously changing information and communication technology (ICT) environment is reshaping children's lives globally. Now more than ever children are increasingly relying on online and mobile technologies to learn, participate, play, entertain and socialise. The digital age has brought opportunities to children and the use thereof has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite the many positive opportunities it provides, the internet also increases children's risk of abuse and exploitation and compounds offline risks and negative experiences such as bullying and harassment, exposure to pornographic and other potentially harmful materials, and possible dangerous contacts.

In 2021 UNICEF in partnership with the South African government conducted the National Kids Online Study as part of the Disrupting Harm Study to examine the opportunities and risks of ICT within a national context. The study revealed that most children (95.3%) and their parents/caregivers (80.2%) have access to the internet via a mobile device - which brings significant opportunities as well as risks. 70% of children use the internet without parental supervision and 1 in 3 children in South Africa are at risk of online exploitation. Risky online activities included meeting someone they met on the internet face-to-face, actively seeking new friends, adding strangers as friends and sharing photos or videos of themselves with persons they have never met.
In South Africa, there are pockets of interventions to address online violence as well as to report cases of violation of children online. Different organizations report differently on cases of violence against children online. This discrepancy creates a challenge for national statistics/reporting in providing the magnitude of the challenge and developing appropriate interventions.

Scope of Work:

The scope of work will include a situational analysis of child online safety data by data gathering and analysis including systems review for different organizations. Followed by sharing global categorization and classifications of online violations against children, and supporting organizations in aligning their own data systems for coherent reporting.

Activities and tasks:

• Desk review: The consultant will conduct a literature review and consider numerous online research documents developed globally and in South Africa to conceptualize the challenges of internet use by children and adolescents. The Desktop review will clearly indicate the data systems in SA as used by different organisations reporting on lie violence
• Organize joint consultations with relevant focal government counterparts and non-governmental agencies within the Online / digital space to understand their data management systems.
• Conduct focused interviews with stakeholders IT experts or/ data system representatives and management to solicit buy-in on respective organisations’ systems alignment. including government officials, frontline workers, Childline, Film and Publication Board and Save the Children for the conceptual framework Establish the working group across different stakeholders to work together and provide inputs for data management systems review,
• Develop and provide guidelines for systems review
• Provide technical IT support
• Submit comprehensive reports to generate recommendations.

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How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision and guidance of the Chief of Child Protection, the programme associate supports the section (s) by carrying out a range of programme support functions to help develop, implement and monitor their country programme, ensuring effective and timely delivery that is consistent with UNICEF rules and regulations.

The Programme Associate works in close collaboration with a range of staff in the CO, external partners and agency counterparts in support of programme design and delivery. S/He provides regular feedback on the status of projects through monitoring milestones and advises on improvements to keep activities on track.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Facilitating the development of programme cooperation agreements (PCAs) by providing information and drafting selected sections of it.
• Ensuring the timely and accurate recording and administrative processing of government & NGO’s proposals and requests for direct cash transfers (DCTs).
• Conducting programme monitoring in UNICEF focus districts for cash and supplies and informing team-members on the status.
• Helping conduct regular spot checks of partner’s projects to assess their financial record-keeping, expenditure controls and reporting systems.
• Monitoring and tracking the efficient distribution of supplies that are required for effective programme delivery.
•  Supporting the programme section in researching, compiling and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data and information from a variety of sources on subject matters relevant to the work of the section to facilitate programme delivery as well as preparation of reports, working papers and presentations.
• Carrying out transactions in VISION ensuring programme results, activities and programme coding are as per annual work plans (AWPs) and making amendments and alterations as per section revisions when necessary.
• Carrying out transactions in VISION pertaining to grants and programme-related items for his/her section including but not limited to registering grant allotments and tracking expiring programme grants.
• Preparing monitoring and reporting information for supervisor and team on agreed performance indicators to drive more efficient management and accountability for results.
• Regularly monitoring budgets and financial expenditures of section by employing applicable tools, ensuring compliance with UNICEF rules and regulations, keeping supervisor informed and advised on actions for decision and/or follow up.
• Helping prepare periodic or ad-hoc financial reports relating to country office and donors to support the office in optimizing use of programme funds.
• Supports capacity development activities related to programme development by preparing training materials and participating in exercises.

Key Skills Required:

• In-depth knowledge of the administration which underpins UNICEF country office programme/project operations, including monitoring and evaluation processes.
•  Strong organizational, planning and prioritizing skills and abilities.
• High sense of confidentiality, initiative and good judgment.
• Ability to work effectively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Strong office management skills.
• High attention to detail.
• Ability to effectively manage the section’s material resources and monitor its budget.
• Good analytical skills.
• Experience using MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other UNICEF software such as SharePoint

To qualify as a/an [champion or advocate] for every child you will have…

•  Completion of secondary education is required, preferably supplemented by technical or university courses related to the work of the organization.
• A minimum of six years of administrative or clerical work experience is required.
• Prior experience in programme support functions is an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English with knowledge of another UN language as an advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, Sustainability (CRITAS).

Core Competencies

• 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)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

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 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. 

Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.