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For every child, LOVE

Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

 Consultancy Title: Consultant – GBV Risk Mitigation Capacity Building

Section/Division/Duty Station: Child Protection – Programme Group – NYHQ

Duration: 1 December 2023 – 31 August 2024

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. 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.   Preventing and responding to gender-based violence in emergencies (GBViE) is recognized as a life-saving measure and an essential component of humanitarian action. As a lead agency in addressing GBViE, UNICEF has expanded its on-the-ground programming in recent years and made prevention and risk mitigation of, and response to GBViE one of its targeted priorities in its new Strategic and Gender Action Plans (GAP) 2022-2025, as well as in the new Child Protection Strategy. GBViE contributes to the results under Goal Area 3 and is also now a cross-cutting priority across the new Strategic Plan-, making GBV risk mitigation one of UNICEF’s change strategies and a key contributor across all Goal Areas. GBViE risk mitigation is now also across all sectors and areas of work in UNICEF’s updated Core Commitments for Children.

Over the past five years, UNICEF has made significant progress on integration of GBV risk mitigation across all of the Agency’s programmatic sectors and clusters. The GBViE portfolio is now at a moment where dedicated support is required to help the team articulate the next phase of GBV risk mitigation capacity building across all of UNICEF. During the 9-month period of the contract, the consultant will provide the technical support required to this particular objective, through the specific tasks listed below.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the GBViE Specialist, the consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

1. Assess the UNICEF’s existing capacity building materials on GBV risk mitigation.
2. Integrate results of the assessment into the draft GBV RM capacity building strategy.
3. Prepare and conduct trainings on GBV risk mitigation for priority cohorts of UNICEF colleagues, based on the assessment results and updated capacity building strategy.
4. Integrate GBV risk mitigation capacity building content and supporting resources into other UNICEF capacity building initiatives currently under development.
5. Identify key entry points to strengthen GBV risk mitigation capacity within EMOPS, in collaboration with the GBViE ERT.

The consultancy will be home-based with travels to emergency-affected contexts relevant to the above tasks, as feasible.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

• Written summary of assessment findings

By 31 January 2024

• At least 10 key informant interviews and one survey completed

By 31 January 2024

• GBV RM capacity building strategy finalized and approved

By 31 March 2024

• One (in-person) training carried out

By 28 February 2024

• 10 trainings (remote webinars and/or in-person as relevant) carried out

By 31 August 2024

• GiE materials include GBV content cleared by the GBViE team

By 31 August 2024

• PHE materials include GBV content cleared by the GBViE team

By 31 August 2024

• One joint mission carried out

By 31 August 2024

• Recommendations shared and approved

By 30 June 2024

Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree Public health, social work, political science, human rights and international law or other related degree, or equivalent programming experience

Work experience:

• Minimum of 7 years of humanitarian or related work experience in GBV programming in natural disasters and conflict-affected countries.

Competencies/Knowledge:

• Knowledge and experience working on GBV risk mitigation with other humanitarian sectors/clusters.
• Experience with humanitarian coordination structures (at global and/or field level) preferred.
• Solid understanding of GBV guiding principles and the survivor-centred approach.
• Demonstrated ability developing and delivering GBViE trainings and developing related capacity building materials.
• 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.

 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.