UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built, we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, empowerment

UNICEF in the State of Palestine (SoP) works to uphold the rights of children to access services and protection, from early childhood through to adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential.

In the past years, UNICEF in the State of Palestine has achieved a high reach and engagement through its communication channels. UNICEF-SoP would like to build on this and continue engaging with our audience, who are not only seek information but are willing to have important conversations on crucial issues concerning children’s wellbeing and rights.

How can you make a difference?

Under the overall direction and guidance of the CP AoR National Coordinator and the Special Representative, the Child Protection Officer/AoR Coordinator will provide leadership and representation of the AoR in the West Bank They will facilitate the processes that will ensure a well-coordinated, strategic, adequate, coherent, and effective response by participants in the AoR that is accountable to those who are affected by the emergency. In their effort to provide an efficient and effective response to the escalating crisis in the West Bank, the Child Protection AoR sub-national coordinator is responsible for building relationships with stakeholders, for securing the overall coordination of sectoral responses and for ensuring inter-sectoral collaboration at the sub-national level and for ensuring adequate coordination with the national level.

Your key functions/accountabilities

The post holder is responsible for providing predictable, timely and strategic leadership and representation for the Child Protection AoR in the West Bank to ensure a timely and effective AoR response. The post holder is responsible for leading a range of stakeholders to work collectively towards the realization of a shared goal based on evidence.

The post holder’s main tasks and responsibilities will include but not be limited to:                                                                                                                  

Coordination, representation and leadership

• Strengthen and maintain a coordination mechanism that facilitates the effective achievement of the cluster functions (as outlined by the IASC Reference Module) and the requirements of the HPC (HNO, HRP and CCPM) and which builds on pre-existing coordination structures where appropriate and furthers the development of current of future subnational capacities,
• Coordinate with UNICEF Child Protection Programme section and the CP AoR at the national level, ensuring alignment of work and priorities, effective communication, reporting and engagement, and overall coherence in light of UNICEF’s role as AOR Lead Agency
• Coordinate with the Protection Cluster and other AoRs (GBV, MA, Legal taskforce) and MHPSS TWG at the sub-national level to ensure mainstreaming of key child protection issues and collaboration on cross-cutting protection concerns, as well as alignment of work and priorities, effective communication, reporting and engagement,
• Ensure appropriate coordination and build partnerships with all relevant sector stakeholders including local authorities, local, national, and international organizations, other AoRs/ Clusters/Sectors/ Working Groups, inter-cluster-coordination fora, and affected populations as appropriate,
• Build complementarity of partner actions within AoR, pro-actively negotiating with partners to avoid and resolve duplication and gaps

Needs assessment and analysis

• Lead the planning and implementation of child protection needs assessment and analysis, including representing the AoR in multi-sectoral needs assessments and joint analysis of need, at subnational level.
• Analyse needs assessment data and work collaboratively with the AoR partners to create analytical products, including an evidence based HNO.

Strategic response planning

• Lead and coordinate strategic planning, response prioritization, and the development of the sectoral response plan that is based on the HNO and aligned with national priorities, policies and plans, and updated regularly according to emerging needs.
• Ensure all programme delivery modalities (in-kind, cash, voucher, and services) are given equal consideration in the strategic response planning and establish and implement systematic measures for supporting their consideration and use,
• Provide relevant technical expertise and advice to AoR partners to ensure activities are aligned with sub-national and national priorities and communities’ needs,
• Ensure that sub-national AoR response planning is updated regularly according to evolving needs and that it establishes indicators by which performance of the sub-national AoR can be measured,
• Engage with OCHA and other AoRs to contribute to the development of the HRP, advocating for a response that reflects and addresses the concerns of the AoR.

Resource mobilization and advocacy

• Support and coordinate the mobilization of adequate resources to ensure effective functioning of the AoR the sub-national level and its response as well as the HDP nexus and system strengthening components, and subsequent handing over and establishment of medium to long term capacities when the cluster approach is deactivated,
• Monitor, analyse and communicate information about AoR financial situation and resource mobilization and identify appropriate actions to address gaps or constraints,
• Advocate for improved sectoral outcomes, network with advocacy allies and influence stakeholders’ decision-making. Implementation and monitoring
• Monitor, evaluate and report on the coverage, equity, quality and progress of the response against the sub-national AoR strategy, priorities and agreed results, including system strengthening and HDP nexus.
• Plan and support gap and coverage analysis to identify spatial and temporal gaps, overlaps and coverage of the AoR humanitarian response,
• Monitor the sub-national AoR adherence to IASC cluster approach principles, relevant humanitarian and sectoral agreements, standards, initiatives and guidelines and encourage partners to make improvements.

Implementation and monitoring

• Monitor, evaluate and report on the coverage, equity, quality and progress of the response against the sub-national AoR strategy, priorities and agreed results, including system strengthening and HDP nexus.
• Plan and support gap and coverage analysis to identify spatial and temporal gaps, overlaps and coverage of the AoR humanitarian response,
• Monitor the sub-national AoR adherence to IASC cluster approach principles, relevant humanitarian and sectoral agreements, standards, initiatives and guidelines and encourage partners to make improvements.

Accountability to affected populations

• Be accountable to the affected population by promoting inclusive and consultative feedback mechanisms and encouraging the involvement of affected population in the response,
• Ensure the inclusion of cross cutting issues (age, disability, gender, gender-based violence (GBV) mitigation and response and HIV & AIDS) in the sub-national AoR activities throughout the HPC,
• Encourage partners to demonstrate a positive and systematic approach to inclusion and diversity,
• Adhere to child safeguarding and PSEA policies including procedures for challenging and reporting incidents and ensure other members of the coordination team comply.

Strengthen national and local capacity

• Encourage participation of local and sub-national national actors in AoR activities and strategic decision-making, removing barriers to access,
• Lead the development of a capacity assessment and capacity strengthening strategy for sub-national AoR members and oversee implementation and harmonization of initiatives,
• Be responsible for Supporting UNICEF as a cluster lead agency to perform and strengthen its role as the last resort provider for the cluster to ensure an adequate and appropriate response in the West Bank

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

Education:

– A university degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science field.

Experience:

-A minimum of two years of professional experience in child protection planning and management related areas is required.

Experience working in a developing countries, humanitarian context or conflict-affected country is considered as an asset.

Language Requirement:

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

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

This is required for all posts requiring a higher education degree. “UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/

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

The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates)

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.