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For every child, hope

UNICEF Ukraine

How can you make a difference?

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.

Child Rights monitoring can be defined as monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, encompassing a broad effort to systematically evaluate how all children’s rights are effectively protected and fulfilled.

Strategic office context:

The prolonged war in Ukraine has heightened children’s risk of poverty, disease, family separation, learning loss, mental health trafficking and violence, including gender-based violence (GBV). More than 3.7 million people (629,000 children) are internally displaced, while 2.9 million people (493,000 children) are living along the frontline and in non-government-controlled areas (NGCA), facing intense shelling, damaged housing infrastructure and severe constraints to their basic needs including water, electricity and health services.

Even before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, there was insufficient and inadequate disaggregated data on child-related issues in Ukraine, resulting in a serious deficiency in up-to-date information on children that has hindered monitoring of progress towards SDGs and CRC commitments. This situation has only worsened since the full-scale invasion. There is also constrained capacity to analyse and use data to make evidence-based decisions and policies to ensure the realization of these rights.

UNICEF Ukraine is focused on improving child rights’ monitoring systems so that Ukrainian children benefit from inclusive services, policies and protections to realize their rights. As the overarching outcome of the country programme, it complements specific sectoral monitoring, evidence and knowledge-generation interventions of other outcomes and aims to strengthen institutional settings and accountability systems for protecting child rights in Ukraine.

Working with a wide range of state and civil society actors, including the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (SSSU), the Ministry of Social Policy (MoSP), other relevant line ministries, the Office of the Ombudsman, and local authorities, UNICEF will strengthen national capacities to:

• regularly produce child-related data and evidence including updated SDG data and contribute to generation and use of statistics and evidence to inform child-friendly policies and decision making
• develop, coordinate and manage a comprehensive, cross-sectoral child rights monitoring system;
• improve national capacities to collect, monitor and use child-centered data and evidence; and
• foster the awareness and capacities of rights-holders and duty-bearers to uphold children’s rights and ensure their realization in humanitarian and development contexts.

The purpose of the job:

Under the general guidance of the supervisor (Chief CRM and Evaluation), the incumbent is responsible for supporting UNICEF’s work to strengthen national capacities for monitoring the situation of children and implementation of the CRC primarily through data generation, situation analysis, evaluation and improved evidence and policy interface. The CRM Officer will play a key role in strengthening data and evidence for child rights and supporting national capacities to indpendently monitor Ukraine’s CRC commitments and progress towards the achievement of child-related SDGs. This includes:

1. Strengthening national data systems for child rights monitoring, working with the SSSU as well as other members of the national statistical system to improve the availability, disaggregation and recency of national data and evidence from all possible sources, with a potential for inter-operability and real-time monitoring systems, including significant support to government-led household surveys including a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) as well as support to updated SDG data, TransMonEE and a nationally-owned Situation Analysis for Children; supporting local statistics capacity for evidence-based policymaking for community restoration and development;
2. Influencing the national child rights monitoring system, agenda, policies and programming to position outcomes for children using data, analysis, evaluation results and other forms of evidence in line with CRC recommendations, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), EU targets and other frameworks; supporting national capacities in CRC reporting and monitoring and advocacy for strengthened SSSU capacity; advocacy for establishment of and technical assistance to an inter-ministerial CRC committee; and advocacy, awareness raising and capacity building of government, parliamentary groups and civil society on child rights.
3. UNICEF programme management in child rights monitoring, engaging in programme design, establishing partnerships, and monitoring the performance of activities under the purview of the post, including the optimum use of resources.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

1.     Strengthening national data systems for child rights monitoring (ECA CRM programmatic outcome-level result 1)

1.1.   Establishes effective partnerships with the SSSU and other members of the national  and local statistical system and supports the national partners with the integration of global standards on data and statistics into national statistical plans, relevant national surveys and/or systems.

1.2.   Leads UNICEF’s technical advice for assessment of child-focused data availability and gaps, and development of national plans to improve the availability and use of data on children from traditional and non-traditional sources, particularly on vulnerable groups and including in emergencies, and improving access to available data and statistics in a user-friendly manner.

1.3.   Supports the national partners with establishing baselines, analysing trends and developing data sources for child‑related SDG indicators, with a greater emphasis on indicators for which UNICEF globally has a custodian or co-custodian role and SDG evaluations.

1.4.   Cooperates with SSSU and other partners in the planning and conduct of child-focused household surveys including a planned MICS, and integrating child-related elements in national and international surveys.

1.5.   Provides technical support to the UNICEF programme (particularly health, education, social and child protection) and respective national partners in their work to develop sectoral administrative data, including the planning, implementation and digitalisation of all service-based data collection and analysis.

1.6.   Helps develop cross-sectoral and inter-operability aspects of administrative data systems by supporting the responsible government agency to make sectoral administrative data systems inter-operable towards identification and projection of vulnerable groups in the planning processes while promoting data ethics and protection of confidentiality of data.

2. Influencing the national child rights monitoring system, agenda, policies and programming with evidence and measurable commitments for children (ECA CRM programmatic outcome-level result 2)

2.1.   Supports the development of a nationally-led periodic equity-based situation analysis that informs the CRC reporting process and is aligned with the national planning process and cycle. Mobilises and ensures the participation of national stakeholders, children, and young people and strengthens national institutional capabilities, processes and systems for continious situation analysis .

2.2.   Leads advocacy for establishment of and technical assistance to an independent, inter-ministerial CRC committee to monitor child rights commitments and CRC recommendations;

2.3.   Strengthens parliamentary oversight of child rights through advocacy and engagement with the key parliamentary groups with the mandates relevant to children’s rights, including on child rights monitoring and reporting, SDGs and child-friendly budgeting.

2.4.   Leads the integration of data and evidence in cross-sectoral planning documents, such as a comprehensive child rights strategy or national development/SDG action plans, considering equity issues and the latest CRC concluding observations (and as relevant CRPD, CEDAW and UPR recommendations). Helps set monitorable targets against child-related indicators at the national and sub-national levels, focusing on the most vulnerable groups and improving the results-based planning and budgeting for children.

2.5.   Supports/leads the Country Office efforts in working with national partners, such as child rights coordination bodies, NHRIs, parliament, civil society,  academics and children, with CRC reporting processes and continuous monitoring of implementation and follow-up to CRC observations and other human rights treaty body recommendations related to children.

3.     UNICEF programme management in child rights monitoring

3.1.   Participates in strategic programme discussions on the planning of the child rights monitoring components of the Country Programme; formulates, designs and prepares CRM and evaluation-related programme/project proposals, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s overall Strategic Plans and the Country Programme as well as coherence and integration with regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies, and UNSDCF where appropriate.

3.2.   Guides the use of the analysis of the situation analysis on child rights to inform and support strategic reflection and learning in the office throughout the country programme management cycle.

3.3.   Builds and sustains effective close working partnerships with national stakeholders, global partners, allies, donors, and academia – through active networking, advocacy and effective communication – to build capacity, exchange knowledge and expertise, and reinforce cooperation to achieve sustainable and broad results in child rights monitoring

3.4.   Plans and collaborates with colleagues and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators, and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurements to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable child rights monitoring results across the Country Programme.

3.5. Monitors and verifies the optimum and appropriate use of programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets) for the child rights monitoring component and evaluation, confirming compliance with organisational rules, regulations, procedures, donor commitments, and standards of accountability and integrity. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.

Impact of Results

Achievements in child rights monitoring and identifying what works and what does not through evaluations contribute to maintaining/enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to promote the General Measures of Implementation of the CRC (particularly related to data collection and monitoring of development indicators, impact assessments and evaluation, independent monitoring, coordination and a holistic approach to on the integration of child rights in national planning processes) and thus greater social equality in the country. In line with the status of national capacities and institutions, it will contribute to countries’ progress in following the General Measures of Implementation, as described in General Comment No 5 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, specifically the following:

1. Data collection and monitoring of development indicators;
2. Monitoring implementation through impact assessments and evaluation, including independent monitoring;
3. Development of a comprehensive national child rights strategy/integration of concerns for children into national development planning and
4. Coordination of implementation of children’s rights.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: public policy, statistics, or another relevant social science field with significant research components.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of two years of professional experience in social research and relevant experience in data ecosystems and analysis, or similar is required.
• Experience of working with data and analytics is required, with a good understanding of data sources, data/statistical analysis, database development, data visualization, data quality assurance mechanisms and ethical considerations in data/research.
• Experience in demographic, health, education and other social statistics is required.
• Strong project management skills and experience in partnerships with government and civil society.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.
• Familiarity with child rights and normative frameworks regarding child rights is desirable.
• Background and/or familiarity with Ukraine statistical ecosystem is an advantage.
• Knowledge of another official UN language 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

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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 measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, 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 people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

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.

Eligible staff members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to IP TA positions in a duty station designated as L2/L3, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements, subject to approval by their Head of Office. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

This position is based in Kyiv and the incumbent will be expected be work on-site. However, depending on the security conditions and advisory, s/he will be required to relocate within Ukraine.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements