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Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up. –

For every child, a Trustable hand

https://www.unicef.org/where-we-work

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 Background and Purpose:

Violence, exploitation, and abuse in all forms jeopardize children’s development. Gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual violence are pervasive issues in Uganda, affecting a significant percentage of children. UNICEF is committed to addressing sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and improving access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information.

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) chatbot developed by UNICEF aims to provide critical information and support services for children and young people. This project seeks to enhance the chatbot’s content to include SEA, GBV, and SRHR topics, empowering adolescents to seek help and report incidents.

Justification:

Violence, exploitation, and abuse threaten the physical and mental health of children, jeopardizing their development and future. In Uganda, approximately 35% of girls and 17% of boys have experienced sexual violence during childhood. This situation necessitates urgent action to protect vulnerable populations.

UNICEF is committed to addressing all forms of sexual misconduct and violence against children, aligning with the UN’s priorities. Many young people lack access to quality sexual and reproductive health information and services, exacerbating issues like early pregnancies and gender-based violence (GBV).

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) chatbot, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development (MGLSD), aims to improve access to mental health resources. This TOR outlines the need for developing content on PSEA (Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse), GBV, and SRHR (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights) to be incoporated into the chatbot to ensure it provides accurate, culturally sensitive, and engaging information tailored to adolescents.

By enhancing the chatbot’s capabilities, we can empower young people in Uganda to seek support, report incidents, and access crucial services, contributing to a safer and healthier environment for children and adolescents.

Objectives:

The key objective of this assignment is to develop Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gender Based Violence and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse adolescent content that will be incorporated in the Mental Health chatbot recently launched by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Scope:

• Develop culturally sensitive and age-appropriate content for adolescents (ages 13-18) on PSEA, GBV, and SRHR topics tailored for the chatbot.
• Develop external articles and resources that can be integrated into the chatbot or linked on SAFE PAL for broader accessibility.
• Collaborate with stakeholders (adolescents, MDAs, UNICEF, other agencies) to ensure the content is relevant and effective.
• The content shall align with the Government of Uganda and UNICEF’s guidelines, as well as UNICEF’s available materials on PSEA, GBV/SGBV, AAP, VAC, and SRHR.
• The content shall prioritize safety, non-judgmental support, and access to resources.
• The content should be developed in English and Swahili.
• Finally, the content shall be tested and validated with relevant stakeholders (Stakeholder workshop, including adolescents).

Tasks/Responsibilities:

1. Implementation plan
2. SRHR, GBV, PSEA content
3. Testing and validation
4. Final content revisions
5. Final content

Deliverables:

1. Inception Report
2. Draft 1 of content
3. Workshop report
4. Workshop Report
5. Content and Final Report

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

• Master’s degree in social sciences, Psychology, or related field.
• Minimum of 5-7 years’ experience working with children and youth, particularly in GBV, SEA, and SRHR program implementation.
• Demonstrated experience with digital tools, including chatbot technology, for enhancing community engagement and service delivery.
• Proven ability to integrate digital solutions into humanitarian or development programming.
• Skills: Strong understanding of chatbot technology, and digital engagement.
• Languages: Fluency in English, Swahili.

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

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.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

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 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 promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. 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.

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

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements