Child Protection Consultant to Support Parenting for Violence Prevention Programming, Amman, Jordan, UNICEF GPD, Child Protection Section,12.5 months (remote) #594542

Contract Duration: 12.5 months

Working arrangement: remote

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 for as long as we are needed. 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 professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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

                                                         TERMS OF REFERENCE

Violence against children (VAC) remains a pervasive global challenge, with significant and often overlapping intersections with violence against women (VAW). Parenting support is recognized as one of the three breakthrough solutions for preventing VAC, alongside safe and enabling school environments and accessible response and support services. Strengthening parenting interventions offers a critical entry point to address these intersecting forms of violence by promoting positive caregiving, reducing violent discipline, and fostering safer, more protective family environments.

Demands for technical assistance from the Centres of Excellence (CoE) from UNICEF Country Offices and Governments are growing. These requests span the full continuum—from the development and review of strategic and policy frameworks to the design, adaptation, and scale-up of integrated parenting programmes within national systems, as well as the development of Social Behaviour Change (SBC)-informed parenting strategies and interventions to address harmful social and gender norms are also recurrent.

This consultancy will support the Centres of Excellence Child Protection and SBC teams in delivering technical assistance to Country Offices to strengthen SBC-informed parenting for VAC prevention, and broader parenting outcomes across the life course, while also contributing to the documentation of good practices, development of global and regional guidance, supporting cross country and cross regional learning, and strengthening of practical SBC resources for adaptation across contexts.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  TMC0004465 ToR.pdf

Minimum requirements:

• Education:
  • Advanced university degree (Master's or higher) in Child Protection, Social Work, Psychology, Public Health, Sociology, International Development, Education, Social and Behaviour Change, or another relevant social science discipline.
• Work Experience:
  • Minimum eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional experience in child protection, violence against children prevention, parenting and caregiver support, social and behaviour change, child protection systems strengthening, or related fields.
  • Demonstrated experience providing technical assistance to governments, UNICEF Country Offices, UN agencies, or development partners on the design, implementation, review, and scale-up of parenting and/or child protection programmes, including support for policy development, programme design, implementation and scale-up.
  • Proven experience in the development and review of strategies, policies, guidance, programme frameworks, implementation plans, and knowledge products.
  • Experience supporting knowledge management, facilitation of communities of practice, documentation of good practices, and development of technical guidance materials.
• Language requirement:
  • Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required.
  • Working proficiency in Spanish( written and spoken) is desirable.

•     Skills:

•     Strong technical expertise in parenting interventions and violence prevention.

•     Strong understanding of child protection systems strengthening and integrated service delivery models.

•     Knowledge of the intersections between violence against children (VAC) and violence against women (VAW).

•     Strong understanding of social and behaviour change (SBC) approaches and their application to parenting and violence prevention.

•     Familiarity with global frameworks and evidence, including INSPIRE, parenting support approaches, and child protection systems strengthening.

•     Excellent analytical, writing, editing, and communication skills.

•     Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills.

•     Ability to manage multiple technical assistance requests simultaneously and work effectively in a remote, multicultural environment.

Desirables:

• Experience contributing to global or regional guidance and normative products.
• Experience supporting ministerial conferences, regional forums, or global advocacy initiatives.
• Familiarity with UNICEF's Parenting for Child Protection agenda and Communities of Practice.
• Experience working across Child Protection and Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) programmes.
• Ability to work in LACR time zone.           

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

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal  TMC0004465 Financial Proposal Template.xlsx
• Technical proposal requirement:
  • • Applicants should submit at least three writing samples demonstrating experience in developing technical guidance, analytical products, policy documents or knowledge products relevant to the assignment.

Remarks:  If the TOR or financial proposal documents are not visible on certain recruitment platforms, please visit our official page Vacancies | UNICEF Careers.

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.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.