Senegal is among the sub-Saharan African country with rapid economic growth, and facing high poverty rates and social exclusion, as well as rapid urbanization and young demographics. Almost half of the population is under the age of 18.

Development challenges are numerous, but so are the opportunities arising from the ongoing reforms. The Government adopted a new economic development strategy in 2014 called ‘Plan Senegal Emergent’, giving more focus to the development of human capital, social protection and sustainable development. In this framework, children in Senegal face a wide range of risks in terms of neglect, abuse, violence and exploitation. These risks are not only linked to poverty and exclusion from basic social services but also result from social norms and behaviors as well as from ignorance/minimization of the impact of violence and abuse on children on behalf of the population. In parallel, response relies on various actors at different levels and from different sectors, with challenges in terms of access, quality and operational coordination. In 2014, the Government of Senegal adopted a National Child Protection Strategy aimed at building a child protection system that would help preventing violence, abuse and exploitation against children, and providing coordinated and quality responses to child protection cases.

UNICEF is engaged in supporting Government for CP system strengthening across sectors (including social welfare, justice, security, education and health), from upstream to downstream and also in ending particularly harmful practices such as female genital mutilations (FGM) and child marriage.

The CP Programme’s work is articulated around three major components:

Support to the legal and institutional framework for CP, including law reform, capacity building, and CP coordination mechanisms at central and decentralized levels;

Support to the provision and access of quality CP services, across sectors, both in terms of prevention and response, with a particular focus on harmful practices (such as FGM and child marriage) and community-based CP mechanisms;

Support to birth registration promotion and civil registry services reform

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Provide technical support to the planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of the CP Programme, in support of Government policies and civil society engagement, and in line with the National CP strategy; in particular in the areas of communication for social and behavioral change, for the abandonment and preventions of harmful practices such as FGM, child marriage and VAC ;
Assist in the design and implementation of innovations and technologies to reinforce CP system components functioning and monitoring, and in all CP related areas – including Rapid PRO;
Collaborate, ensure support and follow up actions with Government and partners in designing planning, implementing, monitoring, strengthening routine data collection and management across sectors
Support research partnerships development, design, implementation, and monitoring
Contribute to analysis, briefing notes, reports, communication materials in support of the Programme planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting, including also for technical meetings, advocacy work, visibility of the programme ;
Contribute to the review of strategic and program documents.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

Education

University degree, equivalent to Master’s Degree, in Social Science, Law, Politics and Cooperation, or a technical related field.

Work Experience and skills

2 years experience in CP/GBV/social norms and related areas research, analysis and programme/project design, planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Experience in program design and M&E in the field of CP
Good knowledge / experience of statistics and database applications, innovations is an asset
Experience in West and Central African country context is an asset
Demonstrated ability to work in an international and multicultural environment, and establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the organization.
Language Proficiency
Fluency in French & English (required)
Competency Profile

i) Core Values (Required)

Commitment
Diversity and Inclusion
Integrity

ii) Core Competencies (Required)

Communication [ II ]
Working with People [ I ]
Drive for Results [ I ]

iii) Functional Competencies (Required)

Formulating strategies and concepts (I)
Analyzing (II)
Applying technical expertise (II)
Learning and researching (II)
Planning and organizing (II)