UNICEF recruits 01 Child Rights Consultant

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

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, safety

Background and Justification 

The realisation of children’s rights, particularly the equalisation of the opportunities of historically marginalised children through the promotion, protection and realisation of their rights is critical to achieving sustainable development and fulfilling the country’s international, regional and constitutional child rights responsibilities. Instruments like the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Sustainable Development Agenda (SDG), the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Constitution obligate families to take care of their children and impose responsibilities on the government to ensure provisioning of quality social services for all children and their families.

These legal instruments are used to secure universal provisioning of critical rights-based developmental services such as birth registration, social protection, early childhood development, education, health and protection from abuse and neglect. These components are part of the foundation for a developmental state as aspired to in the NDP. Children and their rights are interlinked and is an explicit national developmental priority embedded within the 14 outcomes of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF).

As a country of contrast, children still face socio-economic inequalities and high rates of violence and other risks and it is important, therefore, for all duty bearers to realise what children’s rights are and how to meet these in terms of direct implementation. South Africa has developed excellent laws and policies and has one of the most well-developed social assistance systems for children on the continent and children enjoy widespread access to basic social services. However, the gap between legislation and implementation remains wide and the linkages among services are not well established.

With such stark levels of deprivations South African children face, it is important that a large network of stakeholders is aware of children’s social and economic rights and understands its role in bridging the gap between policy, legislation and implementation of services on the ground.

This consultancy aims to:

1. Develop an oversight toolkit on children’s rights with primary audience being the South African National Parliament, using both international instruments and national legislation, using the existing UNICEF toolkit templates on child rights;
2. Create an important network of child rights practitioners who can use this information to serve the children’s best interest. Network members may included, but are not limited to Members of Parliament (MPs), journalists, religious and traditional leaders, and members of civil society;
3. Develop a training guideline for trainers on child rights and Violence Against Children (VAC);
4. Provide technical support to the Department of Social Development for the design of the implementation plan of the National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC); and
5. Develop a position paper on UNICEF’s support to the South African Child Rights Commissioner, Parliament and Civil Society Coalition on children’s rights.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work 

1. Goal and Objective:  Under the supervision of the Chief Social Policy and Child Protection, the consultant will assist the Social Policy and Child Protection section to advance the child rights agenda in South Africa through development of a child rights training toolkit and a position paper on UNICEF’s support to various key strategic partners.
2. Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: This work will contribute to the achievement of output 4.2: Child rights governance system is further strengthened for mobilizing and supporting government, the legislature, civil society and children in advancing the rights of all children.
3. Activities and Tasks:  

1. Develop an oversight toolkit on children’s rights with international instruments and national legislation, taking into consideration existing UNICEF toolkit templates on child rights.

In developing the children’s right oversight toolkit, the consultant will draw on the existing UNICEF child rights toolkit, which should ease the development of a South African child rights oversight toolkit for Parliament. Furthermore, the Consultant will use all existing international and national laws and policies pertaining to the protection of children’s rights in finalizing the toolkit. In developing the toolkit, extensive consultations with the Parliamentary Research Office and UNICEF focal persons are required. 

1. Develop a training guideline for trainers on child rights and Violence Against Children.

In addition to the child rights toolkit, the consultant will develop a training guideline that will be used to train members of parliament, journalists, traditional and faith-based leaders, and other members of the community on child rights and VAC. The training guideline must include all necessary training tools for facilitators (including UNICEF volunteers) to conduct training to distinct groups. It must be holistic, easy to understand and target groups of trainees in the child rights field. In addition to the training guidelines, it is important for the consultant to develop awareness raising material on online-safety, violence in schools, substance abuse and child participation. The consultant will develop a database that includes all experts on child rights and VAC in all provinces in South Africa. The benefit of the expert data base is to assist Parliament in accessing sector relevant expertise when the need arises.

1. Develop a national expert database on child rights and Violence Against Children.

The consultant will develop a database that includes all experts on child rights and VAC in all provinces in South Africa. The benefit of the expert data base is to assist Parliament in accessing sector relevant expertise when the need arises.

1. Provide technical support to the Department of Social Development on the design of the implementation plan of the National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC).

The consultant will be working in close collaboration with the Department of Social Development and UNICEF Social Policy and Child Protection team to contribute to the development of the implementation plan for the NPAC. 

1. Develop a position paper on UNICEF’s support to the South African Child Rights Commissioner (CRC), Parliament and Civil Society Coalition on children’s rights.

The consultant will collect information on the collaborative work of UNICEF with the Child Rights Commissioner, Parliament and civil society organizations and motivate for the importance of UNICEF’s support to these institutions as strategic partner to leverage high-level commitment for the protection and realization of children’s rights. The final output should recommend a few key positions that will assist UNICEF in its relationship and work with the various oversight institutions in promoting children’s rights at a high policy and political level.

 4. Work relationships:  

The consultant will work closely with the UNICEF team under the leadership and direct supervision of the Chief of section Social Policy and Child Protection, liaise with different civil society stakeholders including the Department of Social Development, the Children’s Rights Commissioner, and representatives from Faith-Based Organizations (FBOS) and civil society. The consultant will work closely with the manager of the youth volunteer programme to meet the expectation from the Communications and Partnerships section in terms of developing training instruments for training of youth volunteers as well. 

5.Outputs/Deliverables: 

Deliverables	Duration (Estimated # of days or months)	Timeline/Deadline	Schedule of payment
Overtight toolkit on children’s rights and Violence Against Children	2 Months	31 October 2019	30% for Deliverable 1
Training guideline for trainers on child rights and Violence Against Children (including the development of online violence awareness material)	3 Months	31 January 2020	10% for Deliverable 2
Support the design of the Implementation Plan on the NPAC	6 Months	28 February 2020	30% for Deliverable 3
Database on child rights and VAC experts in all provinces	3 Months	30 April 2020	10% for Deliverable 4
Develop a position paper on UNICEF’s support to the CRC, Parliament and Civil Society Coalition on children’s rights.	1 Month	31 May 2020	20% for Deliverable 5

6.Required Travel: 

The consultant will travel within South Africa when required. Travel costs for the consultant will be included in the total consultancy fee.

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

• Desired competencies, technical background and experience
  1. An advanced University degree in Law/International Relations, Public Policy, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related, with 5-8 years of experience working within the children’s rights, public policy and development environment.
  2. Outstanding research and analytical skills, including strong ability to analyze, integrate and summarize information from a wide range of sources;
  3. Excellent writing skills in English, including a demonstrated ability to draft clear, concise and reports;
  4. Good computer skills, including familiarity with search engines and academic databases;
  5. Ability to work independently and to ensure high-quality deliverables; and
  6. Demonstrated capacity to engage with key stakeholders and facilitate workshops and dialogues
  7. Demonstrated capacity to carry out the assignment within the allocated timeframe.

Administrative issues

The consultant will primarily be operating from his/her own office, using her/his own office resources and materials in the execution of this assignment. Meetings will be conducted with the consultant on a regular basis (at least every 2 weeks) meetings with the UNICEF Chief of Child Social Policy and Child Protection and other UNICEF colleagues to update on progress and if necessary adjust the timeline and work plan accordingly. The consultant will meet with government and other non-governmental partners.

 Conditions

• The consultant will be based in UNICEF South Africa offices in Pretoria
• All travel is by most economical fare and reimbursement as per UNICEF policy,
• As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.
• Estimate of any travel costs required for the consultancy will be included the contract, inline with UNICEF travel cost guidelines, and will be paid on reimbursement basis on the basis of actual costs incurred
• The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit their application to the following link: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=525671 by 29 August 2019.

This notice will also appear on http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/, http://www.unicef.org/southafrica, UN Job List, UN Jobs.

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in ZAR) to undertake the terms of reference above (including admin cost if applicable).

Applications submitted without a fee rate will not be considered.

We invite you to watch a short video on the system on how to apply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePgDIQ9RVYs&feature=youtu.be

If you have not been contacted within 1.5 month of the closing date please accept that your application was unsuccessful. Regret emails will be sent only to shortlisted/contacted candidates. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from South African nationals, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization

 

“UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, and on any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.”