Child Protection and Education in Emergencies Assistant

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Brazil since 1950, supporting the most important changes in the area of ​​childhood and adolescence in the country. UNICEF participated in major immunization and breastfeeding campaigns; the mobilization that resulted in the approval of article 227 of the Federal Constitution and the drafting of the Child and Adolescent Statute; the movement for universal access to education; programs to combat child labor; among other great advances in guaranteeing the rights of Brazilian girls and boys.In recent decades, Brazil has promoted a strong process of inclusion of children and adolescents in public policies. However, a significant portion of the population remains excluded. Therefore, in its cooperation program with the Brazilian government for the period 2017-2021, UNICEF focuses its efforts on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence .These children and adolescents in situations of greater vulnerability are spread throughout Brazil, but they are more concentrated in the Amazon, in the semiarid and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Semiarid and in the Brazilian Legal Amazon. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the Platform of Urban Centers (PCU).

Context

Since 2018, UNICEF initiated its interventions in Roraima and established an Office in Boa Vista and in 2019 an Outpost in Pacaraima, border with Venezuela. Building on its development program to support Brazil’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged, UNICEF focuses on ensuring access to essential services and programs in child protection, education, health/nutrition, social protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene to fully equip the public policies to assist children and adolescents on the move.
Amid the Venezuelan migratory crisis, migrant and refugee children and their families face challenges in the regularization of their immigration status, affecting their access to essential services and rights. The lack of comprehensive public policies on migration in host countries increases children’s risk of discrimination, violence, family separation, xenophobia, exploitation, and abuse.
Through the Child Protection programme interventions, UNICEF provides psychosocial support activities that have reached thousands of children and specialized interventions that have identified and referred hundreds of cases of violence, abuse, and neglect to the Child Protection network. UNICEF has a dedicated response for unaccompanied and separated children in Roraima that aims to ensure timely case management, provide specialized care, and referral to the justice system for documentation, support for family reunification and alternative care.
Through the Education programme initiatives, UNICEF has also developed a Working Group co-led by UNICEF and Municipal authorities with two main strategies: (i) providing education activities that meet children’s educational needs inside and outside shelters also as a tool to facilitate their transition to formal systems in Brazil, while (ii) strengthening the capacity of the education system to include migrant and refugee children. Also, UNICEF has responded through an integrated education & protection spaces for children on the move, providing a gender and age-appropriate non-formal educational, psychosocial support activities as well as specialized child protection prevention and response interventions.
In Roraima, there are more than 90,000 indigenous people and within the migration context, Brazil continues to receive many indigenous people from Venezuela. UNICEF defined as one of its priorities, the support to civil society organizations that were already working with indigenous peoples, understanding the need for a more specific and differentiated approach.
UNICEF is working to ensure the nexus between the humanitarian response and the development work planned at the national level, particularly through UNICEF Seal.
To ensure effective coordination and oversight of Child Protection and Education activities related to the migration response, HD nexus and the work with indigenous communities, UNICEF will recruit an UN Volunteer who will be based within the Child Protection and Education teams, in UNICEF Pacaraima Outpost.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of Pacaraima Outpost Field Coordinator together with technical supervision of Boa Vista Child Protection Officer and Boa Vista Education Officer and overall guidance of Chief of Field Office in Roraima, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
Support and assist activities related to Child Protection – the Super Panas, Protection of Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) and advocacy with local authorities’ strategies in Pacaraima:
• Ensure technical guidance to Implementing Partners decisions regarding Unaccompanied and Separated Children Case Management and Alternative Care guided by the best interests of the child and conducted in close collaboration with authorities (as Defensoria Pública da União, Defensoria Pública do Estado, Polícia Federal, Conselho Tutelar, Justiça Estadual, Ministério do Desenvolvimento e Assistência Social, Família e Combate à Fome e Ministério dos Direitos Humanos e da Cidadania) and other stakeholders.
• Assist the daily monitoring of partners in the field, identifying constraints and solutions for the improvement of services.
• Support the linkage between implementing partners, contributing to strengthen shared child protection case management.
• Review and follow up on Implementing Partners’ reports.
• Support the programmatic implementation of the Child Protection interventions in Pacaraima, considering the migration response, the Humanitarian-Development nexus and the work with indigenous communities:
• Together with the Outpost Coordinator in Pacaraima assist to liaise and engage with key stakeholders and partners on child protection issues and concerns.
• Extend technical support in particular to the Implementing Partners and to the Child Protection local Network, and actively contribute to UNICEF initiatives and to the existing coordination mechanisms of Operação Acolhida in Pacaraima.
• Support evidence generation and needs assessments related to Child Protection.
• Assist in capacity building activities related to child protection and to the Humanitarian-Development nexus.
• Support to the coordination activities of the Child Protection local Working Group and coordinate its respective Technical Table in Pacaraima.
• Assist in the regular situation reporting of activities and in the daily monitoring of partners in the field, identifying constraints and solutions for the improvement of services.
• Other support, as needed, with planning workshops and other activities.
• Any other related tasks may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
Support and assist delivering Education technical support and services within the context of the humanitarian response:
• Conduct and update the situation assessment and analysis regarding education in Pacaraima;
• Assist the daily monitoring of partners in the field, identifying constraints and solutions for the improvement of services.
• Support the linkage between implementing partners and secretary of education contributing to strengthen public police for education for children on the move and living in Pacaraima;
• Review and follow up on Implementing Partners’ reports.
• Support the programmatic implementation of Education interventions in Pacaraima, considering the migration response, the Humanitarian-Development nexus and the work with indigenous communities:
• Together with the Outpost Coordinator in Pacaraima assist to liaise and engage with key stakeholders and partners on education issues and concerns.
• Support evidence generation and needs assessments related to Education.
• Assist in capacity building activities related to education and to the Humanitarian-Development nexus;
• Support to the coordination activities of the Education local Working Group.
• Assist in the regular situation reporting of activities and in the daily monitoring of partners in the field, identifying constraints and solutions for the improvement of services.
• Other support, as needed, with planning workshops and other activities.
• Any other related tasks may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
Support to Pacaraima’s Outpost field coordination:
• Support for institutional demands and field assistance in the various UNICEF programmatic areas to cover and report to Pacaraima Outpost Coordinator, if necessary.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers.
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.
Results/expected outputs:
• Improved information management and relationship between child protection and education field partners (municipal government, non-government organization, UN agencies, and others) and UNICEF in Pacaraima;
• Quality material and knowledge products for internal and external audiences produced in a timely fashion.
• Adequate support provided to Child Protection and Education teams and other programme sections as required.
• Capacity development and technical assistance provided, when working with governmental or non-governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs), considering also the Humanitarian-Development nexus.
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in, and capacities developed