Local Development Programmer

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Job Description

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 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; programmes to combat child labour; 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 programme with the Brazilian Government for the period 2024-2028, 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 Northeast and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Northeast and in the Amazon regions in Brazil. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the #AgendaCidadeUNICEF.

Context

In the large urban centers, UNICEF has been setting out to work in 8 Brazilian capitals – and based on different programmatic evaluations – on a Public Policy Agenda addressing the reduction and prevention of violence against children and adolescents through coordinated intersectoral action so that every boy and girl is in school, learning; grows up with opportunities for socio-productive inclusion; has access to protection services against violence; and has their full health and well-being ensured, especially in the initiative’s priority territories. In this way, we hope to guarantee:

the promotion of early childhood rights,
the fight against school exclusion,
the citizen participation of boys and girls in politics and
the reduction of all forms of violence against girls and boys in municipal and intersectoral child and adolescent care policies.

This new Agenda consists of the #AgendaCidadeUNICEF, an integrated initiative that engages municipal administrations of Brazilian urban centers, communities, private sector, civil society, families, and children with the main purpose of guaranteeing the rights of the most vulnerable children and adolescents, through more effective policies and programs to combat all forms of violence and promote opportunities.

In Salvador, the capital of Bahia, Valéria was selected in last Edition to be a stage of #Agenda Cidade UNICEF. Situated on the outskirts of the city, on the limits of the city with the municipality of Simões Filho, it is located on the left bank of the BR-324 highway, which connects the capital to the city of Feira de Santana and about 23 kilometers from the center of the metropolis. According to ObservaSSA data, the neighborhood has a total population of 26,210 inhabitants, most of whom are self-declared brown (54.72%) and black (28.54%), female (51.14%) and aged between 20 and 49 (50.14%).

Also based on the information gathered by the diagnosis in the Salvador Municipal Health Plan for Children and Adolescents (2022-2030), the main cause of death from external causes in the population aged 0 to 19 in the entire municipality of Salvador is confirmed to be homicide, accounting for 73.1% of deaths in this group. With a mortality rate indicating an annual average of 82 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants between 2009 and 2019, 37% of all deaths were caused by homicide in the São Caetano/Valéria Health District (SD).by either (i) aggression (unspecified) and (ii) legal interventions and war operations.

The proposal for the new term of AgendaCidadeUNICEF will seek to develop a set of political and community mobilization actions to put the importance of preventing all forms of violence against children and adolescents at the heart of the municipal administration’s agenda, as well as offer opportunities for inclusion so that they have their rights guaranteed and their life trajectory transformed. Adolescents will be key players in the planning and implementation of this strategy.

Task description

Under the general guidance of the Head of the Salvador Zonal Office, the selected UN Youth Volunteer will undertake the following tasks and responsibilities:

Support UNICEF management of Integrated Agenda for children rights protect at local vulnerable neighborhoods in Salvador, where there is a need to strengthen the social ties of a community that has long been weakened and segregated in its social fabric, community networks and services, result of inequalities and violence. By the following activities:

participation in the monthly meetings of the local committee, and in the weekly meetings of the Steering Committee of #Agenda Cidade
presence and participation in the technical meetings with the UNICEF implementing partners (IPs).

Support the actions of articulation and interaction between UNICEF, the youth communitarian leaders, adolescents’ networks, and local leaders to enhance their engagement and participation at the Local Committee – Community that Protects. By the following activities:

interaction with the leaders and networks of adolescents in Valeria, as well as her/his participation in strategic moments of the projects:
support in organizing the key events at least two management committees.
Support preparation and facilitation of meetings, training and cultural activities.

Support activities and work in collaboration with the Specialist for Adolescent’s Development aiming:

the implementation of projects of citizenship engagement of adolescents in the strategies of Urban centers Agenda in Salvador as well as of UNICEF Seal initiative and Núcleos de Cidadania de Adolescentes (NUCAS).

Requirements

Required experience

2 years of experience in social mobilization, communitarian activism, social policies, volunteerism.
Professional experience or knowledge of public policy for children and adolescents
Knowledge of State and municipal governments, civil society organizations and local adolescents’ networks
Working or personal experience with traditional, communitarian and vulnerable population is an asset.
Ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development.
Residing in the outskirts of Salvador and demonstrating skills and communitarian experience is an asset.
Good communication and interpersonal skills, and proven ability to facilitating interagency processes to achieve a common goal.
Computer and database literacy and social media would be an asset.
Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel.
Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines.

Languages