Child Protection Officer

United Nations Children's Fund

Mexico City, Mexico

Under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Officer (NO-1), the Child Protection Officer (Alternative Care), supports the section in developing, implementing, and monitoring the activities of the office to promote alternative care standards and practices in line with international standards and in accordance with UNICEF Country Programme Document and priorities agreed with the Government of Mexico. 

Support to programme development and planning 

  • Regarding UNICEF Mexico's agendas on alternative care reform: 
  • Research and analyze regional and national political, protection, social and economic development trends. Collect, analyze, verify, and synthesize information to facilitate programme development, design and preparation. 
  • Prepare technical reports and inputs for programme preparation and documentation, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and relevancy of information. 
  • Facilitate the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and reporting of child protection programmes and other related information for development planning and priority and goal setting.  
  • Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programmeming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results. 
  • Prepare required documentations and materials to facilitate the programme review and approval process. 

 Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results.

  • Regarding UNICEF Mexico´s agendas on alternative care reform: 
  • Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues, suggest solutions on routine programme implementation and to submit reports to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned. 
  • Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with the government and other counterparts, and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders. 
  • Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verifying compliance with approved allocation, goals, organizational rules, regulations, procedures, donor commitments, and standards of accountability and integrity. 
  • Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution. 
  • Prepare inputs for programme and donor reporting. 

 Technical and operational support to programme implementation 

  • Regarding UNICEF Mexico´s agendas on alternative care reform: 
  • Undertake field visits and surveys, and collect and share reports with partners and stakeholders.  
  • Assess progress and provide technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution.  
  • Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results. 
  • Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices in child protection, to support programme implementation. 

 Networking and partnership building 

  • Regarding UNICEF Mexico´s agendas on alternative care reform: 
  • Build and sustain close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on child protection. 
  • Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes. 
  • Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for child protection programmes.

 Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building 

  • Regarding UNICEF Mexico´s agendas on alternative care reform: 
  • Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders. 
  • Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results. 
  • Research, benchmark and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.  
  • Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders. 

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

The following required education, experience and languages:

  • A university degree (Bachelor's Degree), preferably in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, psychology, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science field.
  • A minimum of one year of professional experience in social development planning and management in child-protection-related areas.
  • Experience in the fields of child protection and alternative care.
  • Fluency in Spanish. 
  • An intermediate level of English - although complete fluency is preferred. If the person hired is not fluent, he/she will have to commit to improving their English skills in the first six/twelve months of work.
  • Additionally, you may have the following experience, but please note that it is not mandatory, it is rather an asset:
  • Experience working with UN agencies. 

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/en-us/job/555079/child-protection-officer-alternative-care-no1-mexico-city-mexico-temp-appointment-mexicans-nationals-only