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And we never give up.

For every child, hope

The Horn of Africa is experiencing one of its worst droughts in recent history, with 12-14 million people severely food insecure in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Somalia has been hardest hit: almost 90 percent of the country’s districts are experiencing drought (66 out of 74). Three consecutive seasons of failed rains, combined with the ongoing conflict in many parts of Somalia, have taken a heavy toll on families in Somalia. By early 2022, most parts of the country were experiencing severe drought conditions, with water shortages and loss of livestock displacing hundreds of thousands of families as they search for food and safe water. The impacts of drought and protracted conflict and insecurity coupled with very high staple food prices have led to rapid deterioration in the severity of food insecurity in Somalia in early 2022 and significant levels of drought-related displacement. Political tensions related to the slow progress of parliamentary elections and the long-delayed presidential election have led to violence between factions of Somalia’s security forces and an uptick in civil unrest. 

A recent assessment by Care indicated that 44% of people said concerns around GBV and women’s safety had increased since onset of drought and COVID-19. Also, 26% of women and girls feared violence at home, and 20% of girls reported facing pressure from parents for early marriage as a means of coping with the crises.2 Vulnerability to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) increases dramatically during food crises and drought.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Child Protection team in Somalia requires support to scale up GBViE prevention, response and risk mitigation programming to support women and girls in drought-affected areas of Somalia in line with the CCCs. Key areas of focus will be expanding GBViE prevention and response services and increasing GBV/SEA risk mitigation

The GBViE Specialist (P-3) will be responsible for providing high quality technical guidance and assistance on GBViE prevention, risk mitigation and response for the design, planning and expansion of programming in Somalia. Under the supervision of the GBViE/Gender Specialist, will provide oversight for quality assurance and coherence  with UNICEF’s global  level GBViE Operational Guidance  and Resource Pack, as well as other global standards and guidelines and the UNICEF Strategic Plan and Gender Action Plan. S/he will ensure that the GBViE programming is aligned with the Core Commitments for Children.

The GBViE Specialist (P-3) will work directly with UNICEF GBViE officers and focal points in the Child Protection team and will work collaboratively with UNICEF Child Protection Specialists and across sectors. S/he will coordinate closely with the Government of Somalia counterparts, UN agencies and non- governmental partners (NGO) that specialise in GBViE with a particular focus on women-led organisations. The GBViE Specialist will report directly to the GBViE and Gender Specialist (P-4) based in Mogadishu.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Provide strategic and technical support to UNICEF Somalia to scale up GBViE programming. These efforts will be in line with the CCCs, the UNICEF GAP, the UNICEF Programme Framework for GBViE and humanitarian regional strategies. In collaboration with the Child Protection team, identify and agree priority locations and partners to work with to expand GBViE programming including modalities of service delivery (i.e. static services/mobile teams/rapid responses etc.), minimum services package, resources required, and capacity building to support implementation. Review existing UNICEF GBViE programming approaches and identify a minimum package of services to support the implementation of GBViE interventions covering the three pillars approach as per the UNICEF GBViE Operational Guide: response, risk mitigation and prevention adapted to the operating environments in each location. Work with the UNICEF field offices and country office, Child Protection teams and across other UNICEF sectors to design, plan and coordinate the scale-up of GBViE interventions for priority locations. Support the planning, design and development of partnerships with women-led organizations to enhance GBV service delivery and their leadership and participation in humanitarian responses in support of UNIEF GBViE expansion in Somalia. Develop a detailed capacity-building plan to strengthen GBV service delivery in line with global standards that are adapted to the needs of UNICEF NGO and government partners. Support the adaptation of a structured context-appropriate intervention to target adolescent girls to build assets, skills and protective systems. Ensure allocation and management of sufficient financial and human resource capacity is in place to effectively achieve UNICEF GBViE commitments. Provide updates and briefings on GBViE for senior management at the CO, RO and/or HQ levels to ensure understanding and prioritization of programming to address GBVIE. Work with the UNICEF sectors and clusters and inter-agency partners to ensure GBV prevention, risk mitigation and response is adequately integrated across sectors and actions to reduces risks of GBV are implemented. Actively engage in and provide technical support to the GBV and Child Protection sub-Clusters to ensure there is a comprehensive plan of action to better address GBV across all humanitarian interventions in affected areas, including: To support capacity building initiatives to strengthen GBV case management practices in line with minimum standards (integrated with child protection whenever appropriate); To  support  on  safe  information  sharing  practices,  including  through  interagency information management systems. In collaboration with UNICEF Somalia GBViE and Gender Specialist, work closely with priority UNICEF sectors and clusters to develop plans to integrate GBV risk mitigation measures across programming in line with the Interagency Minimum Standards and the IASC GBV Guidelines. Engage with UNICEF Nutrition to improve GBV risk mitigation measures are in place to improve women and girls’ safer access to Nutrition facilities and increase nutrition outcomes for children. Support the adaptation, expansion and implementation of ‘Communities Care’ to transform harmful social and gender norms and behaviours around GBV within to communities. Support programme knowledge acquisition and monitoring through systematic collection of country programme experience and the provision of GBVIE-related technical support. Support rollout and implementation of the GBVIMS (PRIMERO/GBVIMS+) to strengthen safe and ethical data collection on reported incidents of GBV and ensure strong analysis of data for advocacy and stronger programming. Support UNICEF Somalia’s capacity for the documentation of good practices, learning exchanges and forums on GBV interventions. This may also include ensuring representation at national and regional forums both internally and externally for appropriate decision-making and ensuring linkages with other countries. Document lessons learned and good practices from UNICEF’s partnerships with new and existing women’s organisations. Actively monitor financial and human resource capacity to ensure sufficient resources are in place to effectively achieve the goals noted above. Facilitate the inclusion of GBV into humanitarian appeal processes and documents. As needed, support reporting and writing funding proposals. Prepare programme reports for management as required.

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

Education Advanced university degree or equivalent in public health, the social sciences or other relevant field related to GBViE in emergency programming. A first-level university degree with relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree plus an additional 2 years of experience. Experience: A minimum of 5 years of GBViE programming experience with either the UN and/or NGO in emergency settings Strong understanding of GBV case management system, GBV programming approaches, practices and applications i.e. on Adolescent Girl Programming, GBViE Minimum Standards, GBVIMS, IASC GBV guidelines. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people in a wide range of functions in a multi-cultural environment. A proven experience of planning and facilitating training, workshops and other capacity building modalities. Ability to collect, collate and analyse data in a scientific and effective manner and strong writing skills. Strong planning, project management and budget skills required; Demonstrates leadership or supervisory skills; coordinates group activities; experience in a leadership or supervisory role an asset. Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of individuals across organizational departments. Identifies urgent and potentially difficult decisions and acts on them promptly; supports team- and department-wide activities; Demonstrates, applies and shares expert technical knowledge across the organization. Availability to travel frequently in the region. Language Proficiency  Fluency in English is required (excellent analytical, communication, writing and editorial skills in English). Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Eligible UNICEF National Officer (NO) and General Service (GS) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to this TA, which is dedicated to L3 Response, may be able to retain a lien on their existing post for the duration of this TA.

Please note that this is a non-family duty station. The successful candidate for this emergency recruitment MUST be available to commence work within 31 days of receiving an offer.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

This vacancy is archived.

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