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The purpose of this international consultancy is to assist the Violence, Injuries and Disabilities programme (VIP) in EMRO in addressing violence against children in health including following-up on the implementation of the outcomes of the First Ministerial Conference on Violence Against Children in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR).
Background
Violence Against Children (VAC) is a pervasive global public health and human rights issue. According to the Global status report on preventing violence against children 2020, the EMR has the third highest child homicide rate globally. Beyond injuries and deaths, VAC causes devastating health, educational, social and economic consequences for children, their families and societies. Such violence is further exacerbated by the prevailing humanitarian crisis and emergencies existing in the EMR, creating unique challenges.
WHO has been forthcoming in working closely with partners to address violence against children in all settings and contexts from a public health perspective. The Global action plan on Strengthening the health system’s response to violence, especially against women and girls and against children, endorsed by Member States in 2016, and consequent WHA resolution 67.15 provides the political mandate to strengthen the role of health within a multisectoral action to address this menace. This was followed by another landmark resolution on Ending violence against children (74.17) in 2021 further reinforcing previous commitments. This needs to be aligned within an overall child health perspectives. The Regional implementation framework for newborn, child and adolescent health 2019–2023 also highlights injuries and violence as key areas.
The First Ministerial Conference on Violence Against Children, held in November 2024, brought together global and regional leaders to affirm high-level commitments to end all forms of such. Several countries in the EMR made concrete pledges to accelerate national action in this area. These included legislative reforms, improved data systems, investment in prevention programs, and multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms. Other EMR countries are also implementing and championing health programs to prevent and respond to violence against children, in line with the outcome document of the conference. WHO is committed to technically supporting all related efforts in all contexts.
Building on the momentum of the Global Conference, , a follow-up on ongoing and planned efforts to address violence against children is essential to assess progress, identify challenges, and support the effective evidence-based implementation across the Region.
The planned duration of the consultancy is of four months
Start date: 15/08/2025
End date: 15/12/2025
The following outputs, to be performed in full consultation with WHO.
Output 1: Support selected EMR countries in operationalizing and monitoring Ministerial pledges on VAC and advancing national VAC programming
Deliverable 1.1: Mapping of health system response to VAC in the EMR
Deliverable 1.2: Design a tool to track progress in addressing VAC at country level
Deliverable 1.3: Develop country specific sheets
Output 2: Document progress, bottlenecks, and lessons learned through a structured follow-up and consultation process
Deliverable 2.1: Structured follow-up and stakeholder consultation
Deliverable 2.3: Summary report on VAC action across EMR countries
Output 3: Support regional analysis and research efforts to implement EMR country pledges/programmes to address VAC
Deliverable 3.1: Conduct research to support VAC pledge implementation and programming
Output 4: Facilitate policy analysis and country level dialogue based on the results of the global RMNCAH policy survey with a focus of child and adolescent health including VAC
Deliverable 4.1: Perform regional analysis and synthesise a regional brief on child and adolescent health component [including VAC} of RMNCAH policy survey
o Draft the regional brief
o Support policy dialogue exercise with high burden countries
The selected Consultant will work on the supervision of:
Responsible Officer:
Dr Hala Sakr Ali, TO/VIP/HPD
Email:
sakrha@who.int
Manager:
Dr Asmus Hammerich, A/HPD
Email:
hammericha@who.int
- Qualifications required:
Masters degree in medicine, public health or epidemiology.
- Experience required:
Essential:
· 5 to 10 years of relevant experience in public health, which include experience in data collection/analysis (such as surveys, datasets) for action.
· Experience in violence against children and child and adolescent health.
· International experience is mandatory for international consultant.
· Desirable: Previous experience working with WHO or the UN
Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:
·