Child Protection Officer (Technical Working Group), NO-1, Temporary Appointment, 6 months, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to protection 

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past couple of years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of the Job

Join our team to provide predictable, timely, and strategic leadership and representation for the Child Protection Technical Working Group (CP TWG) at the sub-national level to ensure a coordinated and effective child protection response in the Amhara Region. The Officer leads a range of stakeholders to work collectively toward shared objectives, guided by evidence, technical standards, and best practices. The incumbent is also responsible for building strong relationships with partners, securing overall coordination of child protection interventions, and ensuring collaboration with other sectors at the regional level.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS

Within the delegated authority and under the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be assigned the primary, shared, or contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties and key end-results.

The following are some of the specific roles and expectations:

1. Strengthen CP Technical Working Group Coordination

• Maintain and facilitate an effective CP TWG coordination platform at regional and sub-regional levels, aligned with area-based coordination structures, and support the GBV TWG in the same areas.
• Ensure smooth information flow and alignment between CP TWG activities, GBV TWG, Protection Cluster processes, and Area-Based Coordination Groups.
• Maintain close coordination with the Protection Cluster Lead (UNHCR) and National CP TWG to ensure CP TWG priorities and technical guidance feed into protection cluster planning, protection analysis, and decisionmaking at regional level.
• Support BoWCSA leadership in convening, guiding, and documenting CP TWG meetings and follow-up actions.
• Facilitate regular communication and alignment with the national CP TWG to support consistent technical guidance, harmonized tools, and shared priorities
• Provide technical support to National CP TWG and CP TWG in other regions when need be.

2. Support Harmonized and Evidence-Based Child Protection Response

• Strengthen partner alignment on technical standards, SOPs, referral pathways, and response protocols.
• Facilitate joint needs assessments, partner mapping, and gap analysis for child protection and gender-based violence across Amhara.
• Promote the use of harmonized assessment and reporting tools in line with protection and area-based frameworks.
• Coordinate with Information Management staff to update 5Ws, partner presence maps, and severity/gap analysis for CP.

3. Promote Multi-Sectoral Integration

• Represent CP interests within Amhara’s area-based working groups and protection coordination meetings.
• Facilitate linkages with GBV WG, MHPSS WG, Cash WG, Education, Health, and other relevant technical groups to ensure a holistic, integrated CP response.
• Advocate for inclusion of CP concerns in multisectoral planning, response prioritization, and resource allocation discussions.

4. Strengthening Government and CSOs Leadership & Capacities

• Provide technical support to BoWCSA to reinforce its leadership and coordination role within the CP TWG.
• Support the development, adaptation, and roll-out of government-led technical guidance, including referral pathways, case management SOPs, and other CP standards and tools.
• Facilitate partner contributions to government-led coordination, including support for data collection, monitoring, analysis, and follow-up on action points.
• Advance localization efforts by strengthening the capacity of local civil society organizations (CSOs), ensuring their meaningful participation, leadership, and sustained engagement within the CP TWG and wider protection coordination structures.
• Promote an enabling environment for government and local actors, encouraging shared ownership, leadership transfer, and long-term sustainability of child protection coordination mechanisms.
• Provide technical support to UNICEF CP/GBV programmatic response when need be.

5. Ensure Accountability, Communication, and Documentation

• Ensure timely documentation: minutes, action points, technical guidance, dashboards, and updates.
• Produce monthly CP TWG reports summarizing progress, gaps, and priorities.
• Facilitate partners’ adherence to child safeguarding, protection principles, and AAP mechanisms.

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: University degree in social work, Human Rights, Child Protection, Psychology, Social Sciences, International Development, or related field.
• Work Experience: At least one [1] years of relevant work experience in Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE), including humanitarian coordination in TWGs, clusters, or inter-agency settings. Field experience in Ethiopia, preferably in the Amhara Region, with knowledge of regional structures, government counterparts, and operational context is an asset.
  • The candidate should have practical experience with Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC), case management, psychosocial support (PSS), and integrated child protection programming.
• Skills: Strong leadership, communication, and coordination skills are required.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the local language of the duty station is desired for this role. Knowledge of other official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is considered an asset.

Desirables:

• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

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: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

[Remove the following paragraph if not a child safeguarding elevated risk role] This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility jobs-near-me.org UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates and persons with disability are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.