Consultant – Safeguarding assessments (PSEA and child safeguarding), Education Cannot Wait (ECW), Hosted Fund, Remote, 14 months, REQ #576425

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, EDUCATION 

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the first global movement and fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises. It was established in 2016 during the World Humanitarian Summit by international humanitarian and development aid organizations, along with public and private donors, to help reposition education as a priority on the humanitarian agenda, usher in a more collaborative approach among actors on the ground and foster additional funding to ensure that every crisis-affected child and young person is in school and learning.

ECW positions education strongly on the humanitarian agenda and advocates for quality education that is inclusive and integrated with protection for communities and learning spaces in emergencies and protracted crises. Embedded within the United Nations system, ECW adheres to and ensures that safeguarding standards, including protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and Sexual Harassment (PSH), are applied throughout its investments.

Its orientation towards safeguarding is informed by, inter alia, the strategy to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse across the United Nations system, and Security Council Resolution 2272 (2016) addressing sexual exploitation and abuse in peace operations. ECW also aligns with UNICEF as its host institution regarding HR, legal, finance and administrative policies and procedures, and with safeguarding efforts undertaken by members of its governance body. As a fund investing in tackling challenges of access to education for children and youth in emergencies and protracted crises, ECW recognizes its responsibility to drive up PSEA, PSH and child safeguarding standards and practice and ensure a ‘do no harm’ approach. Action on safeguarding is aligned to UNICEF’s Safeguarding Policy 2024 and other strategies and frameworks in ECW, including the gender strategy and the risk management framework.

How can you make a difference? 

The purpose of the assignment is to undertake UN PSEA assessments of ECW grantees that are CSOs. It is anticipated that each PSEA assessment will take 2 days to complete and will involve the specific tasks detailed in deliverable 1 below. Consultants should expect to have gaps between working days to allow for CSO grantees to respond to requests for information. This consultancy is therefore best suited to consultants who are willing and able to work on a flexible basis. ECW’s Risk & Compliance Manager will be the formal supervisor for both consultants. However, the consultants should expect to work very closely with ECW’s senior consultant for Safeguarding for additional guidance and advice where necessary.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT

Deliverables	Description	Estimated number of days	Deadline/timeline
Deliverable 1: Conduct PSEA Assessments (as directed by ECW)	Send tasking instructions to the ECW grantee. Review the self-assessment of the ECW grantee and supporting documents. Conduct a formal PSEA assessment and complete ECW’s PSEA assessment due diligence sheet. Recommend areas for capacity strengthening. Agree with ECW on the outcomes of the formal PSEA assessment. Communicate with the ECW grantee the results of ECW’s PSEA assessment and agree on next steps. Prepare a Capacity Strengthening Implementation Plan (CSIPs) (if needed). Ensure all relevant fields in the UNPP PSEA module are completed when undertaking a PSEA assessment. Update ECW’s internal safeguarding databases when a PSEA Assessment is undertaken. Track progress made by ECW grantees to meet the requirements of UN PSEA Assessments (including CSIPs).	60  (2 days x 30 assessments)	31 December 2025   Each PSEA assessment should be completed within 2 months from the time it is initiated.
Deliverable 2: Conduct ECW Child Safeguarding (CSG) Capacity Assessments	Conduct an ECW CSG assessment and complete ECW’s due diligence sheet. This includes sending instructions to the ECW grantee and reviewing the self-assessment of the ECW grantee and supporting documents. Recommend areas for capacity strengthening. Update ECW’s internal safeguarding database when an ECW Child Safeguarding Assessment is undertaken.	4 days	31 December 2025 Each PSEA assessment should be completed within 2 months from the time it is initiated. 31 December 2025 Each CSG assessment should be completed within 2 months from the time it is initiated.
TOTAL ESTIMATED WORKING DAYS		Up to 64 days to be shared by 2 consultants

• An advanced university degree (Masters and above) in one of the following areas is required: law, social work, international development, human rights, psychology, sociology or another relevant social science field.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in safeguarding, child protection, or prevention or protection against sexual exploitation and abuse, or gender-based violence is required, including strong knowledge of the technical area.
• Experience in conducting PSEA assessments of civil society organizations under the UN Implementing Partner PSEA Common Assessment (UN PSEA Assessment).
• Demonstrated experience in advising civil society organizations on capacity building and systems strengthening in order to establish and/or improve measures to prevent and respond to risks of sexual exploitation and abuse of individuals.
• Strong representation skills and ability to professionally communicate with civil society organizations, both in writing and verbally, on PSEA.
• Highly effective analytical, organizational and communication skills.
• Experience in using the UNPP PSEA module would be desirable.
• Fluency in English is required, and knowledge of an additional UN official language, particularly French, is desirable.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:  

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

Interested candidates are required to fully complete their application profile, upload a cover letter and their financial proposal (daily fee rate in USD).

Applications with incomplete profile and without a financial proposal will not be considered.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.