International Consultancy for the preparation of the UNICEF alternative report on the implementation of the CRC and the two Optional Protocols, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso UN jobs – Career – recrutement

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, Hope!

Burkina Faso ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 31 August 1990 without any reservations. The country has also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography on 31 March 2006 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict on 6 August 2007.

On September 2025, the Committee on the Rights of the Child will examine the 5th and 6th reports on the CRC and the 2nd report on the Optional Protocols submitted by Burkina Faso.

With a presence in nearly all the States parties and its close working relations with most governments, UNICEF has a unique perspective on governments’ initiatives and the situation of children’s rights in most countries of the world.

Submitting an alternative report by UNICEF also provides a unique and invaluable opportunity to contribute to concluding observations and recommendations by the Committee.

As a prelude to the examination of the periodic reports submitted by Burkina Faso, the UNICEF Country Office will therefore present its alternative report on the implementation of the CRC and the 2 optional protocols. This independent and confidential report will be submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child pre-sessional working group before reviewing Burkina Faso’s report.

In order to coordination the drafting the process and finalize the report, UNICEF Burkina Faso Country Office is recruiting a consultant with strong track record and familiarity of CRC country and/or CRC alternative report, especially in Africa.

To prepare the UNICEF report, the Burkina Faso Country Office is recruiting a consultant to lead the report-writing process. For a participatory process, the consultant will work with all UNICEF programs and consult with the various UN agencies as well as civil society, children and young people.

How can you make a difference?

The main aim of this consultancy is to prepare, on behalf of the UNICEF country office, a confidential report on the implementation of the CRC and the two Optional Protocols to be submitted to the pre-sessional working group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Specifically, it pursues the following objectives:

Specific objective 1: Collect, analyze, and consolidate relevant data from UNICEF sections.

The consultant will work with the focal points of the different sections of UNICEF (Health, Nutrition, Education, Child Protection, Wash, Social Policy, SBC/Gender/Youth, PSEA, Communication etc.)  to ensure the collection, analysis, and consolidation of relevant data.

Specific objective 2: Collect, analyze, and consolidate relevant data from other United Nations agencies.

The consultant will also work closely with the other UN agencies (OHCHR, UNPD, UNFPA, UNAIDS, IOM, UNHCR, UNMAS, UNESCO, etc.) to collect, analyses and consolidate relevant data on the CRC and the two Optional Protocols implementation.

Specific objective 3: Consulting children, young people and civil society

The consultant will organize consultation activities with children and young people on the realization of their rights. He will also consult civil society organizations active in the defense of children’s rights to gather their appreciations, suggestions, constraints and challenges linked to the implementation of the CRC and the two optional protocols.

Specific objective 4: Drafting and finalizing the report.

Based on various contributions from UNICEF, other UN agencies, children, young people and civil society, the consultant will draw up the initial draft of the report, which will be validated in a workshop.

Tasks and estimated implementation periods 

Main tasks expected are:

• Coordinate the compilation of available data and information on the situation of children from all relevant stakeholders (UNICEF, others UN agencies, children, youth ant civil society)
• Facilitate the stakeholder consultation process (including children, adolescents, and youth) for the elaboration of the report.
• Ensure quality control of contributions submitted by the various stakeholders.
• Provide technical support to UNICEF in setting up a Task Force to prepare the report
• Draft the report
• Organize and facilitate the report’s validation workshop.
• Integrate UNICEF’s management input in the report

Deliverables and mission duration

Deliverables:

• A preliminary report considering the analysis of data collected from various UNUCEF sections, UN agencies and consultations with children, young people, and civil society.
• An alternative report on implementation of the CRC is developed through a participatory process, made available and submitted on time to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The report should be in English and follow the UNICEF guidance for written submissions to the Committee on the Rights of the Child’ (dated February 2020), as well as the online toolkit. It should be a maximum of 20,000 words long and prepared in a widely consultative manner, in order to include inputs from all other members of the UN Country Team and civil society actors and should also include the views and concerns expressed by children and youth.

Mission duration

The mission’s execution period is one (01) month, starting from the signature of the service contract.

To view TORs, please click here  ToR consultance rapport alternatif CDE-BuF-signé.pdf

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

• An advanced degree in international law, social sciences, public policy, or other protection-related field
• A thorough understanding of relevant international and regional child protection instruments including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and General Comments on its implementation
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, a working knowledge of French and excellent knowledge of information gathering tools such as focus groups, in-depth interviews etc.
• Ability to work under tight deadline and produce a high-quality output.
• Experience of drafting country reports or/and pre-sessional submissions will be considered as a major advantage.

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/individual contractors 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.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract 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.