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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 safety!

Vacancy Announcement - Individual Consultancy (LVC) - Design and Deliver a Community Engagement and Communication Capacity Building Programme for Neighbourhood Police Officers. (only for Maldivian nationals)

The Maldives Police Service (MPS), the Fuvahmulah City Council and UNICEF Maldives, are partnering to implement the Fuvahmulah: City of Excellence in Child Protection initiative, a national demonstration model for integrated child protection. The initiative aims to transform Fuvahmulah into a city where children are protected, families are supported, institutions safeguard children, and vulnerable children receive timely intervention through a coordinated and community-owned child protection ecosystem. The model seeks to bring together police, schools, health services, social services, local government, parents, civil society and community stakeholders around a shared vision for child wellbeing and protection.

A key component of the strategy is the strengthening of neighbourhood policing as the operational backbone of prevention, diversion and community-based child protection. Police officers are expected to engage proactively with children, families, schools and community members to identify risks early, facilitate referrals, promote community ownership and prevent children from entering pathways leading to offending, violence, abuse and exploitation. The strategy specifically identifies the need to strengthencommunity engagement, awareness raising, communication and relationship-building capacities among neighbourhood police teams.

To support strengthening the capacity of the Neighbourhood Police Team as part of the implementation of the City of Excellence initiative, UNICEF seeks to engage an individual consultant to design and facilitate a practical capacity-building programme focused on communication, public engagement, community mobilization, child-sensitive interactions and partnership building for neighbourhood policing personnel in Fuvahmulah.

How can you make a difference?

Specific objectives are to:

Assess training and capacity development needs related to communication and community engagement among neighbourhood policing personnel.
Deliver 3 day face-to-face capacity building programme on community engagement and communication for neighbourhood police officers.
Strengthen capacity in child-sensitive communication, family engagement, community dialogue, public speaking, stakeholder engagement, conflict de-escalation and risk communication.
Develop practical tools and guidance materials that neighbourhood police officers can use during implementation of the City of Excellence initiative and beyond.
Produce a Community Engagement and Communication Guide for Neighbourhood Police.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: VA TOR202618 .pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Qualifications required:

University degree in Communications, Community Development, Social Work, Psychology, Education, Child Protection or a related field.

Technical Experience:

The consultant shall demonstrate:

At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in communication, community engagement, social development, policing, safeguarding, behaviour change communication or related fields.
Proven experience in designing and facilitating adult-learning programmes.
Experience in working with community level stakeholders
Experience in working with police services, government agencies, local authorities or frontline service providers.
Demonstrated experience in community level stakeholder engagement and training.
Experience working with child protection, juvenile justice, violence prevention, safeguarding or related sectors.
Experience in developing practical guidance materials, curricula and training materials and toolkits.

Ethical Standards and Safeguarding Capacity

The consultant shall demonstrate:

Familiarity with child safeguarding principles and ethical engagement practices.
Capacity to comply with UNICEF Child Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct.
Experience working with vulnerable populations in a rights-based manner.

Language and Local Context

The consultant shall demonstrate:

Excellent written and spoken English.

Desirables:

Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
Knowledge of Dhivehi is highly desirable.
Familiarity with the Maldivian context, child protection system, juvenile justice framework and community engagement approaches 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: 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.

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 | 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 are conditional on the selected candidates’ willingness to comply with current or future vaccination requirements, should UNICEF mandate it for personnel.
Failure to comply with such requirements, where applicable and without a duly approved medical exemption from the relevant UN authority, will result in the cancellation of the selection or may lead to other administrative measures, including separation from service

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 candidates 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.

Individual Consultancy (LVC)- Design and Deliver a Community Engagement and Communication Capacity Building Programme for Neighbourhood Police Officers. (for Maldivian Nationals only)