Child Protection Assistant

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Brazil since 1950, supporting the most important changes in childhood and adolescence in the country. UNICEF participated in major immunization and breastfeeding campaigns; the mobilization that resulted in the approval of Article 227 of the Federal Constitution and the drafting of the Child and Adolescent Statute; the movement for universal access to education; programmes to combat child labour; among other great advances in guaranteeing the rights of Brazilian girls and boys. In recent decades, Brazil has promoted a strong process of inclusion of children and adolescents in public policies. However, a significant portion of the population remains excluded. Therefore, in its cooperation programme with the Brazilian Government for the period 2024-2028, UNICEF focuses its efforts on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence. These children and adolescents in situations of greater vulnerability are spread throughout Brazil, but they are more concentrated in the Amazon, in the Northeast and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Northeast and in the Amazon regions in Brazil. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the #AgendaCidadeUNICEF.

Since 2018, UNICEF has been operating in Roraima within the context of the migration emergency through the establishment of an Office in Boa Vista and an Outpost in Pacaraima under Operation Welcome. UNICEF’s work focuses on ensuring access for migrant and refugee children and adolescents to essential and life-saving services, including health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, and child protection. The organization also strengthens the capacity of government institutions, civil society, and community organizations, while advocating for the rights and participation of children and women.

Migrant and refugee children and families face significant challenges in regularizing their immigration status, which limits their access to social protection, healthcare, education, early childhood development, and child protection services. The absence of comprehensive public migration policies increases risks such as discrimination, violence, family separation, xenophobia, exploitation, and abuse. Through its Child Protection Programme, UNICEF has provided psychosocial support to thousands of children and enabled the identification and referral of hundreds of cases of violence, abuse, and neglect. Since 2019, UNICEF has maintained a dedicated response for unaccompanied and separated children in Boa Vista and Pacaraima, ensuring timely case management, access to documentation, family reunification, alternative care, and life-skills initiatives.

Roraima is home to 11 Indigenous ethnic groups, with approximately 58,000 Indigenous people living in over 465 communities. In addition to Brazilian Indigenous populations, Indigenous migrants from Venezuela continue to arrive in the state. UNICEF prioritizes support to civil society organizations working with Indigenous peoples, recognizing the need for culturally specific and differentiated child protection approaches. Violence against children and adolescents in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory is a complex phenomenon shaped by historical, social, and territorial factors, occurring both within communities and in surrounding urban areas. UNICEF works jointly with municipal, state, and federal authorities and civil society to address this issue.

UNICEF also promotes the humanitarian-development nexus by strengthening public policies for children and adolescents, notably through the UNICEF Seal, which recognizes progress in children’s rights across all 15 municipalities of Roraima.

To ensure effective coordination and implementation of Child Protection activities related to migration, Indigenous response, and development programming, UNICEF will recruit a UN Volunteer Child Protection Assistant based in Boa Vista.

Under the overall programmatic guidance of the Boa Vista Education and Child Protection Officer and direct supervision of Chief of Field Office in Roraima, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
Support activities related to the Super Panas and Protection of Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) strategies in Boa Vista:
• Ensure that all proceedings and decisions within the Unaccompanied and Separated Children Case Management Project and the Alternative Care Project are guided by the best interests of the child and conducted in close collaboration with authorities and other stakeholders.
• Assist the daily monitoring of partners in the field, identifying constraints and solutions for the improvement of services.
• Support the linkage between implementing partners, authorities and stakeholders, contributing to strengthen shared child protection case management.
• Review and follow up on Implementing Partners’ reports.
• Contribute to projects design and donors report.
• Assist in capacity building and initiatives related to the Humanitarian-Development nexus.
• Provide support to review work plans, strategies and activities with an Humanitarian-Development approach.
• Support to the coordination activities of the Child Protection local Working Group.

Support the programmatic implementation of the Child Protection development programme in Roraima:
• Assist the Education and Child Protection Officer to liaise and engage with key stakeholders and partners in Roraima, especially in Boa Vista, on child protection issues and concerns.
• Provide support to implement Seal activities, particularly related to the Systemic Result 3.
• Extend technical support to Child Protection projects with focus on indigenous population..
• Support evidence generation and needs assessments related to Child Protection.
• Assist in capacity building activities related to child protection programme.
• Identify child protection needs and collaborate to design and implement thematic projects.
• Advocate for child protection priorities in appropriated forums;
• Collaborate to the programmatic planning, monitoring and evaluation in Roraima;
• Other support, as needed, with planning workshops and other activities.
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/expected outputs:
• Improved migration response stablished child protection field partners, authorities and stakeholders and UNICEF in Boa Vista, with common initiatives implemented under the HD-nexus approach.
• Quality material and knowledge products for internal and external audiences produced in a timely fashion, including for trainings.
• Adequate support provided to Child Protection team.
• Capacity development and technical assistance provided, when working with governmental or non-governmental counterparts, considering specially the Humanitarian-Development nexus, Seal Unicef and projects with indigenous people.
• Child protection priorities reflected in appropriated forums.
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.