International Consultant at UNICEF

For every child, Protection

• Nigeria has made significant progress towards strengthening the child protection systems at both Federal and State levels.
• This has been achieved through the setting up of coordination structures to address violence and other child protection challenges, adoption of legal frameworks to support the implementation of child focused interventions; the setting up of gender desks in police stations at LGA levels; and the development of an information management system to provide data on case management and strengthen the delivery of services.
• Most recently, the country initiated the mapping and assessment of the social and para-social service workforce with a view to developing training materials to strengthen their capacity based on the gaps identified.
• While a lot has been done to strengthen institutional prevention and response framework at the federal and state levels, the capacity of the country to protect children will remain limited unless and until a parallel effort is conducted at the community level.
• This is because the current social workforce, which stands at approximately 10,000 social workers for a population of more than 200 million inhabitants, is too small to efficiently respond to incidents of violence and other child protection challenges at the household or community levels.
• There is increasing recognition of the need for action at the community level, and this has found expression in community-based child protection groups. Community-Based Child Protection Groups (CBCPGs) refer to a collection of people, often volunteers, that aim to ensure the protection and wellbeing of children in a village, urban neighborhood, or other community.
• If these groups are systematically linked to formal mechanisms and service providers at the LGA and state levels, they have the potential to become a critical and indispensable component of the national child protection system.
• Their presence in the communities places them in a vantage position to perform the core functions of identifying, reporting, and responding to cases, including making referrals to appropriate mechanisms and agencies.
• UNICEF has invested in various community structures such as the Child Protection Network in the early 2010s, the community-surveillance teams within the FGM programmes in five focus states in the south of the country (Imo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, and Ebonyi) which was scaled-up within the Spotlight Initiative to address violence against women and girls in additional states (Lagos, Cross River, Adamawa and Sokoto), and other community-based women, youth and traditional institutions.
• These groups were sensitized on child protection issues, especially as it relates to girls, and were able to provide substantive results in supporting children and families who had experienced incidents of violence and other child protection challenges.
• Many other groups have also been set up by other donor agencies and institutions to support community focused interventions in other sectors like health and social protection.
• The typologies of these groups differ, depending on the level of community ownership and involvement in its establishment, administration and accountability.
• Despite the huge potentials of these groups, it is important to adopt an evidence-based approach in determining their effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the opportunities for sustainability and scalability.
• This entails an inquiry into the models and approaches of existing CBCPGs, the process of assignment of roles and responsibilities to its members, their legitimacy, governance structures and modus operandi in a systematic way.
• It is also important to evaluate the knowledge and capacity gaps of these groups with a view to determining how they can be strengthened to better deliver a defined package of services to children and households in the community. Informal engagement and interactions with some of these existing groups appear to indicate that the groups would benefit from being further structured and strengthened in their capacity to prevent and respond to child protection challenges.
• Beyond the groups that are known to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and UNICEF, many other structures exist building on community-based reporting and resolution mechanisms that would need to be further understood and brought within the current child protection system being developed for the country, particularly as they relate to FGM, Child Marriage and violence against children.
• For this reason, UNICEF is seeking to recruit a consultant to undertake the development of a framework for the mapping of existing community-based child protection groups at community levels in 13 States (Lagos, Cross River, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Imo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa) and to develop the tools to strengthen these entities to support the efforts of the government to strengthen the child protection system in Nigeria.

How can you make a difference?
The Consultant(s) working under the supervision of the UNICEF Child Protection Chief, in close collaboration with the Child Protection Manager and the Child Protection Specialist on Social Welfare, will be responsible for the following:

Project outline and validating of activities:

• Develop an inception report which outlays the methodology for the assignment and data collection tools - to be done remotely ahead of traveling to Nigeria.
• Undertake a Desk Review of available documents and evidence (both quantitative and qualitative) and undertake a documentary analysis, identifying evidence gaps.

Mapping and assessment of structures and mechanisms at community level:

• The assessment will include elements related to the linkages between the informal and the formal (i.e. sanctioned by the government and guided by laws, regulations, and policies) child protection system to support acceptance of services and improved coordination between the two systems.
• The focus group discussions will include children and young persons, including adolescent girls to assess the level to which existing community structures respond to child protection needs within communities.
• In collaboration with any institution designated by UNICEF, to undertake a mapping of existing community-based protection groups (e.g. processes of group formation and participant selection, form, functions and role, resourcing (training, material, financial), activities, and linkages with formal and non-formal child protection systems.

Data collection phase:

• The Consultant will adopt a mixed method approach which combines analysis of available quantitative and qualitative data and includes key Informant Interviews and Focus Group discussions.
• This will include developing tools for technical assistance (interview guides, and questionnaire templates).
• The assessment will be carried out in the 13 states namely, Lagos, Cross River, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Imo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
• Two LGAs in each of the states will be selected for the assessment.
• An institution with requisite competence will be selected and will undertake the field assessment under the guidance of the Consultant.
• Provide guidance for the drafting of the report and analysis of the mapping and assessment of community-based child protection groups, drawing lessons that could be integrated into future programming in the area.
• Development of guidelines for supporting community-based child protection groups and capacity toolkit for strengthening CBCPGs for improved efficiency and effectiveness.
• Develop draft framework for guidelines.
• Populate framework including best practices in CBCPGs, lessons learned and practical measures
• Develop infographics for toolkit (will need to outsource this to layout artist or seek internal support from UNICEF)
• Finalise draft of guidelines (with an admin note) and capacity toolkit.
• Pre-test the capacity toolkit through the facilitation of a TOT workshop with key stakeholders, develop a monitoring and evaluation plan and drafting a final report of the consultancy assignment.
• Pre-test toolkit with key a facilitation of a TOT with key stakeholders and officials of the CBCPGs.
• Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the community-based child protection groups.
• Draft a final report of the consultancy.

Expected products

• Draft inception report.
• Report of the rapid assessment of the community-based child protection groups.
• Guidelines for supporting community-based child protection mechanisms.
• Administrative Note to accompany the guidelines developed.
• User-friendly toolkit for community-based child protection groups.
• Monitoring and evaluation framework
• Final report of consultancy assignment.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• Advanced University Degree (Master / PG) in a relevant field of study (Law, Social sciences/Humanities/Social Work) with minimum of 5 years of relevant experience.
• Excellent knowledge of statistics, social science research, social service systems, community-based mechanism, child protection systems, case management and development agenda
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in development of analytical reports, assessment, strengthening of community-based child protection groups.
• Proven experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis, policy, research, and report writing.
• Knowledge of human rights-based and gender approach to programming
• Experience in toolkit development and facilitating consultations with government representatives, NGOs, academia, children, community-based groups, children, and other stakeholders
• Strong analytical skills – references to previous work or institutions
• Previous experience with UNICEF is an advantage.
• Fluency in English
• Excellent writing and analytical skills.