Child Protection Officer

Guided by the 2030 Agenda principle of “leaving no one behind”, UNICEF Rwanda under the current country programme will contribute to five priorities under the social transformation pillar of the National Strategy for Transformation 2017–2024: (a) Ensuring access to quality health for all; (b) Reducing malnutrition; (c) Ensuring access to and improving the quality of education; (d) Moving towards a modern Rwandan household, and; (e) Enhancing graduation from poverty and promoting resilience.
The country programme will be implemented as part of the United Nations Development Assistance Plan 2018–2023 (UNDAP II), specifically contributing to Strategic Result Area 2: Social Transformation.

The Child Protection Expert will assist UNICEF Rwanda’s Child Protection Section in advancing child protection response and prevention services, with a focus on implementing the Child Protection Case Management Framework. This framework, launched by the Government of Rwanda in 2023, aims to strengthen the child protection system and ensure children are safeguarded from violence, exploitation, neglect, and abuse. The expert will support the roll-out of this framework, working with Child Protection and Welfare Officers supported at community level by the volunteer Inshuti z’Umuryango (IZU). Key tasks include piloting new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and tools, offering technical guidance, and supporting the digitization of case management processes. National referral protocols and case-specific SOPs will also be developed to standardize and contextualize procedures at district level. Against this background, the Child Protection Officer will support the UNICEF Child Protection Section and provide technical support to the NCDA’s team of professionals to implement the Child Protection Case Management Framework in the planned pilot districts and any roll-out that may be initiated during implementation.

Under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Specialist and in close collaboration with the Chief of Child Protection and all colleagues in the section, the UNV/Child Protection Officer, will perform the following specific tasks related to the implementation of the Child Protection Case Management Framework in the pilot districts. It is expected that the UNV will undertake regular field travel.

•Provide technical support together with the Child Protection Specialist to revise and update the Child Protection Case Management Framework roll out strategy to align it with new developments.
•Act as Secretariat to a Core Team, led by the NCDA, that guides the Child Protection Case Management Framework implementation process, including by developing and revising TORs for adoption.
•Support the dissemination and orientation of key national and sub-national institutions on the Child Protection Case Management Framework.
•Develop a model to document the implementation of the Child Protection Case Management Framework in Rwanda and undertake this documentation.
•Through extensive field work and monitoring, support the NCDA to carry out a rapid assessment of the current workloads and working modalities of CPWOs to establish a baseline that includes challenges, opportunities, strengthens to form the basis for a monitoring progress.
•Support the tailored and targeted monitoring visits to the ten pilot districts by a multi-stakeholder team to provide Child Protection and Welfare Officers with contextualized mentoring and coaching.
•Liaise with the Provincial Child Protection Case Management Specialists to provide targeted mentoring and coaching on CPCM in the pilot districts.
•Provide coordination and technical inputs in the digitization of the Child Protection Case Management Framework, where required.
•Support the process of engagement with district authorities to locally promote the Child Protection Case Management Framework.
•Support the NCDA to map, develop, consult, and adopt an inter-Agency Referral Pathways Protocol for Child Protection.
•Provide technical assistance in the development of case conferencing modalities and case specific SOPs.
•Work closely with the implementing partners of the GIRL program to ensure the management of child protection cases identified in school settings.
•Undertake any other tasks within the scope of this position as requested by the supervisor.