Online Safety Programme by UNICEF

PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT:

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, the consultant will review/adapt and develop a training package content relevant to online violence prevention and safety measures for children using online platforms and will provide content to law enforcement agencies and frontline workers on their roles for prevention and risk mitigation including service delivery. The consultant is expected to review the literature and relevant documents including existing training materials, and then she/he will organize validation with government agencies. Develop a training roadmap and provide the training to front-line workers and law enforcement officials.

SCOPE OF WORK:

Background:

South Africa is a middle-income country more than 27 years into the advent of democracy with remarkable progress to improve the well-being of its citizens. South Africa is recognised for its strong legislative framework and policies, including implementing children’s rights as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, enshrined in the Constitution of SA and the Children’s Act. South Africa is faced with the triple challenges of enduring poverty, inequality and unemployment, which impact the lives of children. Almost two-thirds of the South African children live below the upper bound of the poverty line with children in rural areas and those living in female-headed households, particularly at risk.

The fast-developing and continuously changing information and communication technology (ICT) environment is reshaping children’s lives globally. Now more than ever children are increasingly relying on online and mobile technologies to learn, participate, play, entertain and socialise. The digital age has brought opportunities to children and its use has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite the many positive opportunities it provides, the internet also increases children’s risk of abuse and exploitation and compounds offline risks and negative experiences such as bullying and harassment, exposure to pornographic and other potentially harmful materials, and possible dangerous contacts.

In 2021 UNICEF in partnership with the South Africa government conducted the National Kids Online Study as part of the Disrupting Harm Study to examine the opportunities and risks of ICT within a national context. The study revealed that most children (95.3%) and their parents/caregivers (80.2%) have access to the internet via a mobile device – which brings significant opportunities as well as risks. 70% of children use the internet without parental supervision and 1 in 3 children in South Africa are at risk of online exploitation. Risky online activities included meeting someone face-to-face with whom they met on the internet, actively seeking new friends, adding strangers as friends and sharing photos or videos of themselves with persons they have never met. Yet, many children remain silent about their experiences, with 50.5% of children not telling anyone what happened.

Scope of Work:

This consultancy reviews the package for capacity development material for the frontline workers and law enforcement agencies focusing on material developed in the previous phase. The package will be adopted in the South African context to ensure social and cultural sensitivity and relevance. The developed materials and toolkits will be aligned with the UNICEF global platforms of online safety, international instruments and national legislation and the network of ICT platforms available in SA. It will consider the law enforcement agencies and front-line workers who, support, work and educate children for prevention and response.

Activities and tasks:

Desk review: The consultant will conduct a literature review and pursue numerous online research documents, and training materials developed globally and in South Africa to produce relevant training packages for law enforcement and front-line workers.
Organize need-based joint consultation with relevant UNICEF section focal and government counterparts and non-governmental agencies within the National GBVF Collaborative addressing violence against women and children through the NSP on GBV implementation.
Conduct two focused interviews with stakeholders including government officials, and frontline workers that will support the development of training need assessment.

Develop the package of training materials and toolkits for the capacity development of law enforcement agencies and frontline workers. The consultant will cover materials for knowledge development on online safety issues including risk, prevention and mitigation strategies, the role of caregivers, and service providers, including appropriate content to promote the safety of children both online and offline. Take initiative for wider sharing with the Government counterparts, CSOs, and networks for final inputs on the content and training package.

Develop a roadmap for training delivery for law enforcement agencies and frontline workers within the timeframe.
Conduct training sessions with law enforcement agencies and front-line workers according to the training roadmaps.
Submit to UNICEF compiled reports to articulate the key progresses with challenges and the way forward for future implementation of the training package.

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

Enter disciplines: Law, Human Rights, Journalism, Communications and Social Work

An advanced university degree or diploma in Law, International Relations, Public Policies, Development Studies, Social Science or related with 8-10 years experience within training/capacity development or conducting research in the field of digital platform.

KNOWLEDGE/EXPERTISE/SKILLS required:

Outstanding ICT Knowledge including analytical skills, strong ability to analyse data, reports, integrate and summarise information, and data in the digital space

Good command of English and excellent writing skills in English, including a demonstrated ability to draft, clear and concise reports.

Ability to work independently and ensure high-quality deliverables.

Demonstrated capacity to engage key stakeholders and facilitate workshop dialogue with government officials.

Demonstrated capacity to carry out the assignment within the time frame.

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.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit their application and one sample of written work to the following link: UNICEF Careers | UNICEF Careers..

This notice will also appear on http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/, http://www.unicef.org/southafrica, UN Job List, UN Jobs
Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in ZAR) to undertake the terms of reference above (including admin cost if applicable).

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.