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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, protection

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

How can you make a difference? 

Background:

The Ethiopia PSEA Network was established in 2018 and since then, much effort has been put into developing guidance and procedures to ensure that the UN and its partners are meeting minimum prevention and response standards for PSEA. These initiatives include developing quality and standardized training materials to ensure all staff and partners are trained; developing and revising SOPs for interagency SEA referral; and developing awareness raising materials for staff and communities. However, efforts need to continue to ensure that staff and communities are sensitized to these procedures and products. Particular attention needs to be paid to the regions where the bulk of the humanitarian response takes place. Training materials have now been translated into the 4 main Ethiopian languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, Somali and Afar languages) which should support learning and understanding of staff.

Despite the concerted efforts of UN and partners to train staff and communities on what is SEA and how to report, there is still an issue of under-reporting SEAH in Ethiopia. In 2024, the total number of UN staff, both national and international, in Ethiopia stood at around 6,500 personnel across some 38 entities. Among the UN entities, there were only 18 cases of SEA reported to UN’s reporting system. According to the Humanitarian International NGO Group, there were 83 registered members with 216 international staff and 21,469 national staff. There are over 6,000 registered local NGOs with the Association for Civil Society Organisations in Ethiopia; however, it is estimated that only some 2,000 are active. Given the large number of personnel, the PSEA Network members reported only 54 cases of misconduct including SEAH across both UN and NGO members in 2024.

A number of reports have been conducted that identify community barriers to reporting, including: lack of awareness of what constitutes SEA; stigma faced in reporting/help-seeking; fear of repercussions; belief that aid might be affected if they report; not knowing where/how to report; not having confidence in reporting systems and/or the belief that anything will change, etc. Staff, however, have a duty to report and are trained in this duty

regularly. There is a need to look more deeply into why so few staff are coming forward and what can be done to overcome staff barriers to reporting.

Further, as a key partner in humanitarian and development interventions, the UN and PSEA Network needs to engage with the Government of Ethiopia to ensure there are sustainable systems in place to ensure accountability if/when SEAH is perpetrated by government staff members. As a first step, there is a need to map what systems already exist and what is planned in the short and long term. This is also in line with the new standard paragraph on PSEA included in the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

1. Map government systems and structures, e.g. feedback mechanisms and accountability mechanisms that can be used to pursue accountability for SEAH violations committed by government staff. This includes systems at both national and regional levels.
2. In coordination with the PSEA Network coordinator, travel to 4 target regions where there is an existing PSEA Network to conduct Training of Trainers on PSEAH, using the standard curriculum.
3. Support the national PSEA Network to carry out information gathering for the sub-national SEA risk overview.
4. Support research project on staff barriers to reporting, including: 1) training staff on the interview questionnaire on staff perceptions and barriers to reporting; 2) conducting no more than 20 interviews with staff utilizing the agreed upon questionnaire; 3) reviewing and transcribing interview reports alongside lead researcher; 4) support development of revised training contents

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

1. Map government systems and entry points relevant to PSEAH, support research on barriers for staff reporting, for Region 1: build capacity of partner staff, and support data collection for sub-national SEA risk overview.

2. Train UN and partner staff, support data collection and research on staff barriers to reporting for the 12 regions (Oromia, Amhara, Tigray, and Southern regions) 
3. Final strategic report.

Deliverables/Outputs:

1. Report on existing systems and structures at national level; support finalization of questionnaire; conduct 2-day ToT for partners in Region 1; conduct interviews in Region 1; data collection for sub-national risk overview in Region 1 and 2 other Regions remotely.(20 days)
2. 2-day ToT delivered for partners in Region 2; conduct interviews in Region 2; data collection for sub-national risk overview in Region 2 and 2 other Regions remotely. (15 days)
3. 2-days ToT delivered for partners in Region 3; conduct interviews in Region 3; data collection for sub-national risk overview in Region 3 and 2 other Regions remotely. (15 Days)
4. 2-day ToT delivered for partners in Region 4; conduct interviews in Region 4; data collection for sub-national risk overview in Region 4 and 2 other Regions remotely.
   Conduct interviews in Addis
   (25 Days)
5. Analyse findings from interviews, develop revised training content, support dissemination workshops, provide final reports with findings from 12 regions and risk ratings. (45 days)

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

Minimum Qualifications required:

Education: Master’s Degree or equivalent in Law, Social Sciences, Public Policy or other related discipline.

Qualification:

• At least 8 years (eight years) years of work experience in safeguarding or PSEAH policy implementation in the NGO, UN or government context.
• Experience delivering training particularly to local civil society organizations on sensitive topics.
• Adept at engaging senior management of NGOs, UN and government entities.
• Experience in research, analysis and proven ability to conduct quality interviews with key informants and transcribe the interviews for analysis.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural team environment and to deliver under pressure/meet deadlines.
• Ability to work with partners on various levels.
• Computer literacy in Microsoft packages (MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and MS Excel) and data analysis skills is mandatory.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills are required.

Language Proficiency:

Fluency in Amharic and English and excellent writing skills. Fluency in another Ethiopian language or languages is highly desired.

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, OFFICE BASED.

Please note that applications submitted without a fee rate will not be considered.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

Core Values:

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

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. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates and persons with disability are encouraged to apply.

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. 

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.