Current vacancies

Contract Duration- 6 Months

Working arrangement: Remote Base

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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

                                                         TERMS OF REFERENCE

The consultancy supports the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through the KALAHI-CIDSS National Program Management Office (NPMO), in strengthening the integration of meaningful children’s participation within the Philippine Community Resilience Project (PCRP). PCRP operationalizes the Community Resilience Implementation Process (CRIP), which enables participatory risk assessment, planning, investment, and monitoring at the community level.

Within this framework, the assignment will develop a comprehensive, operational, and field-tested Children’s Participation Sub-Manual aligned with the PCRP’s Project Operations Manual (POM) and existing sub-manuals. The Sub-Manual will provide practical guidance, tools, and standards to systematically embed child rights and meaningful participation across all stages of the CRIP, consistent with Community-Driven Development (CDD) principles.

The consultancy includes piloting the module in Bataraza, Palawan through capacity-building support to Area Coordinating Teams (ACTs), with lessons from implementation informing the refinement and finalization of the Sub-Manual.

The final output will be an implementation-ready product that enables LGUs, ACTs, and communities to integrate children’s participation into resilience planning, investment, and monitoring processes, aligned with safeguarding, inclusion, and PCRP operational requirements, and ready for scale-up across expansion municipalities in 2027.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will report to the UNICEF Child Protection and Climate, Environment and Resilience (CER) Sections and work in close coordination with the DSWD KALAHI-CIDSS National Program Management Office (NPMO). The consultant will engage regularly with relevant UNICEF sections and DSWD technical teams to ensure alignment with PCRP operational requirements.

The consultant will undertake the following interrelated tasks:

A. Inception and Technical Review

• Review relevant PCRP documents, including the Project Operations Manual (POM), Sub-Manuals, Field Guide, and implementation processes under the CRIP.

• Review applicable frameworks, tools and standards, including for child protection, children’s participation, Environmental and Social Standards (ESS), Gender and Development (GAD), and safeguarding policies.

• Identify concrete entry points for integrating children’s participation across CRIP stages (e.g., PRVA, MRP, sub-project development, monitoring).

• Develop and submit an inception report outlining methodology, workplan, and integration framework.

B. Development of the Sub-Manual

• Develop a comprehensive, operational, and user-friendly Sub-Manual on Children’s Participation, including:

o Core principles, standards, and safeguarding measures for ethical and meaningful participation.

o Operational guidance aligned with CRIP processes and PCRP modalities, ensuring coherence across the continuum from PRVA to Municipal Resilience Planning (MRP) and monitoring/review.

o Explicit integration points to ensure that CRIP processes (including PRVA and MRP) are informed by relevant climate and resilience frameworks (e.g., CCRI) and related technical workstreams.

o Step-by-step guidance for field implementers (ACTs, LGUs, community structures) to facilitate inclusive and context-responsive child participation throughout planning and implementation cycles.

o Tools, templates, and facilitation guides aligned with PCRP formats (e.g., Community Profile, FGD, PRVA, MRP), including practical approaches for engaging children and youth in each stage.

o Dedicated guidance on how children and young people can generate and articulate recommendations for child-focused climate adaptation and resilience actions, building on emerging practices and field experience.

• Ensure integration of inclusion, gender equality, safeguarding, and ethical participation standards across all components of the Sub-Manual, with particular attention to the meaningful participation of marginalized and at-risk groups.

C. Pilot Implementation Support

• Support the rollout of the Children’s Participation module in the pilot site (Bataraza, Palawan).

• Provide direct technical and facilitation support during the actual conduct of child participation consultations in Bataraza (final dates TBC with ACT-Bataraza), including but not limited to:

o Community-level risk mapping and participatory exercises.

o Barangay assemblies and consultations with children and youth.

o Focus group discussions (FGDs) with diverse groups of children.

o Participatory Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (PRVA) workshop.

o Other CRIP-linked consultation and planning processes.

o Document lessons learned, challenges, and good practices from these engagements to inform iterative refinement of the Sub-Manual.

D. Validation and Refinement

• Facilitate consultation and validation sessions with DSWD, ACT, LGUs, and relevant stakeholders.

• Integrate feedback and pilot learnings into a revised and strengthened Sub-Manual.

• Ensure the final Sub-Manual is implementation-ready and suitable for scale-up across PCRP municipalities.

E. Coordination and Technical Support

• Work closely with UNICEF (Child Protection and CER Sections) and DSWD counterparts to ensure coherence across program components.

• Participate in technical meetings and provide ongoing inputs to strengthen integration within PCRP systems and processes.

• Support alignment with cross-sectoral priorities, including social protection, health, education, and governance, as relevant.

F. Monitoring, Documentation, and Reporting

• Document lessons learned, good practices, and operational insights from development and pilot implementation.

• Develop a final report summarizing:

o Outputs delivered.

o Key findings and lessons learned.

o Recommendations for scale-up and institutionalization within PCRP.

G. Safeguarding and Ethical Participation

• Ensure all processes, tools, and pilot activities adhere to UNICEF safeguarding, child safeguarding, and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards.

• Promote safe, inclusive, and ethical participation of children, adolescents, and vulnerable groups across all stages of the assignment.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  Terms of Reference TMC0003050.pdf

Minimum requirements:

• Education:

An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or higher) in social work, social sciences, community development, development studies, public administration, or related fields with a strong focus on child protection, children’s participation, climate or disaster resilience, and/or local governance and planning is required.

A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s) in a relevant field, combined with additional years of progressively responsible experience in child protection, children’s participation, LGU planning processes, or community-based development, may be considered in lieu of an advanced degree.

• Work Experience:

At least 7-10 years of progressively responsible professional
experience in:
Child protection and children’s participation, including design and implementation of participatory approaches, safeguarding, and systems strengthening
Development of operational products such as manuals, toolkits, training modules, and facilitation guides for government or community-level implementation
 Engagement with government systems in the Philippines, particularly at national and subnational levels (e.g., LGUs, DSWD, inter-agency coordination
mechanisms)

• Skills:

Strong analytical, technical writing, and documentation skills, with the ability to translate concepts into practical, user-friendly guidance.

Proven facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills, including conducting consultations, workshops, and validation processes.

• Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Filipino is required

• Desirables:

Familiarity with KALAHI-CIDSS or similar community-driven development (CDD) processes.

Prior experience working with UNICEF, UN agencies, or international development organizations.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal (only acceptable in the format of the linked template)  Financial proposal TMC0003050.docx

Remarks:  

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.