Current vacancies

Contract Duration: 11 Months

Working arrangement: Office Based

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                                                         TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The consultancy aims to strengthen the child protection system in India and provide strategic and technical support with a specific focus on Access to Justice, Disability Inclusion, and Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC). The consultant will, drawing from experience and expertise in the subject matters, support the Child Protection Specialist, based in Delhi through stakeholder coordination, and development of technical products to strengthen child protection and justice systems aligned with national priorities and global frameworks.

Scope of Work:

India has made significant progress in strengthening child protection systems through the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Mission Vatsalya, Mission Shakti, and related policies and programmes. However, children continue to face multiple protection risks, including violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, online harms, family separation, conflict with the law, and barriers in accessing protection and justice services. Children with disabilities remain particularly vulnerable due to stigma, discrimination, communication barriers, and limited accessibility of services and institutions.

At the same time, there is increasing recognition of the need to strengthen child-friendly justice systems, improve prevention and response mechanisms for violence against children, enhance accountability and oversight systems, and ensure that protection services are inclusive and responsive to the needs of all children. Emerging risks, including technology-facilitated violence, online exploitation and abuse, and AI-related harms, further require strengthened policy responses, institutional capacities, and multi-sectoral coordination.

UNICEF works closely with the Government of India, judiciary, national institutions, civil society organizations, academia, and development partners to strengthen child protection and justice systems through policy support, systems strengthening, capacity building, evidence generation, and strategic advocacy. This includes support to implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act, POCSO Act, child online protection initiatives, disability-inclusive child protection systems, and efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children.

Under the overall supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, the proposed consultancy has been designed to provide technical support across UNICEF India's Access to Justice, Disability Inclusion, and Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC) portfolios. The consultant will support implementation of national and state-level priorities through research, stakeholder engagement, knowledge management, documentation, and development of technical products aligned with UNICEF's workplan and government priorities.

Key Objective

To provide technical support to UNICEF's Access to Justice, Disability Inclusion, and Ending Violence Against Children portfolios through evidence generation, stakeholder coordination, policy and programme support, knowledge management, and documentation of promising practices to strengthen child protection and justice systems.

Specific Objectives include:

• To support the review and analysis of the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and related Rules across UNICEF-supported states, including identification of implementation gaps, emerging trends, and recommendations to strengthen policy and practice.

• To support evidence generation, policy dialogue, and stakeholder engagement on child online protection, including issues related to age-appropriate access to social media, platform accountability, reporting mechanisms, and emerging digital and AI-related risks, as well as support the planning and documentation of the national consultation commemorating ten years of the Juvenile Justice Act.

• To strengthen evidence-based decision-making through analysis, synthesis, and dissemination of findings emerging from Supreme Court and High Court monitoring mechanisms, including year-on-year assessments of progress and challenges within child protection and justice systems.

• To support the development, documentation, and dissemination of disability-inclusive child protection and justice approaches, including evidence, policy recommendations, knowledge products, and lessons learned, while contributing to strengthening responses to violence against women and children through model One Stop Centres.

• To strengthen organizational and sectoral learning through documentation and dissemination of promising practices, lessons learned, and programme achievements across the Access to Justice, Disability Inclusion, and Ending Violence Against Children portfolios.

Expected Results:

• Comprehensive review report on the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, JJ Rules, and related provisions across UNICEF-supported states completed, including analysis of implementation gaps, emerging trends, and recommendations for consideration by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and relevant national stakeholders.

• Technical briefs, evidence papers, consultation summaries, and recommendations on child online protection developed, covering age-appropriate access to social media, platform accountability, reporting mechanisms, and emerging digital and AI-related risks.

• Documentation package for the national consultation on ten years of the Juvenile Justice Act completed, including background papers, consultation proceedings, stakeholder inputs, key findings, and recommendations for future action.

• Analytical report synthesizing findings from Supreme Court and High Court monitoring mechanisms completed, including year-on-year analysis of data from 2023–2026 and identification of key progress, challenges, and priority actions.

• Compendium of disability-inclusive child protection and justice practices developed, including evidence, case studies, policy recommendations, and technical resources to support systems strengthening and scale-up.

• Documentation package for Model One Stop Centres completed, including implementation processes, training materials, IEC resources, operational lessons, and recommendations for replication and scale-up.

• Repository of knowledge products developed across the Access to Justice, Disability Inclusion, and Ending Violence Against Children portfolios, including best practice documentation, case studies, presentations, technical notes, and programme briefs.

• Quality donor reports, progress updates, consultation reports, and programme monitoring products completed in accordance with agreed timelines and workplans.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  Terms or Reference TMC0004652.pdf

Minimum requirements:

Education:

Master’s degree in social sciences or other relevant fields

Work Experience:
Minimum of 8 years’ experience in the area of child protection and specifically in the area of Justice, EVAC and DI child protection work.
· Knowledge of juvenile justice and key child protection legislation is mandatory.
· Solid understanding of research and monitoring, participatory learning methodologies will be preferred.
· Experience in report writing, and preparation of evidence-based documentation for donor reporting.
· Experience in working with Government or UN agencies

Language Requirements:
· Knowledge of additional Indian regional languages will beconsidered an asset.
· Excellent written and verbal communication skills inEnglish and Hindi are required.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:
· Ability to engage with a wide range of people, includinggovernment partners, academic centres, formal and in-formal Networks & Collectives, NGOs/CSOs and technicalexperts if required to collate all relevant information.
· Demonstrates high level of writing and editing skills,budget analysis and reporting.

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

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 TMC0004652.xlsx
• A detailed technical proposal

Any 2 relevant writing samples to be shared. The writing samples should pertain to any of the following: data analysis, landscape mapping,report writing, and preparation of evidence-based documentation within the child protection domain of work.

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.