Senior Project Associate, GS-7, Athens, Greece, #131579, Temporary Appointment (11 months)

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For every child, PROTECTION

UNICEF became operational in Greece in early 2016 as an outposted team from the Regional Office of Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) to respond to the significant influx of refugee and migrant children and their families at that time. Following several years of engagement with national stakeholders, UNICEF and the Government of Greece made a decision in January 2020 to formalize the agency’s presence in the country as a full-fledged Country Office. The office falls under the auspices of the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia located in Geneva, which supports the work of 22 Country Offices within its geographical scope, reporting in turn to global headquarters in New York. Within the framework of a mandate for all children in Greece, UNICEF and Greece are now working to address the needs of all vulnerable, marginalized and left-behind children in the country.

In the context of the Country Programme for Greece (2022-2026) approved by the UNICEF Executive Board in February 2022, UNICEF and the Government of Greece have agreed on national targets for children, concerning health, education, social protection, child protection, justice and youth employability. Regarding the child protection agenda, UNICEF has planned activities under the following areas:

1. Strengthened child protection system that ensures the prevention of and response to all forms of violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect, enhances gatekeeping to prevent institutionalization, promotes family- and community-based forms of care, and delivers quality gender-responsive protection interventions.

2. Strengthened national capacities to promote family, child and adolescent mental health and to address stigmatisation and discriminatory social and gender norms.

3. Strengthened professional capacities to implement child centered approaches to their field work, such as social workers, journalists, public prosecutors, public administration staff.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the supervision and guidance of the Head of Child Protection / Child Protection Specialist of the UNICEF Greece Country Office, the Senior Project Associate (Child Protection) will support the Child Protection Section by carrying out a range of programme functions to help develop, implement and monitor the country programme, ensuring effective and timely delivery that is consistent with UNICEF rules and regulations.

The Senior Project Associate will work in close collaboration with a range of staff in the CO, external partners and agency counterparts in support of child protection programme design and delivery. S/He will provide regular feedback on the status of projects through monitoring milestones and will advise on improvements to keep activities on track.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:  

• Facilitating the development of Programme Documents and Terms of Reference with a focus on the GCO interventions to strengthen the child protection system at national and local level.
• Working closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders.
• Monitoring and reporting on the use of child protection resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verifying compliance with approved allocation, goals, organizational rules, regulations, procedures, donor commitments, and standards of accountability and integrity, and keeping supervisor informed and advised on actions for decision and/or follow up.
• Preparing technical inputs for programme and donor reporting, working papers and presentations.
• Supporting the Child Protection team in researching, compiling and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data and information from a variety of sources on child protection system strengthening, justice for children, vio