Programme Specialist - Child Rights and Business (P-3), PGLT - BECR Outposted at UNICEF

• Under the supervision of the Senior Adviser, Child Rights and Business, the Programme Specialist will support UNICEF National Committees, Regional, and Country Offices to engage industry, policy makers, and other stakeholders on the government duty to protect and business responsibility to respect children’s rights in the context of workplaces and global supply chains. Jointly with relevant PG teams (e.g., CP, SP, ECD, Gender, Nutrition), the role will have a dedicated focus on promoting child rights responses to child labour, as well as lead on business responsibility in the context of family-friendly policies and wider care and support systems. It will entail duties in relation to the creation, dissemination, and promotion of internal and external CRB guidance (incl. linked to forthcoming EU standards on responsible business); strengthen knowledge management; and lead external stakeholder engagement, including for resource mobilisation in support of CO programme implementation.

How can you make a difference?
Deliver on existing CRB commitments and advance new opportunities.

• Lead delivery of CRB components and deliverables in existing donor grants and commitments, including bilateral CRB support on family-friendly policies and technical CRB support for an EU-funded programme on child labour. Among other activities, this includes providing technical support and develop guidance on inclusive family-friendly policies; and the development and dissemination of updated material on child rights approaches to child labour. Responsibilities also include advancing partnership opportunities with investors, businesses, and industry standards, where strategic.

Strengthen advocacy messaging on child rights in GSC in the context of HRDD.

• Develop key messaging, update content, and provide guidance for UNICEF offices on the implementation of meaningful child rights approaches in the context of emerging mandatory human rights due diligence requirements in global supply chains. This requires liaising and working closely with programme teams in HQ, ROs, and COs to embed programmatic expertise, evidence and guidance in CRB approaches to ensure mandatory HRDD delivers for children. The role will also lead on content leadership and technical input to influence strategic external frameworks and initiatives, such as reporting, benchmarking and wider ESG and sustainability frameworks (linked to workplace impacts and GSC).

Further programme integration and provide wider organizational support.

• Provide technical support to PG, ROs, COs, National Committees and other HQ teams to further drive momentum on CRB and programme integration. This includes existing priority areas (e.g., FFP, child labour) and advancing emerging themes (e.g. urban waste, migration, etc.), as relevant. Duties include delivering on GTT commitments on family-friendly policies (e.g., co-lead for drafting of strategy note for internal advocacy and resource mobilization), and acting as focal point with CP to advance responsible business practices within UNICEF’s multi-sectoral response to child labour.

Support evidence generation and strengthen thought leadership.

• Lead on consolidating learnings from existing GSC work and pilots and related experiences, and advance concepts to strengthen CRB and programme integration. This includes further conceptualizing the role of business in relation to internal agendas (e.g., care and support systems strengthening) and external topics (e.g. landscape approaches). The role will also provide substantive content support on emerging (and critical) CRB-wide themes such as climate, environment and just transition (e.g., recycling value chains).
• Support resource mobilization and strengthen UNICEF’s external positioning with private and public donors.
• Drive content development, proposal writing and donor engagement (incl. follow-up) to support resource mobilization in support of CRB and programmatic work at CO-level. This requires working closely with relevant Natcom and HQ, ROs, and COs to develop tailored and targeted proposals, and engaging with relevant UNICEF parts before and during donor engagement.

Facilitate internal capacity building and knowledge exchange.

• Duties include coordinating regular information exchange and experience sharing meetings (e.g., GSC Natcom Working Group); regularly liaising with ROs and relevant COs; responding to requests for technical support; and capturing case studies of impactful UNICEF programming, partnerships and advocacy work and initiatives at country-level to strengthen CRB in workplaces and GSC.

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

• Advanced University degree in business, international development, human rights, sociology, international law, or another relevant social science, or another relevant field is required.
• Minimum 5 years of work experience in one of the following is required: business and human rights, children’s rights and business, decent work, child labour, gender in the workplace, or related area is required.
• Experience working in the context of business responsibility in global supply chains will be highly valued.
• Experience working in an international environment on topics related to responsible business conduct, decent work, and related, will be highly valued.
• Strong research background and writing skills are required. Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, French or Spanish) is an asset.