National Professional Officers are employed for functions in UNMIS which by their very nature require national knowledge and experience and so could not be carried out as effectively by international professionals

Organisational Setting and Reporting Relationship: Southern Sudan Child Protection Officers will be responsible for the local management of UNMIS's child protection work, reporting to the Chief of Child Protection and Team Leader for Juba, and based in UNMIS field offices in Southern Sudan with frequent travel within Southern Sudan as well as other regions in Sudan.

Responsibilities: Within delegated authority, the Southern Sudan Team Child Protection Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

• Best interests: Ensure that the best interests, rights, protection and well-being of all children are given priority within UNMIS, the peacekeeping and transition process in the area of deployment,
• Identifying child protection issues: Identify protection issues related to children and armed conflict falling within UNMIS's overall mandate and within the mandate of the Child Protection Unit
• Understanding children's views: Research and interpret the local culture of children and young people in order to better understand the pressures they face, the decisions they make, and their views on how to change their situation
• Understanding children's law: Develop and understanding of local customary and statutory legal systems for child protection, implement a local strategy to promote the legal protection of children
• Training UNMIS staff: Ensure that UNMIS personnel have appropriate training on child rights and child protection issues.
• Focal point system: Establish and manage a system of child protection focal points in military and civil sections of UNMIS that collect or disseminate information on child protection within their area of responsibility and liaise with child protection group; ensure that all key actors and mechanisms within the Mission and in the context of the peace process take a child-conscious approach to their respective mandates.
• Liaison: Develop and maintain close working relations with UNICEF and other UN agencies, IGOs and NGOs on areas of mutual concern, including to ensure complementarity of activities; facilitate contacts as required between partners and other sections of UNMIS; develop contacts with a range of local and regional authorities as necessary in order to carry out the mandate of the Unit;
• Timely reporting: Reports on specific violations as well as periodic and thematic reports
• Representation: Represent child protection issues in public advocacy and public events; advocate for the inclusion of relevant child protection issues related to armed conflict in the agendas of the UN coordination mechanisms, international and local NGOs and the international donor community.
• Supervision: Provide guidance and supervision to other Child Protection staff as required.

Competencies:

• Professional expertise: Knowledge of child protection, knowledge of a range of human rights issues; understanding of institutional mandates; knowledge of approaches and techniques to address sensitive problems; able to make determinations of children's best interests, able to manage information effectively
• Planning and organising: Able to establish priorities and to plan work assignments, manage competing demands and work under pressure of frequent and tight deadlines
• Communication: Good drafting skills in English; able to write concisely; good verbal communication; able to communicate honestly and respectfully with children and young people.
• Teamwork: Able to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain constructive working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. Able to work closely and productively with teams from other sections (particularly Human Rights) and agencies (particularly UNICEF and children's NGOs); commitment to dealing honestly and openly with issues and staff
• Gender and diversity: Commitment to opposing discrimination on grounds of gender, national, ethnic or social origin, age, disability, property or other status; able to plan and manage work so that these commitments are put into practice; respect and understanding of Sudan's linguistic and cultural diversity
• Judgment/Decision-making: sound judgment; able to priorities and take decisions

Qualifications:

• Education: Advanced university degree or significant experience in one or more of the following disciplines: law, child development, children's performance arts, anthropology or other social sciences, area studies, political science, public administration or economics.
• Experience: At least 5 years of progressively responsible, relevant professional experience at national or international levels, field work experience. Experience of programme and project planning and analysis and budgeting.
• Language: Fluency in English, Arabic, and in Southern Sudanese languages.
• Other skills: Knowledge of UN policies, procedures and operations. Computer literacy.
• Supervision: Provide guidance and supervision to other Child Protection staff as required.