Early Child Development Specialist

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Brazil since 1950, supporting the most important changes in childhood and adolescence in the country. UNICEF participated in major immunization and breastfeeding campaigns; the mobilization that resulted in the approval of Article 227 of the Federal Constitution and the drafting of the Child and Adolescent Statute; the movement for universal access to education; programmes to combat child labour; among other great advances in guaranteeing the rights of Brazilian girls and boys. In recent decades, Brazil has promoted a strong process of inclusion of children and adolescents in public policies. However, a significant portion of the population remains excluded. Therefore, in its cooperation programme with the Brazilian Government for the period 2024-2028, UNICEF focuses its efforts on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence. These children and adolescents in situations of greater vulnerability are spread throughout Brazil, but they are more concentrated in the Amazon, in the Northeast and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Northeast and in the Amazon regions in Brazil. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the #AgendaCidadeUNICEF.

The theme of early childhood has gained prominence due to several scientific evidence proving the investment in this stage of life, since pregnancy and especially in the first three years of life, is extremely important for physical, cognitive, emotional spiritual and social development, with long term consequences to children’s lives. During this period, the brain development is extremely fast, forming connections at a faster pace than at any other time in life, shaping the basis of brain functions and structures that influence children’s mental and physical health, as well as their ability to learn throughout life and adapt to the changes. Due to, caregiving practices and protectives approaches need to be adopted in this period of life, to face vulnerabilities and reduce the violence, abuse, racism and discrimination.

Brazil has improved its public policies and legal framework on Early Childhood Development (ECD). Recently, the Brazilian legal and policy framework for ECD has received considerable investments at both Federal, State and municipal levels through the development of the Criança Feliz programme and integrated Action’s Plans being developed by municipal (PMPI) and state (PEPI) governments, in joint work civil society, University, foundations, NGOs, UN agencies and the private sector actively engaged in the ECD agenda in a diversified and large partnership landscape.

Also, is noticeable that the municipal and State decision-makers on public budget (orçamento Público) in Brazil have been increasingly aligned with the framework for ECD and its priorities. The States Courts of Auditors in several states in Brazil have been developed a strong interest for ECD and have become strong allies in promoting and advocating for early childhood as a priority in government budgets.
Taking as an example, the States of Sergipe and Minas Gerais have been carrying over interesting initiatives in order to develop legal mechanisms and public policies instruments on early child development. States and municipalities have induced the development of Action Plans, municipal committees, building social indicators and goals, as well as, negotiations with City Legislative Councils to prioritize early childhood in the Budget at the Social Policy.

The UAPI (Unidade Amiga da Primeira Infância) and PIA (Primeira infância antirracista) are two UNICEF initiatives which aim to collaborate, improve and qualify public services for children in the Brazilian municipalities using practices and easy methodologies in local health and early education units. It has been implemented through the Selo UNICEF and #AgendaCidadeUNICEF strategies, and contributed to foster the knowledge and improve local routines and promote good practices on equitable and antiracist childcare and services.

Committed to strategically position early childhood development agenda in Brazil, by bringing leadership and technical expertise, UNICEF programme contributes to strengthen the role and capacities of families and local services to provide responsive and nurturing caregiving to their children, preventing violence, racism and promoting early stimulation and care. In the Northeast Region, UNICEF allies with Courts of Auditors, experts and civil society organizations to develop the capacity of those technical teams to support families in the role of caring and nurturing young children and, thus, benefiting and protecting the most vulnerable populations is fundamental.

Under the general guidance of the Head of the Salvador Field Office, the selected UN Volunteer Specialist will be responsible for providing technical assistance to the early childhood and social assistance policies implemented by the municipalities in the Bahia, Sergipe and Minas Gerais States, for the development of advocacy work with the state governments of the respective UFs, as well as for the establishment of alliances with the State Courts of Auditors, civil society organizations working on the issue of early childhood and social assistance, and with the communities and families of the territories prioritized by UNICEF.

• Support the development, implementation and monitoring of the ECD activities and deliverables planned for the Salvador office in the 2024 AWP annual work plan), in all 5 Program Areas, through technical assistance to IP (implementing partners) and local actors in the network for children, in the prioritized states and territories for the Field Office.

• Support the establishment of new partnerships with internal and external actors in the Office’s prioritized states, capitals and municipalities.

• Support the development of social protection policies, legislation and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention on the most marginalized. Identifies, generates and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with local partners.

• Collaborate with the Salvador Field Office, ECD national level and Education, Health and Protection from Violence colleagues at regional level to the planning and development of innovative strategies, as foreseen in UNICEF’s AWP 2024, which guarantee the implementation of ECD and Social Policy interventions, including design, scaling-up processes, mapping partners, systematizing experiences, disseminating lessons learned, among others.

• Support the expansion and the intersectoral management of the UAPI (Early Childhood Friendly Unit) in conjunction with UNICEF local and territorial teams of specialists in health, education, social protection, and protection against violence and racism in early childhood.

• Support the expansion and intersectoral management of the UAPI (Early Childhood Friendly Unit) in direction to originating communities and traditional populations in Brazilian municipalities, innovating on early childhood policies for these most vulnerable groups.

• Collaborate on dissemination, training and implementation anti-racism practices within public early childhood services in the municipalities, enlarging the PIA initiative and other social practices and technologies on racial literacy.

• Identify and nurture partnership opportunities with key ECD networks, stakeholders, including government, private sectors, academies, forums, NGOs, foundations, professional advice, and UN System organizations to advance UNICEF’s ECD policy and programming in those three states.

• Ensure UNICEF is strategically involved in local and regional ECD policy forums and networks.

• Participate in internal and external meetings accordingly as agreed by UNICEF and/or with partners, either in person and/or on-line.

EXPECTED RESULTS:

ECD strategy implemented in BA, SE and MG States through: official adhesion and certification of UAPIs in the city of Salvador; alliances with the Courts for equity and priority of child-centred public investments; the adoption of PIA – anti-racist practices by municipal early childhood care services and professionals; and the implementation of the UNICEF Seal and #AgendaCidadeUNICEF in prioritized territories, municipalities and traditional and originating communities in that 3 states.

The UN Volunteer may be required to travel, to participate in collaborative work with internal and external teams, including territories and communities in rural areas far way into the States. In addition, they will participate in face-to-face events, webinars, and virtual meetings with colleagues and/or partners. Activities such as organizing meetings, conferences, workshops and training will be required. Contribution with articles and opeds (public opinion), production or provision of inputs for reports, proposals for donors, notes and audiovisual pieces for the purposes of communication, analysis, data collection and systematization will be requested

Aligned with the results and programmatic goals of the Country Program and in joint action with UNICEF technical teams from Salvador and the Northeast territory, the selected UNV Volunteer Specialist will collaborate with planning activities, programmatic implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and systematization of the results and good practices achieved, contributing to the following thematic lines and objectives:

• Improving municipal and state public policies for early childhood.
• Municipal early childhood care units providing an anti-racist and equitable care during the first phase of life.
• Improving municipal and state public policies to reduce child poverty.
• Increasing social protection coverage and its positive impact on children and their families.
• The adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-centered public investments
• The programmatic implementation of the early childhood agenda and child-centered public investments into the UNICEF Seal and #Agenda Cidade initiatives.