UNICEF child protection supports to strengthen child protection system in Afghanistan closely working with government sectors and non-government partners on system building, justice for children, birth registration, elimination of harmful practices and child protection in emergencies. UNICEF supports to strengthen psycho-social support services to better respond to the needs of children abused or at risk of abuse and violence.

The key challenge in responding to the growing child protection and gender-based violence (GBV) crisis is the absence of a qualified, incentivized workforce. To meet the needs of Afghan children and women within the current context, UNICEF anticipated a need of 25 social workers per 100,000 children.

However, due to the turnover of social workers as well as the expiry of NGO partnerships, the numbers of social workers are in constant fluctuation, and continuous training and deployment is needed. Therefore, to be able to provide the services to the most vulnerable children in Afghanistan and in line with the aforementioned strategy, UNICEF continues to recruit and train members of the social welfare workforce who will support the provision of humanitarian child protection integrated specialized services including case management; family tracing and reunification (FTR); provision of psychosocial support (PSS); referrals to education, health, GBV, and other specialized services; and income generating activities for vulnerable children and their families; among other interventions.

The Child protection social work provincial supervisor is required to closely work with the team and relevant stakeholders to achieve the goals and objective designed for this program. S/he is also required to manage and oversee the effective implementation of the activities.

Role objectives 

Under the guidance of UNICEF Child Protection Specialists and Child Protection Officers, and in coordination with other child protection partners, the Child protection social work provincial supervisor will be responsible for:

• Case Management for individual children and their families to those children who have experienced or are at risk of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation in coordination with other service providers and CPAN – focusing on extremely grace cases.
• Assessment, case planning, implementation of the case plan, follow-up and review, and case closure as outlined in the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP).
• Provide psychosocial support (PSS) to children and families throughout the case management process.
• Conduct safe referrals to essential services as appropriate and follow up to ensure services provided were responsive to the needs of the child identified within the assessment.
• Actively engage in all capacity-building opportunities, including formal training and capacity assessments in close coordination with the technical social work advisor.
• Participate in regular case management meetings with the case management team.
• Support identification, registration, family reunification, and reintegration of Unaccompanied Minor and Separated Children (UASC) and Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups (CAFAAG)
• Support mitigation, prevention, and response to GBV cases including awareness-raising, victim response, and coordination of the GBV programs.
• Support rollout of child protection campaigns, community mobilization, and mediation.
• Collaborate with other child protection colleagues and key stakeholders to regularly report child protection issues.
• Lead coordination with provincial CPANs, stakeholders, and other community structures.
• Work with Child Protection and GBV subclusters at provincial level.
• Closely coordinate with and support other Provincial Social Workers.
• Support District Workers at the district level and monitor their work, including compiling their reports – also provide guidance and support on challenges in best interest determination for extremely problematic cases.
• Conduct monitoring and reporting of key child protection issues and trends at provincial level.
• Support advocacy, policy implementation, and system development at provincial level working with provincial level authorities.
• Any other relevant duty assigned to him/her by the supervisor(s).