Child Labour Specialist

The Child Labour Specialist supports FAO's work on child labour prevention and elimination, particularly in agriculture and rural development contexts. The role involves policy and technical support, knowledge generation, capacity development, advocacy, and partnerships across global, regional, and country levels.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the provision of policy and technical support to Technical Divisions, Decentralized Offices and Countries for the development and implementation of policies, strategies, programmes and projects related to child labour prevention and elimination, particularly in agriculture and rural development contexts.
• Support the development of evidence, good practices and lessons learned to improve the understanding of policies, approaches and institutional frameworks, as well as sectoral (agrifood systems) solutions related to the drivers, risks and mitigation of child labour, including through private sector engagement, due diligence processes and labour rights safeguards.
• Support the development, dissemination and uptake of knowledge products, technical documents, capacity development materials, advocacy tools and communication materials related to child labour, responsible business conduct, labour rights and sustainable agrifood systems.
• Contribute to the organization of capacity development and awareness-raising events and FAO’s participation in global and regional fora relevant to child labour prevention and elimination, responsible supply chains, labour rights and private sector sustainability initiatives.
• Contribute to initiatives like the Alliance 8.7 and the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture.
• Contribute to country and resource partner requests for the formulation of programmes and projects focusing on, or relevant to, child labour prevention and remediation, private sector engagement, human rights and environmental due diligence, and labour rights safeguards standards.
• Provide support to any other tasks as required.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in human rights, rural development, political or social sciences, climate change, natural resource management, agriculture or other related field. Consultants with a bachelor's degree need two additional years of relevant professional experience.
• University degree from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in human rights, rural development, political or social sciences, climate change, natural resource management, agriculture or other related field.
• At least 1 year for Level C or at least 5 years for Level B of relevant experience in policy assistance and programme development in the field of rural development and/or poverty reduction and/or rural employment, with experience related to child labour.
• Working knowledge (level C) of English, French or Spanish.
• Familiarity with child labour from a rural development perspective.
• Experience in specific child labour topics such as child labour prevention and remediation in agriculture, labour rights and safeguarding standards, responsible business conduct, human rights and environmental due diligence, private sector engagement in sustainable supply chains, youth employment as a means of addressing child labour risks, and data collection, monitoring and empirical analysis related to child labour.
• Strong writing skills.
• Experience in interdisciplinary work and multistakeholder action.
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work is a plus.
• Extent of knowledge and experience in policy support and technical assistance as well as programme/project development or knowledge generation of child labour.
• Level of knowledge and experience in concepts and methodologies related to risk-based approaches, labour rights in the context of safeguards and due diligence.
• Experience in advocacy, policy support, capacity development and technical assistance related to child labour.
• Experience in working in multidisciplinary and multi-cultural teams.
• Limited knowledge of a second FAO language (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian) is an asset.

Skills

• Child Labour Prevention
• Rural Development Policy
• Policy Assistance
• Program Development
• Labour Rights Policy
• Safeguarding Standards
• Responsible Business Conduct
• Human Rights Due Diligence
• Environmental Due Diligence
• Private Sector Engagement
• Sustainable Supply Chains
• Youth Employment Promotion
• Data Collection
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Empirical Analysis
• Technical Assistance
• Capacity Development
• Advocacy
• Interdisciplinary Work
• Multistakeholder Action
• Policy Support
• Multi-cultural Team Collaboration

Languages

English, French, Spanish