Child Protection Officer

We’re looking for a Child Protection Officer who can live and volunteer for 12 months in Vietnam.

• This assignment seeks to support the design and implementation of child protection programme interventions to prevent and respond to violence against children (VAC), including strengthening protective environments and integrating psychosocial care for child victims of violence.
• To be considered for this role, you’ll need a Bachelor or equivalent on social work, psychology, social sciences, child welfare and child development, communications, law or other relevant fields
• As a volunteer, you will support and contribute to the development of parenting programmes for adolescents by integrating international good practices in violence prevention and psychosocial well-being.

About the partner organisation 

UNICEF operates in over 190 countries and territories worldwide to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them realize their full potential from early childhood through adolescence. In Viet Nam, UNICEF works nationwide through the Viet Nam Country Office (VCO), supporting children and adolescents across diverse contexts, including disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. In Viet Nam, children and adolescents face heightened risks of violence, exploitation, and abuse, particularly during emergencies, making the prevention of violence against children (VAC) a core priority for UNICEF Viet Nam’s Child Protection programme. Strengthening early prevention, risk identification, and family‑ and community‑based protective approaches is critical to reducing harm before violence occurs. At the same time, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and adolescent parenting remain underdeveloped areas, despite their proven role in preventing family violence and supporting children affected by adversity. This assignment is therefore important to help address critical programmatic gaps, strengthen preventive child protection approaches, and support more effective and sustainable responses across both humanitarian and development contexts. An Australian volunteer will contribute international expertise that is not readily available locally, particularly in the application of global good practices in programming on the prevention of violence against children (VAC), mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), and adolescent parenting. The volunteer will support the Child Protection team in designing and implementing relevant interventions, strengthening documentation, and generating evidence to inform future scale‑up. In addition, the volunteer will contribute to resource mobilisation efforts, including identifying funding opportunities, preparing high‑quality proposals, and supporting donor reporting.

About the Australian Volunteers Program  

The Australian Volunteers Program is an Australian government-funded initiative. We support partner organisations across the Pacific, Asia, and Africa to achieve locally led change.  

Volunteers are supported throughout their volunteer journey. We actively support and encourage people of all backgrounds and abilities to volunteer and aim to make the program as accessible and inclusive as possible. If you have accessibility requirements, please contact us to discuss how we can support you to volunteer with us - [email protected]. Learn more about our commitment to inclusion.