The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on Violence against Children Prevalence Estimation. This “Call for experts” provides information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
Background:
Violence against children (VAC) includes all forms of violence against people aged under 18 years of age, whether perpetrated by parents or other caregivers, peers, or strangers. It can include physical, sexual, and emotional violence as well as neglect and witnessing violence, and in many instances individual children experience multiple types of violence. New forms like online bullying are becoming increasingly common.
The international community adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to track progress in several areas, including a number of targets (4a, 5.2, 16.1 and 16.2) aimed at ending VAC. However, despite a significant increase in the availability of data on the topic in recent years, at half-way through the 15-year SDG plan, most countries still lack baseline and trend data on the prevalence of VAC by which to monitor its response to prevention efforts and changes in the underlying causes and risk factors. Notwithstanding the substantive efforts made by UNICEF, UNODC, the US CDC, WHO and others to build capacity in data collection and management at the country level, we are still unable to monitor global, regional, and national progress on the VAC-related SDG indicators, or to assess the level of investment needed to meet these targets1,2. The need for reliable, valid, nationally representative, and internationally comparable estimates is therefore pressing.
In response, WHO plans to produce national, regional, and global estimates for physical, sexual and emotional violence, and bullying (at a minimum), and possibly also for neglect, witnessing violence, and multiple types.
Functions of the TAG on Violence against Children Prevalence Estimation:
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the TAG shall have the following functions:
- To provide timely, evidence-informed advice and independent evaluation of the scientific, technical and strategic aspects relating to violence against children measurement and estimation methods;
- Participate in processes of methodological development, including feedback on operational definitions and inclusion of key variables, weighting and adjustment methods, and other methodological questions as they arise;
- To recommend priorities relating to the research agenda to address violence against children measurement challenges including those required for global monitoring purposes;
- To advise on linkages with related advisory groups, including those working on measurement and estimation in relation to other issues;
- To advise on strategies for “joined-up” approaches and promote linkages to broader strategies to strengthen national statistics systems as relates to violence against children survey design, measurement, data collection, analyses and reporting practices in alignment with international best practice.
- To advise on strategies in relation to the effective dissemination and use of the violence against children estimates and related products.
Operations of the TAG on Violence against Children Prevalence Estimation:
The TAG shall normally be expected meet virtually up to four times over an approximate 15-month period.
Active participation is expected from TAG members, including in virtual meetings and interaction via e-mail. TAG members will be requested to review meeting documentation in advance of TAG meetings.
The working language of the TAG will be English.
Who can express interest?
The TAG on Violence against Children Prevalence Estimation will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to violence against children data and measurement.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from scientists, research methodologists, data and survey specialists with expertise in the following areas:
- Epidemiology, demography, biostatistics, data science, modelling of population-based prevalence estimates;
- Measurement, methodological considerations and related research on violence against children;
- Population-based survey methodology and implementation – sampling, ethics, data collection, analyses and reporting, preferably in relation to national or large-scale surveys measuring violence against children.
Candidates who meet the above criteria and who have experience in using population-based violence against children survey data to inform policy and programming are encouraged to apply.
Submitting your expression of interest:
To register your interest in being considered for the TAG on Violence against Children Prevalence Estimation, please submit the following documents by 14 June 2024, 23h59 Central European Time (UTC + 2 hours) to vacestimates@who.int using the subject line “Expression of interest for the TAG on Violence against Children Prevalence Estimation”.
- A cover letter indicating your motivation to apply and how your expertise meets the criteria above. Please note that, if selected, membership will be in a personal capacity. Therefore, do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer/institution);
- Your curriculum vitae;
- One example of a work product or report in the relevant area; and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO. Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed.
Important information about the selection processes and conditions of appointment:
Members of WHO advisory groups (AGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of an AG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).
All AG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). AG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations. The selection of AG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.
If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an AG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.
WHO reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest, to annul the open call process and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO's action. WHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing AG or modify the work of the AG.
WHO shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.
WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet. AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise.
The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment, typically for 15-month period.
If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to vacestimates@who.int well before the applicable deadline.
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1 Global status report on preventing violence against children. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
2 Cappa C, Petrowski N. Thirty years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Progress and challenges in building statistical evidence on violence against children. Child Abuse Negl. 2020 Dec;110(Pt 1):104460. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104460.