Consultant to support the implementation of the country office activities in the area of Early Childhood Intervention, Sofia, Bulgaria, 22 months

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, commitment.

In 2023, UNICEF has started the implementation of the new Country Programme Document with the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2023-2027. The Country Programme Action Plan has a special focus on provision of enhancing support to children with developmental difficulties and disabilities during early childhood with a view of enabling them to develop to their full potential. Programmatic interventions draw on a twin-track approach for ensuring the rights of children with disabilities and aim to contribute to: 1) strengthening relevant national systems and policies in health, education, social and child protection to ensure that they deliver support to children with disabilities or developmental difficulties and their families in an inclusive way, and uphold their rights; and 2) expanding services that address the specific needs of children with disabilities or developmental difficulties and their families.

How can you make a difference? 

The main objective of the Consultant is to support UNICEF’s programme interventions in the area of early childhood intervention (ECI) and support for parents of young children. The goal is to support the national institutions and local authorities to develop and implement ECI system approach and to provide accessible, adequately funded, evidence-based and family-centred ECI services for all young children 0-7, including the most disadvantaged children and their families.

The consultant’s work will focus on three interrelated areas of work: 1) Providing expert support to the implementation of the ECI system approach in Bulgaria, within the two selected municipalities for piloting (Haskovo and Nova Zagora), as well as at the national level. The support will be in the form of the specific deliverables outlined in the table below, with a primary focus placed on capacity building activities and on activities that aim to build a national consensus over policy issues relevant to ECI. 2) Capacity building for ECD professionals in the country through the contextualizing of the LearnECD online platform, which has been developed by the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, as well as through other initiatives. 3) Providing expert support in the implementation of the ECD program portfolio and office-wide priorities in advocacy and policy development, including the forthcoming Strategy on the Child.

For a detailed work assignment overview, please refer to the attached document.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Master’s degree or higher in one or more of the following areas: pre-school pedagogy (early education), pedagogy, special pedagogy, child psychology or another relevant field.
• Excellent understanding of the contemporary conceptual framework on ECD and early childhood intervention for children with developmental difficulties and disabilities.
• Very good understanding of the national policy framework and institutional arrangements relating to early childhood intervention.
• Experience in project management.
• Familiarity with UNICEF policies and strategic documents related to ECD and ECI is considered an advantage.
• Ability to work independently.
• Ability to manage partnerships across diversity of stakeholders
• Respect for cultural diversity and human rights
• Fluency of English language.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

 ECI Work Assignment Overview.docx