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, safety.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

The assignment focuses on supporting UNICEF ECARO to enhance child justice and child-friendly justice systems. Through technical support, development of strategic white papers, and organizing regional convenings, the consultancy aims to mobilize expertise, share knowledge, and strengthen commitments and technical capacities. This will accelerate reforms, ensuring children’s rights are central within justice systems. The tasks include direct support to country offices, development of technical resources, advocacy on restorative justice, and coordination of child-friendly legal training, aiming for a comprehensive approach to improving access to justice for children, particularly those at risk.

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist the consultant will provide technical support to UNICEF ECARO in developing a number of white papers and organization of a number of regional and sub-regional convening events, with an aim to mobilise the expertise, share learning and strengthen the commitment and technical capacities of the government and other stakeholders to accelerate reforms of child justice systems and support child-friendly justice. This work includes supporting country programmes and operations in both development, emergency, and ‘nexus’ programming environments.

Specific tasks and deliverables for the consultancy will include:

1. Provide specialized technical support to country offices and child protection teams, focusing on enhancing child justice frameworks and practices, and ensuring children’s rights and needs are central in justice systems. This includes advising on legal reforms, policy development, and implementation strategies to improve access to justice for children, especially those at risk of offending or with behavioral problems. In particular, support will be provided to teams to effective and actively engage in and contribute to the formulation of the General Comments by the CRC Committee on access to justice.

1. provide direct support to at least 5 countries, including counties involved in the response to the war in Ukraine
2. collect technical resources and develop a repository to make them available to countries in ECA region, including resources relevant to emergency response contexts, and
3. organize at least 2 exchange events on thematic areas of interest for countries in ECA region.

2. Support the development and drafting a strategic papers that will serve as key resources for UNICEF and its partners:

• A comprehensive advocacy document on integrating restorative justice principles within child justice systems to promote healing and reconciliation, rather than punitive measures. The paper will also dwelve on the use of restorative justice in conflict related contexts.

3. Provide technical support for the effective dissemination of multidisciplinary and interagency services for children victims of violence (Barnahus and similar child-friendly justice services) related documentation and provide technical support to country offices to disseminate and ensure engagement and advocacy for follow-up actions at country level. This role will be crucial in accelerating the Barnahus agenda, promoting a child-friendly approach to handling cases of child abuse and ensuring that child victims receive all necessary services in a single, child-friendly setting. Support the Regional Office (RO) in developing technical tools that will address the gaps identified through the Barnahus documentation in both development and emergency settings.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone	Deliverables / Outputs	Timeline / Deadline
Technical support to COs Provide specialized support focusing on child justice frameworks and practices, including advising on reforms and policy development.	– Direct support reports for at least 3 countries including refugee response countries.	15 working days; Between April and December 2024
	– A repository of technical resources.
	– Reports on at least 2 exchange events.
	– Coordinate training activities for justice sector professionals on child-sensitive procedures.
	– 2 presentations on data in justice
Development of strategic papers Support drafting of a paper on restorative justice and support dissemination of documentation related to Barnahus services and other relevant technical papers	– The strategic paper is informed by communication with experts, reference groups and relevant stakeholders to gather insights, validate information to incorporate diverse perspectives and expertise.	10 working days; Between May and November 2024
	– A comprehensive dissemination plan that outlines how the findings, results, and recommendations will be shared with target audiences. This plan should include channels (eg. reports, webinars) and timelines.
	– Support countries on advocacy and follow-up

Estimated Duration of the Contract

25 working days between April and December 2024.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based.

As part of this assignment, some international travel is foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 25 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• A relevant Master’s degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, law, social science or related field.
• Minimum seven (7) years of experience in relevant fields.
• Proven experience and knowledge related to the ToRs areas.
• Demonstrated experience of producing high-quality reports and other documents to specified deadlines.
• Demonstrated experience of working with a range of stakeholders including policy makers, practice-based organizations and non-governmental organisations.
• Good analytical skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Proven track record in developing programmatic guidance and working with international child rights instruments.
• Knowledge of the ECA region, including regulatory frameworks for national child justice system is desirable.
• Ability to be flexible and deliver results under tight deadlines.
• Fluency in English (oral and written).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Please include a full CV and Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.