Home-based: Child Protection Consultant (30 working days between Feb and July 2024) – Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

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, dedication.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) is hiring an international consultant to document social service workforce strengthening interventions in the context of the Ukraine refugee response.

Scope of Work

In accordance with the core commitments for children, strengthening child protection systems has been an important part of UNICEFs response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Working in close collaboration with governments and other partners, UNICEF refugee response offices (RROs) in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia have taken measures to address gaps and strengthen the capacity of national child protection system to respond to the needs of Ukrainian refugee children and to protect them from child protection risks and violations.

In many of the neighboring with Ukraine EU member states, social workers, para-social workers, volunteers and allied professional groups had little previous experience of responding to the risks armed conflict and humanitarian catastrophe expose children to. RROs also found that the social service workforce in many host countries had little knowledge about existing global guidelines and standards for child protection in humanitarian contexts, and little experience of how to apply them in emergency situations. Thus, UNICEF RROs interventions have included providing government and implementing partners with technical advisory and taking measure to strengthen capacity of the national social service workforce to respond to child protection risks and violations in emergency context in accordance with global guidance and standards. Identifying and documenting success factors and lessons learned from RROs work with social service workforce strengthening (SSWS) will be an important part of the UNICEF legacy.

An international consultant will be engaged to document experience of the host countries in immediate response to the Ukraine refugee emergency with the existing capacities of the social service workforce (e.g., existing gaps, capacities, tools used, etc.). The documentation will look into what existed within the CB programs and curriculum, and what has been produced within the response process, including such components as MHPSS and GBV. The documentation will also include the compilation of all resource materials and tools developed in support of the SSWF for the emergency response.

Through desk research combined with key informant interviews, the consultant will collect information to provide comprehensive accounts of the activities and measures taken by RROs and partners to strengthen the capacity of the social service workforce, including what gaps in existing national systems such measures were to address, why specific measures were chosen and how these measures were designed and implemented to be efficient and sustainable. Through key informant interviews, the consultant will also collect data on what the impact the measures have had for refugee response and for the long-term development of the national child protection system. Findings of the desk research and key informant interviews will be validated through a consultation with RROSs and presented in a written report.

Throughout the contract duration, the consultant will have regular contact with UNICEF ECARO to review progress, challenges, and next steps. Ad-hoc calls may take place as deemed necessary. The consultant will collaborate with UNICEF RROs to get access to documentation of SSWS measures and validate findings. UNICEF RROs will also support the consultants with setting up calls and/or meeting with key informants outside of UNICEF:

All reports to be submitted in electronic format by email to UNICEF Regional Child Protection Specialist in English.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone	Deliverables / Outputs	Timeline / Deadline
1. Developing a workplan in collaboration with UNICEF RROs, to ensure RROs will be able to assist the consultant with accessing existing documentation and other sources on SSW and facilitating contacts with key informants within and outside of UNICEF. The work plan shall also include an analytical framework, outlining (i) what global guidance and standards on SSWS and child protection in humanitarian settings are important to consider when identifying and documenting eventual gaps in the refugee response, (ii) what SSWS measures and activities have been central, (iii) sample of key informants to interview regarding the impact of these and (iv) a general interview guide. The analytical framework shall also include what methodological considerations have been made when identifying success factors and lessons learned. RROs input will be required to validate scope and methodological choices.	– Work plan, including timetable and analytical framework	6 working days
2. Collecting information through desk research regarding SSWS activities and measures conducted by UNICEF RROs and partners, including documenting the rationale behind the activities and measures against the background of what global guidance and standards for child protections services in humanitarian settings require and the needs of Ukrainian refugee children and their families. Look into what existed within the CB programs and curriculum, and what has been produced within the response process, including such components as MHPSS and GBV	– A digital folder with the information collected	10 working days
3. Conducting key informant interviews (on-line) to complement existing documents, other material on SSWS activities and measures, and, to collect information regarding the eventual impact these have had for the refugee response and for long-term strengthening of national child protection systems.	– Analysis of the interviews as part of the overall report	3 working days
4. Drafting a report describing the SSWS activities and measures in accordance with the analytical framework decided upon.	– Draft report	5 working days
5. Planning and conducting a workshop with UNICEF ECARO, RROs and other relevant partners to discuss and validate findings of the draft report	– Workshop (on-line), a short report on the main results of the workshop, including the agenda, list of participants and presentation	1 working day
6. Finalise the report based on input from the consultation	– Final report (based on inputs form the consultation) and ppt-presentation summarizing main findings from the documentation of activities and measures, analysis of impact, success factors and key lessons learned.	5 working days

Estimated Duration of the Contract

30 working days between February and July 2024.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based with no travel foreseen.

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 30 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

• Master’s degree in one of the following fields is required: international development, human rights, social work, sociology, or another relevant social science field
• Minimum seven (7) years of professional experience in the area related to this ToR.
• Demonstrated experience of conducting research related to child protection/SSWS
• 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
• Excellent qualitative analysis skills
• Good quantitative/statistical and analytical skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Experience of operational research is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of guidelines and standards for child protection in emergency/humanitarian setting is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of the EU region (especially on national child protection system, including the roles, responsibilities, and capacities of the social service workforce) is highly 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.