Home-based: Human Centred Design Consultant (45 working days) – UNICEF Czech Republic Refugee Response Office (RRO)

UNICEF Czech Republic RRO is looking for a qualified Human Centred Design Consultant to implement Human Centered Design (HCD) methodology to work with relevant stakeholders to scope challenges; develop HCD strategies, materials and tools; and support non-trained designers to lead implementation of design research.

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, a vision.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to implement Human Centered Design (HCD) methodology to work with relevant stakeholders to scope challenges; develop HCD strategies, materials and tools; and support non-trained designers to lead implementation of design research. The consultant will work with internal UNICEF team including two youth Ukrainian refugee consultants, and other partners. The activity will include understanding key stakeholder perspective primarily in two distinct areas: youth mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) issues; and refugee youth employment and education in the Czech Republic. It is to be noted, that upon the programmatic needs, the UNICEF Refugee Response Office may enquire the HCD intervention in other areas. Within the scope of this consultancy, the consultant is also expected to train and mentor the youth consultants working with UNICEF in strengthening the youth-led outreach, participatory approaches, co-creation methodology, data generation and programming activities.

Scope of Work

As of December 2023, 5,9 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe. As national social protection measures decrease, the risk of refugee children from Ukraine falling into poverty is growing. The re-registration data show that currently there are around 380,000 refugees from Ukraine with Temporary Protection in the Czech Republic. This includes 97,054 children under the age of 18 years (26%), 176,907 women aged 18+ years (47%), and 101,060 men aged 18+ (27%)2. There are 21,996 Ukrainian refugee youth aged 15-18 in the country and about 70,000 youth between 15 – 24 years old 16 % are not in education, employment, or training (NEET). Ukrainian refugee youth are living in every single region of the Czech Republic, with the highest number of adolescent refugees in the regions of Prague (5,635) and Central Bohemia (2,978). The trends indicate an average of 1,500 newly registered refugees per week.

Following the consultations with young refugees, three priority needs and challenges have been identified by them which include (1) financial pressures to cover youth´s basic needs; (2) challenges to follow the path of education and skills building and (3) the need for mental health support. This consultancy will therefore focus on addressing the identified needs of young refugees and includes the following requirements:

1/ Development of field and digital youth outreach strategy to support youth in need of learning and skills development and education as part of the CESTY programme.

Support youth representatives across the country to develop a youth-led outreach strategy for field and digital implementation. This strategy will be co-created by UNICEF youth consultants together with youth representatives from the Regional Integration Centers. The HCD consultant will develop HCD research tools, supporting UNICEF youth consultants to use the research tools, draw insights and propose creative solutions. By engaging the youth in co-creation activities, the HCD approach will help in gaining valuable insights into the youth lives, experiences and trends which will allow for developing meaningful and effective solutions. The consultant’s activities will include the following:

• Train, mentor and support the UNICEF youth refugee consultants to better understand and implement the process with focus on co-creation and insights generation. Design process for outreach strategy through the Regional Integration Centers and Labour Offices will be developed and supported for online and in person consultations across the Czech Republic. This process will lead to developing the methodology, tools and outputs.
• Developing co-creation methodology and tools in cooperation with UNICEF youth consultants to be implemented online and in person across the regional integration centers in the Czech Republic.
• Support youth to develop an outreach strategy for the CESTY initiative – refugee youth employment and education program.
• Support a process of developing a co-creation of youth friendly feedback mechanisms for the CESTY initiative that will be accessible and responsive to all youth engaged in the CESTY program. This includes testing and prototyping the feedback mechanisms and the feedback loop.
• Support a final written report for two design processes, including description of the process, learnings, and recommendations.

2/ Development of Youth Mental Health Strategy and Implementation on addressing youth mental health issues and psychosocial support through network of Youth Friendly Spaces in the Czech Republic.

Develop a comprehensive approach to enhance mental health support system for refugee youth in the Czech Republic. Acknowledging that mental health issues are one of the challenges Ukrainian refugee youth face in the Czech Republic, this consultancy aims at understanding the needs and challenges youth face in mental health and wellbeing, understanding the existing practices around mental health and psychosocial support among refugee youth, addressing mental health topics with refugee youth, providing them with opportunities to receive support and help in the area of mental health in an appropriate and desired way. The consultant’s activities will include following:

• Support UNICEF refugee youth consultants to co-create 3-4 activities with youth representatives who are deployed at regional integration centers in every region of the Czech Republic and other partners to understand current knowledge, attitudes and practices of youth in the area of mental health, draw insights, propose solutions to be prototyped, tested and implemented by the UNICEF youth consultants and UNICEF team.
• Support developing strategies to identify and understand the diverse needs of youth in mental health issues while working with the network of youth representatives at the Regional Integration Centers.
• Facilitate the development of a Human Centre Design youth-led outreach strategy and tools for communicating about youth mental health needs through field and digital outreach and overseeing the complex process

3/ Lead another HCD intervention

It is acknowledged that the progress of HCD implementation will uncover additional opportunities for further HCD interventions across the UNICEF Refugee Response programs. As a result, the consultant is expected to:

• Support youth as they lead the development and implementation of research tools.
• Support youth as they synthesize data and propose solutions to challenges they have identified. NOTE: Should there be no need to conduct a third HCD implementation, this deliverable will not be pursued.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

45 working days between May and August 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 45 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

• Master’s degree in Human cantered design, service design, device design, or other design related field.
• Fluent in English.
• At least three (3) years’ experience applying human centered design in a humanitarian context.
• Demonstrated experience in supporting community-led design processes.
• Experience working with UNICEF and/or another UN agency is an asset.
• Experience with working in a refugee response settings is an asset.

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, Cover Letter, and a portfolio of previous work 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.