International Consultancy-Arts for social change behavior- Juba South Sudan(Open for non South Sudanese)

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Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) South Sudan is looking for a qualified expert on using theatre, animation, arts, music, clowning, games and/or other creative techniques with strong background in GBV and CP technical support and capacity building to partners. The capacity building initiatives will involve social workers, animators in the CFS/WGSS/Youth and Adolescent safe spaces and community mobilizers engaged in supporting returnees/refugees fleeing from the crisis in Sudan. The aim is to use creative means to build trust with highly vulnerable children enabling partner staff to: provide emotional support to boys and girls living dangerous lives; raise critical debate, among key community actors, on root causes of GBV and Child Abuse.

Across South Sudan, GBV and Child Abuse (including sexual violence, IPV and child marriage) are pervasive. While the full magnitude of GBV is unclear, studies indicate that more than 65% of the approximately 5.59 million women and girls in South Sudan have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes; this is among the highest rates in the world, and twice the global average. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, exploitation, and abuse, with child marriage on the rise. Furthermore, the Child Protection Area of Responsibility has stated that 2.5m children (80% of the total people in need in SSD) require emergency protection interventions (Humanitarian Response Plan 2024). The impact of the demographic fluxes from Sudan has exacerbated this scenario. ‘Since the outbreak of ¬fighting in Sudan on 15 April 2023, the influx of people fleeing Sudan has increased sharply at multiple border points between Sudan and South Sudan, in particular in Upper Nile, Unity, Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal States’(IOM, October 2023). ‘As of 29 November, 413516 people were recorded crossing into South Sudan. Of these, just over half or 50.7% are female. However, in the 7-day period from 23 – 29 November, there appears to be a higher percentage of women arriving, with 70 per cent of the 6,078 arrivals were women, i.e. aged over 18’ (UNICEF Humanitarian Update Note, 30 November 2023).

However, access to lifesaving multi-sectoral GBV/CP responses, including health, case management, psychosocial support, higher-level mental health, and other services, are very limited. Even in locations where there are services, there are multiple barriers to survivors seeking support, including self-blame, fear of reprisals, mistrust of authorities, and risk of retaliatory attacks coupled with cultural norms and values which promote a culture of silence. Quality of care and capacity of service providers also impacts the utilization of services when available. Participatory theatre, art, music and other creative methods, coupled with structured discussions and relationship / trust building exercises, have been proven effective in providing therapeutic support to address trauma and disempowerment affecting survivors of grave human rights violations and community members at risk of GBV/Child Abuse due to conflict and social norms, practices, behaviors.

UNICEF South Sudan is scaling up efforts to address root causes of GBV and Child Abuse through innovative approaches (i.e the Communities Care Program). As part of these efforts, UNICEF requires a consultant to strengthen the capacity of partners, social workers, animators, and community mobilizers to utilize theatrical, artistic, musical and other creative techniques and methodologies while engaging community members in transit and at final destination sites for returnees and survivors of GBV/Child Abuse fleeing from Sudan.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:
The purpose of this consultancy (90 days) is to provide technical support, trainings and capacity building to partners, social workers, animators, and community mobilizers to improve the quality of GBV/CP services at women and girl friendly spaces (WGFS), One-Stop Centres (OSC), safe shelters, Youth and Adolescent safe spaces and CFS offering services to refugees and returnees from Sudan. The primary aim of the work is to break down barriers between social workers and community mobilisers with children affected by armed conflict and children living in poverty and extremely perilous / transitory circumstances. The consultant will be home based with travels to Juba to facilitate workshops, provide mentoring and coaching sessions. The consultant will receive overall guidance and day-to-day supervision from the CP Specialist. S/he will work closely with the UNICEF Child Protection team in country.
Scope of Work:
Main tasks and deliverables related to the consultancy:
Conduct a brief scoping and field level review and analysis of existing community mobilization techniques used and skills deployed to support children in extremely vulnerable circumstances. Develop an inception report with a proposed workplan articulating a knowledge and capacity sharing plan to build creative mobilization, artistic, musical and theatrical skills with partners.
Provide training, coaching, workshop for UNICEF, CP and GBV AoR partners as defined by UNICEF, on simple and practical techniques to build relationships/trust and support community mobilization through participatory theatre, art, music or other creative techniques.
Produce a final report to document engagement with the participants detailing follow-up plans. Should include accessible and usable materials and tools for partners – such as youtube videos, guides, reference sites, etc – of the tools and techniques used that can support on going capacity sharing and techniques that are accessible and can be utilized by GBV and CP partners in South Sudan.

Deliverables

1. Conduct a brief scoping and field level review and analysis of existing community mobilization techniques used and skills deployed to support children in extremely vulnerable circumstances. Develop an inception report with a proposed workplan articulating a knowledge and capacity sharing plan to build creative mobilization, artistic, musical and theatrical skills with partners.
-field trip
-inception report by 31/03/2024 40%
2. Based on inception report and agreed workplan – provide training, coaching, workshop for UNICEF, CP and GBV AoR partners as defined by UNICEF, on simple and practical techniques to build relationships/trust and support community mobilization through participatory theatre, art, music or other creative techniques.
-capacity sharing activities implemented by 30/06/2024 40%

3. Produce a final report to document engagement with the participants detailing follow-up plans. Should include accessible and usable materials and tools for partners – such as youtube videos, guides, reference sites, etc – of the tools techniques used that can support on going capacity sharing and techniques that are accessible and can be utilized by GBV and CP partners in South Sudan.
-Final report with recommendation for follow-up training/support produced
-Provide tools for partners continued support and capacity sharing by 31/08/2024 20%

Minimum Qualifications required:

Master University degree in psychology, social work, gender studies or in other similar fields.

Experience:
•A minimum of 10 years of experience in facilitating workshops on the Theatre of Oppressed.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
•Strong understanding of GBV/CP case management including care for child survivors and programming approaches, practices, and applications i.e., CP Minimum Standards and Interagency CP Case Management guidelines.
•Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to effectively liaise with people in a wide range of functions in a multi-cultural environment.
•Ability to work independently and productively, with multiple stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.
•Ability to work productively in a team and independently, and to handle requests or issues as they arise.

All applications MUST be accompanied with detailed technical and financial proposal.

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.