An international consultant or a group of consultants to support to the Introduction of Foster Care in Abkhazia

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Deadline- 17 March, 6 PM Georgian time

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, protection

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Since 2015, UNICEF has been working to strengthen and develop sustainable social services for children in Abkhazia, including social work with vulnerable children and their families, basic services for children with disabilities as well as support services for parents. The development of the UNICEF supported social work practice in Abkhazia revealed a number of concrete deficiencies and gaps in the field of child protection. Underdeveloped alternative care is one of the most acute issues constantly being raised by the local social workers and other stakeholders. According to the data provided by the social work programme, there are cases of children in most of the districts of Abkhazia who continue to live in families where violence, neglect, inadequate parental care and a threat to the health and life of the child takes place due to the limited mechanisms of response and options for child placement. Cases of children left without parental care due to the death or illness of a single parent or elderly guardian are also critical. Opportunities for child placement are limited to extended family or guardianship and there are no current alternative solutions if the child does not have relatives or other people willing to take her or him into care.

In view of this in 2021 UNICEF supported local partners in the development of a conceptual framework and pilot model for the strengthening of alternative care services in Abkhazia. Emphasis was placed on the importance of preventive and systematic approaches to child protection issues. In addition, new alternative care services, including professionals foster care, were proposed.

Thus, based on the result of needs assessment, it was recommended to pilot foster care models, testing two modalities, including emergency placement and planned placement. Regarding the number of children per foster family, it was recommended for the pilot phase to limit the placement in each foster family to a child/children from one family. Based on international best practices, the concept also provided recommendations with regard to selection criteria for foster parents, procedures for arranging and terminating the placement, monitoring, capacity building of foster parents and various child protection professionals, communication component of the pilot etc.

In 2022 the concept was accepted by key stakeholders in Abkhazia. Subsequently, with the support of UNICEF, an action plan for the preparatory phase of the introduction of foster care in Abkhazia was developed by relevant stakeholders and it is planned to be implemented in 2023. The action plan outlines key activities, timeline and responsible parties to define organizational modalities of foster care service, prepare necessary informational materials, identify and prepare specialists in charge of consultations and assessment of potential foster carers based on the defined criteria, outreach potential foster carers and carry out assessment of candidates, develop recruitment criteria, prepare training for foster parents and child protection professionals. According to the plan, training of foster parents is preliminary planned for April – June 2022.

Scope of Work:

UNICEF seeks to engage an international consultant or a group of international consultants to support the introduction of alternative care in Abkhazia in close cooperation with UNICEF and relevant stakeholders.

Interested individual experts should apply for the whole scope of the consultancy indicating the fee in the Cover Letter. In case of groups of experts, each group member should apply individually referencing all other members of the group in the application and specifying which components of the TOR each of the members of the group will be covering (with estimated number of days), so that together they cover the entire scope of the TOR. Daily fee and the lump sum for relevant components should be indicated.

Duration: from March to December 2023 (47 working days).

Location: Home-based

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

Develop a capacity building programme and materials for training of foster parents in Abkhazia

The consultant(s) – in close consultation with UNICEF and local professionals – will develop a training programme for local foster parents (approx. 50 training hours). The programme should include such topics as:

an understanding of the development needs of the child and competencies of foster parents; stages of child development; features of the development and behavior of a child left without parental care, who has been subjected to violence; the consequences of child separation from a family for his/her development (attachment disorders, grief and loss, formation of personal and family identity); adaptation of a child in a foster family; roles and responsibilities of foster parents; skills in managing a challenging behavior of the child; ensuring the safety of the child (including training on the provision of first aid); the role of the family in meeting the development and rehabilitation needs of the child; interaction of the foster family with the biological family of the child, as well as with child protection authorities and other organizations providing services to children and families; regulations related to the placement of children left without parental care in Abkhazia etc.

• Detailed training manual including training programme, pre-/post- training questionnaires and guidelines for trainers
• Comprehensive set of learning materials, including PowerPoint presentations and other supporting materials

10 March 2023 – 10 April 2023

Support the preparation and delivery of training for foster parents in Abkhazia

The consultant(s) are expected to support the preparation and delivery of the training for a group of foster parents in Abkhazia in line with the developed capacity building programme which will be prepared under the consultancy.

The training will be divided into thematic modules. It is expected that some of the modules will be delivered by international consultant(s), while others will be conducted by local professionals (psychologists, social workers, doctors) under close supervision of the selected consultants and with their intensive support (including assistance before and during the training).

The schedule of training activities will be coordinated between the consultant(s), local trainers, UNICEF and a group of participants.

• Training for a group of foster parents (approx. 50 hours)
• Preparatory consultations for local co-trainers

10 April 2023 – 30 June 2023

Develop a capacity building programme and materials for local child protection professionals in Abkhazia

In parallel, the consultant(s) are expected to prepare a training programme and materials (approx. 18 hours) for a mixed group of local professionals, including social workers, guardianship specialists, psychologists and other specialists directly working with child protection cases, including children in alternative care.

The main topics to be considered are: the risks and impact of separating children from their parents; family support services in order to prevent the separation of children from their parents; support services for foster families; work with a child in alternative care; monitoring of alternative care; reintegration of the child into the biological family etc.

The trainings should increase participants’ knowledge of the mentioned topics and contribute to better intersectoral cooperation on cases of children left without parental care.

• Detailed training manual including training programme, pre-/post- training questionnaires and guidelines for trainers
• Comprehensive set of learning materials, including PowerPoint presentations and other supporting materials

10 March 2023 – 30 April 2023

Conduct training for local child protection professionals in Abkhazia

Training will be conducted for four sub-groups of participants (each training for representatives of two districts of Abkhazia) in line with the same programme.

• Training for four sub-groups of child protection professionals, approx. 18 hours with each group, in total 72 hours.

1 May 2023 – December 2023

Provide external supervision to foster parents and child protection professionals working with children in Abkhazia

The consultant(s) will conduct on-demand individual and group supervision sessions for foster parents, social workers, psychologists or other professionals in cases of their need to consult on questions related to children in foster care. This might include the discussion of concrete cases and child issues as well as support the participants’ psychological wellbeing and prevention of burnout.

• 48 hours of quality on-demand supervision sessions for foster parents and child protection professionals on issues related to foster care

1 July 2023 – 31 December 2023

Raise awareness of key stakeholders in Abkhazia on internationally recognized approaches to foster care

Training of foster parents and child protection professionals dealing with individual cases of children in Abkhazia will be complemented by awareness raising among key stakeholders responsible for the implementation of the pilot on internationally recognized child-friendly and gender sensitive approaches to foster care. This will include the provision of examples from the experience of various countries in the region by the consultants and cover various aspects related to foster care, including but not limited to foster parents’ approval criteria, monitoring requirements, intersectoral cooperation etc.

The consultants will build on the developed conceptual framework for alternative care in Abkhazia and take into account the existing cultural context and values, which will enhance a sense of ownership over the newly proposed services among local partners.

• Support in awareness raising on alternative care, including consultations and provision of various thematic materials based on the identified needs throughout the implementation of foster care pilot model (at least 24 hours).

10 March 2023 – 31 December 2023

Expected travel: Most of the tasks under the consultancy will be implemented remotely. Trips to Abkhazia might be considered. In case of travel, details will be coordinated with the consultant/s.

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

Knowledge****/Expertise/Skills required:

• Masters Degree in psychology or social work;
• At least 10 years’ experience working in the field of child care and social protection; an individual applicant or at least one team member from a group of experts should have experience of training of foster parents;
• Understanding of UNICEF approaches and recommendations regarding child protection and alternative care;
• Deep understanding of child protection systems and services;
• Exceptional communication skills;
• Relevant experience working with UN will be an asset;
• Fluency in English is mandatory, Russian is an asset.

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.