Consultancy - Expert on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), ECARO, Italy

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Monday 2 Jan 2023 at 22:55 UTC

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Contract

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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.

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Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Provide technical support in the area of MHPSS, including capacity building and support for evidence generation and advocacy, in line with UNICEF standards.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) is an institutional priority for the UN and for UNICEF and is critical to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022-2025 identifies MHPSS as a priority area, building upon existing programming through child protection, education and health, shaped by actions and standards set out in the Child Protection Minimum Standards (CPMS), Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) and the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies.

According to UNICEF State of the World’s Children 2021, a 13 per cent of adolescent worldwide is estimated to live with a diagnosed mental disorder. Covid-19 emergency is exacerbating the risk of worsening of mental health wellbeing status. The risk for mental health conditions and psychosocial problems among children and adolescents is exacerbated also when they are exposed to poverty, violence, disease or humanitarian crises. This is of meaning when it comes to migration population – including unaccompanied children – who faced in their journeys dramatic events that could undermine their mental health status if not well supported.

UNICEF operates in Italy since 2016, with a focus on migrant and refugee children and in support of the relevant national and local authorities. Child protection, gender-based violence and adolescent development and participation are the three main sectoral pillars of the UNICEF Response in Italy. MHPSS is a crucial cross-cutting focus area, in consideration of the high vulnerability of migrant and refugee children, often exposed to severe levels of abuse, violence and exploitation that could undermine their wellbeing and mental health condition. UNICEF operates in border areas – both in southern and northern Italy – as well as in key locations of transit, in partnership with Institutions and Civil Society Organizations. Key elements of the Programme are composed by capacity building for frontline workers and practitioners, evidence generation and advocacy – also in cooperation with the Italian National Committee for UNICEF.

In addition to the Migrant and Refugee Response, UNICEF in Italy is also supporting National Authorities to implement the third pilot phase of the European Child Guarantee , the dedicated EU programme to combat the child poverty and social exclusion of the most vulnerable children, to ensure they have access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition. UNICEF is cooperating with the European Commission and the National Authorities to pilot, monitor and evaluate effective models of interventions for combating child poverty and social exclusion and generate evidence for social policy change. Children with migration background and children with mental health issues form two of the most vulnerable groups identified, and relevant actions addressing their needs are reflected in the Child Guarantee National Action Plan.

In addition to the Migrant and Refugee Response, UNICEF in Italy is also supporting National Authorities to implement the third pilot phase of the European Child Guarantee[1], the dedicated EU programme to combat the child poverty and social exclusion of the most vulnerable children, to ensure they have access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition. UNICEF is cooperating with the European Commission and the National Authorities to pilot, monitor and evaluate effective models of interventions for combating child poverty and social exclusion and generate evidence for social policy change. Children with migration background and children with mental health issues form two of the most vulnerable groups identified, and relevant actions addressing their needs are reflected in the Child Guarantee National Action Plan.


[1] https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1428&langId=en

Scope of Work:

The consultant will support the child protection team in providing technical support in the area of MHPSS, with a focus on capacity building – including training to practitioners and support to Implementing Partners -, strengthening of MHPSS practitioners’ networks, evidence generation and advocacy.

The consultant will:

- Provide technical support for the design of a MHPSS medium term strategy for the National Response, in line with the global and regional ones, based on the programme context, lessons learnt, opportunities and added value of UNICEF operations and in consultations with IPs, children and adolescents and relevant stakeholders; - Finalize the development of the multi-disciplinary online training on supporting adolescents transiting to adulthood, in cooperation with National Orders of Social Workers, Psychologists and Educators, test the training and oversight the roll-out; - Provide technical support for the design of new upcoming training courses to ensure quality assurance in terms of MHPSS principles and standards (e.g. Trainings for guardians and foster families, training for teachers, training for cultural mediators); - provide implementing partners (IPs) with technical support on MHPSS, in particular related to: a) align MHPSS component of partnerships with UNICEF’s community-based approach and international standards b) support the mainstreaming of basic MHPSS – including first psychological aid – in emergency settings such as border and transit areas for migrants and refugees - Support the maintenance of the MHPSS community of practices for adolescent migrants and refugees, promoting sharing of experiences, technical discussions and evidence generation; - Provide technical support in elaborating UNICEF positioning or policy papers to include MHPSS as relevant.

Deliverables

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Days

Technical support on MHPSS

Technical note supporting the development of national UNICEF MHPSS strategy

Months 1-4

15 days

Finalization of the multidisciplinary e-training with national professional orders

Month 3

25 days

Report on the technical support for the testing and roll-out of the multidisciplinary e-training with national professional orders

Months 4-11

20 days

Technical support for quality assurance of MHPSS training courses

Month 4-11.5

20 days

Regular technical support for IPs on MHPSS, including revision of deliverables and training to staff

Months 4-11.5

45 days

Support the maintenance of the MHPSS community through participation on demand to the meetings and review of documents

Month 2, 4, 6, 8, 10

10 days

Support in mainstreaming MHPSS in national UNICEF policy and positioning papers

Months 1-11

15 days

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

Minimum Qualifications required:

  • Masters in Psychology, Social Sciences, Pedagogy.
  • At least 8 years of professional experience on MHPSS is required;
  • At least 5 years of proven work with migrants or vulnerable children along with extensive experience in the field of protection;
  • Proven knowledge of MHPSS Italian system and national migrant and refugees context;
  • Ability to work through networking and partnership;
  • Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships;
  • Fluency in Italian and English is required

Administrative details:

Supervision

The consultant will work under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist.

Workplace

This is a consultancy home-based in Italy. Candidates are required to have internet connection, IT and communication equipment.

Duration

The estimate duration of this consultancy is from 23 January 2023 until 7 February 2024 (150 working days).

Is travel Required

This consultancy does not require mission travels.

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.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org