Consultancy: Finalization of the Botswana Social Worker Toolkit. Gaborone, Botswana

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.

For every child, protection against exploitation

How can you make a difference?

Background

In 2016 UNICEF Botswana provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in the development of the Child Protection Protocol to address the supply bottlenecks. The objective of this Protocol is to define respective roles and responsibilities for child protection service providers so that all children in Botswana are well-protected. To complement the Child Protection Protocol, a recommendation made was for the need to develop a social workers toolkit that will strengthen their capacity and provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge to better address issues of child victims of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse in Botswana, including care and rehabilitation. It will also be used as a tool for continuous learning and the professionalization for the Social Workers in the field.

Since its completion in 2018 the Social Work toolkit has not been put into use due to various reasons including the conducting of the mapping and gap analysis for the social service workforce. Following the mapping exercise in 2019/2020 it became apparent that there was need to use some of the recommendations to review and finalize the social work toolkit. With advent of COVID 19 the element of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support has become a critical part in addressing general mental wellbeing of children. It is critical that the MHPSS is also included as an integral part of the social work toolkit as well as responding to emergency situations. During COVID 19 lockdowns a significant number of children experienced different forms of violence and the social service workforce was not adequately equipped to respond to their needs hence the need to strengthen their capacity to respond to emergency situations.

This consultancy aims to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development through the Department of Social and Community Development (S&CD) to review and finalize the toolkit on response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children at district and community levels.

The Purpose of the Toolkit The purpose of the toolkit is to help improve the professional services offered by social workers to all children victims of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse at district and community levels. The toolkit will: • Equip social workers with knowledge and skills necessary for the management of issues pertaining to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse. • Provide standards for the provision of mental health and psychosocial support to child victims of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse. • Equip social workers with knowledge and skills on provision of family support on matters pertaining to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse of children. • Provide guidance on the assessment of the emotional and socio-economic situations of child victims of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse. • Guide social workers on how to write comprehensive social enquiry reports for the children’s courts. • Provide social workers with knowledge on how to promote collaboration of other service providers from both government and non-governmental organizations to share knowledge, skills, and resources to comprehensively protect the rights of child victims of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse. • Enhance positive mindset, change the attitude and behavior of social workers towards children who are victims of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse.

Scope of Work: 1) Goal and Objective: Working under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist in UNICEF Botswana Country Office, the goal is to finalize the developed Social Work toolkit which will guide social workers in responding to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children at district and community levels. Based on this, the immediate objectives of the consultancy are to, • To review and finalize the already developed Social Work Toolkit and include all missing items in detail including provision of MHPSS to children who have been experienced • To ensure that the tool provides the social workers with all the necessary skills to ensure maximum protection of children and minimizes trauma resulting from sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse. • To include the voices of the stakeholders especially social workers in the Social Work Toolkit so it addresses their needs especially those in the field.

2) Relevance of the consultancy to Regional Office Priorities: This consultancy is linked to the UNICEF Botswana country office output 2.3 on improved capacity of institutions, communities, and families to support and protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). The technical assistance and support are part of the cross-regional learning and dissemination of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) prevention and response activities which is recommended by the Regional Office.

3) Activities and Tasks: The consultancy will cover 2 main work phases for a total period of 30 working days over a 1.5 months period. The activities and tasks are as follows: • Conduct interviews with key informants in the Department of Social Protection (DSP), field social workers in Department of Social and Community Development (S&CD) in selected sites, lecturers from the Department of Social Work in the University of Botswana, selected representatives from civil society organizations, and the UNICEF Botswana Child Protection Specialist. • Develop the Inception Report and a detailed work plan in consultation with the Technical Working Group that will be established as part of the process. • Conduct a desk review and update information in the social work toolkit based on the recommendations from the Social Service Workforce capacity analysis report of 2020 • Develop and submit the 1st draft of the edited toolkit for social workers on the response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana. • Present the 1st draft toolkit to the Technical Working Group for review and input. • Incorporate the comments and input from the Technical Working Group into the draft toolkit. • Submit the 2nd draft toolkit for social workers on the response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana to the Technical Working Group for review and input. • Present the final draft toolkit for social workers on the response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana at the stakeholder consultative meeting for review and input. • Consolidate comments and input into the final draft toolkit and submit it to the UNICEF Child Protection Specialist. • Write the report on the proceedings of the stakeholder consultative meeting and submit it to the UNICEF Child Protection Specialist.

4) Work relationships: The consultant will report to the Child Protection Specialist in the UNICEF Botswana Country Office in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection (Child Protection Division). A Technical Working Group will provide technical oversight on the execution of the assignment by the consultant to ensure that there is compliance with the contractual requirements.

5) Outputs/Deliverables: • Draft Inception Report and and a detailed work plan in consultation with the Technical Working Group. • 1st Draft updated toolkit for social workers on response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana. • 2nd and final updated Toolkit for social workers on response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana. • A report of the stakeholder consultative meeting.

Work Assignment Overflow

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Inception report and detailed work plan in consultation with the Technical Working Group.

Inception Report in place

1 – 4 July 2021

Desk review of the available literature on the toolkits for social workers in responding to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children

Literature on responding to VAC available

7 - 9 July 2021

Interviews with key informants on response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children

Information from respondents on responding to VAC available

10 – 23 July2021

1st Draft of updated toolkit for social workers on response to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana

1st Draft of updated SW toolkit

23 - 30 Jul 2021

2nd final Draft of updated toolkit for social on the toolkits for social workers in responding to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children in Botswana

2nd Draft of Updated SW toolkit

2 -8 Aug 2021

Final report (including a one-page executive summary) of the stakeholder consultative meeting

Final Toolkit

9-13 Aug 2021

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Social Work, Psychology, Social Science
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience of work relating to issues of sexual exploitation, physical and emotional abuse against children.
• Technical skills and previous experience of developing materials geared at building capacity of social workers.
• Experience in content development will be an added advantage
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Excellent English report writing skills

Administrative issues to be aware of:

• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime. All remuneration must be within the contract agreement. - No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or Contractor. - Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget. - Consultant will be required to complete online courses related to Ethics, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Security related trainings prior to taking up the assignment and/or travel. - Consultant will be required to sign the Health Statement for consultants/individual contractor prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance, including Medical Evacuation. - The Form 'Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary' must be completed by the consultant.

HOW TO APPLY

Qualified candidates are requested to complete an application including profile to the respective advertisement online. Please indicate your ability, availability and financial proposal/quote to complete the terms of reference above.

Rates must include all expenses related to the assignment (e.g. consultancy fee), quoted in USD.

Applications submitted without a financial proposal will not be considered.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA). Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Remarks:

UNICEF 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.

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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. Should you not have been contacted within two months, kindly accept that your application was not successful.