Consultancy to support the scale up and sustainability of Steps Together Programme, Sofia, Bulgaria, 12-month assignment (open to Bulgarian nationals only)

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.

The purpose of the assignment is to support UNICEF and Ministry of Education and Science to scale up and ensure the sustainability of the joint programme Steps Together for combating violence in schools and equipping teachers, students and parents with concrete tools and strategies to address violence and bullying in schools.

How can you make a difference?

• Revision of the programme guides to address the recommendation on age-specific content and activities, taking into consideration the feedback from the implementation phase;
• Development and dissemination of “how-to” resources to support the introduction of the programme in more schools, presenting the main programme components and explaining strategies and the approach;
• Coordination of trainings on the methodology of Steps Together in collaboration with MoES and its training center;
• Establishment of a national pool of mentors from the Regional centers for supporting the process of inclusive education (RCSPIE) and development and coordination of capacity building programme for the new cohort of mentors; The mentors are psychologist from the centers with experience in violence prevention in education and inclusion of children with special needs.
• Development of pre-service and in-service training programme in partnership with academia to support initial preparation and continuous professional development of mentors;
• Support the introduction of mentors for inclusive education as new role and functions in education for building safe, enabling and positive school environment, including through legislative changes;
• Support the efforts of the country office to report on, document and promote the experience of the programme, incl. through case studies, human interest stories, and others.

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

• Master’s degree or higher in one or more of the following areas: Project Management, Legal Studies, Sociology, International relations, Pedagogy, Social Sciences/Social Work, Psychology or other relevant field.
• Excellent understanding of the conceptual framework, national policy framework and institutional arrangements relating to violence against children, prevention and child protection.
• Good knowledge and understanding of the functioning and structure of the school education system.
• Experience in project management, preferably in the area of prevention of violence and skills building;
• Ability to work under pressure; good negotiation, communication and presentation skills. Pro-activity and strong orientation towards results;
• Ability to work independently;
• Ability to manage partnerships across diversity of stakeholders;
• Respect for cultural diversity and human rights;
• Fluency of English language will be an advantage.

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 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.

The selected consultant 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 consultant 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. The vaccine mandate, 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 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.