Consultant, Systematization of the implementation of law 13.431/2017, Brasilia, Brazil

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This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Background & Rationale

While important progress has been made in Brazil and throughout the world over the last years with regards to the implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), much remains to be done so as to guarantee an integral protection of children and to ensure that all children have their fundamental rights fulfilled and respected in an equal manner and without discrimination. The urgent need for governments to further address the rights of children in their legislations, policy frameworks and budgets has become even more evident in the light of the current pandemic, given the multiple impacts that COVID-19 has on children, including indirect impacts such as increased threats to their safety and wellbeing, including mistreatments, exploitation, social exclusion.

To guarantee that children have their rights safeguarded in an integrated manner requires robust policy and legal framework as well as child protection systems that ensure integral protection from violence of all forms (e.g. physical, psychological, sexual, emotional and structural, among others) as well as other rights violations. While child protection systems need to place emphasis on prevention of violence, so as to avoid that children are exposed to violence in the first place, they also need to respond effectively and in an adequate fashion when violations have already occurred. This includes situations in which children, for one reason or another, come into contact with the law and justice system, be it as victims, as witnesses, when accused of an offence, as an interested party or because intervention is required for their care, protection, health and wellbeing. Such situations require child-friendly and gender-sensitive justice systems that are specialized, meet their needs and ensure access to justice when their rights are violated, while avoiding processes of revictimization.

UNICEF works with government and partners to promote, develop and strengthen integrated child protection systems world-wide, while monitoring progress in line with the CRC and complementary international norms and standards.

Brazil has over the last decades advanced on numerous fronts with its human rights agenda, including on the specific rights of children and adolescents. According to Article 227 of the 1988 Federal Constitution, “it is the duty of the family, society and the State to guarantee, as an absolute priority, the rights of children, adolescents and youth to life, health, food, education, leisure, professionalization, culture, dignity, respect, freedom and family and community coexistence, in addition to keeping them safe from all forms of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty and oppression”. In 1990, and complementary to the constitution, Brazil passed the national law of the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) which adapts the CRC to the Brazilian legal system. Article 3 of ECA defines that “the child and the adolescent enjoy all the fundamental rights inherent to the human person, without prejudice to the full protection referred to in this Law, assuring them, by law or by other means, of all opportunities and facilities, in order to provide them with physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social development, in conditions of freedom and dignity”.

Building on these legal frameworks, Brazil has come to develop a comprehensive child protection system. Commonly known as the Rights Guarantee System (RGD), the Brazilian Child Protection system brings together a diversity of entities, agencies, programmes and services for the care of children, adolescents and their families at all levels of government (federal, state and municipal). Approved by the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CONANDA), the RGD functions around three strategic lines of action: 1) the defense of human rights; 2) the promotion of human rights; and 3) monitoring of the realization of human rights.

The Brazilian RGD and legal framework for the protection of children and adolescents were further strengthened in 2017, through the passing of Law no13.431/2017. This Law regulates and organizes the RGD system for the guarantee of rights of children and adolescents victims of or witnesses to violence, creating mechanisms to prevent and restrain violence, in accordance with Article 227 of the Federal Constitution, the CRC and its optional protocols, Resolution nº 20/2005 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council and other international regulations. Law no 13.431/2017 seeks to prevent children and adolescents from victimization in the act of denouncing or giving testimony to any forms of violence. As such, it establishes guidelines for federal, state and municipal public bodies to jointly and properly carry out specialized hearing and special testimony of child and adolescent victims of and/or witnesses to violence.

The passing of Law no13.431/2017 is the result of continuous joint efforts of multiple stakeholders of Government, Civil Society and other partners (UNICEF included), and represents a good practice internationally when it comes to providing child-sensitive policies and legal frameworks, oriented by the CRC. As such, the RDG system, and more specifically so Law no13.431/2017, has over the last couple of years become an ever-more significant reference on this regard, informing municipal plans of actions throughout Brazil as well as collaboration with other countries, including a currently ongoing trilateral cooperation between the governments of Brazil and Sao Tome & Principe and UNICEF. This work is implemented as part of the partnership between UNICEF the Brazilian Government on Trilateral South-South Cooperation, as implemented by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and UNICEF Brazil, which in turn builds on the sharing of Brazil’s good practices with other developing countries through technical South-South Cooperation.

While the law itself is already considered a good practice, it is important to ensure that it is properly implemented at the local level. In this sense and as part of its Country Programme (2016-21) UNICEF Brazil has joined forces with the Brazilian Government and partners at all levels so as to advance with the implementation of Law no13.431/2017 throughout the Brazilian territory, including through the UNICEF Seal programme which entails partnerships with some 1900 municipalities in the Amazon and Semi-arid regions. While many municipalities in Brazil are still struggling to advance with the implementation of this Law, there are examples of those who have progressed in significant ways. One of the most outstanding cases is to be found in the Municipality of Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia, where important steps have been taken in this direction.

To inform cooperation with other countries that seek to develop and/or implement similar legislations, it is crucial to have a further in-depth understanding and practical knowhow of how to transform the law into practice. This in-depth analysis shall include the main and necessaries social actors that collaborate with and support municipalities to guarantee that what is foreseen in the new legislation is adequately applied at the local level. One important way by which to obtain such knowledge is to study and systematize those experiences where implementation has been successful, so as to draw out relevant lessons learned, good practices and identify key challenges. Expectations are that such systematization can help advance and informe Brazil’s international cooperation agenda on this issue by providing concrete and appliable knowledge.

Purpose

The purpose of this consultancy is to document and systematize the experience of the progress in implementing Law no 13.431/2017 in the Municipality of Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia. The work will be carried out through a systematic bibliographic study of the law as such, followed by an in-depth case study focusing on the experience of Vitoria da Conquista.

The case study will consist of a thorough desk review and a field visit which will be complemented by interviews of selected counterparts (Government and other stakeholders at municipal and state levels) and followed by technical analysis and write-up of summary products and policy recommendations.

These recommendations will address a wide range of stakeholders, including Brazilian policy makers and implementers at Federal, State and Municipal levels, as well as in other countries, and shall draw on the intersectoral nature of Law no 13.431/2017 and the corresponding intra-federative mechanisms of coordination and collaboration that are required to ensure integration of essential services such as the juridical, public security and social services.

For the initial documentation and systematization phase the consultant will count on collaborative work of review and documental analysis that has already started and is being developed by a current consultancy of UNICEF Brazil in collaboration with the Municipality of Vitoria da Conquista.

As a result of this phase, the products and contents will feed into the subsequent development of appliable audiovisual practice-oriented knowledge products that will serve the interest of a diverse set of audiences, including UNICEF staff, national and sub-national (state and municipal) government stakeholders, as well as, and most importantly, international counterparts.

As part of the assignment, the consultant will be responsible for technically supporting the work of a media/communication company that will be hired by UNICEF to develop audiovisual material based on the systematization process spelled out above. This work will entail technical review and quality assurance of manuscripts and proposed outlines for the end products, which are to be developed and delivered by the media/communication company.

The systematization and correlating deliverables will be developed around the following outline:

  1. Introduction and overall contextualization of Law no 13.431/2017 within the scope of the CRC and Brazil’s child protection system.
  2. Systematization of the Vitoria da Conquista experience. This should entail:

    1. contextualization of Case Study: the case of Vitoria da Conquista (to be presented as an introductory overview of the case at stake);
  3. the analysis and presentation of key steps undertaken by the Municipality of Vitoria da Conquista and key partners to ensure implementation of Law 13.431/2017;

  4. lessons learned and challenges (including detailed information on how such challenges were overcome and/or are being addressed).

  5. Policy brief (approx. 5 pages) on integral protection of children and adolescents victims and/or witnesses of violence, including a brief introduction of Law no 13.431/2017 and recommendations for policy makers, followed by a practical step-by-step guide for implementers abroad and in Brazil.

  6. Building on the advancements provided by this study so as to gather and spread information at an international level, recommendations for policy makers at Brazilian Federal, State and Municipal levels to ensure integrated implementation of the law, bringing together juridical, public security and social services as foreseen in Law no 13.431/2017.
  7. Technical guidance for as well as review and quality assurance of audiovisual material that will serve to disseminate the content of the systematization (the audiovisuals will be developed by an external specialized communication company).

The consultancy will be home-based yet will require travel to Vitoria da Conquista and Salvador (Bahia State capital), so as to collect primary and secondary data through observations and interviews with key stakeholders at municipal and state levels and to follow and systematize the processes involving the recent centre for children victim and/or witness of violence in Vitoria da Conquista, one of the key components of the implementation of Law no 13.431/2017. Domestic travel arrangements will need to be assessed within the given epidemiological situation of COVID-19 and will have to be organized in line with existing national and local restrictions and health-guidelines.

The selected consultant will work directly with and report to the UNICEF South-South Cooperation officer, based in Brasilia, and the Chief of the UNICEF Salvador Field office and will be accompanied also by the Child Protection team of the UNICEF Salvador Field office. The work will also be implemented in close collaboration with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, in line with the Brazil-UNICEF Trilateral South-South Cooperation Programme. The deliverables will also be revised by the Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Brazil.

Deliverables 3 and 5 of the consultancy (informed above) will be developed in close collaboration with an external communication company, which will be contracted to develop audiovisual material based on the systematization.

Expected results:

The overall expected results are as follow:

  1. A comprehensive contextualization of the Brazilian Law no 13.431/2017, with emphasis on its implementation in the Municipality of Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia, containing lessons learned, good practices and challenges, so as to inform potential international partners to trilateral South-South cooperation demands, as well as guidance and recommendations for policy makers and implementers in Brazil (at federal, State and municipal levels), as well as in other countries.
  2. Quality technical instructions and inputs for the elaboration of audio-visual material[1], which will serve to disseminate practical and appliable content of the systematization to multiple audiences.

The Results are to be achieved through the following deliverables.

Deliverable 1: Workplan (including travel plan) and methodology, initial list of key informants and bibliography for desk review.

The workplan needs to consider field visit(s) to Vitoria da Conquista and Salvador.

The methodology shall follow an evidence-based approach with a clear interlinkage between theory and practice and with emphasis on the development of appliable knowledge aimed for policy makers and implementers in Brazil and other countries. The methodology also needs to take into consideration central principles of the UNICEF mandate, including those of human rights and gender equality, and of the Brazil-UNICEF Trilateral South-South Cooperation Programme.

Duration: 10 days

Deadline: 10 days after contract signature

Payment: n/a

Deliverable2: Outline of systematization, including a detailed list of content to be included and the structure by which the systematization will be organized and presented.

Duration: 20 days

Deadline: 20 days after contract signature

Payment: 10% of contract fee

Deliverable 3: Introduction and contextualization of Law no 13.431/2017 within the scope of the CRC and Brazil’s child protection system.

This deliverable should entail an historical overview of the development of the Brazilian Child Protection system, contextualized within the larger scope of the CRC and the Brazilian federal and subnational policy and legal frameworks on the rights of children and adolescents, with an overall focus on child protection.

Duration: 50 days

Deadline: 50 days after contract signature

Payment: 10% of contract fee

Deliverable 4: Draft Case Study report (Vitoria da Conquista).

The draft report shall entail a brief introduction and contextualization of the Case Study, followed by a presentation of key findings from the initial phase of data collection, covering both the political and practical aspects of the implementation of Law no 13.431/2017 in Vitoria da Conquista, including the operationalization of the centre for children and adolescents, victims and/or witnesses of violence, and what makes Vitoria da Conquista a milestone/reference. It should also point out the main key lessons and challenges that have been documented throughout the initial phase of data collection, considering the multiples stakeholders engaged from different sectors and levels of government (federal, state and municipal).

This deliverable shall also contain a detailed list of interviews with key-interviewees carried out and consulted bibliographic material (including local legislation, official documents and other relevant documents), as well as list of informants that are still to be interviewed.

Duration: 120 days

Deadline: 120 days after contract signature

Payment: 20% of contract fee

Deliverable 5: Final Case Study report (Vitoria da Conquista), including a detailed summary of the main lessons learned, challenges faced throughout the implementation process and strategies / key steps applied to overcome such challenges.

Following the outline of the draft case study report (deliverable 4), this report shall include a forward-looking comprehensive summary that brings together key lessons learned and good practices from the case of Vitoria da Conquista, followed by practice-oriented recommendations for policy makers abroad and in Brazil.

As such, deliverable 5 corresponds to points 1, 2 and 4 as spelled out in the outline above (under Purpose on page 4).

Duration: 180 days

Deadline: 180 days after contract signature

Payment: 30% of contract fee

Deliverable 6a: Policy brief (approx. 5 pages) on integral protection of children and adolescent victims and/or witnesses of violence.

This policy brief should bring out the main findings of the systematization and bring together user-oriented practical information on good practices, lessons learned and recommendations, all of which will serve to inform policy makers and implementers that seek to develop similar legal and institutional arrangements in other countries and/or to implement the Law no 13.431/2017 in Brazil.

Deliverable 6b: A practical step-by-step guide on integral protection of children and adolescents victims and/or witnesses of violence for implementers abroad and in Brazil.

Duration: 210 days

Deadline: 210 days after contract signature

Payment: 10% of contract fee

Deliverable 7: Script for audiovisual material reviewed and finalized, in coordination with communication company.

The audiovisual material that is to be developed shall be user-oriented and practical, bringing out the key elements of the above-listed deliverables so as to transform these into audiovisual material that in a practical and easy-to-understand way communicates the Law no 13.431/2017 and the Case Study experience of Vitoria da Conquista, targeting a wide audience of policy makers and implementers abroad and in Brazil.

Duration: 240 days

Deadline: 240 days after contract signature

Payment: 10% of the contract fee

Deliverable 8: Audiovisual material reviewed and quality assured in line with UNICEF technical standards and principles as well as in line with the principles of South-South Cooperation.

This deliverable will require close coordination and liaison with the hired communication company throughout the process of elaborating the the audiovisual products.

Duration: 270 days

Deadline: 270 days after contract signature

Payment: 10% of the contract fee

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

  • Quality of work (ability to develop high quality technical content, in line with the predefined deliverables);
  • Timely delivery within given deadlines;
  • Accountability and professionalism;
  • Teamwork;
  • Feedback from South-South Cooperation team and Salvador Office coordination.

Key competences, technical background, and experience required Deadline

  • University Degree in Social Sciences or other relevant disciplines (International Relations, Statistics, Politics Sciences, Human Rights, Law, Public Administration, Planning, Management, Communication etc.);
  • From 5 to 10 years of relevant work experience within research and documentation in the area of social programmes and/or public policy;
    • Prior work experience and considerable knowledge on child protection;
  • Knowledge about human rights and the rights of children and adolescents in Brazil;
    • Knowledge regarding the Brazilian federative system;
  • Excellent writing skills in Portuguese, with prior experience in elaboration of technical documents and/or communication material;

  • Ability to use basic computer tools (Office, social media, internet, virtual spaces);

  • Ability to dialogue and liaison with stakeholders from different sectors;
  • Adaptability and ability to work in a team environment;
  • Organizational and analytical capacity to prepare quality technical knowledge products and meet deadlines.

Desirable competencies and experience

  • Knowledge about Brazil’s South-South Cooperation agenda;
  • Oral and written skills in English;
  • Prior work experience with the UN;
  • Prior work experience in the area of Knowledge Management.
  • Prior work experience and knowledge on the new Brazilian Legislation 13.431/2017

General Conditions: Procedures and Logistics

  • Consultant will work from home using own equipment and stationery. UNICEF will provide office space for consultative meetings when needed.
  • For Consultant’s, travel costs should be included in the consultant’s fee.
  • No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant.
  • Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.

Financial Proposal

  • Costs indicated are estimated. Final rate shall follow “best value for money” principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee.
  • A financial proposal including the fee for the assignment based on the deliverables and number of days must be submitted. Consultants and individual contractors are asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.
  • The payment will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Insurance and health coverage

  • The contractor is fully responsible for arranging, at his or her own expenses, such life, health and other forms of insurance covering the term of the contract as he or she considers appropriate.
  • The contractor is not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance schemes available to UNICEF and United Nations staff members.

    Restrictions

  • Consultants may not receive training at the expense of UNICEF. Notwithstanding, consultants and individual contracts must complete the applicable mandatory trainings.

  • In case of government officials, the contract cannot be issued without prior written clearance by the Government​, or unless on leave without pay.

UNICEF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org

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