Home-based Consultancy: Guardianship Expert (270 working days with travel as needed) - Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO), Rome, Italy

Consultant Programme & Policy

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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.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

Strengthening the capacity of the guardianship system for unaccompanied children, through sensitization for the identification of potential guardians, direct training, including on the job training and support to volunteer guardians, in close cooperation with the Local Juvenile Court, relevant Municipalities in Sicily, the Regional Ombudsperson for Childhood and Adolescence and civil society organizations currently active in the local context.

Background

In the context of migration and asylum, Italy continues to be a frontline country for arrivals both by sea from the Mediterranean and by land from the Balkan route. The country is at times considered a destination country while many other times as a transit one for all those migrants and refugees who are trying to reach Northern European countries. Refugees and migrants, and in particular children and women travelling alone, continue to undertake dangerous journeys to reach Europe. Additionally, the recent eruption of hostilities in Ukraine generated a new influx of people towards EU countries, including Italy. Children fleeing Ukraine travel sometimes accompanied by one or both their parents, sometimes with other relatives or other accompanying adults, other times as part of the evacuation of Ukrainian institutions or autonomously, unaccompanied.

Law n. 47/2017 introduced in the Italian system specific provisions to ensure that a guardian is nominated by the Juvenile Court for each and every unaccompanied and separated child, from a list of trained ordinary citizens, appointed as “volunteer guardians” by the Juvenile Court itself. Guardians have a wide range of responsibilities, from representing children in legal or other administrative proceedings, to ensuring that all decisions concerning children are taken in their best interests and taking into account the child’s views, as well as acting as a bridge between the child and other actors in the child protection system. The responsibility for the selection and training of the volunteer guardians is mandated to the Regional Ombudspersons, while the National Ombudsperson has a role of promotion and supervision of the guardianship system. The applicable discipline for their functions remains regulated by the civil code. Volunteer guardians can play a key role in the asylum and migration system, they are external players that can ensure fairness of the procedures, encourage local authorities to undertake appropriate measures and connect services, with a very limited cost, given the voluntary nature of the model. They are critical, for example, with regards to the age assessment procedure, ensuring children’s access to information at all times, defining an individual social inclusion path, facilitating the child’s access to legal aid, ensuring access to services and educational opportunities, as well as facilitating the transition to adulthood. After five years from the promulgation of Law n. 47/2017, despite the efforts of the Italian authorities to ensure the protection and inclusion of unaccompanied and separated children, the level of implementation of the Italian volunteer guardianship system remains partial and inhomogeneous between different regions of Italy, both in terms of number and availability of trained guardians and of level of support they receive.

In the daily practice of their functions, volunteer guardians are likely to be confronted with a lot of complex and diversified cases, requiring high qualified knowledge of the legal and protection system as well as of the main relevant stakeholder and public authorities involved in the different processes. Guardians also are called to develop solid skills in evaluating and determining the best interest of the child in any situation. While all this is needed from the guardians’ side, the initial training they receive can only partly cover all the specific cases they might be confronted with, and the rapidly evolving system also requires continuous update.

The influx of unaccompanied and separated children consequent to the war in Ukraine also contributes to putting additional pressure on the guardianship system. This happens both due to the higher demand of trained guardians but also for the roles and functions they are expected to play. The majority of Ukrainian unaccompanied and separated children travel together with adults – such as the directors of the institutions they were hosted in Ukraine – who are sometimes recognized as guardians by the Italian Juvenile Courts.

The continuous evolution of migration flows as well as the differences in the profiles and potential vulnerabilities of unaccompanied and separated children, including age and gender related, requires Juvenile Courts to always have a wide range of well-trained guardians ready to be appointed, with the final goal of ensuring to all unaccompanied and separated children the level of representation and support.

This applies to the greatest extent to geographical contexts with peculiar bordering positions or importance in terms of number of unaccompanied and separated children hosted, such as those targeted by UNICEF’s envisaged action. As recently reported by the periodic monitoring of the National Ombudsperson for Children and Adolescents (2022), all regions involved are faced with an increasing need of sensitizing potential guardians-to-be and strengthening competencies and sustainable support to those who have already started their duties.

Under the guidance of the Guardianship Coordinator and in close coordination with the Local Juvenile Court, the Guardianship Expert will contribute to the effective and efficient implementation of the Law n. 47/2017, providing direct support to the volunteer guardians in performing their duties, through training, technical advice and facilitation of the interaction with the public administration, services and local opportunities for social inclusion. The consultant will work in close coordination with the Local Juvenile Court, the local Municipalities of Sicily, the Regional Ombudsperson for Childhood and Adolescence and the civil society organizations currently active in the local context.

Scope of Work

Since 2017, UNICEF is working with local authorities and National Ombudsperson for childhood and adolescence, to support volunteer guardians in performing their own duties, establishing a model of support including legal advice and mediation, advice on pedagogical approaches and on supporting vulnerable children – including survivors of violence – managing the child-guardian relationship and cultural diversity, and facilitating the connections with services and public authorities. In the past years, UNICEF has established monitoring and supporting offices for volunteer guardians in Palermo, Catania and Messina in cooperation with local Ombudspersons and Municipalities, and an initial version of the model has been documented for its potential further expansion and analysis and with the goal of its adaptation and replication in different context and nationwide scale-up.

During an initial assessment conducted in February 2022 and additional exchanges in July 2022, the local authorities in Sicily expressed the need for an increased support to the local guardianship system which, despite the progressive strengthening, remains in need of additional efforts for its consolidation and its expansion to be able to respond to the increasing need.

Considering all the above and to continue in the process of development and expansion of the model of support to volunteer guardians, the consultant will work in close collaboration with the local Juvenile Court, Municipalities and Regional Ombudsperson to:

• Promote guardianship through media contents and sensitization events open to the public, in cooperation with relevant institutional stakeholders and guardian associations where present;
• Support volunteer guardians in performing their legally mandated duties, through technical advice and guidance, including with particular regards to best interest determination.
• Provide guardians with continuous pre-service and on-the-job training, both through direct roll-out of UNICEF trainings and participating to trainings organized by the Regional Ombudsperson.
• Present and promote the platform U-Report on the Move among the volunteer guardians to reach the unaccompanied children under their supervision.
• Facilitate the cooperation between guardians, reception facilities and all the relevant public actors (Social Services, Prefectures, Courts), through the joint identification of challenges and bottlenecks and the elaboration of shared solutions.
• Support the guardians’ efforts to ensure and facilitate the access of unaccompanied and separated children to services as appropriate, including through the development and continuous update of referral pathways.
• Support the establishment (or strengthening where already existing) of peer-support mechanisms between volunteer guardians operating in the same areas, including a digital space to allow them to share information on rights, available services and opportunities for social inclusion for unaccompanied and separated children.
• Collect feedback on guardians’ mandate through focus groups with guarded children.
• Collect information from the guardians and the children to inform the improvement of the model of support to volunteer guardians and local and national advocacy efforts.

Work Assignment Overview

Area of work******Tasks / Milestone******Deliverables / Outputs******Timeline / Deadline1. Support to volunteer guardiansPromote information and interest in the guardianship system within the local communityTwo local sensitization events aimed at promoting the voluntary guardianship among the local community10 working days;

Month 1 and Month 6

Two reports on sensitization activities conducted5 working days;

Month 3 and Month 7

Support the dissemination and promotion of guardianship at the local level through mediaFive media contents to be advertised on local stakeholders’ websites or social media for promotion of voluntary guardianship5 working days;

Months 1 to 6

Technical advice and guidance for volunteer guardians on child protection issues related to their role and procedures concerning children guardedIndividual case files on child protection issues raised by guardians141 working days;

Months 2 to 11

Support to the creation of an informative tool on guardianshipFAQ addressing the most recurrent issues raised by the guardians and related coping strategies for dissemination through Regional Ombudspersons’ websites5 working days;

Month 10

Engagement of relevant actors within the local child protection system aimed at volunteer guardians’ professionalizationTwo meetings with institutional stakeholders to identify guardians’ knowledge gaps and training needs8 working days;

Months 2 to 3

Engagement of volunteer guardians in discussing training needs and participating in relevant trainings delivered by UNICEF partnersTwo meetings with volunteer guardians to identify training needs and establish peer-to-peer support mechanisms, including a digital space where to share information8 working days;

Months 2 to 3

Report on capacity building activities related to volunteer guardians and recommendations for further training activities based on feedback gathered5 working days;

Month 11

2. Monitoring of local child protection system and advocacy for the improvement of the conditions of unaccompanied and separated childrenInformation provision on the state of the art concerning quality and functioning of the child protection system at the local levelReport on the challenges, bottlenecks and opportunities related to child protection at local level collected through the support provided to volunteer guardians and coordination with other stakeholders and presentation of findings to relevant stakeholders when needed5 working days;

Months 2 to 9

Engage UASC in identifying good practices and shortcomings in the guardianship systemThree discussion guides designed6 working days;

Month 3 and Month 8

Three focus groups with the guarded children15 working days;

Month 3, Month 6, and Month 9

Promotion of U-Report on the Move among the volunteer guardians to support the monitoring of the local child protection systemTwo coordination meetings with U-report team, to design a dissemination strategy among guardians’ community2 working days;

Month 3, Month 6, and Month 9

Two meetings (including organization) with guardians to present U-report4 working days;

Month 3, Month 6, and Month 9

3. Coordination with institutional counterparts, other UN agencies and civil society organizationsEnhance cooperation mechanisms for institutional actors, intergovernmental agencies, civil society organizations and guardians aimed at the best functioning of guardianship systemFour local roundtables with volunteer guardians and relevant local stakeholders (e.g. social services, Juvenile Courts and NGOs working in the reception system)20 working days;

Month 3, Month 6, Month 9, and Month 12

4. Strengthening of the guardianship support modelFacilitation of peer-to-peer discussions among guardiansThree focus groups with volunteer guardians21 working days;

Month 4, Month 8, and Month 12

Dissemination of achievements, lessons learnt and recommendations for guardianship system strengtheningFinal report on activities conducted, including specific recommendations for the strengthening of the model of support to volunteer guardians at local level10 working days;

Month 11

Estimated Duration of the Contract

270 working days (between September 2023 and October 2024)

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The assignment will be home-based in Catania, Italy.

As part of this assignment, some travels for trainings and local missions are expected, as well as some travel to field locations in Sicily. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

The consultant will be paid monthly upon submission of an invoice, indicating the number of days worked, as per the agreed workplan. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a lumpsum professional fee (in EUR) in your application based on 270 working days to undertake this assignment. Consultants 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. Please do not include travel fees in your financial proposal as this will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Bachelor's in Psychology, Pedagogical sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Political Sciences or other related disciplines.
• At least 5 years of professional experience with refugees and migrants or vulnerable children along with extensive experience in the field of protection.
• Proven experience of work with local authorities.
• Proven knowledge of the national context with regards to reception, protection and inclusion of migrant and refugee children, including guardianship system.
• 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.
• Proficiency in English.

Desired:

• At least 1 year work experience in Catania territorial district.
• At least 1 year work experience with local authorities operating in Catania territorial district

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family 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.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in EUR) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

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.

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Added 8 months ago - Updated 7 months ago - Source: unicef.org