Individual Consultancy: Assessment report on the Juvenile Justice system in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Consultant Programme & Policy

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 fulfil 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, a voice.

UNICEF in the State of Palestine works to uphold the rights of children to access services and protection, from early childhood through to adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential. We are working for every child and young person in the State of Palestine.

UNICEF State of Palestine is part of Sawasya II a joint UN rule of law, and access to justice program together with UNDP and UN Women. Under Sawasya II, UNICEF is supporting the government in implementing the Juvenile Protection Law (2016) which is following a protective and rehabilitative approach rather than a punitive retributive one when dealing with children in contact with the law. The guiding principle of the law and the justice system is the best interest of the child determination. The aim is to ensure that all children coming into contact with the justice authorities, whether as alleged offenders, victims, witnesses or as parties to non-criminal law procedures have access to justice systems and are better served and protected by these systems, and their rights are protected as per relevant international norms and standards.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this assignment is to provide a comprehensive situation analysis on the Juvenile Justice in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and all its components, to provide an overview of the juvenile justice system as a whole and to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various components of the system. The assessment should also include to which extent the legislation has been implemented in the West Bank, with a vis-à-vis comparison of what has been progressed departing from the 2016 assessment. It should also highlight the current modalities that are used to deal with juveniles in the Gaza Strip in the framework of the British law for 1937.

The situation analysis intends to contribute to the improvement of the Juvenile Justice system in general and the development and strengthening of diversion, alternatives to detention and restorative justice approaches in cases of children in conflict with the law.

As an advocate for children, you will have the following duties/tasks:

- Analyze available statistics on the nature, and trends in the numbers of juvenile cases, types of cases, number of cases at each level of the justice process and types of sentencing.

- Analyze the current structure and compliance with the national and international frameworks of the juvenile justice institutions, juvenile justice professionals and their mandates, procedures, measures, and referral mechanisms concerning children in conflict with the law at all stages of the process.

- Analyze the current legal situation/framework, including applied national policies in both WB and Gaza compared to international standards.

- Identity and assess services offered for children in contact with the law from the moment of their arrest until deposition, including a rapid overview of gaps in services in the areas of Alternatives to Detention, legal aid, and psychosocial support.

- Support and lead 10 key informants' interviews and focus groups discussions with juvenile justice key actors or service providers, including Juvenile Judges, child Protection Councilors, Juvenile Prosecutors, Lawyers, and Children in contact with the law.

- Identify bottlenecks and barriers to children’s access to justice and suggest policy and programmatic responses for short-term and long-term interventions.

Deliverables and deadline(s) for submission:

Deliverables

Timeline

Schedule of Payment *

1.

An approved inception report in English, that includes the work plan, the methodological framework (including developed questionaries, criteria and list of interviewees) and desk review.

20 days

20% upon approval of inception report

2.

Lead focus group discussions and interviews (prosecutors, MoSD, child protection counselors, juvenile judges, lawyers, .etc) in both WB and Gaza. In addition to supporting children’s focus group discussions which will be led and facilitated by UNICEF’s partners.

10 days

3.

A draft assessment report in English that includes description of the assignment, methodology used, target groups, lessons learned, and recommendations for future related programming

20 days

30% upon approval of first assessment draft

4.

Facilitate a validation workshop/s to relevant Juvenile Justice stakeholders to present findings, recommendations, and way forward in both WB and Gaza.

2days

5.

Incorporate changes and recommendations coming out of the validation workshop and submit a final approved assessment report.

10 days

50% upon approval of final report

Estimated duration of contract and Tentative Dates

Duration: 62 days spread over 4 months

Interested consultants are expected to attach to their application a detailed financial proposal that is inclusive of technical fees and any expected expenses during the implementation of the consultancy. International consultants are expected to add an estimate budget for the travel cost to SOP.

Reporting Requirement:

1. Inception Report
2. Bi-weekly Progress Briefings/ updates through regular meetings or formal communications with UNICEF team.
3. Draft and Final Report

• All reports throughout the contract period must be submitted in MS Word to allow for comments and editing by UNICEF in English.
• All final reports need to be submitted to UNICEF in MS Word, in both English and Arabic
• All presentation materials, if any, must be submitted first electronically in MS Power Point format, and all final presentations must be submitted in MS Power Point. The Power Point presentations must be submitted in both English and Arabic

Duty Station:

This consultancy is open to International and National consultants. The contract will be implemented in the State of Palestine. The consultancy will include home based work and with travel to the field/districts including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip particularly during the interviews, focus groups and validation workshops.

Resources:

UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines. The deliverables will remain the copyright of UNICEF.

The consultant must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

To qualify as a Champion for every child you will have:

• An advanced University degree in law or international human rights.
• At least five years in applied research and policy analysis, including publications in peer reviewed journals in the field of rule of law and justice.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in juvenile justice and child protection
• Excellent English writing and good communication and presentation skills/ability to express concisely and clearly ideas and concepts in written and oral form
• Ability to adhere to strict deadlines yet operate in national environments of uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Professional level knowledge of Written and Spoken English. Arabic language is an Asset.

For more information on the specific technical expertise needed kindly visit the below ToR.

TOR Juvenile Assessment.pdf

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness
• Works Collaboratively with others
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships
• Innovates and Embraces Change
• Thinks and Acts Strategically
• Drive to achieve impactful results
• Manages ambiguity and complexity

The functional competencies required for this post are:

• Applying Technical Expertise
• Analysing
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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 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.

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