International Consultancy: Elaboration Of A National Child Protection Strategy In The Gambia (Readvertised)

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, Hope

The concept of “child protection” refers to preventing and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse against children – including commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labor, female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage. To reach this objective in The Gambia, UNICEF is working towards the building/strengthening of a national child protection system. A national child protection system seeks to address the full spectrum of risk factors in the lives of all children and their families. Along with partners, including governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society actors and the private sector, UNICEF promotes the strengthening of all components of national child protection systems - human resources, finances, laws, standards, governance, monitoring, evaluation and services provision. Depending on the country context, child protection systems may cut across part of the social welfare, education, health, justice and security sectors. It is only through the concerted efforts of individuals and groups, adults as well as children, that child protection systems can become effective and sustainable.

The Government of The Gambia has recently completed a Child Protection Situation Analysis. This document is a powerful tool in building or strengthening a system, and it has provided essential elements to guide the development of child protection interventions. In addition, it generates valuable information on the situation of children as well as the structures in place to address them and informs strategic planning and is a preliminary exercise to develop evidence-based recommendations.

The Gambia had developed a Child Protection Strategy for 2016 – 2020. In the strategy most of the activities were not implemented for reasons related to coordination and financial resources. Now that the government has put in place a new ministry to address children’s affairs (the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare), the country is in better position to elaborate and implement a stronger and more comprehensive Child Protection Strategy to provide a clear vision and strategic framework for work in Child Protection for the next 5 years.

How can you make a difference?

Objective: It is in this regard that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare – with the support from UNICEF – is seeking to elaborate a National Child Protection Strategy and Plan of Action to guide all stakeholders’ interventions for the next 5 years 2023 – 2027. The Child Protection Strategy will be in line with the National Development Plan and will follow the global objectives set by government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare. This new Child Protection Strategy will heavily draw from the results of the recent Child Protection Situational Analysis and will align with the UNICEF Child Protection Strategy 2021 – 2030 as well as the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022-2025. The vision of this Strategy – centred in the Convention on the Rights of the Child – is to have a country where all children are free from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices. The goals of the Strategy will be taken primarily from the Sustainable Development Goals for child protection.

1. Specific objectives

The Child Protection Strategy will provide the following:

• Thematic priorities determined in close consultation with government, stakeholders and children
• A Conceptual Framework describing the concentric layers of intervention nested within each other, their specific importance and their inter-relation.
• A clear vision for government intervention and Child Protection Strategy, centred in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Programming strategies that will delineate how the objectives will be reached. These can include among others:
  • Behavioural, social, cultural and economics determinants
  • A strong Child Protection System
  • A humanitarian approach and preparedness to help the country be ready to prevent and respond to child protection emergency situations whenever they arise
• Elements of programming approaches
• Risks and risks management associated with the implementation of the program
• A Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
• A clear budget
• An annex with plan of action with clear timeline, accountabilities, and budget.

Roles, responsibilities

The Consultant will work under the supervision of the PIC Manager and in collaboration with the Director of Children Affairs, and child protection partners in the country.

The expected key deliverables are as follows:

1. An inception report with work schedule
2. An interim report after 2 months of work to present progress and bottlenecks
3. A draft report of the child protection strategy and plan of action
4. Preparation and conduction of a validation meeting to obtain final feedback from stakeholders

5. Final document of the Child Protection Strategy and plan of actions.

6. Deliverables and payment schedule

DELIVERABLES

Duration

PAYMENT SCHEDULE

1. Approved Inception Report and work schedule

2 weeks

10%

2. Interim report presenting progress and bottlenecks & action points

6 weeks

10%

3. Draft Child protection Strategy and Actions Plan

4 weeks

20%

4. Organization of validation workshop

2 weeks

20%

5. Final version of the validated Child Protection Strategy and Action Plan

2 weeks

40%

3. Scope of the work

The Consultant will be at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare every working day during working hours and will be allocated an office space. The consultant can also require and obtain teleworking in agreement with the Ministry

This assignment will be undertaken in country through:

1. Literature review
2. Consultations with all relevant child protection stakeholders.
3. Organization and running of a validation workshop

4. Submission of final report inclusive of feedback from validation workshop

5. General Conditions: Procedures, Logistics, and Ethics

6. It is an office-based assignment. The Consultant will be provided an office space in the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Welfare in The Gambia. The consultant can also request and obtain teleworking in agreement with the Ministry

7. During the first few weeks, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Welfare will introduce the Consultant to the relevant stakeholders and public institutions in the country.
8. The Consultant is held by strict confidentiality rule regarding all aspect of his/ her work with UNICEF and MOGCSW
9. UNICEF reserves the right to retain payment and to terminate the consultancy upon unsatisfactory deliverables at any point of the consultancy

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

• Qualified social researcher with an advanced university degree at master’s level in social sciences, human rights, law or other relevant disciplines.
• Demonstrable expertise and at least 5 years of relevant experience working in countries with similar development challenges. Experience in The Gambia or other countries in the region will be an asset
• Demonstrated knowledge in the area of child protection
• Previous experience in developing child protection strategies is an added advantage
• Capacity to lead discussion with the Child Protection partners
• Proficient working knowledge of English
• An understanding of local language is an asset

How to apply

UNICEF accepts applications from institutional Consultant. UNICEF will review applications and make a final decision of a successful application. All applications should contain the following documents:

Technical and financial project proposal, which would include at least:

1. License registration statute
2. Consultant’s/firms profile/portfolio
3. Proposed timeframes (days/months)
4. Budget: Cost estimation of the survey with detail cost breakdown for different activities and transportation
5. Names and contact details of reference persons

UNICEF Recourse in case of unsatisfactory performance

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/output is incomplete or not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.