International Consultant: Developing a System for Serious Child Abuse Case Review in Poland (home based)

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 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

Since the escalation of the conflict on 24 February 2022, there have been approximately 9 million border crossings from Ukraine into Poland. In total, over 1.7 million refugees from Ukraine registered for temporary protection in Poland, majority of them women and children. As of May 2024, there are over 950,000 refugees with active PESEL registration in the country. The UNICEF Refugee Response Office (RRO) in Poland was established as early as in March 2022, to support families and children displaced by the war and to ensure refugee children have access to essential services, including quality care, health and education. In accordance with the core commitments for children, strengthening child protection systems has been an important part of UNICEFs response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Working in close collaboration with the Government, Municipalities and CSOs, UNICEF RRO in Poland has taken measures to address gaps and strengthen the capacity of the national child protection system to respond to the needs of refugee and host community children and to protect them from violence, exploitation, and abuse.

Poland also faces another humanitarian crisis since 2021 – on its second eastern border, the border with Belarus. As reported by the independent civil society organizations, there are severe breaches of the international human rights concerning refugees crossing or trying to cross this border. Additionally, in May 2024 the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum was adopted, which will surely influence the role of Poland governing and securing European external border and subsequently – influence the rights and situation of the refugees trying to get access to the Polish territory. The Polish government prepares and develops new strategies and legal acts to respond to the ongoing migration crisis (ongoing work on Migration Policy for 2025-2030, legislative procedure on Act on Foreigners). Additionally, in

May 2024 new legal provisions were adopted, introducing serious changes to support for Ukrainian citizens, which will also influence the situation of the most vulnerable groups, including children.

How can you make a difference?

To support this initiative and ensure an effective response by RRO in Poland to ongoing migration challenges, RRO is seeking to hire an experienced child protection international consultant. The ideal candidate will possess specialized expertise in serious case review procedures from other countries, along with practical experience in developing or participating in these processes internationally.

SCOPE OF WORK:

1. Conducting an analysis of the legal regulations of Act of 28 July 2023 concerning analysis of serious child abuse cases in terms of the roles of individual team members and the principles of the team's work, including in cases concerning refugee children – in consultation with the UNICEF Refugee Response Office and the designated contact person in the Ministry of Justice.
2. Developing the draft standard operating procedures (SOP) for the team, conducting the consultations of prepared draft with team members and finalization of the SOP;
3. Assessing capacity building needs of the team conducting serious child abuse cases analysis;
4. Developing the agenda, PPT presentation and training materials for the 2-day training for the team, including SOP and the experience of the serious case review in other country(ies), in accordance with the identified training needs;
5. Conducting 2-day on-site training in Warsaw for the team conducting analysis of serious child abuse cases, including cases of violence against refugee children.
6. Providing 4 online consultations (1 hour each) for the team or its individual members on problems arising from the team's work, implementation of SOP or division of tasks.
7. Participation in 4 preparatory/consultative online meetings with the designated contact person in the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF RRO (1 hour each).
8. Preparation of the final report.

Please see the full Terms of Reference: ToR_CP Serious Case Review.docx

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: social work, medicine, law, sociology, pedagogy, psychology or other relevant social science field).
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in co-creating or working within the serious case review system (preferably British system).
• Proven experience in preparing procedures for the functioning of serious case review teams or other teams dealing with the protection of children's rights.
• Proven experience in conducting training for professionals as a trainer or co-trainer.
• Extensive experience in child protection at national and international level, including in child protection system strengthening.
• Previous experience in providing consultations for governments or international organizations in support of the child protection system.
• Excellent analytical and interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English (oral and written). Knowledge of the Polish language will be considered as an advantage.
• Ability to be flexible and deliver results under tight deadlines.

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/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.

Applicants are required to include in their applications a financial proposal which includes a lumpsum amount for consultancy fees, local transportation and other miscellaneous costs. Breakdown or details of the fee will be much appreciated.

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Added 1 day ago - Updated 2 minutes ago - Source: unicef.org