International Consultant for the Development of the Wellbeing Preventative Care Package for Frontline Workers’ Managers and Supervisors, Damascus, Syria, 35 working days within 4 months

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, commitment

BACKGROUND (RATIONALE AND CONTEXT):

The risk for mental health conditions and psychosocial problems among individuals is exacerbated when they are exposed to extreme adversity, recurring distress, and traumatic life events. In recent years, challenging humanitarian contexts have multiplied risks to individuals’ well-being and development, including for both children and adults.

There is a rising importance of ensuring access to mental health and psychosocial support MHPSS for children, adolescents, caregivers, and families, and expanding community-based approaches to address and prevent common mental health conditions. To do that, it is vital to ensure that implementing partner staff are well-equipped to take care of their own mental health and psychosocial wellbeing.

Between 2021 – 2022, UNICEF developed a Frontliners Wellbeing Preventative Care Package to support the mental health and wellbeing of frontline workers, who are the first responders in service provision for children and caregivers. This mental health and psychosocial wellbeing support package targets knowledge, attitudes and practices around self-care, help seeking, and peer support to help individuals better cope with the challenges of working within the humanitarian field, for affected population groups.

Throughout the implementation and roll out of the package in Lebanon and Syria, participants called for an addendum programme targeting their managers and supervisors. Managers and supervisors play a critical role in setting a culture of self-care, modelling awareness and compassion for self and others, and should be equipped to recognise and support staff who might be experiencing professional burnout or other stress related conditions. It is important that they themselves are equipped and able to acknowledge the importance of taking care of the wellbeing of their staff and to build their capacity on how to better care for themselves and their teams.

Providing mental health and psychosocial wellbeing awareness and prevention support to managers and supervisors is vital, including exploring the value of practicing self-care strategies, and implementing individual and organizational measures to help protect and support the mental health and wellbeing of front liners within various sectors.

Continued mentoring, technical supervision, and training are necessary both to ensure quality in service delivery and to promote staff well-being. The better supervisors are equipped and supported, the more effective programming and service delivery is done to the vulnerable population groups we are serving daily.

How can you make a difference?

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT (PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT):

The objective of this consultancy is to build on the UNICEF Frontline Workers Wellbeing Package and develop complementary resources targeted towards supervisors and managers of frontline workers. The resources should cover appropriate psychoeducation around stress and stress related disorders common in emergency contexts, the role of the supervisor/manager in supporting staff mental health and psychosocial wellbeing at work and strategies towards this, as well as information and practical guidance for the supervisor/manager in modelling and practicing self-care and attention to their own mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Carry out a desk review of available resources on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing for managers and supervisors. The desk review stage will also include carrying out meetings with key stakeholders to get a better understanding on needs, context, and ensure no duplication of efforts are done throughout this initiative.

2. Carry out an assessment on the needs of managers and supervisors when it comes to their mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, especially in the humanitarian field. The needs assessment is to include:

a. Develop a survey to assess needs.

b. Analyse survey findings.

c. Carry out Focus Group discussion FGD’s and interviews with managers and supervisors in the field to better understand their needs and recommendations.

3. Develop resource material based on findings from the desk review and assessment. Roll out the key and main recommendations identified by managers and supervisors on reinforcing and supporting their wellbeing. The recommendations include the following:

a. Development of practical tips on taking care of wellbeing in the workplace: How managers/supervisors can take care of themselves and individuals he/she manage/supervise. Topics to be confirmed based on the outcome of the analysis of survey findings.

b. Develop a training package on the wellbeing of managers and supervisors in the humanitarian field. The training package to include but not limited to training plan, PowerPoint presentation, monitoring tools including pre and post-tests, agenda, handouts, including exercises, tools, and training evaluation. The consultant will be supported by a technical advisory team at UNICEF and will be required to present drafts at agreed periods and receive feedback. The training package should be designed in a way that can be implemented through in-person and online modalities.

4. Develop a cumulative report of the above outputs, including desk review, outcome of meetings with key stakeholders, in addition to observations and recommendations of the roll out of the Frontline Manager’s Wellbeing Package.

LOCATION (GEOGRAPHIC AREA/ DUTY STATION): Damascus, Syria

Off-site working days: 35 days to be performed remotely

DURATION:

The selected consultant will work for the period of (35) workdays within (4) months period out of the country The exact schedule of the activities will be agreed with the consultant based on the consultancy implementation progress. The deadline for submission of final deliverables to UNICEF is at the end of the contract

SUPERVISOR:

The consultant will be supervised and report to the UNICEF Syria (Child Protection Officer – NoB) with regular de-briefing with the UNICEF technical committee about the progress of the consultancy. The consultant will work on daily basis with UNICEF Child Protection programme. The Child Protection programme is also responsible for the negotiation and communication through e-mail correspondence while outside of Syria as well as support the consultant in the country.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT (TASKS, SMART DELIVERABLES, DEADLINES):

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE

By Deliverables.

The payment of the professional fees will be paid in installments against the agreed deliverables and accepted implementation report, as follows:

- 40% of the total contract will be paid upon the submission of deliverables 1,2 & 3

- 60% of the total contract will be paid upon the submission of deliverable 4

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

I. Academic qualifications:

Advanced University Degree in Psychology, Sociology, Social Sciences or equivalent.

II. Work experience / Technical competencies:

• At least 5 years of experience working within the domain of psychology, with an understanding of the humanitarian context, needs, challenges, and constraints is required

• Experience in the development and delivery of trainings is required

• Experience in providing training and facilitation on MHPSS and wellbeing for humanitarian frontliners is required

• Knowledge and experience in carrying out wellbeing initiatives is a strong asset.

• Demonstrates excellent writing skills, in particular for the development of technical documents is essential.

• Experience and knowledge of the latest developments and issues related to the humanitarian context and the situation of frontline workers’ wellbeing (junior and senior staff) is required.

IV. Language requirement:

Fluency in Arabic and English (both written and verbal) is required.

EVALUATION PROCESS (OF APPLICATIONS):

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Applications through UNICEF’s Talent Management System (TMS)

2. Cover Letter

3. CV.

4. Financial quote as lump sum for professional fees only.

5. At least 3 Referees from Direct Supervisors

Shortlisted applicants may be invited for further technical assessment. Final recommendation will be made based on “best value for money”, i.e. the hiring section/office shall normally select the individual who quoted the lowest fee from among the candidates who are assessed as suitable for achieving all tasks on time, as per the criteria stipulated in this ToR, and based on the outcome of the evaluation/assessment conducted.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's core 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.

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 the 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.