International Consultant to Develop Child Protection (CP) Area of Responsibility (AoR) Strategy, for non-Syrians only, Damascus, Syria, 60 working days within 4 months (remote & in-person)

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):

Syria continues to face one of the most complex emergencies in the world. Unprecedented humanitarian needs are compounded by displacement inside the country and across its borders, extensive destruction of civilian and social services infrastructure, devastating impact on the economy, and most importantly, the breakdown of the social fabric that stitched the country together for decades. Today, 90% of people in Syria live in poverty, most are unable to make ends meet or bring food to the table. Families have had their resources depleted, with limited employment opportunities, skyrocketing prices, and shortage of basic supplies. For most people, the current socio-economic challenges represent some of the harshest and most challenging circumstances they have faced since the beginning of the crisis in 2011. The February 2023 earthquakes in north Syria and Türkiye added agony to an already catastrophic situation, increasing the strain on services, causing displacement, and inflicting widespread damage. In 2024, 16.7 million people need humanitarian assistance . This is the highest number of people in need ever recorded in Syria since 2011. The number of children in need - more than 6.5 million – has increased by seven per cent in the past year alone.

Girls and boys continue to be exposed to multiple child protection risks, including those with disabilities at heightened risk of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation and need critical child protection services. Grave violations against children - including the risk of being killed, injured, recruited, used in hostilities, tortured, detained, abducted, and sexually abused - remain a significant concern. Insecurity and economic hardship continue to exacerbate child protection concerns leading to harmful coping mechanisms, such as worst forms of labour and child marriage. In addition, high levels of psychosocial distress prevail among children and caregivers due to multiple stresses, continued escalation of conflict, poverty, earthquake, and restrictions of movement limiting access to social services.

How can you make a difference?

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop a three-year Child Protection Area of Responsibility Strategy, an institutional capacity building plan for partners and a localization action strategy to guide the response creating a nexus between humanitarian and early recovery.

The consultancy will be carried out with the following Specific objectives, which will contribute to the overall objective of developing a three-year Child Protection Area of Responsibility Strategy :

1. Develop a strategy for the CP AoR to guide its work over the next 3 years, based on existing and predicted CP needs.

2. Develop institutional and capacity building plan for partners.

3. Develop a localization strategy and action plan.

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

On-site working days: 30 days (In-country) (subject to VISA approval)

Off-site working days: 30 days (remote)

Field Missions/Travel: Aleppo, Qamishli, Deir-ez-Zor, Costal area (Tartous and Latakia), Hama & Homs

DURATION:

The selected consultant will work for 60 workdays within Four months period. It is envisaged: 30 workdays out of county and 30 workdays in 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.

Note: The In-country on-site working days are subject to VISA approval; otherwise, the assignment can be done fully remotely

SUPERVISOR: The consultant will be supervised by the Child Protection Area of Responsibility Manager on the day-to-day operations and deliverables of the assignment.

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

TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS

Should “mission travel” be required, UNICEF will cover the “Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA)” as per Rules and Regulations, directly to the consultant on the contract, upon consumption.

However, this will be subject to the following prerequisites: Medical Clearance, Security Clearance through the Travel Request Information Process (TRIP) system, the BSAFE Training, Travel Visa, and liability waiver.

Travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel. Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC at http://icsc.un.org). The consultant must travel on UNICEF approved airlines.

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE:

By Deliverable. Professional fees will be paid in Three installments, based on the submission and approval of the agreed deliverables, as specified in the Description of the Assignment table.

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment if the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or if the consultant delays submitting the deliverables.

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

I. Academic qualifications:

Master’s Degree in child development, Protection, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Sciences, statistics, or a related field. A first-level university degree with additional 2 years of required relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

II. Work experience / Technical competencies:

• 8 years’ experience in Child Protection Programing at the national and international level, some of which preferably were served in a developing country is required.
• Consultant must have completed at least two high-quality research in similar themes of the consultancy, strategy development and sound knowledge of the child protection or social protection areas.
• Demonstrates excellent writing skills, and strong communication, in particular for the development of technical documents is essential.
• Demonstrates experience and knowledge of the humanitarian programing and familiarity with the humanitarian Program cycle planning processes and guidelines.
• Practical working experience in volatile humanitarian contexts and sound knowledge of the international humanitarian developments.
• Knowledge on localization and empowerment initiatives of local and national actors with the child protection system.
• Previous experience working in UNICEF is highly desirable.

III. Competencies:

Analytical skills, communications abilities, teamwork are required in addition to UNICEF core competencies.

IV. Language requirement:

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

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://www.unicef.org/careers/get-prepared#Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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. Technical Proposal on how the assignment will be approached.
5. Financial quote as lump sum for professional fees only, Travel & Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will be covered by UNICEF Syria.
6. Written sample of previous work related to the scope specified in this advertisement.
7. 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.

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.

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 (unless it is a full time Individual Contract, where the contractor is eligible for Paid Time Off and paid UN official Holidays) or 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.

CP AOR IC_Strategy Development_final_ANNOUNCEMENT.pdf