International individual consultancy to support the development of the concept note on diversion and strengthening the system of child offence prevention in Tajikistan, 80 w/ds, Dushanbe, Ta

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

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy, and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Over the years, UNICEF has consistently supported the Government of Tajikistan to reform the juvenile justice system. The goal is to establish a child-friendly justice system that upholds the rights of children in contact with the law in Tajikistan. This vision encompasses the protection of child offenders, victims, and witnesses of crime throughout all stages of the judicial procedures. UNICEF has focused its assistance on policy development, strengthening the capabilities of law enforcement and justice professionals, as well as child protection workers.

The country has adopted several important programs, laws, and initiatives to protect the rights of the children in contact with the law, including the Juvenile Justice System Reform Programme for 2023-27 and its Action Plan; the social reintegration and rehabilitation of children in closed and semi closed institutions for 2020-24; the National Programme on Prevention of Offences by Children for 2020-24 and the Action Plan for the implementation of the programme. In accordance with the reform programme, the Ministry of Justice has established an inter-agency working group to coordinate the efforts of various state ministries and agencies involved in the reform process.

The Programme’s action plan foresees elaboration of the Concept Note on diversion of children in conflict with the law in 2024. Establishment of effective diversion systems is particularly critical in Tajikistan. In 2021, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan jointly with UNICEF conducted a review of criminal court cases involving children. The data demonstrates a gradual and concerning decrease in the application of measures to divert children from the formal justice system. Between 2019 and 2021, 1,313 children were involved in minor and moderate level crimes eligible for diversion, yet they have been sentenced and have now criminal records.

Furthermore, in 2020, Tajikistan introduced a new Law on the prevention of offenses by children. This law is being implemented by a multi-agency working group led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who have also adopted the National Programme on Prevention of Offences by Children for the years 2020-2024. These policy documents indicate a strong commitment to addressing child offenses. However, there are several challenges hindering their effective implementation. These include poor coordination among relevant agencies, a lack of community-based services, inadequate localization efforts, and the use of outdated approaches that do not align with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and current standards. Currently, there is a lack of available evidence regarding the root causes of child offenses, although anecdotal evidence suggests that factors such as poverty and absence of parenting may contribute.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF is seeking an individual international consultant to support the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan (MoJ) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan (MoIA) in the process of development of the concept note on diversion and to provide recommendations on strengthening the system of child offence prevention.

The consultant is expected to work closely with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the multi-agency working groups on child justice formed by the ministries, academia, the Supreme Court, General Prosecution Office, lawyers, and civil society organizations. The direct supervision will be provided by the Child Protection Officer and with technical oversight from the Chief Child Protection.

Estimated duration******: 80 working days, 15 October 2023 - 30 December 2024

Duty station******: Dushanbe, Tajikistan

On-site working days: 20 working days

Supervisor: Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Tajikistan

Work Assignment

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

Estimated Budget:

• Conduct an analysis of legislation and practices for the development of diversion mechanism.
• Support an assessment of 21St Century skills practices.
• Review existing practices on juvenile offence prevention and reasons for juvenile offending.

Del 1: Inception report identifying proposed methodology, data collection tools and detailed work plans for the achievement of these three tasks.

**The report provided should be in line with UN standards for inception reports. The inception report should take into consideration agreed definitions, outline detailed scope; methodology; ethical considerations; FGD and KII tools; field visit plan, data collection methods, timeline for activities and submission of deliverables.

10 days (December 2023)

1st payment – 35 days upon submission of deliverables #1 and #2

Prepare report on the results of the analysis for introduction of diversion mechanism

Provide recommendations to UNICEF TCO on the country in the region with lessons learnt, good diversion practices and assist in organization and facilitation of the study tour for the members of the national working group on justice for children.

Del 2: Report on the results of the analysis for introduction of diversion mechanism (draft and final)

** The Final Report should include the following: executive summary; introduction/background; purpose and objectives; description of methodology, including ethical considerations and limitations; analysis of key findings; recommendations for policy and practice. The report shall attach all other forms, tools, documents used and elaborated while implementation of the assignment.

25 days (May 2024)

Develop a Concept Note on Diversion

Del 3: Concept note on introduction of diversion in Tajikistan

Develop a Concept Note on Diversion

2nd payment – 30 days upon submission of deliverables #3 and 4

Review and localize UNICEF advocacy brief on diversion

Del 4: Advocacy brief on diversion. 5 sensitization sessions with relevant government stakeholders are conducted.

10 days (August 2024)

Present the Diversion Concept Note to the members of the National Working Group on Justice for Children

Del 5: Presentation of the Diversion Concept Note

2 days (September 2024)

3rd payment – 15 days upon submission of deliverables #5,6 and 7

Prepare a report on the finding of the review of juvenile prevention practices and the reasons for juvenile offending and develop a brief roadmap with recommendations to strengthen child offence prevention practices in the country.

Del 6: Report on the results of the review that includes a roadmap with recommendations to strengthen child offence prevention practices in the country.

10 days (November 2024)

Present the roadmap on strengthening juvenile prevention practices to the relevant government counterparts.

Del 7: Presentation of the roadmap to UNICEF, MoJ, MoIA and other relevant stakeholders.

3 days (December 2024)

Scope of Work: (Background, purpose, key objectives, description of assignment)

The consultant is expected to perform and accomplish the following tasks:

• Conduct an analysis of existent legislation, child justice practices and available community services for the development of diversion mechanism. As part of the analysis, conduct fact checking meetings with law practitioners and academia, law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and civil society organization to identify law enforcement practices, its gaps and bottlenecks.
• Develop the Diversion Concept Note for Tajikistan based on the results of the analysis. The document will explore different options for introduction of the diversion and will provide clear recommendations on how to move forward.
• Review and localize UNICEF advocacy brief on diversion and conduct various sensitization sessions on diversion for the members of the National Working on Justice for Children Working Group and other relevant stakeholders.
• Share with UNICEF CO team, Ministry of Justice and other relevant stakeholders international best practices on diversion.
• Provide recommendations to UNICEF TCO on the country in the region with lessons learnt, good diversion practices and assist in organization and facilitation of the study tour for the members of the national working group on justice for children.
• Provide guidance to UNICEF local consultant in the process of conducting assessment of the “21st century skills” building approaches through Innovation Labs as a potential service for the implementation of diversion.
• Review existing practices, approaches in working with children, tools (in particular law enforcement juvenile prevention unit) and data on child offence prevention and provide recommendations for improvement.
• Develop a brief roadmap with recommendations to strengthen child offence prevention practices in the country.

Develop methodology and data collection instruments to be utilized by the local counterpart for the assessment on the reasons for the juvenile offending in the country.

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

• Advanced university degree in relevant area of study, in law, social work, social welfare, child protection, child psychology, social research, justice for children, child offence prevention or other related field
• At least 10 years of professional work experience in justice for children, especially child offence prevention and diversion
• Proven track record in providing technical guidance and assistance in justice for children, diversion, child offence prevention, mediation and linkages between social welfare and the justice sector. Two written samples/report in this technical area are required with this submission.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English. Knowledge of Russian is an asset.

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Cover letter/application/CV.
2. A technical proposal with proposed approach to managing the consultancy deliverables (workplan), showing understanding of tasks. Special attention should be paid to organizing the process of co-development and capacity building.
3. Financial quote for the consultancy in US Dollars per deliverable, stating also the timeframe for completion of deliverable and/or daily rate in US dollars. An all-inclusive price offer including the airfare and a daily subsistence allowance should be provided.
4. At least two written samples/report that are relevant to this assignment and deliverables.
5. Applications without technical and financial proposals will not be considered.

Applications must be received in the system by 1 October 2023 on our website.

• Those who have applied already, no need to re-apply. Your qualification will be considered accordingly.

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.