National consultant to Support the Mitigation of the Secondary Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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, equity

UNICEF in the Republic of North Macedonia is devoted to ensuring that child protection mechanisms are in place and functioning well; that children are protected from a full spectrum of risks and that every child lives in a supportive family environment.

In the frame of the ongoing assistance to the Government, UNICEF supports implementation of measures to ensure preparedness and/or response actions to address the COVID-19 outbreak in North Macedonia. This includes addressing the prevention and response of the secondary impact of the outbreak and the effects that the crisis has on children aimed at protection from violence, abuse and neglect, and provision of mental health and psychosocial support. Although all children are affected by the crisis, the most vulnerable – children living in poverty, children with disabilities, children in residential care facilities, victims of violence and abuse and marginalized communities such as the Roma and those in the migrant context – are disproportionately impacted. In addition, the increased use of the internet puts children at additional risk of online harm such as sexual exploitation, abuse and bullying. Furthermore, crises such as disease outbreaks place women and girls at greater risk of domestic violence and GBV, particularly in contexts where gender inequality is already pronounced. To protect children and their families, particularly the most vulnerable, during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, the national systems need to be strengthened. This includes strengthening referral and response mechanisms, and providing professionals with timely, quality and targeted support is a critical pre-condition to ensure sustained response to the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized families and children, and mitigate any further risks caused by the secondary impact.

UNICEF supports state and non-state hotlines for violence cases and for provision of psychosocial support, positive parenting services, as well as raising the awareness on the harm that violence can cause to children. In addition, UNICEF aims to invest in further strengthening of the existing systems to deal with the second phase of the pandemic and support these systems to ensure that the increasing numbers of vulnerable children and families have the support and protection that they require. The outreach workers capacity also needs to be strengthened in order for them to provide support and referral to other organizations and agencies, when needed, for specialized mental health and psycho-social support. With that women and girls at risk of violence and child victims of violence will be empowered to seek such services and be reached by the child protection system.

How can you make a difference?

Under the general guidance and supervision by the Child Protection Officer, the incumbent will be responsible to:

1. assess the interventions aimed at protection of children affected by the immediate and secondary impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; and
2. develop a roadmap for interventions and action, that will include capacity building plans, needs assessment and plan of action to minimize the immediate and secondary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and provide support and protect children and families at risk.

SPECIFIC TASKS:

• Assess the relevance and results of the programme delivered by the office in response to the COVID-19 related to child protection, by collecting information, identifying problems and constraints and proposing solutions aimed at effective delivery;
• Develop a plan of action related to the child protection response to COVID-19 for 2021, based on the assessment of the results of the programme delivered in response to COVID-19 focusing on intersectoral collaboration and possibilities for synergy between actions;
• Develop a capacity building plan for the frontline social service and justice response workers to identify children and families at risks and to strengthen the quality and delivery of services;
• Develop a capacity building plan for the frontline social service and justice response workers, aimed at strengthening the child protection mechanisms needed to ensure prevention and protection from violence and all forms of exploitation, including GBV, by designing capacity building plan;
• Conduct a needs assessment on the measures needed to raise the awareness on the harm that violence can cause to children and on the increased risk of child sexual exploitation and abuse with increased (unsupervised) use of the internet;
• Conduct analysis of available data regarding the evolving emergency and its implications over UNICEF’s response plan in the area of child protection, provided by the implementing partners and the government counterparts;

Duration of the contract: 30 working days during the period of four months starting on 1 December 2020 till 31 March 2021

Selection criteria****: All proposals will be assessed first on its technical merits and subsequently on its price. The proposal with the best overall value, composed of technical merit and price, will be recommended for approval.

Evaluation Criteria

Points

Experience and qualification of the national consultant

*Only consultants which receive a minimum of 49 points will be considered further.

70

Financial evaluation

* The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest financial proposal that is opened and compared among all applicants who obtain the threshold points in the evaluation of the technical component. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

30

NOTE: To apply for this consultancy please submit your: motivation letter, most recent CV and financial proposal. The financial proposal should be uploaded as a separate document. The financial proposal should consist of the gross daily fee in Macedonian Denars.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE: Payments will be made upon successful completion of the above-mentioned deliverables.

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

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: social sciences, human rights, or other related discipline. Advanced degree is considered as an asset;
• A minimum of one year of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection related areas is required;
• Previous relevant professional experience/training in emergency response management is an asset;
• Ability to meet tight deadlines, to identify and prioritize tasks is required;
• Fluency in English and Macedonian language is required. Knowledge of other local languages is an asset.
• Prior experience working with the UN system and/or international development agencies is an asset.

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

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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 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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.