Re-advertisement: Local Consultant to develop Guidance on mental health and psychosocial support services including mapping of such services in Montenegro and the referral pathway for childr

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, equality.

The Coronavirus pandemic is the most significant negative shock since the global financial crisis and is causing severe damage to global and national activity and the quality of life. Across the entire region, including Montenegro, the crisis has had significant negative impacts on already weak health and social protection systems and the social impacts in terms of increased poverty, exclusion, adversity and vulnerability. Challenges are likely to be both severe and long-lasting. Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in this pandemic, given the adverse impacts COVID-19 on children and their families.

The UN Rapid Social Impact Assessments of the Covid-19 outbreak in Montenegro, conducted in 2020 and 2021, were aimed at assessing the situation faced by particularly vulnerable groups of population, including single-parent households, Roma and Egyptian families, parents of children with disabilities, families who are beneficiaries of social welfare benefits, caregivers and parents who have a history of psychoactive substance use. The research showed that during the period of complete isolation, a great number of parents experienced a significant loss of income, while many of them suffered a complete loss of income. Socio-economic status and income play significant part in preserving the psychological well-being of the family, including children. Families, children and youth expressed the need for psychosocial support during the pandemic pointing out that, in general, there are not enough psychological support services, especially for young people. Regardless of the degree of need for mental or psychosocial support, or the effects of the pandemic, all children need to have access to support services during and after lockdown. System should be ready to prioritize the work of social welfare providers, including by classifying them as essential services, so they have the resources and capacity to conduct their work professionally. Along with the need to build capacities of the system to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS hereinafter), it is very important to improve identification and referral of vulnerable children and families to services providing MHPSS. For this reason, UNICEF will provide support to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW) and the Institute for Social and Child Protection (ISCP) in the development of a guidance on the mapping of all services available in the system that are providing MHPSS, including both Government and NGO service providers, that provide MHPSS support to children and families. This document/ guidance should serve as a tool for social service workforce in the country to familiarize them with available services in health, education and social and child protection sectors at the national and municipal level and the scope and type of services specialized in and licensed for working with children including children exposed to trauma, anxiety, depression, isolation, violence and exploitation. As the list and number of licensed service providers in the system are variable categories, this document will be amended/updated accordingly by ISCP on a yearly basis.

The ISCP will form an ad hoc Working group with representatives from different sectors to provide inputs, suggestions, and recommendations to the consultant during the process of development of the guidance.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of the assignment is to contribute to improved provision of mental health and psychosocial support by strengthening the identification and referral of vulnerable children and families to MHPSS services.

More specifically, the objectives of the analysis will be to assess:

• What kind of available and licensed services exist in the health, education and social and child protection sectors for provision of MHPSS support for vulnerable children and families, including the scope of support they provide and their contact details;
• To what extent Centers for Social Work (CSWs) are able to provide MHPSS and when it is necessary to refer children and families to other available and licensed services in the system with clear distinction on services providing PSS and services providing MH support, or both.
• Elaborate the referral pathways of the CSW to service providers including in other sectors (health, education, NGO).
• In addition to this, the assignment will include a capacity development component focused on presenting the guidance to professionals from different sectors.

Scope of Work: Under the direct supervision of UNICEF Child Protection Officer, the consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks (with the following tentative breakdown of working days):

• Desk review of all available relevant national strategic and other documents (reports, analyses, data) on provision of MHPSS ( 5days);
• interviews and consultations to collect data and information from the field (interviews/focus groups) with the following key stakeholders: MLSW, Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education (MoE), ISCP, NGOs, CSW professionals, primary health care professionals. Meetings/interviews/focus groups will be scheduled with the support of MLSW, ISCP and UNICEF (7 days);
• mapping and compiling all the licensed services in the system at the national and local level that are providing MHPSS support, including contact details of the service providers and referral mechanisms for children and families (12 days);
• presentation of draft guidance to key stakeholders at an event for comments and validation. The event concept will be agreed with the MLSW, ISCP and UNICEF (1 days).
• preparation of workshop material and facilitation of two workshop sessions for relevant professionals from social and child protection, education and health on the guidance content. Workshop sessions will be scheduled with the support of MLSW, ISCP and UNICEF (6 days);

Slight changes in the timeline are possible and, if needed, will be agree with UNICEF and Institute for Social and Child Protection.

The Consultant will be responsible for delivering:

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone: Deliverables/Outputs: Timeline

Desk review of all available relevant national strategic and other documents on provision of MHPSS and interviews and consultations to collect data and information from the field (interviews/focus groups) with the following key stakeholders: MLSW, MoH, MoE, ISCP, NGOs, CSW professionals, primary health care professionals

Desk review conducted and consultation with stakeholders organized

By end August 2022

Mapping and compiling information on all licensed services in the health, education and social and child protection systems at the national and local level that are providing MHPSS support, including contact details of the service providers and referral mechanisms for children and families

Licensed services for provision of MHPSS mapped including contact details, scope of support they provide;

By end September 2022

Draft guidance prepared and shared with partners for comments

Guidance drafted

By mid-October 2022

Inclusion of comments and feedback from the stakeholders to finalize the document

Comments included and document finalized

By end October 2022

Preparation of a workshop for cross-sectoral professionals to present the guidance.

Two Workshops organized

By 15 November 2022

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

• Advanced university degree in legal, social work, psychology, social policy or a similar technical field.
• Strong capacity in designing and writing reports, using a wide range of methodological approaches and toolsets.
• Strong management, facilitation, interview skills and demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines.
• Deep Knowledge of local language.
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Previous experience of collaboration with UN is an asset;

Payment schedule: Payments will be made upon successful completion of the deliverables and submission of invoices. 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.

Mandatory E-learning: Upon conducting the recruitment process and prior to the signing of the contract, the consultant will be required to complete the following online courses. All certificates should be presented as part of the contract: Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF, Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority (PSEAA), Sexual Exploitation Abuse (PSEA)

Consultants and Individual Contractors must complete the following course before commencement of any travel on behalf of UNICEF: BSAFE security training. Any consultant or individual contractor who is issued a UNICEF email address must complete the following courses no later than 30 days after signature of contract: Fraud Awareness, Information Awareness Security Course (only for consultants/individual contractors with a UNICEF email address). The above courses can be found on Agora through the following link: Summary of Mandatory Learning for UNICEF Staff. Course completion certificates should be shared and retained with the human resources unit of the hiring office.

Selection method: All applicants will be screened against qualifications and requirements set above. Candidates fully meeting all the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below. Persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, are strongly encouraged to apply. The proposal will be evaluated against the following criteria:

A) Technical criteria – Technical evaluation process / Maximum points: 70 1. Technical Criteria – 70 % of total evaluation– max. 70 points • Education: 20 points • Previous experience: 25 points • Technical questions at the interview: 20 points • Other: 5 points

Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the technical part (who will score at least 49 points) will be qualified for considering for financial proposal evaluation

B) Financial criteria – evaluation of financial proposal - Maximum points: 30 The applicants are requested to submit their financial proposal consisting of a professional fee only for the services to be provided. • Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].

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.

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. The candidate may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid).