Regional Child Justice Consultancy, Suva, Fiji, 12 Months

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, support.

In the Pacific we work in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu: These 14 Pacific island countries are home to 2.3 million people, including 1.2 million children and youth, living on more than 660 islands and atolls stretching across 17.2 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean, an area comparable to the combined size of the United States of America and Canada. Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are classified as Fragile States according to World Bank/OECD criteria.

All 14 Pacific Island countries and territories have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but only a third are on track with reporting obligations. Explore the different areas of our work in the link provided here www.unicef.org/pacificislands.

Background of Assignment:

Across the Pacific, tens of thousands of children interact with justice systems every year. These children include victims and witnesses, as well as those accused or convicted of having committed a crime. While data on the number of children deprived of their liberty is limited, we do know that 181 per 100,000 children are deprived of their liberty in Kiribati, nearly six times higher than the global rate (36 per 100,000 children).

Unfortunately, justice systems in the Pacific are not currently equipped to respond to the needs of children in contact or conflict with the law. These systems often are completely out of reach for children, especially the most vulnerable. And when children do interact with the justice system, justice actors, such as police, prosecutors, legal aid, and the judiciary, are not equipped with the resources, capacity, and knowledge to promote child-friendly interactions. This results in revictimization of child victims and witnesses and unnecessary and avoidable confinement of alleged child offenders.

Promoting children’s access to justice is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 16 on promoting just, peaceful, and inclusive societies, and the targets 16.3 (access to justice for all) and 16.2 (prevention of violence against children).

Numerous challenges are present in promoting access to justice for children across the Pacific, and specifically in Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The cornerstone of this work is putting into place the legal and normative frameworks that provide the basis for children to fully enjoy their rights. While there has been some progress in updating Child Protection and Juvenile Justice legislation to bring it in line with international standards, gaps remain. For example, in each of Fiji, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Vanuatu there is pending legislation that would fill crucial gaps, such as promoting family-strengthening and reducing institutional care, establishing special measures for child victims and witnesses, and promoting alternatives to detention for children in conflict with the law.

Meanwhile, both Kiribati and Solomon Islands also have recently updated relevant legislation in line with international standards, where there is a need for dedicated focus to ensure these new laws are fully and effectively implemented. This same support for capacity building of justice actors, with a specific focus on National Police, on updated provisions will also be necessary once the draft laws are passed.

Beyond legal frameworks, it is also crucial to ensure that when children come into contact with the justice system, either as victims, witnesses, or if accused, child-friendly justice procedures and services are in place. This includes the development and implementation of standard operating procedures and other resources at all points where a child may interact with the justice system. Across the Pacific, Police are a key first responder who interact with vulnerable children and families. Support is needed to ensure Police provide child-specific and child-friendly services to these children.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direction of the Child Protection Specialist (Child Justice), the consultant will further map and identify specific needs within National Police services across four countries (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati) related to the provision of child-friendly services. This includes developing and delivering a training package to Police across these countries building the capacity of Police to carry out child-sensitive investigations of crimes against children (including sexual assault, utilize child interviewing techniques, make appropriate referrals of children in need of support to other service providers including social welfare and MHPSS professionals, and ensure child-safe emergency accommodation where appropriate.

Please refer to the TOR for further information on the deliverables and the timelines

GUIDANCE FOR APPLICANTS

Please submit a separate financial offer along with your application. The financial proposal should be a lump sum amount for all the deliverables and should show a break down for the following: o Monthly Daily fees– based on the deliverables in the Terms of Reference above

• • Travel (economy air ticket where applicable to take up assignment and field mission travel)
  • Living allowance where travel is required
  • Miscellaneous- to cover visa, health insurance (including medical evacuation for international consultants), communications, and other costs.

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

• An Advanced University degree in international development, human rights, international law, or other relevant field is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in child justice, child protection and/or other related areas at the international level, some of which preferably were served in a developing country, is required.
• Relevant experience in building capacity of actors in child justice, child protection, and social welfare sectors is an asset.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.
• Experience working in the UN system agency or UN organization is an asset.
• Proven ability to work independently under difficult conditions.

• Fluency in written and spoken English.

  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

Remarks:

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.

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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.