Remote Consultancy - Migrants Access to and Use of Civil Registration in Latin America and the Caribbean- LACRO, Panama City

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, protection

How can you make a difference?

Background

Children are on the move throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and UNICEF is working with them in communities of origin, when they are in transit, reach their destination and when they return. One of the significant barriers that these children and their families face is having a legal identity.

The UN Legal Identity Agenda defines legal identity as

“… the basic characteristics of an individual’s identity, e.g., name, sex, place and date of birth conferred through registration and the issuance of a certificate by an authorized civil registration authority following the occurrence of birth. In the absence of birth registration, legal identity may be conferred by a legally recognized identification authority; this system should be linked to the civil registration system to ensure a holistic approach to legal identity from birth to death. Legal identity is retired by the issuance of a death certificate by the civil registration authority upon registration of death.

In the case of refugees, Member States are primarily responsible for issuing proof of legal identity, including identity papers. The issuance of proof of legal identity to refugees may also be administered by an internationally recognized and mandated authority.”

Not knowing a person’s age impacts on their ability to access rights that are related to age such as preventing child labour, trafficking, illegal adoption and child marriage. It can ensure respect of the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Importantly it can prevent statelessness as a legal document that indicates both the parents as well as the place of birth. lack of identity also affects future generations as documents of parents are often required for the documents of their children. This includes marriage registration that assists also in the birth registration of children. As well as legitimation and recognition so that the father is identified.

While the majority of children under 5 in Latin America and the Caribbean have been registered and have identity documents, within the group of children not registered are those on the move. The lack of this identity inhibits their access to health care and education. Further there are demands not only for identity documents but for a regular migration status to be able to fully benefit from services. For example, while in some countries a child can go to school, they may not be able to obtain a school leaving certificate without an indication of a regular migration status. This regular status can vary from having obtained the citizenship of the country or having a temporary protective status. Birth registration has the data necessary to determine place of birth and parentage which can support determining nationality and ending statelessness. The registration of vital events of family members also impacts on children, in particular marriage registration.

Understanding the access migrants and refugees have to civil registration and its connection to status regularisation will inform policies and programmes to sustainably reduce a main barrier to migrant children’s access to their rights.

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to examine the access of migrants and refugees to civil registration in many of the countries in the region and to identify how civil registration documents are used to regularise a migrant’s status. The document will be used by UNICEF and other stakeholders within the region and globally to inform policy and programme directions. The audience will predominantly be child protection, civil registration and migration professionals.

It will answer

1 – can migrants and refugees register in the civil registration system in the country where the vital event (birth, marriage, divorce, death) occurred. What are the requirements?

2 – how is the civil registration used in each country for applications to regularise migration status, both temporary protective status and permanent status. Is there a cost or any other identified barriers?

3 – what are the time periods/expiry for temporary protective status where it exists?

4 – what services (health, education, child protection, social protection) require civil registration or regularisation for migrants and refugees to be able to fully access them?

The study will cover countries which have extensive migrant and refugee populations as well as countries who are members of the Latin American and the Caribbean Council of Civil Registries and Vital Statistics (CLARCIEV, Consejo Latinoamericano y de Caribe de registro civil, identidad y estadísticas vitales). Specifically: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela. It is recognised that for some countries all information may not be available. It is also expected to use primary sources be that laws, policies, procedures, as well as key informant interviews with civil registrars, migration officials, identity management partners.

Specific Tasks

The assignment will include:

1. A methodology for obtaining and analysing the necessary information for this assignment. This will also include a detailed timeline and an outline of the questions for the key informant interview. It should provide an idea as to how the information will be organized and presented. Ideally it will already include a list of the potential interviewees and an initial list of the necessary policy and legal documents.

2. Draft Report and draft powerpoint. This report will be a full draft and include any working tables that may become annexes in the report. This draft report will be presented to a technical audience for input.

3. A final report that incorporates comments from the reference group.

4. A webinar, with powerpoint to share the findings. This will be open to UNICEF and others. This space will be coordinated in its design and implementation with the regional UNICEF office.

The draft and final report as well as the powerpoint must be in Spanish and English

Deliverables

Description

Duration (in days)

Expected deadline

Methodology proposal

10 days

20 June 2023

Draft report, and draft powerpoint in Spanish and English

35 days

27 October 2023

Final report and powerpoint in Spanish and English, presented at a webinar

13 days

9 December 2023

TOTAL

58 days

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

• Advanced university degree in social sciences or international development or directly related technical experience in combination with an academic background.
• A minimum of seven years working in the area of civil registration and identity
• Knowledge and experience on migration and the regularization of migrants, ideally in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Proven experience analysing identity systems.
• Practical work experience in Latin America and the Caribbean desirable
• Fluency in Spanish and English is required.

Technical Knowledge

• Knowledge of civil registration and identity systems
• A good understanding of identity systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly as pertains to children.
• Knowledge of migration status and regularisation options and procedures

Other skills and attributes

• Demonstrated excellent communication skills both verbal and written
• Demonstrated research and report writing skills
• Demonstrated ability to work virtually and establish virtual working relationships with many partners
• Able to work effectively in a multicultural environment
• Ability to clearly define objectives and plan activities
• Fluency with ICT tools such as email, Teams, Skype, Zoom.

Administrative Details

Supervision

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Regional Advisor with the Child Protection Specialist Migration and in close coordination with the OAS Programme Coordinator on Universal Civil Identity in the Americas and Executive Secretary of CLARCIEV.

Workplace

This assignment is home-based. The consultant will work home-based, using their own personal premises, materials, and equipment’s. The consultant will be required to have access to Skype/Zoom/Teams to facilitate the communication required during this assignment.

How to Apply

Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily, monthly and total fees in their financial proposal.

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.