Home-based: Consultant to develop repatriation and reintegration resource pack (40 working days) - Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) is looking for a qualified consultant to collect and compile the existing repatriation and reintegration guidance and tools available for countries supporting the return and reintegration of children from areas affected by armed conflict in Iraq and Syria.

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.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

The conflicts in Iraq and Syria have presented a humanitarian and child-protection challenge of unparalleled complexity. When the so-called “Islamic State” in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) established a self-declared “caliphate” in 2014, a transnational recruitment network was activated, leading to around 40,000 foreign nationals from more than 80 countries travelling to Iraq and Syria to join the group – often bringing along family members, including children. Thousands of children were also born within ISIL-held areas. As military efforts to overthrow ISIL advanced in 2018 and 2019, thousands of Syrians, Iraqi and third country nationals were apprehended by local authorities and placed in either detention facilities or designated sections of displaced persons camps in northern Syria and Iraq. This included a large number of third-country nationals, the majority of whom were less than 12 years old. Of the children that remain in these facilities today, the majority are still less than 12 years old, with many under the age of 5. The conditions in the camps are well-documented and it is undisputed that the consequences for children are dire: a number of children’s rights are at risk, not least including the right to life, to education, to water and sanitation, to health, to adequate housing and to be free from hunger and from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

In the face of these challenges, UNICEF has repeatedly urged and supported governments to facilitate the return and reintegration of their child and caregiver nationals who have been affected by conflict both in Iraq and Syria. This call for action has been endorsed by the international human rights community, including by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and has been responded to by some countries, most prominently those in Central Asia. In 2019, the Government of Uzbekistan became one of the first nations to carry out a large-scale repatriation of its citizens – mostly women and children – setting a precedent which the Governments of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have maintained.

The political, financial and logistical resolve required to undertake repatriations, and subsequent support to reintegration, is significant. UNICEF has provided support to national authorities in the development of clear plans, backed by sufficient resources and expertise, to ensure that repatriation and reintegration efforts are age- and gender-sensitive, child-friendly and human rights-compliant. This includes support to ensure family-based care, education, mental health and psychosocial support, and other services that foster children’s recovery and development, as well as the social and financial empowerment of vulnerable individuals and populations. Since 2019, UNICEF in Europe and Central Asia has supported the reintegration of more than 2,000 children from Syria and Iraq. Through this experience, and in close coordination with other UNICEF offices, a series of resources and tools supporting repatriation and reintegration efforts have been developed by UNICEF or made available through inter-agency networks.

This consultancy will collect and compile the existing repatriation and reintegration guidance and tools available for countries supporting the return and reintegration of children from areas affected by armed conflict in Iraq and Syria. This will include conducting a desk review, as well as a round of consultations with UNICEF country offices who have engaged in large-scale repatriation and reintegration programs of children from Iraq and Northern Syria, to glean insights on the tools available. The consultant will package these resources in a user-friendly digital pack where the resources will be available in both internal and external versions. As such, the resource pack will serve the purpose of supporting UNICEF country teams in the Europe and Central Asia region and beyond, as well as other international and national agencies, in their repatriation and reintegration efforts.

Scope of Work

1. Conduct a desk review of existing repatriation and reintegration guidance and tools available for countries supporting the return and reintegration of children affected by armed conflict in Iraq and Syria, including inter-agency tools which may appropriately be included in the resource pack for children reintegration.
2. Survey programme teams at HQ and regional levels on applicable tools or resources to be included in the resource pack, for example in relation to education, MHPSS, youth engagement, alternative care, gender and GBV.
3. Conduct consultations with key countries supporting reintegration programming to gain insight on relevant existing field-level tools and approaches, as well as tools which are lacking.
4. Convene and consult with a cross-sectoral reference group on the compilation of a resource pack.
5. Develop a user-friendly digital resource pack where these resources are available in both internal and external versions

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

40 working days between April and June 2024.

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based with no travel foreseen.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in EUR) based on 40 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

• Master's degree in international development, human rights, social work, sociology, or another relevant social science field.
• Minimum seven (7) years demonstrated experience of working on repatriation and reintegration of children and families programming.
• Demonstrated experience of producing high-quality written documents.
• Demonstrated knowledge management abilities, including utilising online platforms.
• Demonstrated knowledge of child protection programming, including in the fields of mental health and psychosocial support, gender-based violence service delivery, juvenile justice, or alternative care and family tracing and reunification.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English (oral and written).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family 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:

Please include a full CV, a Cover Letter and work samples in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in EUR) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.