Home-based: Early Childhood Intervention and Inclusion Consultant (67 working days; with travel as needed) - Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

UNICEF ECARO is looking for a qualified Early Childhood Intervention and Inclusion Consultant to provide guidance and technical assistance to UNICEF country offices and governments in the region to build and strengthen Early childhood intervention (ECI) systems and enhance availability of contemporary, family-centred ECI services provided by trans-disciplinary teams, to children at risk of or with delays and disabilities and their families.

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, dedication.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

The purpose of the assignment is to strengthen capacity of the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia and the regional ECD team by recruiting a consultant to provide guidance and technical assistance to UNICEF country offices and governments in the region to build and strengthen Early childhood intervention (ECI) systems and enhance availability of contemporary, family- centred ECI services provided by trans-disciplinary teams, to children at risk of or with delays and disabilities and their families. UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia is seeking to engage an international expert for this assignment, with extensive expertise in early childhood intervention and early inclusion of children with developmental delays and disabilities.

Background

Many countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are increasingly focusing on expanding or strengthening their provisions for early childhood intervention (ECI) for children at risk of or with developmental delays and disabilities in line with contemporary, evidence-based principles and practice. Building strong and effective early childhood intervention systems, however, involves a paradigm shift in how ECI is conceptualized, organized and delivered from practice and system level perspective. Currently, in all countries in the region early support for children with developmental difficulties is dominated by the medical approach with little attention to science of child development, the child’s family context and holistic needs. The shift to the new contemporary perspective on ECI, requires building a cross-sectoral ecosystem that supports services, practices and policies that build on partnership with parents and are guided by the family priorities, strengths and needs. These services should deliver individualized and holistic support for enhancing child development and functioning in the child’s natural environments.

Recognizing the value of ECI for children, families and communities alike, UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) has been working across its network of 22 countries and territories to advance strong ECI responses that are interdisciplinary and place parents as key partners.

Scope of Work

The key priority areas of UNICEF ECARO that are broadly defining the Scope of Work of the consultant include:

• Raising awareness and building shared understanding of the importance of ECI and advocacy at regional, sub-regional and national level to enhance commitment and investment in ECI services.
• Building national mechanisms and structures to facilitate collaboration across health, education and social welfare sector to ensure coordinated approach to ECI and the needs of families.
• Technical support to Governments and professionals for policies, strategic plans and/or legislation, including the development of guidelines and procedures, service and personnel standards, and performance standards, funding mechanisms.
• Capacity building of ECI practitioners and development of system for professional development.
• Capacity building of medical professionals (pediatricians and other professionals at the primary healthcare (PHC) level) to identify development delays early and know about ECI services for timely referral, including strengthening capacity of medical professionals conducting home visitation.
• Introduction and scale up of innovations in ECI, including for record meeting, data collection and remote ECI provision.
• Facilitating knowledge sharing across the countries in the regional to strengthen policy making and practice aligned with the family-centred principles.

Key Tasks for the consultancy

1. Support system analysis through implementation of ECI Situation analysis in 2 priority countries;
2. Support strengthening of ECI national systems through development of ECI Roadmaps and policies and ECI costing initiatives in priority countries;
3. Strengthen technical capacity of ECI professionals across countries in the region through dedicated learning resources and training support;
4. Develop a regional policy brief on the relevance and role of early childhood intervention services for children at risk of or with developmental difficulties in the context of national child care and deinstitutionalization reforms;
5. Contribute to the engagement with the relevant EU Directorates and agencies to leverage the EU policy processes, financial and technical assistance instruments to expand support for positive parenting and national ECI system building.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

67 working days between May and December 2024.

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based.

As part of this assignment, some international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

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 USD) based on 67 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• Master's degree in social sciences, social work, education, health, public health, child development, disability or relevant fields.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of professional experience in social development. Experience should include policy development, programming, monitoring and evaluation in early childhood development, experience at the national and international levels in middle income and low-income countries. Professional experience in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Proven knowledge of EU social policies, particularly in relation to childcare, early childhood development and education, and policies related to the status of children with disabilities.
• Proven knowledge and sound understanding of the contemporary early childhood intervention and effective early inclusion approaches.
• Prior exposure to and engagement with the European Commission is a strong advantage.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Familiarity with the approaches to ECI and early inclusion applied in Europe and Central Asia region will be an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of other languages of ECA region will be an asset.

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 and Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) 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.