Provision of technical assistance to the Ministry of Public Education to conduct functional analysis of Guardianship and Trusteeship bodies and develop a platform of child protection database system

The international consultant is expected to assist the Ministry of Public Education in conducting a functional analysis of the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship to assess the gaps and provide recommendations for improving the existing system at all levels (national, regional and district) and including in cooperation with other bodies, such as Makhallya Committees, Commission of Minors and Juvenile police. The incumbent will also support the Ministry of Public Education in preparing a platform for setting up an easy- to-manage and electronic data base system that will contain all the data concerning children in need of protection to be collected by the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship within their functional responsibilities.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Background:

In Uzbekistan, child protection mandate falls into the realm of different state agencies. There is no single coordinating, oversight and monitoring body at the national and local levels for child protection issues. Gate-keeping mechanisms are weak and services that target children in need of protection tend to be reactive rather than preventive. As the prevention and family support services are almost non-existent, the emphasis is placed on response services, particularly on institutionalization. As highlighted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2013, institutional care is a predominant means rather than a measure of last resort. Social work profession is very much underdeveloped and there are very few social work job positions in the social protection sector.

The Ministry of Public Education, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Secondary Specialized and Higher Education hold some responsibilities for supporting children in need of protection. However, the main body with functional responsibilities to identify, assess and refer children to residential care institutions are the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship. These bodies exist under regional and local Authorities and report to the Ministry of Public Education. Though being close equivalent to social workers, the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship are not trained and do not apply social work case management and mainly carry out responsibilities related to collection and preparation of documents for placing children in institutional care or family-based alternative care. At local level they often closely cooperate with the Commissions of Minors, juvenile police and Makhalya Committees.        

Limited data availability has been observed by UNICEF to be a key concern in all social sector agencies. When it comes to child protection-related issues, this lack of data is particularly problematic, to the extent that for some topics there is no information at all. There is no data publicly available on either prevalence or incidence of abuse and neglect, and no systematic means of identifying and supporting children either at risk of suffering or who have suffered such violations. The bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship mainly collect and maintain data on children left without parental care, children placed to institutional care and family based alternatives, as well as on potential guardians and adoptive parents.

To simplify the data collection process and make it digital, recent Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministries stipulate establishment of electronic database for children without parental care and envisage the Ministry of Public Education to review the operations of Guardianship and Trusteeship to address the gaps of the system and improve the child protection functions and services. It also instructs the relevant Ministries to strengthen the methodological basis for data collection and recording process of children and to adopt effective measures for reducing the number of referrals to residential care.

The Ministry of Public Education intends to move away from traditional paper‐based data base system in favor of more sophisticated digital solutions. This move is also based on prevailing belief that improved use of technology for gathering, storing, analyzing and sharing data will translate into improved results in service delivery for children at risk and children in need of protection measures.

Purpose:

The international consultant is expected to assist the Ministry of Public Education in conducting a functional analysis of the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship to assess the gaps and provide recommendations for improving the existing system at all levels (national, regional and district) and including in cooperation with other bodies, such as Makhallya Committees, Commission of Minors and Juvenile police . The incumbent will also support the Ministry of Public Education in preparing a platform for setting up an easy- to-manage and electronic data base system that will contain all the data concerning children in need of protection to be collected by the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship within their functional responsibilities.   

Objectives:

This assignment will be carried out in three stages and primarily focused on the follow up of the two above mentioned Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers. It includes the following objectives:

• Identify gaps of the child protection system through a functional analysis of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship and their cooperation with other bodies
• Improve the information management system profile by designing a unified data base modules for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship
• Introduce systemic data collection and social work case management processes for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship

Scope and methodology:

The first stage of the consultancy will be the conduct of a functional analysis of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship. The functional analysis will primarily examine all roles, responsibilities and functions of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship in legislation and actual practice at all levels, including the role of the Ministry of Public Education in overseeing and standard setting for the bodies of the Guardianship and Trusteeship. The analysis will cover the following aspects: i) financial resources (available for the purpose of implementation of current functions); ii) services implemented (from the aspects of quality and adequacy); iii) coverage of users and impact on users (social inclusion of excluded groups) and iv) outcomes of the provided services (obtained from the reports and analytical notes), v) cooperation with other bodies in service provision. The interdependence among these four elements can easily produce different scenarios to improve the system.

The proposed methodology of the analysis includes:

1. Desk review of:
   • Legal and normative frameworks
   • Policy documents
   • Internal instructions and guidelines
   • Reports and other documents
2. Budget analysis (national, regional and district level budgets for Guardianship and Trusteesh)
3. Qualitative analysis to clarify the functional responsibilities and roles of Guardianship and Trusteeship at all levels and their interactions with other bodies (focus group discussions, structured and semi-structured interviews with main stakeholders, including service users)
4. Statistical analysis of data currently collected and maintained by the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship and the Ministry of Publice Education
5. Assessment of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship practice towards users in compliance with international norms and standards:

• Adopted standards of care (including case management)
• Complaints procedure for users/their families and other interested public
• Monitoring mechanisms

It is expected that the international expert will develop and present the methodology for conducting a functional analysis of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship at the beginning of the assignment.

The second stage is directed to the development of an information management system profile. Support will be provided to the Ministry of Public Education to develop an information management system profile by designing unified data base modules for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship. The data collections modules will include the cases of children deprived of parental care, children at risk (difficult life situations), children in institutional care and those that face violence at family settings. The stage will include preparation of data base modules for further work of a national Information Technological Company to design a digital software programme for child protection. Data base modules should be compiled in accordance with existing data collection requirements for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship and findings of functional analysis of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship. The international consultant is also expected to look at incorporation of digital data management and case management tools to the activities of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship.

The below points are intended to guide a consultant in the development of modules for a future digital (electronic) database system for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship:

• The transition from paper based systems in favor of digital data management tools should be through the stages of case management, namely: a) Identification, b) Assessment, c) Case planning, d) Implementation of case plan, and e) Case closure
• The interest lies in the time efficiency related to the functional responsibilities of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship performed individually and together with the others, in comparison with a traditional/paper-based systems.
• Digitization should consider reduction of systematic inefficiencies such as a) duplication of family and child interviews, b) errors including duplication, c) variations in spellings, d) missing fields, e) dependency on manual data transactions and f) omission of a potentially helpful intervention
• Digital data management should also facilitate inter‐agency information sharing and promote cooperation between the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship and their partners to address the needs and provision of services to children at risk, children deprived of family care, children in institutions and cases of child abuse in family setting.

The third stage of the consultancy – to introduce systemic data collection and case management processes. The consultant is expected to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Public Education to approbate the use of child protection data base modules (on the basis of the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship) in priority regions. The action will include preparation and/or adjustment of assessments forms, protocols and guidelines for the bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship to ensure conducting case management services in identified families in need. The consultant will finalize the draft case management tools and guidance, inter-sectoral coordination protocols and social work assessment forms after piloting digital data management system for the bodies of the Guardianship and Trusteeship in the selected regions of the country.

Assignment Tasks

1^st stage: to conduct a functional analysis of Guardianship and Trusteeship

1. To conduct desk review with development of a comprehensive methodology for conducting a functional analysis of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship (7 days home-based in April-May 2017)
2. To conduct the analysis of functional responsibilities of the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship (in selected regions and districts) (10 w/d in country
   work (field visits) May 2017)

2^nd stage: to develop a data base system profile for Guardianship and Trusteeship

1. To prepare a set of data base modules considering findings of functional analysis and the laws and Regulations related to the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship (12 w/d home-based June-July 2017)

3rd stage: to approbate data programme and case management processes

1. To approbate the data base programme in collecting data in parallel to adjusting case management tools for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship (5 w/d in country work and 5 home-based in August-September 2017)

Expected Deliverables

Deliverable 1:

• Draft methodology for conducting a functional analysis of Guardianship and Trusteeship
• Final methodology for conducting a functional analysis of Guardianship and Trusteeship

Deliverable 2:

• A draft report of functional analysis of Guardianship and Trusteeship at all levels with highlighted gaps, overalappings, findings and recommendations on improvement of the system
• A final report on the functional analysis of Guardianship and Trusteeship absorbing comments of UNICEF and the Ministry of Public Education

Deliverable 3:

• Draft digitized data base modules (forms/templates/tables with concrete questions and answers) for each child protection areas of interventions
• A guidance document for the Ministry of Public Education and an ITC company to follow/consider in developing a digital data base software programme
• A manual for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship to manage using the child protection data base programme

Deliverable 4:

• Final digitized (electronic) data base modules
• Preliminary compiled data/statistics from the Bodies of Guaridianship and Trusteeship on children at risk, children deprived of family care, children subject to violence and children in institutions in a seected region
• Case management tools (including data forms, assessment checklists, templates, etc.) for the Bodies of Guardianship and Trusteeship
• Final consultancy report

Management:

International consultant will work under direct supervision and will report to the Child Protection Specialist

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education

• Advanced university degree (Masters or PhD) in social science, preferably with multi‐disciplinary training

Years of relevant experience

• At least 5 years of experience in the area of child protection in CEE/CIS region
• Proven expertise in conducting high quality, utilisation focused research and functional analysis in child protection, including experience in data base system development
• Excellent analytical, synthesising, report writing skills
• Excellent presentation and communication skills
• Ability to communicate with various stakeholders in multi‐cultural contexts and to express concisely and clearly ideas and concepts in written and oral form
• Excellent written and spoken command of English; knowledge of Russian language will be an asset
• Previous work experience with UNICEF and work in Uzbekistan would be as an asset

Conditions of the Consultancy:

Candidates interested in the consultancy should submit a technical proposal and price proposal with, time line, and resume. In making the final decision, UNICEF considers both technical and financial aspects. The Evaluation Team first reviews the technical aspect of the offer followed by the review of the financial offer of the technically compliant vendors. The proposals will be evaluated against the following two elements:

a) Technical Proposal: The technical proposal should address all aspects and criteria outlined in this Terms of Reference. However, all these requirements represent a wish list from UNICEF. The bidders are free to suggest/propose any other solution. UNICEF welcomes new ideas and innovative approaches.

b) Price Proposal: The daily fee or lump sum for total requested days should be broken down for each stages of the proposed work, based on an estimate of time taken which needs to be stated.

Procedures and working conditions:

Travel expenses (terminal expenses, DSA, air fare) will be funded by UNICEF in accordance with rules and procedures. Obtaining entry visa to Uzbekistan and visa related costs will be the responsibility of the individual consultant, however UNICEF, within its means, shall facilitate the process. During in-country visit, individual consultant will be provided with office space and logistic support for meetings. Computer will not be provided.

Reservations:

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if deliverable(s) incomplete, not finalized or for failure to meet deadlines. 

UNICEF will reserve copyright of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.  

The contractor must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

The United Nations and UNICEF undertake no liability for taxes, duty or other contribution payable by the consultant on payments made under this contract. No statement of earnings will be issued by the United Nations or UNICEF to the consultant. International consultant is personally responsible for payment of all taxes related to consultancy.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable).  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.