International Consultancy on Development of a Guidelines of social work with children and families

The objective of this assignment is to provide technical support to MoLSPP to develop the following documents: • A Guidelines on Social Work for Families and Children in Child Protection System; • A Guidelines on Social Work for Families and Children in Justice System; • A Concept note and Terms of Reference for Case Management system. An international consultant is expected to work closely with a national consultant and UNICEF to develop these documents that need to be guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and internationally recognized standards and good practices on social work.

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.

Purpose of the Assignment

The objective of this assignment is to provide technical support to MoLSPP to develop the following documents: 

• A Guidelines on Social Work for Families and Children in Child Protection System;
• A Guidelines on Social Work for Families and Children in Justice System;
• A Concept note and Terms of Reference for Case Management system. 

An international consultant is expected to work closely with a national consultant and UNICEF to develop these documents that need to be guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and internationally recognized standards and good practices on social work.

Assignment Tasks

Within this position the international consultant will be supported by a national consultant and have the tasks and responsibilities as described below.

 1. Conduct a desk review of existing international standards, guidelines and good practices on development of social work, including from UNICEF and other international organizations, EU and their member countries and other countries in particular in the Central Eastern Europe and Common Independence States (2 working days). 

2. With the support of a National consultant, review the situation of social work in Azerbaijan and prepare an Inception Report for the assignment, including: Brief introduction of relevant global standards and good practices, a summary of situation of social work in Azerbaijan, and the structure of the Guidelines and Concept Note (3 working days).

3. Work together with the national consultant to prepare the first draft of the following documents and share with national consultant and UNICEF for review (15 working days).

• Guidelines on Social Work for Families and Children in Child Protection System;
• Guidelines on Social Work for Families and Children in Justice System;
• Concept note and Terms of Reference for Case Management system.                                                                                         4. Update and submit final drafts of the three documents by incorporating feedbacks of UNICEF and the national consultant (3 working days).

 The Guidelines on social work for Families and Children in Child Protection and Justice Systems should minimum include the following contents:

• Methodology of initial and comprehensive assessment of children and families;
• Mechanisms to identify, refer and report instances of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect of children;
• Case management procedures in child protection and justice systems;
• Minimum requirement on documentation, reporting and evaluation;
• Minimum requirements for staffing of the social work at different level/ladders, including the standards on qualification and specifications;
• Minimum quality standards of the services, including quality assurance mechanisms;
• Minimum requirement on the monitoring/performance indicators of the services;
• Ethical considerations of social work with families and children in child protection and justice systems.

 The guidelines should also be in line with national legal framework such as the “Law on Social Services of Azerbaijan Republic” and other related laws, and regulations.

In the period of August 14 to September 30, 2017, the following deliverables are expected:

Expected Deliverables

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Social Work, Policy Analysis, Economics, or related field;
• Minimum 8 years of international consultancy experience in the area of Child Protection, Social Work, Policy Analysis and Social Policy;
• Strong experience in provision of a high level policy advice, development of policy documents, drafting the legislation, standards, regulations;
• In depth knowledge of international trends in social protection, social services and child protection systems, as well as  developments in Eastern Europe and post-Soviet countries;
• Knowledge of poverty, deprivation and social exclusion issues; women and child related issues; social and economic aspects of wellbeing;
• Ability to work in a team with tight deadlines
• Familiarity with UNICEF’s mission and mandate.
• Fluency in English, knowledge of the Azerbaijani or Russian is an asset.

The contract with international consultant will cover the period 14^th August 2017 to 30^th September 2017 with a total number of 23 working days.

Interested individual consultant must submit the following documents/information to UNICEF for application:

a) CV and motivation letter.

b) Financial proposal: inclusive of all fees.

c) 1-2 written examples for similar assignments in the past.

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.