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National Consultancy on Functional Assessment of the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units at the district and province levels, (NOB), Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Dushanbe

  • Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
  • Location: Dushanbe
  • Grade: Junior level - NO-B, National Professional Officer - Locally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Social Affairs
    • Children's rights (health and protection)
  • Closing Date: Closed

The main purpose of this assignment is to provide support to an international consultant to assess the functionality of the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units at district and province levels in Tajikistan.

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.

Post Title: National Consultancy on Functional Assessment of the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units at the district and province levels
Duration: 16 October 2017 – 31 January 2018 (36 working days)
Location: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Closing date: 29 September 2017

BACKGROUND

The main authority in charge of children issues in Tajikistan is the Commission on Child Rights under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan (CCR). The Commission is responsible for coordinating policy on child protection at national level. It was established by Decree No. 423 of the 7th September 2001. The Commission is a permanent, interdepartmental, consultative body, established to coordinate the activities of the State and institutions working with children in need of special measures of protection. The Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan is the head of the CCR. In 2015, a new Department was set up in the Directorate of Human Rights Guarantees of the Presidential Executive Office (PEO) to serve as the Secretary of the Commission on Child Rights and to coordinate and oversee children’s issues in the country.

The same structure exists at the province and district levels. The Commission on Child Rights at province level is comprised of substructures working with children at province level and the same applies at district level. The Commissions on Child Rights at province and district levels are led by the Deputy Governors and Deputy Mayors respectively. Based on the Regulation amended in 2008 , the CCR took the responsibility for the tasks formerly performed by the Executive Committee of the Commission on Minors (COM) and Guardianship Authority. As per the 2008 Regulation, the Commission on Minors was abolished and its responsibilities transferred to the CCR. As a result, the functions of the COM are to be performed by the new Commission on Child Rights established in each Local Authority at province and district levels. Despite the fact that such changes took place eight years ago, the practice in different parts of the country indicates that the situation varies widely. In January 2017, the Government of Tajikistan introduced new revisions to the Regulations on CCR and on Guardianship. The various Government stakeholders concerned with children’s issues at all levels are now expected to apply the revised regulations.

On 19 December 2016, the Commission on Child Rights adopted its Plan of Action for 2017. Activities No. 7, 34 and 35 included in the Plan relate to the functional assessment of CCR and Child Rights Units (CRU) , the development of guidance on the revised regulatory frameworks for use by the CCR and CRU at local level, and training of the CCR and CRU respectively. UNICEF committed to supporting the CCR in the implementation of this set of activities. It is in this context that the present TOR were developed in order to carry out the Functional Assessment of the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units.

This assessment is intended for decision-makers at national level, including the Commissions on the Child Rights at national and subnational levels, relevant ministries, Parliamentarians, as well as for development partners to review and make evidence-based and informed decisions towards addressing child protection issues in the country, including through strengthening the child protection system.

Against this backdrop, UNICEF Tajikistan Country Office, in close consultation with the CCR, seeks to hire a national consultant that will be supporting an international consultant in providing technical assistance to the CCR to carry out the functional assessment of the CCRs and CRUs.

OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of this assignment is to provide support to an international consultant to assess the functionality of the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units at district and province levels in Tajikistan. In particular, the assignment aims to:

- Examine the scope and capacity of the existing child protection system, and existing accountability mechanisms;
- Provide key stakeholders with a clear picture of the structure and functions of the current child protection system;
- Assess the effectiveness of the child protection system to reach out to and assist children in need of protection;
- Describe the current legal and normative framework, noting strengths as well as possible gaps and outlining the country’s future policy agenda in child protection.

One of the key expected results of the assessment is to generate evidence that will inform the development of guidance for the CCR and CRU to effectively deliver their duties, taking into account the latest regulatory changes, as well as the development of training content for the staff of the CCR and CRU.

The specific objectives of the assignment include:
- Providing a detailed picture of the formal child protection system in districts and its links to existing structures that ensure continuum of services for children in need of protection;
- Making an overall judgment about the relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and budget allocation and expenditure analysis of the child protection mechanisms that address the needs of vulnerable children, with a focus on children with disabilities, children deprived of parental care, children in contact with the law, and children at risk of or exposed to violence, exploitation and abuse vis-à-vis international standards;
- Providing specific and solid recommendations towards improving the functioning of the Commissions on Child Rights and the Child Rights Units and the overall child protection system.

SCOPE

The functional assessment of the Commissions on Child Right and Child Rights Units should include the following:
1. Analyse the goals of the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units, their 'position' within the national legal and strategic framework (through desk review, semi-structured interviews);
2. Assess the frequency and content of interactions between the Commissions on Child Rights and Child Rights Units and other authorities and service providers at district and province levels, including but not limited to referral mechanisms;
3. Assess the scope of work of CCR and CRU and their ability to deliver their duties in light of the Law on Child Protection and other related laws and regulations;
4. Assess the available human resource capacity, infrastructure, and budgetary allocation and expenditure at district and province levels;
5. Review comprehensively the existing gatekeeping mechanism (identification, reporting, referral, assessment, treatment and follow-up) and child protection services in 8 selected districts and provide recommendations towards the reform of the child protection system considering the country context and the international standards;

The geographical scope of the assessment will include district and province levels. Eight districts will be covered, namely Shughnon (Mountainous Badakhshan Autonomous Province), Firdavsi, Sino, Ismoili Somoni and Shohmansoor (Dushanbe), Isfara (Sughd Province), Vakhsh (Khatlon), Rasht (Direct Rule Districts). One district per province has been selected and in two provinces, i.e. Sughd and Khatlon, two districts have been selected to compare areas where UNICEF supported child protection related interventions with areas where such interventions did not exist.

TASKS

1. Assist the international consultant in identifying, collecting, reviewing and analyzing relevant documents (including legislative and regulatory texts) needed to understand the child protection system and its structures (i.e. CCR, CRU, etc.).
2. Serve as a “liaison officer” to facilitate communication (including interpretation) between the international consultant and the Inter-Agency Steering Group established by the Presidential Executive Office and that is specifically working on the implementation of the Plan of Action of the CCR for 2017 in general, and on this functional assessment in particular;
3. Work closely with the international consultant and the Steering Group to provide input to the functional assessment throughout all its stages (i.e. design, conduct, analysis, report writing, etc.);
4. Identify, map and analyse the interactions between the different government stakeholders involved in child protection at district level;
5. Liaise with the relevant government institutions at province and district levels to collect and compile the necessary information related to human resource, infrastructure, budget allocation and expenditure and any other information and data required by the international consultant;
6. Facilitate the organization of and provide input to meetings, interviews or focus group discussions (including interpretation) with partners at national, province and district levels, including with the Commission on Child Rights under the Government (Department of Child Rights Protection under the PEO), the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ombudsman for Child Rights, the Agency of Statistics under the President, Local Authorities and other relevant government partners to gather information on their interventions within the existing child protection system;
7. Facilitate the organization of and provide input to meetings, interviews or focus group discussions with selected civil society organisations (CSOs) at national and district levels working on children’s issues, including organisations involved in the areas of children without family care, family support care, children with disabilities, children in contact with the law, child labour and violence against children (e.g. day care centres, baby homes, selected residential childcare facilities) to gather information on their interventions related to child protection;
8. If need be, engage with research institutions and CSOs to obtain relevant information and data related to the existing child protection system, including any referral mechanism;
9. Assist the International Consultant to review the draft assessment report, to present the preliminary findings and recommendations to stakeholders, and to address their feedback.

DELIVERABLES AND TENTATIVE TIMELINE

The assignment will be carried out in 36 days spread over a period starting from 16 October 2017 to 31 January 2018.

# Deliverables/ Number of days/ Location/ Timeline/ Payment schedule

1. Set of relevant documents (including legislative and regulatory texts) needed to understand the child protection system and its structures is collected, reviewed and analyzed and provided to the International Consultant/ 5 days/ In-country/ October 25, 2017/ 20%
2. Report on identification, mapping and analysing the interactions between the different government stakeholders involved in child protection at district level/ 5 days/ In-country/ November 15, 2017/ 20%
3. Collection and compilation of necessary data from the national, province and district levels related to child protection is completed/ 18 days/ In-country/ December 01, 2017/ 40%
4. Assistance for the review and presentation of the preliminary findings and recommendations and for addressing feedback is provided to the International Consultant/ 8 days/ In-country/ January 25, 2018/ 20%

INDICATIVE STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

The final report to be submitted to UNICEF Country Office and the Department of Child Rights Protection under the PEO by the International Consultant, with the assistance and contribution of the National Consultant, will be presented in the following format:

- Executive summary
- Purpose
- Description of the assessment methodology, data collection, etc.
- Limitations
- Findings
- Conclusions
- Recommendations

The Annexes to the report should contain the TORs, data collection instruments and other relevant information, reference list of consulted documents and other materials. The report should be provided in English in both hard and soft copies.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR EVALUATION OF RESULTS

The evaluation of the results will be based on:
1. Technical and professional competence (quality of the product delivered to UNICEF);
2. Scope of work (No. of meetings with the stakeholders);
3. Quality of work (quality of methodology, drafting reports and inputs to final report);
4. Quantity of work (completion of the tasks indicated in the table above within the set timeframe)

In addition, such indicators as work relations, responsibility, initiative, and communication will be taken into account during the evaluation of the consultant’s work.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

To be able to carry out the assignment, the consultant should meet the following minimum requirements:
- Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Law, Development Studies, Public Policy or any related discipline;
- At least 5 years of work experience in a relevant field;
- Strong knowledge of child rights, child protection system approach and child care system design and reform, social protection and social welfare;
- Familiarity with rights-based approaches, gender mainstreaming and institutional strengthening concepts;
- Proven experience in designing and conducting assessments;
- Strong analytical and conceptual thinking;
- Excellent writing skills;
- Excellent communication and presentation skills with stakeholders;
- Fluency in English, Tajik and/ or Russian.

RESERVATIONS

All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

WORKING CONDITIONS

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of UNICEF Chief Child Protection and the guidance of UNICEF Child Protection Officer / Childcare.
The consultant will team up with an international consultant and will assist in delivering some of the tasks listed in these TOR, in particular in liaising and communicating with Government officials. Furthermore, the consultant will be expected to engage with the Government Inter-Agency Working Group to be set up in order to guide and facilitate the functional assessment.
The consultant will work both in UNICEF Office in Dushanbe and will be expected to travel to some districts outside of Dushanbe.
TERMS OF PAYMENT
The rate per day of professional fees will be in accordance with the complexity of the ToR and the level of expertise required, which is estimated at NOB level.
The contract fee will be paid by bank transfer as per schedule above and upon delivery of the set assignment and submission of the final report (upon completion of the contract) with the required deliverables certified by the Chief Child Protection.
Should the contractor fail to complete the assigned tasks, UNICEF will have the right to withhold up to 50% of the consultancy payment.

PROCEDURES AND LOGISTICS

UNICEF does not provide or arrange health insurance coverage for consultants.

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

UNICEF only accepts applications from individual consultants who are nationals of Tajikistan. For the purpose of selection, a consultant is requested to submit the following documents and information
- A completed Expression of Interest Letter
- A work-plan, showing the inputs;
- A proposed timeframe;
- Updated CV and academic degrees/diplomas;
- UN candidates should upload at least two latest performance evaluation reports;
- A summary of experience in similar assignments;

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:

The link to review detailed Terms of Reference would be available at the following links: www.untj.org/jobs, www.unicef.org/tajikistan/resources, www.facebook.com/uniceftajikistan.
The candidates who are interested to apply for the position should follow the electronic application's instructions at:
http://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/507137?lApplicationSubSourceID= 

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.

This vacancy is now closed.
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