International consultancy on provision of services on assessment of 10 institutions for children and young people with disabilities

International Consultancy on provision of services on assessment of 10 institutions for children and young people with disabilities under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus.

1. PURPOSE/ Objective:

The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the institutional care for children with disabilities placed under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection through a comprehensive assessment of the 10 residential care institutions children and young people with disabilities under social protection.

Specific Objectives:

1. Assess 10 residential care institutions children and young people with disabilities of the social protection system, the institutions’ functioning and the situation of children[1] in these institutions (living and care conditions (facilities, equipment, staff) provided for children and young people with disabilities, as well as give characteristics (profiles) of different groups of children and young people residing there, services provided to children and families by the institutions, etc.) against international standards and provisions of UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children and UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child and on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
2. Evaluate the process, reasons and dynamics of placement of children into the institutions and their exit from the institutions, as well as factors affecting such practice (e.g. factors enabling children’s institutionalization, and gaps/barriers of children’s deinstitutionalization);
3. Draft recommendations on possible ways of the institutions’ and their network’s transformation to realize the child's right to live in a caring family environment using available resources of the institutions and the social protection system taking into consideration the level of the children’s and young people’s disability, whether they have parents and remain contacts with their families, etc. (on the basis of their profiles) as well as of the social policy strengthening in regard to children and young people with disabilities and their families;
4. Suggest an outlined schematic road map with short-term, medium-term and long-term key steps on transformation of the residential care institutions in question on the basis of developed recommendations.

2.    Scope AND Focus:

The scope and focus of the assessment will include all 10 institutions for children with disabilities under the social protection system.

Below is a brief outline of the type of data expected to be collected and assessed, but is not comprehensive or limits the consultant to provide additional or alternative formats for the assessment.

At a minimum, the data expected to be collected should include, though not limited to data on:

• General information about the institution:
• • Infrastructure of the institution and availability of barrier free environment;
  • Availability of the public transport in the area of the institution (e.g. for parents to visit their children, for volunteers to organize events/activities with children and young people, for children and young people at institutions to use external services such as education, rehabilitation, health care and other);
  • Infrastructure of the area where the institutions are located
• Personal profiles of children and young people in the institution (family status, health conditions, length of stay, reasons for placement, etc.);
• Staff profiles working in institutions, noting other support (volunteers, CSOs, etc.);
• Services provided in the institutions;
• Budgets of the institutions (funding source (district, oblast or national budget), per child costing, the institutions’ expenditures structure (in case the data will be provided by the national side);
• Opportunities for interaction within the community or community members interacting at the institution.

The assessment will be conducted using the following indicators, at a minimum:

1. General information on the institution

• Geographical location, remoteness from populated areas, characteristic of the infrastructure of the area in which the institution is located;
• Availability of a transport connection between the institution and nearby settlements, as well as agencies providing services to children living in the institution (education, health care, etc.);
• Description of the institution's infrastructure;
• Duration of the institution's operation;
• Organizations/agencies with which the institution interacts/ coordinates;
• Subordination line of the institution and legal framework regulating its functioning;
• Sources and budgetary resources allocated to the institution, its budgeting procedure and established norms.

2. The status of children living in the institution (without specifying the child's personal information)

• Number of children and young people living in the institution with disaggregation by age, gender, type of disability (physical, visual, hearing, mental health/psychiatric, intellectual, cognitive or learning) and social status (orphan, deprived of parental care, having parents);
• Procedure, reasons and dynamics of the children's placement into and their exit from the institution over the last three years, reasons and agencies that placed children to the institution, where children go upon reaching the age of 18, reasons that allow children to stay in institutions after the age of 18;
• How many children having parents maintaining contact with them, or these children’s abilities to visit their biological families, what is the frequency of such contacts;
• Do children visit (live on a short-term basis) families in neighboring communities on weekends and vacations (patronat service provision);
• Cases for children’s returns to biological families or placement in substitute families for the last five years, with identification of the factors that enabled a child’s return;
• Characteristics of the child’s individual rehabilitation care and development plan that should be developed and approved for every child in the institution:

• The plan structure and its cross-sectorality;
• Normative document (instruction) regulating development and maintenance of the child’s individual rehabilitation care and development plan;
• Procedures and frequency of the plan review and adjustment (case management process).

• Living conditions for children in the institution (number of children in a bedroom, accommodation of children by gender and age, arrangement of bedrooms, etc);
• Possibility, duration and procedure of the prescription of bedrest for children;
• Established conditions and practice of nutrition for children in the institutions;
• Services provided by the institutions to children and families;
• Coverage of children living in the institution by educational, social and pedagogical services; characteristics of services and their inclusive nature and specialists who provide the services;
• Possibility, frequency and reasons for children to go outside the institution; level of interaction of children with their communities; how many children benefit from such practices;
• Provided opportunity for children living in the institutions to communicate with their peers and other children /young people who do not live in the institution;
• Characteristics of the equipment (furniture, special rehabilitation and care equipment, other) available in the institution to provide proper assistance and care for children including from the point of view of the institution’s staff. Accessibility and use of the equipment by staff and children;
• List of activities that are arranged for children in the institution (education, professional orientation/training, leisure, cultural, sports activities etc.);
• Gender dimension issues for children and young people in the institution: sexual and reproductive rights; gender related issues for living conditions, hygiene, health, professional orientation, etc.

3. Staff of the institution

• Number of staff working at the institution on a full time basis, by category, gender;
• Characteristics of other specialists working with children and families on a part-time volunteering basis who belong to the staff of the institutions or coming from other agencies and organizations including CSOs;
• Caseload per specialist (actual and by normative standards);
• Educational background (type and field) of professionals directly working with children and interacting with parents of children, availability of other requirements for the staff;
• Additional training for professional development of professionals directly working with children and interacting with parents of children (regularity, duration, percentage of specialists who completed the qualification upgrade courses);
• Staff turnover among professionals directly working with children and interacting with parents of children;
• Availability of a system to support the staff of the institution from professional burnout;
• Existence of an ethical code of conduct in the institution.

• 4. Life stories (at least three) of children in these institutions (e.g. children with most severe disabilities who are in the institution for a long time due to their health conditions worsened because of unavailability of needed health care services in their early age or a success story of a child’s return to his/her family).

3.    KEY TASKS:

1. Develop an inception report comprising the assessment plan, high-quality methodology description for data collection and analysis, and methodological tools (questionnaires/instructions for individual interview and focus group discussions with stakeholders, etc), submit it to UNICEF and MOSLP for agreement;
2. Provide methodological oversight to the national consultant’s desk review of relevant legislation and statistical data, and conduct analysis of the findings prepared by the national consultant (provide further analysis tasks for the national consultant) and follow-up;
3. Draft written requests on provision of needed information and statistical data to national stakeholders. Conduct a mission, traveling to each of the 10 institutions together with the national consultant, as well as with representatives of relevant regional social protection authorities, review internal institutional documentation and meet with the staff of institutions, with the responsible officials from the social protection authorities of the regional executive committees and the MOLSP to collect additional information and discuss findings (focus groups or individual interviews) following the agreed list indicators. The mission can be broken up into 2 trips;
4. Draft the assessment report with follow-up consultations (if needed) and an outlined roadmap containing short and long term steps on transformation of the residential care institutions on the basis of developed recommendations, submit the draft assessment report and road map to UNICEF for comments;
5. Prepare the final report of the assessment.

The final report should include at a minimum: executive summary, key findings on the functionality of institutions and the situation of children residing in the institutions as per the scope described above; conclusions and recommendations; outlined road map for the gradual transformation of the institutions in question network.

The length of the final report should not exceed 45 pages with Executive Summary.

4.    DELIVERABLES TIMELINE:

Based on the detailed description of the assignment above, the following deliverables of the consultancy are set out:

5.    Supervision, Work Relations & Oversight

The consultant will be under direct supervision and reporting of UNICEF Child Protection Specialist and in consultation with UNICEF Policy and Planning Manager.

UNICEF CO will provide all necessary background information, facilitate cooperation between the consultant and national stakeholders, and manage the overall coordination of the planning process as well as the final evaluation of the expert’s outputs.

The consultant will work with the national consultant to ensure that findings, conclusions and recommendations are country specific and reflect correct information.

Key deliverables of the consultant/agency will be given for review and comments to the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.

6.    TRAVEL

Minsk and field trips within the country (to be defined on the basis of suggested methodology).

Contractor will undertake travel in order to perform his or her assignment. Contractor’s travel costs shall be set out in the contract. In cases where travel costs have not been set out in the individual contract, the consultant is expected to submit, within ten days of completion of a specific travel, a voucher for reimbursement of travel expenses to the Operations section. Reimbursements shall only be processed if travel was duly authorized in the individual contract or by an authorized manager of the contracting section, in writing and prior to the travel. Individual contractor is responsible for assuming costs for obtaining visas and travel insurance.

Travel paid by UNICEF in advance, and travel costs reimbursed after travel, shall be based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel, subject to exceptional approval of business class by DHR, for example for medical reasons when certified by UN Medical Services in New York.

7.    PAYMENT CONDITIONS:

 Specification of payment approach – The consultant will be paid by invoices upon submission of deliverables:

1. Assessment methodology and tools developed – 20 %
2. First draft of the Assessment report submitted for comments – 50 %
3. Final Assessment report accepted by UNICEF – 30 %

Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowances (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

All submitted reports should be of satisfactory quality and will be subject to UNICEF approval.

8.    UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE:

 Payments to the Contractor under this contract, including each installment or periodic payment (if any), is subject to the Contractor’s full and complete performance of his or her obligations under this contract with regard to such payment to UNICEF’s satisfaction, and UNICEF’s certification to that effect. 

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.  All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and that UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future. This ToR is an integral part of the contract (SSA) signed with the consultant.

9.    QUALIFICATIONS OR SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE/ EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

 PhD and/or MA in social work or public administration, child protection, another relevant area;

• At least 10 years of professional experience in leading strategic/thematic assessments or conducting analysis on the situation of children, and in particular of children with disabilities in different environments including in residential care institutions;
• At least 5 years of documented experience in social services, childcare system reform, social policy and development of reports, policy papers or guiding documents on childcare system reform with focus on rights of children with disabilities;
• Sound conceptual and analytical skills, together with well-developed communication, advocacy and persuasion abilities;
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with national experts and government officials with minimal direction, supervision and support;
• Sound skill in the use of Word and PowerPoint;
• Previous working experience with UNICEF would be an asset;
• Good level of written and spoken Russian and English.

10. PROCESS FOR APPLICATION

 Interested consultants are requested to send:

1. UNICEF P11 form;
2. Individual resume/CV;
3. Cover letter;
4. Short concept note explaining the strategy and methodology of the assessment;
5. Reference from the previous relevant work (if available);
6. Financial proposal (daily fee) and other costs if relevant.

11. Criteria for the selection of proposals:

1. Proven qualification and experience;
2. Relevance, logical structure and realistic approaches for the local context of the review carrying out that are suggested in the concept note;
3. Cost of services provided.

All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality. UNICEF is an equal opportunity employer.

 Deadline: __1 December, 2017

FOR DETAILED TOR PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK: https://www.unicef.by/rabota-s-nami/vakansii/49.html