International Consultant to support the development of a juvenile crime prevention mechanism in Georgia- Tbilisi, Georgia

International Consultant to support the development of a juvenile crime prevention mechanism in Georgia

1. Background

In Georgia, the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility (MACR) is 14. The Juvenile Justice Code provides guarantees for the rights of juveniles in conflict with the law and includes third-level prevention measures such as diversion from criminal justice system, alternatives to detention, and programs for resocialization and preparation for release from detention. However, beyond the areas covered by the Code, crime prevention in general and secondary prevention in particular are insufficiently addressed.  

The State Strategy for the Prevention of Juvenile Crime, adopted in 2012[1], mainly covers issues concerning children above the MACR and envisages the development of an Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy. The Ministry of Justice is acting as a coordinating body and the main implementing agencies are the Ministry of Education and Sciences, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Corrections, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Affairs. A particular focus is given to secondary prevention with the objective to develop an effective system of identification and of referral of at-risk children while avoiding stigmatization of children through primary consideration of their best interests and protection of private life. The identified at-risk groups of children are children out of parental care, IDP children, homeless children, children with "anti-social behaviours", "violent children", drug and alcohol addict children, and child victims of violence. However, the Action Plan for the implementation of this strategy is still not developed.

According to the Law on General Education[2], children with "anti-social behavior" (aged 12-17)[3] and those under the MACR (aged 10-13) who infringe the penal law are subject to a referral mechanism established under the Ministry of Education and Sciences. Teachers, school resource officers, prosecutors, neighbourhood police officers, and social workers can refer a child to an Experts` Group at the Ministry of Education and Sciences. The Experts` Group, a multidisciplinary body of the Referral Mechanism, can decide/recommend to place a child in a specialised boarding school located in Samtredia (Imereti)[4] or to involve him/her in different cultural and educational programs. These, however, do currently not yet exist. Consequently, the placement of the child in the specialised institution remains the only option.

In addition, there is no comprehensive data/information on number, background and needs of children who are referred, types of cases and follow-up developments. Furthermore, there is a lack of common understanding among relevant agencies as regards to multidisciplinary cooperation. Finally, the importance of early intervention mechanisms rooted in the social welfare system for preventing child delinquency is not well understood.

2. Overall Objective of the International Consultancy

UNICEF seeks to hire an international consultant in order to provide technical assistance to the Government of Georgia to assess the current needs of children under MACR who are at risk of offending or have already infringed the law, and to develop comprehensive recommendations for a revision of the State Strategy on Prevention of Juvenile Crime and for the elaboration of the Action Plan for its implementation with a particular focus on reforming the current referral mechanism. The international expert will also be expected to provide specific recommendations for the development of a child-rights based mechanism of early intervention for crime prevention tailored to the local context and systems.

 3. Specific Tasks:  

• Conduct a gaps analysis of current policies, legislation, services and mechanisms related to the prevention of juvenile crime (5 days);
• Based on the gap analysis, develop a set of recommendations aiming at enriching the Crime Prevention Strategy and at guiding the development of its Action Plan with a particular focus on early intervention strategies (5 days);
• Develop a child rights-based concept for secondary prevention with particular focus on identification and early intervention mechanisms - avoiding stigmatization - for children under MACR who are at risk of offending or have already infringed the law (5 days);
• Following the validation of the concept, assist with its implementation through the development of a set of guidelines and methodologies (15 days). 

4. Deliverables:

• A gap analysis report including a set of recommendations aiming at enriching the Crime Prevention Strategy and guidelines for the development of the action plan;
• A concept paper on the establishment a secondary prevention mechanism in Georgia;
• A set of guidelines, tools and/or methodologies for the implementation of the concept.

5. Supervision:

The consultant/s will work under the direct supervision and guidance of UNICEF Georgia's Child Protection Specialist and Juvenile Justice Officer.

6. Duration and mode of consultancy:

The contract duration will involve 30 days of consultancy during 2018. The consultancy is mainly home-based with two in-country visits of each 5 days. UNICEF Georgia will provide the consultant with the necessary background information and other relevant materials (as needed).

7. Required qualifications, experiences and competencies:

• A Master's Degree or equivalent in law, international human rights or other fields of social sciences;
• Intensive experience of working in the fields of policy, law and practice development for the prevention of child delinquency;
• Extensive experience in designing concepts, guidelines, practical tools and manuals for policy, legislative and institutional development of prevention of child delinquency using multidisciplinary approaches and methodologies;
• Demonstrated comprehensive knowledge of international standards on the prevention of child delinquency;
• Fluency in English (written and oral);
• Excellent analytical and writing skills.

 8. Performance indicators

The consultant's performance will be evaluated against the following criteria: timeliness, responsibility, initiative and quality of the products delivered.

9. Payment terms

The consultancy fee and travel costs will be negotiated between UNICEF and the consultant based on an offer from the consultant. The consultancy fee will be paid to the consultant in one or several instalments upon submission and approval of relevant reports and quality deliverables.

10. Termination of contract

 The contract may be terminated by either party before its expiry date by giving a 14 days' notice in writing to the other party.  However, in the event of termination on the ground of misconduct, UNICEF will be entitled to terminate the contract immediately, without earlier notice. In case of early termination of the contract, the Contractor will be compensated on a pro-rata basis for no more than the actual amount of work completed to the satisfaction of UNICEF.

11. Application deadline and documents

The deadline for the submission of applications is COB 28 March 2018. Applications should include:

• CV;
• Cover letter;
• Project proposal;
• Description of the proposed work plan, timeline, and working methodology;
• Proposed budget with indication of proposed fees.

• [1] Adopted as a Presidential Act on 22.03.2012  https://matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/1617344

  [1] Law on General Education, art. 48⁷, 48⁸, 49⁹

  [1] The Law on General Education defines the term anti-social behaviour as a behaviour which poses an imminent threat to the psycho-social development of the child, his/her or other persons safety, well-being or public order and is revealed continuously during six months.

  [1] This specialized institution is the only one in the country and has the status of a public school but with a semi-closed modality.