International Individual Consultancy for the provision of technical assistance to respective institutions for inter-sectoral training for Judges, Social Workers and Defence Attorneys working with children (legal expert or other related social science)

UNICEF is seeking for Individual International Consultant for for the provision of technical assistance to respective institutions for inter-sectoral training for Judges, Social Workers and Defence Attorneys working with children in family law related matters in line with the new Family Law of Montenegro and relevant international instruments.

International Individual Consultancy for the provision of technical assistance to respective institutions for inter-sectoral training for Judges, Social Workers and Defence Attorneys working with children in family law related matters in line with the new Family Law of Montenegro and relevant international instruments (legal expert or other related social science)

I. Background and Context:

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) sets out the best interest of the child as one of the major principles of the Convention. Article 3 of CRC envisages that in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has also authored General Comments that clarify and elaborate on children's right to special protection in the legal system. The General Comment No 12 on children's right to be heard provides ample guidance on the implementation of child friendly justice principles before, during and after legal proceedings and the General Comment no 14 says that State parties must respect and implement the right of a child to have his or her best interests assessed and taken as a primary consideration and is under the obligation to take all necessary, deliberate and concreate measures for the full implementation of this right. The general Comment no 14 says that the child's best interests shall be applied to all matters concerning the child or children, and taken into account to resolve any possible conflicts among the rights enshrined in the Convention or other human rights treaties. Attention must be placed on identifying possible solutions which are in the child's best interests. This implies that States are under the obligation to clarify the best interests of all children, including those in vulnerable situations, when adopting implementation measures. In the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, article 24 on the rights of the child sets forth the child’s right to protection and care, and to express her/his views and participate in proceedings, and the obligation by public authorities and private institutions to consider the child’s best interests as a primary consideration in all actions concerning a child.
Another important instrument for children’s access to justice in Europe is the European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights, which has been ratified by Montenegro, 72 Article 1(2) sets out its objectives: “in the best interests of children, to promote their rights, to grant them procedural rights and to facilitate the exercise of these rights by ensuring that children are, themselves or through other persons or bodies, informed and allowed to participate in proceedings affecting them before a judicial authority”
In the process of further harmonization of the Montenegro`s family legislation and related practice with international instruments and standards the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Amendments to the Family Law of Montenegro in July 2016. The process of law amendment lasted for almost two years and was predominantly focused on the alignment of the Law with Child Rights related international and regional standards and Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).
The process of amending the Family law legislation was led by the Ministry of Justice with UNICEF technical assistance. As a result, Montenegro`s legislator provided the child with full standing capacity in all proceedings affecting the child, introduced the institute of Support Person to the child, provided better guarantees for children’s voices to be heard and opinions considered throughout the entire court proceeding, introduced provisions to facilitate child rights  professionals in the process of the best interest determination, and generally provided better substantial and procedural guaranties for the rights of the child to be adequately addressed and protected throughout the entire court proceeding and more opportunities for addressing child rights violations.
As said in the General Comments No 14, in civil cases the child may be defending his or her interests directly or through a representative, in the case of paternity, child abuse or neglect, family reunification, accommodation, etc. The child may be affected by the trial, for example in procedures concerning adoption or divorce, decisions regarding custody, residence, contact or other issues which have an important impact on the life and development of the child, as well as child abuse or neglect proceedings. The courts must provide for the best interests of the child to be considered in all such situations and decisions, whether of a procedural or substantive nature, and must demonstrate that they have effectively done so.
In order to set up the conditions for the better implementation of the newly adopted legislation, UNICEF will engage an individual consultant/s to work with national partners and UNICEF to conduct inter sectoral training with judges in civil matters, social workers and defence lawyers. Training will be designed around the best interest of a child principle and child rights during the court procedure taking into account international standards and the newly adopted legislation that elaborate this principle in a larger scale that before (best interest determination, child participation, procedural rights of the child, etc.) and a new institute of the Support Person to a child introduced in the new legislation. The consultant will work in consultations with other selected international consultant that will be in charge on the psycho-social part related to special skills and techniques for professionals while dealing with children in civil matters. The two consultants will together in collaboration with national partners develop training agenda and training material for the training.

II Purpose and Objective:

The purpose of this activity is to support operationalization and implementation of the new amendments of the Family Law of Montenegro.

The objective of this assignment is to provide technical assistance to the respective institutions, i.e. Ministry of Justice, Judicial Training Centre, Courts, Institute for Child and Social Welfare, Centres for Social Work and the Bar Chamber through the capacity building of judges, social workers and defence lawyers in family law related matters to learn to learn and discuss about child rights during the court proceedings and child best interest determination in their everyday work, the new institute of the Support person all in line with the changes and amendments of a newly adopted legislation.

III Methodology and Technical Approach:

The methodology will include desk review, written inputs, and expert/s working meetings, consultations with the respective institutions and presentation of the results and findings.  
The Consultant/s is/are expected to work both in the field and from home. The Consultant will  develop the agenda and relevant material for the training for judges in civil matters, social workers and defence lawyers.

IV Activities and Tasks:

The activities of the assignment will be conducted in close cooperation with the relevant representatives of Ministry of Justice, Judicial Training Centre, Institute for Social and Child Protection, Bar Chamber and UNICEF’s Child Protection Team. The Consultant/s is/are expected:

• To review, within the preparatory phase, the new Amendments to the Family Law as the most relevant document and in addition to make reference  if necessary to the Amendments to the Law on Social and Child Protection, Law on Free Legal aid; Strategy for Judiciary Reform (2014-2018);
• To make reference to the following documents: Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; General Comments No.12 on children's right to be heard; General Comment no 14 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration; UNICEF Study on Children Equitable Access to Justice;
• To determine agenda and training material in accordance with the training programme accredited by the Judicial Training Centre and in line with international standards and related national legislation;
• To communicate with respective officials from the relevant institutions to receive in-depth guidance in order to develop a training materials;
• To consult with another international consultant engaged for psycho-social part related to special skills and techniques for professionals while dealing with children in civil matters;
• Based on developed training material to conduct two times training for two groups of judges, social workers and defence lawyers who work/act in children in family law related matters;
• To develop Final Consultancy Report with the recommendations.

V Key Deliverables and Timeframe:

This assignment is expected to commence on 21 May 2018 and end on 15 June 2018. The consultant/s is/are expected to spend a total of 12 working days on this assignment. He/she/they will spend up to 5 working days in Montenegro while rest of the time s/he/they will be home based.

The Consultant/s is/are expected to produce the following key deliverables:

VI Management and Organisation:

Management: The Consultant/s will be supervised by the UNICEF Child Protection Officer. The relevant national stakeholders will be consulted on a regular basis for the feedback regarding the consultant’s work performance. 

Organization: International Consultant/s will be required for this consultancy. If more than one consultant is engaged for the assignment, the fee for each consultant will be negotiated depending on their qualifications, the scope of work required from each consultant and the duration of their engagement.

Schedule: This assignment will commence on 21 May 2018.
 

VII Qualifications/specialized knowledge/experience required to complete the task:

The Consultant/s is/are expected to have the following qualifications/specialized knowledge/experience required to complete the task:

Education:

• An advanced university degree in law or other related social science;

Experience:

• Ten (10) or more  years of experience and expertise in the area of child rights, protection of children, access to justice;
• Familiarity with the local context in Montenegro in particular with respect to the justice, access to justice, social protection is a strong asset;
• Knowledge of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant international standards in the area of protection of children and access to justice;
• Previous work experience with UNICEF will be considered as an advantage;

Language:

• Excellent command of English, whilst knowledge of Montenegrin language will be considered as an advantage;

Other:

• Strong communication and writing skills.

VIII Budget and Remuneration 

The candidates are requested to submit their financial offer consisting of fee for the services to be provided, travel and subsistence costs, as/ if applicable.

The consultant’s fee may be reduced if the assignments/deliverables are not fulfilled to the required standard. In a case of serious dissatisfaction with the consultant’s performance the contract may be terminated in line with UNICEF procedure in such matters and as spelled out in the contract.

The total cost of the consultancy is estimated at the range €4,070 as in the table below. However, as indicated above, the request for services under this contract will require the prospective consultant to indicate their fees for the services to be provided. As part of the selection process, the office will select the individual who quoted the lowest fee from the list of individuals who are deemed suitable for achieving all tasks in time, and as per the criteria and deliverables stipulated in the Terms of Reference.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted for an interview.