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 (psychologist or other related expert

UNICEF Montenegro is seeking for 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 (psychologist or other related social/health/medicine science expert).

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 (psychologist or other related social/health/medicine science expert)

1. 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.
An important novelty of the new Family law is also reflected in the fact that there is duty of everyone, including parents, when deciding on matters concerning the child's opinion they must give due consideration to the child, in accordance with the age and maturity of the child, taking into account the level of their physical, emotional, intellectual and social development. There is no age limits, bearing in mind that the child, as research shows, is able to form an opinion from the earliest times, even when it is not able to verbally express his or her opinion. Accordingly, it is necessary to take into account non-verbal forms of communication including play, body language, facial expressions, and drawing and painting, which is in line with the Recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
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 provide an integrative approach combining a psycho-social with a legal knowledge in the framework to enable Judges/ Social Workers/Defence lawyers to  better with these processes in their daily work.

2. Purpose and Objective

The purpose of this activity is to support operationalization and implementation of the new amendments of the Family Law of Montenegro and to ensure participation of children into the formal proceedings, proper communication with children in the court, assessment of reliability of the information delivered by a child. 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 in civil matters, social workers and defence lawyers to learn about special skills and techniques while dealing with children in civil matters (communication with children in the court, assessing of reliability of the information delivered by a child, ensuring participation of children into the formal proceedings).

3. Methodology and Technical Approach

The methodology will include desk review, written inputs, and consultations with the respective institutions and national consultants engaged by the Judicial Training Centre, development of training methodology and delivery of the training.  
The Consultant/s is/are expected to work both in the field and from home. The Consultant/s will work from home in preparing the agenda and material for the training and is/are expected to conduct two two-days trainings for judges, social workers and lawyers who work with children in family law related matters.

4. Activities and Tasks

The activities of the assignment will be conducted in close cooperation with the relevant representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Judicial Training Centre 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); 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; European Convention on the Exercise of Child Rights; Council of Europe`s Guidelines on Child Friendly Justice, UNICEF CEECIS Study: Children’s Equitable Access to Justice, etc.;
• To communicate with respective officials from the relevant institutions and UNICEF in order to receive in-depth guidance in order to develop a training materials;
• To determine agenda and develop training material based on training programme accredited by the Judicial Training Centre and on the basic of respective international instruments and inputs received by stakeholders and UNICEF;
• To consult with another international consultant engaged for legal framework related to novelties introduced with the amended Family Law on the best interest of a child, child rights during the civil court proceedings and the new institute of the Support person to a child;
• 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.

5. Key Deliverables and Timeframe

This assignment is expected to commence on 21th May 2018 and end on 15th 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:

6. 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.
 

7. 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 psychology or other related social/health/medicine science;

Experience:

• Ten (10) or more  years of experience and expertise in the area of psychology and working with children;
• 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 other relevant international standards in the area of child protection and access to justice specifically;
• 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.

8. Budget and Remuneration 

The candidates are requested to submit their financial offer as a separate document 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 EUR 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.