Consultant for Support to development of the special report on the status of children of the Ombudsman

UNICEF in Serbia is seeking a Consultant to support the Serbian Ombudsman in preparation of the Special Report on the Status of Children for the period of 2017-mid 2018. The consultant will conduct an analysis of the legislative changes and key child rights indicators in 2017 and 2018 and give inputs to the Draft special report and recommendations. The duration of the assignment is from 1st August 2018 to 31st October 2018, up to 20 working days over the 3 month period. The application must include a financial proposal containing the following information: • Daily rate in RSD (all costs to be included e.g. health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone) Important note: Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. 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.

Purpose of the Activity/Assignment:

The main purpose of this assignment is to recruit an expert to support the Serbian Ombudsman in preparation of the Special Report on the Status of Children for the period of 2017-mid 2018.

The Ombudsman as a part of its mandate develops an Annual Report on the state of human rights and submits it to the Parliament. State of child rights is an integral part of the report but given its structure it cannot provide more details or analyze position of children in more depth. In order to increase visibility of child rights and provide direction for its improvement, the Ombudsman of Serbia committed to produce a special report on the status of children in the Republic of Serbia.

The starting point for the report development will be information on the child rights stemming from the complaints and monitoring visits of the Serbian Ombudsman. It will further build on the insights generated through the cooperation between Ombudsman and civil society organizations and academia on analyzing the observance of child rights in several segments, primarily in education, health care, protection from violence, social and family legal protection and participation in decision-making. Serbian Ombudsman Office also undertook a review of the existing legal framework in relevant areas and analyzed the implementation of the legislation and programs related to the protection of child rights in Serbia in 2016 and 2017. 

An additional analysis is required to review alignment of the national polices for children with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its facultative protocols as well as the CRC Committee Operational Conclusions to the Republic of Serbia and assess progress achieved in the reporting period.  Preparation of this analysis and synthesizing of all data would require support from a consultant.

The Special Report on the Status of Child Rights will cover areas of education, health care, protection from violence, social and family legal protection and participation.

Work Assignment Overview

Under the general guidance and direction of the Ombudsman Office the candidate will conduct analysis of the legislative changes in 2017 and 2018 and key child rights indicators in this period and in areas listed below. The candidate shall give inputs to the Draft special report and recommendations.

Task: Analysis of progress and alignment of policies and measures with the articles of the CRC and facultative protocols and with the CRC recommendations issued to the Republic of Serbia

Analysis should cover the following areas:

1. General measures of implementation
2. General CRC principles
3. Protection from violence
4. Family environment and alternative care
5. Health care and social protection, with a focus on children with disability, early childhood development, adolescents, reproductive health and sexual education, harmful practices etc.
6. Education
7. Special measures of protection (children in street situations, migrant children, Roma children)

Analysis should cover the period of 2017 and the first half of 2018.

 Activities:  

• Within each of the above listed areas review available key indicators and legislative changes in 2017 and 2018 to assess if any progress was achieved
• Produce draft and final analysis report as inputs for the Special Report on the Status of Children
• Provide inputs to the Draft special report and recommendations

Deliverables:  

• Draft analysis report by September 30th
• Final analysis report by October 10th
• Written inputs and comments to the draft Special Report by October 31

Timeframe: 20 days, until 31 October 2018