Consultant for Child and Adolescent Participation in Voluntary National Review

UNICEF in Serbia is seeking a qualified candidate to provide support in the area of child and adolescent participation in Voluntary National Review. This is an off-site part-time assignment with the duration from March to July 2019.

UNICEF in Serbia is seeking a qualified candidate to provide support in the area of child and adolescent participation in voluntary national review. This is an off-site part-time assignment with the duration from March to July 2019 (up to 30 working days over a 4-months period).

Purpose of the Assignment:

1. Background and justification

Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) are government-led initiatives, whereby the government produces a report – often in consultation with different stakeholder groups – on their plans, activities and results with respect to their national implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The reports are then presented during the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the annual meeting of the Forum in July at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The reports are voluntary, but in the three years since the adoption of the Agenda in September 2015, 102 countries have already reported to the HLPF in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Fifty-one countries (10 for the second time) are scheduled to report at HLPF 2019, Serbia being one among them. The theme will be "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality". The set of goals to be reviewed in depth is as follows, although Governments may also choose to report on all goals, or the ones prioritized by their countries:

• Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Based on UNICEF’s analysis and experience in many countries to date, the VNR provides a unique opportunity to bring to the fore issues that are of concern to children, adolescents and youth. This in turn enables strong advocacy for child rights and child-centred plans and actions and empowers youth to voice their concerns and aspirations at the highest political level.

Adolescent girls, boys and other young people need support to understand their rights and build their own assets and agency to make life choices. This includes opportunities to civically engage, including digitally, and to voice their opinions on issues that affect them. Adolescent participation needs to contribute to young people, especially young women, gaining confidence and opening doors to equal opportunities.

In order to ensure their opinions are heard in the VNR consultative process, and to amplify their voice in setting priorities towards achieving the SDGs in Serbia, and at the request of the Ministry without Portfolio for Demography and Population Policy, UNICEF will facilitate consultations with children, adolescents and youth, including those who are most vulnerable.

2. Purpose and objectives

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the Government of Serbia in extending consultations for the VNR to children, adolescents and youth. It is anticipated that in collaboration with the cabinet of the Minister without Portfolio for Demography and Population Policy and relevant stakeholders, the inputs of adolescents will be integrated into the Voluntary National Review and that children will be further empowered to advocate on achieving progress towards the SDGs.

The consultation process will equip children and adolescents with awareness on the SDGs and the basic principles of CRC, and with practical tools for voicing their opinion on priorities and goals that are important to them. The consultations will have a special focus on equity and clearly articulate the most excluded boys and girls, as well as regional disparities and abide by principles of non-discrimination, survival and development, protection and participation, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

In addition, UNICEF strives to inspire and support the scale-up of new technologies and approaches to UNICEF’s work and that of our partners to achieve powerful impact for all children. It maintains that policy making must go beyond prescriptive statements regarding the future of children and youth by engaging directly with young people on the issues and services that directly affect them. This means establishing innovative partnerships that facilitate access to various data and contribute the skills needed to interpret data sets.

It is important that the consultative process is not viewed as an end in itself, but rather as a tool to support more efficient, effective and responsive youth participation into existing governance mechanisms. Participation should be localized and relevant to the daily lives and experiences of the children and adolescents being consulted.

3. Methodology, tasks and expected results

The consultation will be designed with several key tasks in mind: (1) fulfilling the rights of every child, (2) monitoring the situation of children, adolescents and youth, (3) investing in children, adolescents and youth, (4) including children, adolescents and youth and (5) building partnerships with and for children, adolescents and youth.

Around 100 young people will be trained on facilitating further discussions with their peers and collect their feedback to feed into the VNR report.

Training design will also seek to bring to the fore innovative methods, e.g. mobile journalism and vlogging as forms of digital storytelling where the primary device used for creating and editing images, audio and video is a smartphone. With support from expert facilitators already recruited, the goal would be to encourage and empower youth to produce video stories that document their perspective and opinions on the SDGs.

The consultation will also make use of U-Report, UNICEF’s global text-message based innovation that amplifies the voices and views of young people. U-Report is a new model for engaging young people, empowering communities, and holding governments more accountable. Unlike many of the more traditional modalities of youth engagement, U-Report utilizes technology that enables wide reach, direct communication and unprecedented transparency in real-time. Through public and media dissemination of U-Report poll results, UNICEF seeks to ensure that the general public and particularly relevant policy-makers connect to issues faced by young people.
With UNICEF’s support, the overall assignment will be closely coordinated between the cabinet of the Minister without Portfolio for Demography and Population Policy, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, the Ombudsman, civil society organisations and networks, and youth organisations etc.

Work Assignment Overview:

Task 1:
1. Desk review of data related to children, adolescents and youth, SDG and VNR documentation, including indicators for existing CRC recommendations developed by the Office of Human and Minority Rights and Centre for Child Rights.
2. Define detailed methodology of soliciting inputs from children, adolescents and youth through a participative process of consultation that will be focused on a projected number of 100 participants and the outreach they can achieve in their local communities, as well as through U-Report polls
3. Organise the logistics of a consultation and training to include youth panels of independent institutions, government bodies and civil society organisations
Deliverables:
- Defined structure, channels, methods/tools and flow of data and inputs towards the final deliverables
- Content and methodology for 1 or 2-day consultation with children, adolescents and youth developed that will include training for using innovative tools (e.g. mobile journalism, vlogging etc.) in reporting on SDGs (this latter part will be contracted separately)
- Consultation with training for at least 100 children, youth and adolescents delivered
- Based on the consultation, a list of relevant questions related to SDGs for U-Report polling
Timeframe: 23 March (15 days)

Task 2:
4. Ensure all data and inputs prior to, during and post-consultation/training are collected and captured in a timely, systematic and easily accessible manner
5. Support children, adolescents and youth to reach out to their communities and ensure solutions to bottlenecks and barriers they encounter are provided in a timely manner
6. Ensure that main messages are clearly and easily communicable to a wider audience
Deliverables:
- Comprehensive and easily searchable database of collected inputs
- List of emerging main messages to be communicated as a result of the consultative process and solicited inputs
Timeframe: 10 April (10 days)

Task 3:
7. Ensure timely, high quality inputs on progress towards SDGs are made available to the Government
Deliverables:
- Final narrative report (cca 5-10 pages) on the situation and recommendations of children and youth submitted to the Government, including a visual overview of data on children, adolescents and youth
- Narrative, audio-visual and creative materials produced by adolescents and youth are made available for further dissemination, including at the HLPF
Timeframe: 20 April (5 days)

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• University or Masters degree in communication, media, social sciences, political sciences or other related field;
• At least 5 years of experience working on the rights of children, adolescents and youth or related issues;
• Experience in using creative, innovative and participative approaches during consultations;
• Expertise and experience in training design and delivery is required;
• Knowledge and experience of designing surveys and utilising qualitative methodologies is desirable;
• Fluency in English and Serbian;
• Excellent writing skills;
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to connect to a young audience;
• Ability to cooperate and work as part of a team.

How to apply:

Your application must include your financial proposal (as a separate document) with the following information:

• Daily rate in RSD (all costs to be included e.g. health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone, etc.).

Closing date for applications: 8 March 2019

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.