Individual Consultant (International) for - Establishing Anti-Bullying and Behaviour Modification Programmes in Schools

UNICEF Maldives is seeking an International Consultant to establish a school behaviour management system that operationalizes the Behaviour Management Policy, Anti-Bullying Policy and the Child Protection Policy.

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Background & Purpose:

The Ministry of Education launched the National Child Protection Policy for Educational Settings in 2016. It aimed at creating a protective environment for students. In 2018, Behaviour Management Policy, with an aim of establishing a mechanism to address the increasing behaviour problems in schools was launched. Appropriate behaviour management is increasingly becoming necessity in the school of Maldives as the issues the schools have to grapple with are increasingly becoming more complex and challenging. The policy is based on restorative justice principles, a philosophy which is relatively new to the school system in the country. In 2019, UNICEF also supported the development of the Anti-Bullying Policy.

The National Child Protection Policy for Educational Settings, Behaviour Management Policy and Anti-Bullying Policy were developed with the aim

• Creating a supportive and safe environment in schools which enables learning;
• Promoting positive behaviour in students, continuously acknowledge and reward such behaviours, teach and encourage preventative skills/ strategies that help children stay away from unacceptable behaviours, and to pave the way for managing students' behaviours based on established good practices.
• Ensuring the procedures and practices are in place in schools regarding behaviour management.

With the endorsement of the policies, orientation and some level of training targeting teachers and principals was initiated. However, the need for increased knowledge and skills for effective management of students who are disengaged and/or with problem behaviour, as well as those children who may face violence, and bullying is much required.

Justification for consultancy: 27.2% of boys and 26.1% of girls (aged between 13-17 yrs) reported that they experienced bullying in schools at least once (GSH Survey 2014). The same survey indicated that 38.3 % of boys and 19.3% of girls were engaged in physical fights one or more times (during the last 12 months before the survey). The number of cases of children demonstrating behaviour problem, is a challenge to teachers and school management. Most schools lack a systematic approach to dealing with the emerging behaviour issues. There is limited technical expertise in the country to assist the Ministry of Education with the establishment of a behavioral management system within the school environment.

The main objectives of the proposed consultancy:

The objective of the consultancy is to guide Ministry of Education to establish a school behaviour management system that operationalizes the Behaviour Management Policy, Anti-Bullying Policy and the Child Protection Policy.

Major tasks to be accomplished:

The major tasks for the proposed consultancy:

• Desk review of existing documents policies including, but not limited to, Anti-Bullying Policies, Behaviour Management Policy and the Child Protection Policy that have an impact on student behaviour and discipline.
• Identify the bottlenecks and barriers, including the capacity gaps, for roll-out and implementation of the policies.
• Identify the social norms and practices that have direct influence on students that influences students' negative behaviour.
• Demonstrate in selected islands (whole school/whole island) interventions for prevention of bullying and behaviour management.
• Develop localized training materials, based on international literature and best practices on bullying prevention and behaviour management in schools.
• Propose recommendations for establishing a system for addressing bullying and for behaviour management including recommendations for any policy changes that need to be brought.
• Propose a model (system with SOPs) that can be adapted to islands to incorporate island specific elements.

Deliverables:

1. Report on the current situation.
2. Package of training materials.
3. Demonstration in selected (3) islands.
4. A draft Report including the learning from the demonstration and the recommendations for the proposed model and SOPs.
5. A brief consultancy report.

Duty station:  Male', Maldives.

The consultant will be embedded within the team of the Ministry of education. The consultant will directly work with three island communities, identified by MoE, in collaboration with other stakeholder agencies. The consultant will also spend extended tie in each of the three selected islands for extensive support.

Travel: Travel to the field is expected, with a placement for an agreed period in a selected base island and further travel to other islands in the same atoll.

Supervisor: Deputy Director General, Ministry of Education and Child Protection Programme Specialist, UNICEF MCO.

Estimated duration of contract and deadline for submission of end-product: The total consultancy is estimated to be around 55 working days and will be based in Ministry of Education.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have...

Following qualifications and /or specializations are necessary to be selected to the consultancy.

Academic qualifications:

• Advance degree in Educational Psychology/Counseling Psychology/Sociology.

Knowledge, skills and experience:

• At least 5 years' experience working as a counsellor/student support services or social work.
• Experience working with children who require behaviour modification for deviant behaviour.
• Prior knowledge of the Maldives and/or experience in similar settings would be an advantage.

Personal competencies:

• Ability to keep to tight timelines.
• Strong drive for results.
• Highly developed communication, networking and interpersonal relations.
• Working with teams of diverse capacities.

Language competencies:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Deadline for Application: 22nd January 2020, 13:00 pm (Maldives Time)

Application Link: 

https://secure.dc7.pageuppeople.com/apply/671/gateway/Default.aspx?c=apply&sJobIDs=529029&SourceTypeID=796&sLanguage=en-us

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.