Consultancy Title: Children on the Move Data and Analysis Consultant

LOCATION/DURATION:

 

Duration: 80 working days, over the course of 6 months

Location: Home based, with a possible mission to Amman and/or MENA region countries

Off-site working days (based from home): 70

On-site working days in MENA (requiring travel from home base to Amman or MENA region countries): A maximum of 10 days (if travel is determined possible/feasible)

Estimated Start Date: October 2020

Estimated end Date: April 2021

BACKGROUND:

Children in the MENA region increasingly come in contact with justice bodies and systems in the context of national security concerns, due to alleged association with proscribed groups, armed groups designated as terrorist, participation in collective violence, insecurity, demonstrations and communal violence, expressing opinions to be support to proscribed groups, among others. Governments across the region respond to such cases in various ways, which are often not in best interests of children, as sporadically available information from UNICEF country teams and other sources suggests. Children in these contexts can have difficulty accessing justice and obtaining just and timely remedies and redress or can, alternatively, find themselves engaged in national security processes which do not follow BIA/BID international standards. All too often, these children are detained, prevented from accessing specialised child-friendly justice systems or are victims of extrajudicial actions by national security and other law enforcement actors.

UNICEF has, over the years, aimed at ensuring that all children in contact with the law benefit from specialized, child friendly procedures that respect the rights of children; however, the implementation of existing frameworks applicable to justice for children, is often complicated in the context of national security concerns. The use of national security considerations by governments as potential grounds to prevent access to or justify deviation from established child friendly and/or specialized justice systems needs to be better understood by UNICEF. This is a necessary prerequisite for providing effective support to realization of children’s rights through appropriate programming and targeted advocacy efforts.

Overall, “securitization” and political sensitivity of this area of work presents challenges to the work of UNICEF and other partners. UNICEF’s existing justice for children programmes and partners may face particular challenges in adequately addressing the issue: government actors involved in and responsible for national security who oversee the investigation, detention and potential prosecution of children in the national security context are often different from UNICEF’s traditional justice for children counterparts, so opportunities for engagement are limited. Furthermore, even where the actors in question are the same, the fact that a child in contact with the law due to (perceived) national security considerations is often used by these same actors to justify the application of non-child-friendly procedures (i.e. deferring to non-specialised, military or counter-terrorism courts, harsh sentencing, no access to diversion or alternatives to detention, using types of detention facilities that are not accessible to protection actors and not traditionally used for deprivation of liberty for children).

Considering the regional nature of the issue, UNICEF MENARO is launching a systematic engagement with Country Offices where the described context is relevant, to facilitate analysis of existing programmes and approaches, overview of stakeholders, regional and international good practices, and establishment of a regional dialogue, partnerships and knowledge base on the subject. The proposed consultancy is expected to support the MENARO Child Protection team with the review of regional practices, and bring external technical expertise to the table in order to support design of new partnerships and engagement strategies.

OBJECTIVE:

The proposed consultancy assignment will support the regional overview that aims to understand a range of national level scenarios of access to justice and appropriate child protection solutions for children in the context of national security concerns, and help better understand regional partner landscape, as well as global reference frameworks to support programmes and advocacy in target countries. The specific objectives are to:

a) Understand government approaches to dealing with children in contact or in conflict with the law in the context of national security concerns. This element will also be based on exploring applicable legal frameworks, as well as the role and relevance of specialized child justice and child protection/welfare systems to this group of children

b) Explore UNICEF CO and other agency programmes addressing access to justice in these contexts;

c) In collaboration with COs, reflect on and examine engagement strategies with government and other stakeholders used to work on this issue at country level.

By delivering against the above specific objectives, the consultancy will also contribute to UNICEF’s region-wide articulation of challenges, promising practices, discussion of effective/potentially effective engagement strategies; identification of peer learning opportunities and RO support themes and modalities to concerned Country Offices (COs).

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

The assignment will take the form desk research, data collection from UNICEF teams and partners through a specifically designed questionnaire, interviews with UNICEF CO Justice for Children focal persons and others, and experts from other organisations and governments when applicable. The consultant will produce a series of deliverables, including report and final technical paper, resource library and related orientation/training for UNICEF staff, and regular consultation calls with COs and MEANRO.

The main technical output of the consultancy will be a paper focusing on at least the following aspects in five target countries and regionally:

a) Analysis of government approaches (stakeholders, influencers, national security provisions and actual practices) to dealing with children in contact with the law in the context of national security concerns;

b) Overview of UNICEF CO and other agency programmes addressing access to justice and appropriate child protection solutions in these contexts and

c) Analysis of present engagement strategies with government and other stakeholders UNICEF COs have been using to work on the issue.

The process to which the consultancy contributes to is designed to enhance regional consultation on issues of concern, and to intensify country and regional level engagement towards co-designing regional and country level approaches to improving access to justice for children in the context of national security concerns. With this approach in mind, the consultant will be expected to organize regular consultation and validation calls/meetings with Country Offices and ensure regular technical dialogue with UNICEF MENARO and COs.

The consultancy aims to support the growth of regional and country level expertise and knowledge in applicable frameworks and strategies of engaging with national security contexts using various angles, to introduce UNICEF teams to some external approaches and perspectives and make promising models of intervention from other contexts accessible. Towards this goal, consultant will be expected to compile a resource library and organise an orientation/training session for UNICEF teams on this subject.

The consultant is expected to contribute with an in-depth technical expertise in order to collaboratively, with UNICEF MENARO and CO, undertake robust analysis of contexts and support revision of strategies. Thus, the consultant is expected to work closely with UNICEF teams to further shape and refine the following technical breakdown of the thematic scope of the present consultancy:

A. Domestic context:

- Children’s alleged association with armed groups designated as terrorist. The case is processed by the system in the country of origin of the child, and the alleged association and other unlawful activities of the child took place in the same country.

- Children in contact with the justice system for their (alleged) participation in public unrest, civil demonstrations and other activities that are qualified as a threat to national security. The case is processed by the system in the country of origin of the child, and the alleged unlawful activity took place in the same country.

B. International context:

- Children are or would be in contact with the law, including state/national security actors, in their countries of origin, after returning from another country, where they allegedly were associated with designated terrorist armed groups.

- Children are in contact with the law in a foreign country (where they currently reside, and where they may be under arrest/detention), where they allegedly were associated with armed groups designated as terrorist.

 

KEY DELIVERABLES:

TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS: Mission travel 

For individual contractors and consultants, all travel arrangements to commence the assignment, including insurance and visas, will be managed and paid by the individual. Therefore, expected travel costs must be included as a budget item in the financial proposal. Should “mission travel” be required, UNICEF will manage and pay for travel via Travel Authorization. However, this will be subject to the following prerequisites: Medical Clearance, Security Clearance through the Travel Request Information Process (TRIP) system, the Basic and Advanced Security in the Field Trainings, Travel Visa, and liability waiver. Trip prerequisites will be met at the expense of the consultant.

Travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel. Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC at http://icsc.un.org). The consultant must travel on UNICEF approved airlines.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

1. Education: Advanced degree in social sciences, law, human rights/children’s rights or related field.

2. Work experience: Minimum 10 years

3. Technical knowledge:

- Proven expertise in working on justice and security sector reforms, assessments, planning, legislative and policy reviews. Expertise in child justice will be a clear advantage.

- Work experience both with UNICEF and other UN agencies on justice and security sector reforms will be an asset.

- Knowledge of MENA regional child protection, justice and security context will be a significant advantage

- Solid understanding of child protection and multi-sectoral programming (e.g. livelihoods, youth and adolescents, PSS) in humanitarian settings

- Proven experience of analytical and strategic level work in justice and/or security sectors

- Experience of working/researching in the MENA region will be an asset

- Strong writing and facilitation/training skills

- Ability to work remotely, engaging multiple stakeholders

4. Language: English is mandatory, Arabic is an advantage.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE:

Proposed methodology: By Deliverable

The consultant will be paid in two tranches, based on deliverables expected within the target timeframe, based on the following schedule:

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Cover letter

2. CV

3. Financial quote as a lump sum, inclusive of professional fees, travel/administrative/subsistence costs, if applicable

4. Examples of previous, relevant work. Examples can be attached to the application as separate documents or can be included in the cover letter by inserting links to online resources.

5. Names of three referees

Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

“UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, 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.”

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