National ECD and Health Consultant to support implementation in Montenegro of the "Regional Project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of children and families in the Western Balkans and Turkey"
Job no: 537646
Position type: Consultancy
Location: Montenegro Division/Equivalent: CEE/CIS
School/Unit: Republic of Montenegro
Department/Office: Podgorica, Republic of Montenegro
Categories: Child Protection, Gender Equality, Monitoring and Evaluation, Planning, Social and Economic Policy, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), Early Childhood Development, Expanded Programme Immunization, Knowledge Management, Programme Management
1. Background
The Coronavirus pandemic is the most significant global shock since the global financial crisis and is causing severe damage to people's health, livelihoods and the quality of life. Across the entire region of Western Balkans and Turkey, the crisis has had significant negative impacts on already weak health and social protection systems and the social impacts in terms of increased poverty, exclusion, precarity and vulnerability. Challenges are likely to be both severe and long-lasting. Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in this pandemic, given the adverse impacts COVID-19 is causing on children and their families.
UNICEF, with the financial support from the EU, implements a two-year regional multi-sector Action, entitled "Regional Project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of children and families in the Western Balkans and Turkey" (during 2021 and 2022), which focuses on the improvement of the position of children in 6 Western Balkans countries/terriories (Albania/AL; Bosnia-Herzegovina/BA; Kosovo* /XK; Montenegro/ME; North Macedonia/MK; Serbia/RS) and Turkey through interventions in four areas (Health, Education, Early Childhood Development and Child Protection). The regional component of the Action with its activities will be supporting all participating countries/territories (under the leadership of the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia).
The Overall Objective of the Action is to strengthen national health, education and child protection systems to ensure continuity in the provision of core services for children and their families in the immediate and the longer-term response to and recovery from COVID-19. The Action has 4 specific objectives which contribute to the overall objective: SO1: Strengthening continuity of essential health and nutrition services and capacity of health service professionals; SO2: Strengthening continuity of child protection services and capacity of social work and social service professionals; SO3: Strengthening continuity of education services and the capacity of teachers; SO4. Strengthening continuity of early childhood development (ECD) services and the capacity of ECD professionals. Situation in Montenegro
Children in Montenegro account for 23.4% of the population (145,126 in total, 51.9% boys, 48.1% girls). The UN Rapid Social Impact Assessment indicates that children are severely affected by COVID-19. Many families suffered partial/complete loss of income - especially those receiving social assistance, single-parent households and Roma families. Loss of income has exacerbated vulnerabilities leading to increased risk of school dropout, violence, GBV and child marriage. Primary needs pertain to food, hygiene, NFIs and internet access for learning. Children with disabilities require access to health, education and psycho-social support. Children were disproportionately affected by poverty before COVID-19 compared to adults (32% vs 24% national relative poverty rate) and poverty is expected to rise. UNICEF's response is aligned with the UNICEF Montenegro COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan, the UN Socio-Economic Response Plan and the Government's Preparedness and Response Plan to COVID-19. Based on the UN rapid impact assessments conducted in 2020, humanitarian actions will be focused on the most vulnerable groups while connecting the humanitarian response with on-going reform and development activities. Through using a cross-cutting programming approach interventions focus on social protection, strengthening the resilience of the education system, early childhood development including parental support, access to health with a focus on immunization, child protection including gender bases violence (GBV) , risk communication and community engagement, adolescent engagement, skills development and empowerment with a focus on mental health, and supporting children with disabilities. Challenges with Health and ECD Services Before the outbreak of COVID-19, health systems in the Western Balkans faced critical financing and service delivery challenges. Per capita, spending on health systems is considerably lower than the EU average and scarce funds are not always spent most efficiently nor aligned with the region's disease profile. This makes the region vulnerable to future public health outbreaks, particularly given that patients with non-communicable diseases are more vulnerable, assesses World Bank Economic Report for the Western Balkans. While severe illness and death have been rare in childhood and adolescence, COVID-19 control measures, however, are heavily affecting the health and well-being of newborns, children and adolescents. Among the first containment measures taken in many countries are movement restrictions and suspension of non-essential health visits, which deprives new-borns, children and adolescents to benefit from timely health and nutrition services. On the other hand, there is likely a fear of referral to health facilities, which also reduces the demand for health and nutrition services. Children and families are experiencing unprecedented challenges and disruptions to their lives across the Western Balkans and Turkey. The early years are a critical period to build human capital and to bridge inequities, as children grow and develop at unparallel rate. The brain matures faster and is the most malleable it will ever be in a child's first five years. The crisis has brought to the forefront a problem of care and parenting, as parents are the first-line responders to the COVID-19 pandemic and almost solely responsible for their children's learning, health, well-being and care, without the supports and services that may have otherwise be available to them. Parents and children are confined to their homes without their regular access to services such as day-care and preschool, home visitation and parental counselling. Further, interruption of early childhood intervention services presents a critical barrier to optimal development among the most marginalized young children. Professionals supporting the development of young children such as doctors or nurses, or early intervention specialists are constrained with the lack of regulation for the provision of teleservices, lack of digital capacities and tools to provide remote support.
2. Purpose and Objective
The purpose of the technical assistance is to support UNICEF Montenegro with the implementation of two of the four specific objectives which contribute to the overall objective: SO1: Strengthening continuity of essential health and nutrition services and capacity of health service professionals and SO4. Strengthening continuity of early childhood development services and the capacity of ECD professionals. The objectives are: a) To support programmatic and financial implementation of activities under the aforementioned Action specific objectives. b) To ensure donor visibility as per requirements. c) To monitor the achievement of results and targets under the aforementioned specific objectives. d) To keep up-to-date programme information and to prepare reports, data analysis and documentation and share in a timely manner with relevant stakeholders as required to support the Early Childhood Development programme. e) To maintain effective communication, partnerships and working relationships for advocacy, technical coordination, information sharing and knowledge networking with national counterparts, donor, UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.
3. Methodology
The methodology will include preparation of implementation plans, implementation (provision of technical assistance, timely follow up), monitoring, reporting, maintaining communication with stakeholders, technical assistance to short term interventional and national consultants, technical assistance to the implementation of grants by national counterparts. The consultant will work closely with relevant UNICEF Country Office staff (ECD Officer, Health Officer, Communications for Development Officer, Communications Officer, Education Officer, Deputy Representative etc.).
4. Activities and Tasks
The Consultant is expected to support the implementation of the following Action activities: Health and Nutrition: 1. Advocacy to upgrade the national Code on the Prohibition of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, and training of health professionals on BMS Code and accepting food donations in line with international standards and healthy nutrition, particularly in light of COVID-19. 2. Support to national counterparts in the development of an action plan both at the national and local level in 4 municipalities for tailor-made catch-up immunization. 3. Support to national counterparts in the development of training and training of trainers on vaccine safety, contraindications and the importance of immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic. 4. Support to national counterparts in the development of a tailored COVID-19-specific communication strategy targeting parents and communities to encourage continued immunization and inform about catch up of missed doses. ECD: 5. Support to an international agency (to be selected in due course) to conduct a National Situation Analysis of Early Childhood Intervention for children with developmental delays/disabilities or needing interventions. 6. Support to counterparts in the delivery of online parent groups. The Consultant is expected to work for 11 and a half months.
5. Key deliverables and timeframe
The Consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables with the following tentative deadlines: a) Development of an action plan both at the national and local level in 4 municipalities for tailor-made catch-up immunization, by the end of September 2021, b) Development of training and training of trainers on vaccine safety, contraindications and the importance of immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic, by the end of September 2021, c) Development of a tailored COVID-19-specific communication strategy targeting parents and communities to encourage continued immunization and inform about catch up of missed doses, by the end of September 2021, d) Advocacy to upgrade the national Code on the Prohibition of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, and training of health professionals on BMS Code and accepting food donations in line with international standards and healthy nutrition, particularly in light of COVID-19, by the end of 2021, e) Strengthening of digital platforms for parents to support the development of their children during COVID-19 and post-COVID (delivery of online parent groups), by the end of 2021, f) Conduct of a National Situation Analysis on Early Childhood Interventions, for children with developmental delays/disabilities or needing interventions, by 10 February 2022. g) Updates of action implementation (programmatic, financial, achievement of results and targets) as required, continuously until 10 February 2022.
6. Management and organization
Management: The consultant will be supervised by the UNICEF Early Childhood Education Officer. The consultant will work from the office/home in line with UN Eco House policy related to adherence to COVID-19 epidemiological measures. Organization: National Consultancy, individual, is required, meeting the criteria described below. Schedule: The consultant will be engaged over the period from 8 March 2021 until 20 February 2022 for in total 11 and a half months.
7. Qualifications and requirements
The consultant is expected to meet the following requirements: Education
8. Application procedure
9. Selection method:
All applicants will be screened against the qualifications and requirements set above. Candidates fully meeting all the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below: 1. Technical Evaluation - Interview - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points
Only candidates who obtain a score of at least 70% in the Technical Evaluation (i.e. who score at least 49 points) will qualify for financial proposal evaluation.
2. Financial Evaluation - 30 % of total evaluation - max. 30 points. Financial scores will be calculated using the following formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].
10. Remark:
Upon conducting the recruitment process and prior to the signing of the contract, the consultant will be required to complete the following online courses. All certificates should be presented as part of the contract. 1. Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF 2. Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority 3. Sexual Exploitation Abuse (PSEA)
The courses can be found at the following link: UNICEF Mandatory Training/Learning Classes. Course completion certificates should be shared and retained with the human resources unit of the hiring office.
11. Budget and Remuneration
For every Child, you need to demonstrate UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. 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. 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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy contract will not be considered "staff members" under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF's policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws
Advertised: Jan 25 2021 Central European Standard Time Application close: Feb 07 2021 Central European Standard Time
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