National consultant with UNICEF Albania office to provide technical capacities of Needs Assessments and Referral Units (NARU) in 15 municipalities
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Job no: 579889
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Tirana
Level: Consultancy
Location: Albania
Categories: Social Policy
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.
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For every child, Protection and Development!
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The national expert will be hired to provide support, mentoring and technical guidance to the above-mentioned municipalities to enhance the structure of NARU, support training and mentoring of the structure to serve as gateway to case management and provide necessarily services for each individual or family in need of support.
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The structure of Needs Assessments and Referral Unit, as stipulated by the Law 121/ 2016, is a relatively new structure at the local level, part of the directorate of Social Services. Main functions are need assessment, referral, and support coordination. Design of the service presumes advocacy and preventive role as well. NARU is a gatekeeping mechanism, supporting a strategic shift away from the use of residential care. As a gatekeeping mechanism at the point of referral NARU should help redirecting cases into preventive and family-based services and prevent institutionalization. More specifically the tasks of the NARU include: a) identification of cases of individuals and families in need; b) initial assessment of needs and risks for individuals in need; c) information and public consultations on rights and opportunities for care and treatment, counselling for possible health, education and other services at the local level; d) prepare the individual plan of care and support; e) support preparing documentation for individuals to facilitate benefiting from different services ; f) populating the National Electronic Register on case management etc. Several municipalities in Albania have started over the last 3-4 years the establishment of these structure, however, most of municipalities face with different challenges such as: a) limited financial and human resources to allocate to the structure of the NARU-s; b) limited understanding on how to establish and make the structure functional; c) lack of clarity on the legal and regulatory framework on facilitating the interaction of the structure of NARU with other services and e) overlapping of this structure with other existing structures at the local level; f) geographic composition and coverage of the municipality with adequate social care services to allow for a functional NARU structure. UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection has already established a Guidance for Municipalities for planning and administering Social Care Services, as part of Leave No One Behind Project. The Guidance has served to support municipalities in the process of planning, organizing and establishing the structure of social care services, including the structure of Needs Assessment and Referral Units. |
The national consultant will support the indicated municipalities to organize the structure of Needs Assessments and Referral Units (NARU) and support them through mentoring and training in close collaboration with the State Social Services and Ministry of Health and Social Protection. In addition, he/she will develop a package with tools and training materials that will serve to scale up such support in all other municipalities in the country. The expert will report to the Social Protection Specialist.
Specific deliverable to be submitted as part of this consultancy are:
Deliverable 1: Revision of the existing package for establishing NARU, enriching with information and guidance based on the most recent development of services at the local and regional level completed. Initial consultations with municipalities done.
Task: Review and improve the existing package as a user-friendly guidance for local government in establishing the Needs Assessment and Referral Units in close consultation with MoHSP and UNICEF.
Timeline: 25 working days (by end of April 2025)
Deliverable 2: Document on guidance/ concept paper, materials regular meetings and inputs prepared. Meetings and consultations organized with each municipality.
Task: Provide guidance to 15 municipalities on the structure of the NARU, based on the existing legal framework, local social plan and existing services and resources for each municipality.
Timeline:17 days (1 trip to each municipality and 2 days to consolidate the report - by 20 June 2025)
Deliverable 3: Report on exploring the options for the establishment of NARU (max. 20 pg)
Task: Explore and prepare a report on options on how the NARU structure could be adopted in each of the 15 targeted municipalities
Timeline: 5 days (by 30 July 2025)
The duration of the consultancy will be from 01 March - 20 December 2025.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences and humanities, public policies; development studies, economic, public administration, communication or a related discipline.
- Have at least 10 years of proven experience in planning, implementing, assessing, designing and evaluating social protection/ social services policies at central and/or local level;
- Experience with local social planning and especially working with children, youth and women is an advantage.
- Experience in supporting local level structures of social care services, especially NARU is an advantage.
- Demonstrate experience in engaging and partnering with different key stakeholders especially local level government, and abilities to influencing and building ownership and capacities;
- Excellent writing skills in English and Albanian language and ability to synthetize complex information, prepare training modules
What to submit
1. Letter of interest, summarising the educational background, the working experience that is relevant to the assignment, and the specific role the candidate will play in collaboration with the key stakeholders involved in the process in particular engagement with local government and Ministry of Health and Social Protection
2. Proposed methodological approach and management plan responding to the ToR tasks (5 pgs max)
3. Updated Resume clearly indicating relevant experience to the ToR
4. The financial proposal shall be submitted in local currency (LEK) and must include the consultancy fee (all taxes inclusive), travel offer for three trips in each of the 15 municipalities, communication costs and all other individual expenses or applicable costs. The financial proposal must be broken down per deliverable.
If any question related to the tasks and deliverables for this assignment, please contact epernaska@unicef.org
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
Remarks:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual 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.
The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
Advertised: Central Europe Standard Time
Deadline: Central Europe Standard Time