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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. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, Protection

To learn more about UNICEF career and the work in Rwanda, please visit the country website https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/RWA/ or watch this video about UNICEF work in Rwanda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7B91m5Yzoc and UNICEF Careers | UNICEF Careers.

How can you make a difference? 

1. PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Social work is a critical profession in Rwanda, providing essential services to vulnerable populations, including children, families, older persons, persons with disabilities and individuals facing social, economic, and psychological challenges. Despite the significant contributions of social workers in Rwanda, the profession currently lacks a recognized regulatory council that would establish standards of practice, provide licensing, and ensure accountability and coordination of social services. This absence has led to a lack of proper recognition of the profession, inconsistencies in practice, limited quality control, and a lack of structured professional development pathways for social workers. There are various workforces, both salaried, para-social workers and volunteers, within Rwanda, but there is no regulatory body with oversight.

In this context, it is important to support the Government of Rwanda to establish a social work council in Rwanda. This council, to be established under a law on social work practitioners, would hold the following key functions: Promote high standards in social work qualifications and professional practice in Rwanda;  Protect the public and the profession by ensuring social work services are delivered competently and ethically; and Formalize social work as a respected profession governed by a regulatory framework, code of ethics, disciplinary procedures, and mandatory licensing requirements.

The Rwanda National Organization of Social Workers (RWANOSW) is emerging as a strong advocacy and development oriented membership board for the social work profession in Rwanda, with UNICEF Rwanda’s support. In addition, UNICEF Rwanda supports the National Child Development Agency (NCDA) to provide child protection services to children and families at risk of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect at the sub-national level through a dedicated child protection workforce.

In this context, UNICEF Rwanda is seeking a qualified consultant to facilitate a participatory process for the development of a law governing social work and establishment of a social work council. The consultant will lead this initiative by facilitating development of the legal, operational, and organizational frameworks necessary to establish a fully functional Social Workers Council.

WORK ASSIGNMENT

 Tasks

1. Draft framework and roadmap for social work regulation in Rwanda
2. Stakeholder Engagement and Consensus Building
3. Policy and Procedure Development
4. Draft Social Work Council Law

 Deliverable

Payment 1: 50%

• Inception report outlining methodology, work plan, and timeline
• Review report analyzing existing national and international legal and policy frameworks relevant to social work regulation
• Preliminary draft of the legal framework for the establishment of the Social Work Council in collaboration with MINIJUST
• Minutes of technical consultations with key ministries (MINIJUST, MINALOC, MoH, etc.)
• Consolidated and finalized draft regulatory framework aligned with stakeholder inputs
• Stakeholder mapping and engagement plan
• Facilitation plan and materials for consultative workshops
• At least 2 stakeholder consultative workshops are conducted
• Stakeholder feedback report summarizing input on the policy, procedures, and legal framework
• Stakeholder validation workshop conducted for the draft law (report and list of participants)

Payment 2: 50%

• Draft policy documents on council governance structure, membership, code of conduct, and ethical guidelines
• Draft document defining the scope of practice for social work in Rwanda (definition/protection of title)
• Full draft of the Social Work Council Establishment Law, incorporating validated policies and procedures through working in partnership with the Ministry of Justice legal drafting division.
• Final revised draft of the law based on stakeholder feedback
• Final narrative report summarizing the entire consultancy process, outcomes, and recommendations for next steps

Duration and Location

The consultancy will be for 45 days in 6 months from July 2025 to December 2025 and the consultant will work from home.

Selection Criteria

Applications shall be assessed based on their technical and financial proposals. Maximum scores for technical and financial applications will be 75% and 25%, respectively. Successful candidates in technical evaluation will have their most competitive, all-inclusive financial proposals evaluated too.

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

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in social work, Social Sciences, Law, or related fields
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in social work, policy development, or regulatory frameworks.
• Proven experience in stakeholder engagement, legal drafting, and developing governance frameworks.
• Familiarity with Rwanda’s legal and social service systems is highly desirable.
• Experience working with government ministries and development partners.
• Strong research, analytical, and drafting skills.
• Excellent communication abilities in both English and Kinyarwanda.
• Ability to work independently and meet deadlines.
• Experience facilitating workshops and consultations.

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 here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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. 

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.