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Consultancy Title: Regional coordinators based in Gomel and Brest, National consultancy (National, Belarus)

Section/Division/Duty Station: Emergency section, UNICEF Belarus CO

Duration: October 2024 – October 2025 (about 12 months)

Home/ office Based: Remote/Home-based (with visits to the office upon needs)

* The consultants will be based in Brest and Gomel with regular monitoring in the Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk regions (Gomel-based consultant) and Brest, Grodno and Minsk regions (Brest-based consultant) in consultation  Policy and Planning Specialist and Deputy Representative team. The consultant will be invited to visit Minsk city and other regions for office-based events and meetings.

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. Over 75 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and abuse. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations, and governments.

BACKGROUND

The Role of UNICEF in Belarus and the Programme Scope:

UNICEF in Belarus’ cooperation with the Republic of Belarus is based on long-term 2021-2025 Country Programme. It is in in turn based on the national priorities of the Republic of Belarus in the field of social protection, healthcare and education. UNICEF in Belarus works closely with the relevant government, civil society, private sector and mass media at the national and subnational levels to improve the well-being of children in Belarus.  UNICEF has been strengthening its support to regional programmes and priorities based on programmatic areas and priorities included in the workplans with Brest and Gomel regions and the city of Minsk, as well as policies and results for children through systematic policy analysis and knowledge management, distillation of lessons from past and ongoing national reforms and the adaptation of good practices from within Belarus and in the wider region. Through this work, the CO’s collaboration at the regional and municipal levels is strengthened and provides greater evidence-based responses for advocacy to take programmes to scale.

Since end of 2021 and beginning of conflict in Ukraine in early 2022, Belarus has experienced a significant influx of refugees and migrants, with over 240,945 (as of August 2024) Ukrainians arriving on its territory. Out of this number, over 50,979 Ukrainians (data of the Ministry of Interior) have officially registered and are residing in Belarus, with most of them being registered in Gomel and Brest regions, followed by other regions and Minsk city. The situation poses challenges in terms of addressing the urgent needs of these people and providing them with appropriate support and assistance. In response to this humanitarian situation, UNICEF in Belarus has been actively collaborating with national and regional partners with more focus on the regions, especially in Brest and Gomel regions. Partnerships in this region include Regional Executive Committee, regional departments of education, health, social protection, internal affairs, emergency situation, Refugee Counselling Service, other civil society and mass media.

Taking into consideration the importance of presence at subnational level for better coordination, monitoring and developing partnerships in the regions as well as to provide support to the most vulnerable families with children, UNICEF in Belarus is looking to hire two regional coordinators based in Brest and Gomel who will be responsible for the regional work across the country, including those regions with which UNICEF does not have a workplan yet.

Purpose and objectives of consultancy:

These consultancies are intended to strengthen UNICEF presence at subnational/regional level and provide support in coordination, implementation and monitoring of UNICEF programmes, expanding partnerships and ensuring emergency-development nexus in the regions of Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev, Vitebsk and Minsk. Specific objectives for these consultancies are:

• to support coordination, implementation and monitoring of UNICEF interventions with regional partners among government and non-government organizations and other partners in the assigned regions;
• to maintain existing and identify new partnerships that can effectively contribute to the identified programmatic and humanitarian priorities;
• to coordinate across sections inputs to the development of the new regional workplans;
• to ensure smooth and effective implementation of both ongoing and new regional workplans;
• to stay up-to-date about the situation of children in the given regions and inform UNICEF on a regular and timely basis.
• to support outreach and identification of the needs of affected population (vulnerable families, refugees, migrants etc.) using tools and communicate them to relevant teams in the UNICEF office in a timely manner;

Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Policy and Planning Specialist and oversight of the Deputy Representative and in close coordination with UNICEF programme sections, the coordinators’ responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Programme coordination, capacity development and support

• Coordinate among sections the development and implementation of the regional workplans
• Ensure proper monitoring and data collection deriving from the workplans implementation
• Liaison with the relevant partners in the regions on matters relating to the joint activities
• Identify and propose mechanisms to discuss achieved results and establish reporting mechanisms, including AAP
• Provide support to organizing coordination meetings, site visits and other programmatic events
• Share expertise, provide training and capacity-building support to partners and local stakeholders
• Ensure smooth scale-down of emergency interventions and transition from response to preparedness

Field Monitoring on vulnerable child groups, especially in humanitarian/ emergency setting

The coordinators’ responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Assessment and monitoring: conduct rapid assessments of the situation on the ground and through social listening in traditional and social media. Collect and analyse data related to the needs of refugee and migrants' families with children, as well as the availability and functionality of essential services like healthcare, nutrition, education, social protection, and WASH.
• Humanitarian work: coordinate UNICEF’s development and humanitarian programme interventions, collaborate with various partners, including government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other UN agencies to ensure a coordination and efficient emergency response.
• Child protection: report on child rights violations, cases of exploitation, abuse, and separations from families to ensure that children are provided with the necessary support and protection to prevent further traumatization. Support implementation of psychosocial support and functionality of child-friendly spaces and corners.
• Advocacy and communication: convey urgent needs of vulnerable families with children to decision-makers, participate in Country Office efforts to garner support and resources for the humanitarian response, ensure proper visibility
• Quality assurance: ensure that partners’ interventions meet high UNICEF standards of quality and align with the Organization’s principles and guidelines. Provide technical support and guidance to partners serving as a liaison between UNICEF Programme Sections and partners.  
• Reporting and documentation: timely and accurate reporting on the humanitarian situation, progress of interventions, and challenges faced using developed indicators and making contribution to reporting tools such as SitRep
• Logistics and supplies: coordinate distribution of essential supplies such as goods certificates, tablets, hygiene kits.
• Community Engagement: work closely with affected and host populations to do outreach work, conduct needs assessment and collect feedback
• Partnership: Support the office in establishing new partnerships and strengthen existing ones to foster sense of ownership

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables / Delivery Deadline: 

Travel (if required as per TOR):

Travel Local – to be included in the contract fees – at least 3 trips per month.

In case of international travel required by the Country Office the respective costs will be covered by the CO and are not part of this contract.

Qualifications 

Education:

• University degree in the social/behavioral sciences including but not limited to development, economics, communication, social work, management, international relations or in a related technical field.

Work experience/Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• More than 5 years of practical experience in project management and monitoring implementation at the local level.
• Experience of establishing partnerships and facilitation of the dialog with the local authorities on the project implementation.
• Experience of work with UN entities in Belarus is an advantage;
• Availability to perform the ToR requirements and meet deadlines;
• Fluency in Russian. 
• Decent skills in working with vulnerable groups of population, especially with families with children;
• Good communication skills and ability to liaise with national, international and SCOs partners;
• Good managerial and organizational skills in arranging events with and for children and adolescents;
• Experience in facilitation of training activities;
• Ability to engage with vulnerable groups, especially families with children;
• High level of responsibility and ability to meet deadlines.

Competencies:

• Builds and maintains partnerships: Develop a network of formal and informal contacts through participation in networks or consultations with others.
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Display sensitivity and adjust language and tone, ensuring it is not demeaning or aggressive; Recognize own strengths and limitations, learning from mistakes made; Display appropriate ethical behaviours, refraining from discriminatory* language and actions.
• Drive to achieve results for impact: Plan and take ownership for delivering tasks with minimal supervision; Pay attention to detail, producing work of a high standard; Monitor activities on a regular basis, reviewing work plan to ensure progress and delivery; Ensure the completion of tasks, while addressing obstacles and bottlenecks.
• Innovates and embraces change: Review work practices, analyzing evidence-based trends to apply new methods and techniques; Respond flexibly to changing circumstances, priorities and deadlines; Display creativity, experiment with new approaches and demonstrate openness to changing existing practices.
• Manage ambiguity and complexity: Demonstrate resilience and composure, get things done despite challenges and maintain performance levels in pressured, adverse and uncertain environments.

Requirements: 

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

• Interested applicants should provide a letter of interest (Cover Letter) describing how they can contribute to the interventions listed under roles and responsibilities and why they should be selected for this position. In addition, they should share their latest CV/Resume and financial proposal to undertake this job  Financial Offer template_Nat Consultancy - Regional Coordinators.docx.
• Samples of the related job/tasks done/portfolio.
• Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal should be submitted using the financial offer template and must:
  • Reflect the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment period (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • Include travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR. Consultants are responsible for arranging their own transportation arrangements. UNICEF can provide office vehicle for some duty travel missions with prior agreement as per monthly travel plan approved by the supervisor.
  • Include any other costs: health insurance, payment of an incidental expenditure (such as bank charges, insurances, etc.) and living costs as applicable.
• Indicate your availability.
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

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

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.