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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, an advocate.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

Since the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, more than 2 million people from Ukraine have crossed the Slovak border. Slovakia currently hosts over 156,000 Ukrainian nationals with Temporary Protection status, of whom 80% are children and women. After more than two years of emergency response, UNICEF and partners observed an increase in child protection cases that require an advanced response from professionals – which is typical for protracted emergencies where full inclusion of children in national systems and services has not yet been achieved. This emergency has also revealed and exacerbated preexisting systemic gaps and challenges in the child protection system. Additionally, the most vulnerable groups within the refugee community, such as refugee youth and adolescents, children with disabilities, and their families, face higher risks and are harder to reach, necessitating more focused interventions and technical support to national authorities.

UNICEF is working with national systems and institutions in the Slovak Republic to integrate refugee children and families into the national child protection systems through (1) strengthening the social service workforce by enhancing knowledge, skills, and practices to be both child- and refugee-sensitive; (2) supporting ongoing social work reforms to ensure they are informed by international standards and best practices for child and refugee protection; (3) increasing institutional capacity to effectively integrate Ukrainian children and families into protection systems at the central, regional, and municipal levels; (4) enhancing system capacity to include children with disabilities and their families by training frontline professionals and developing methodologies and guidelines to mainstream disability in their daily and policy work; and (5) focusing on connecting the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups within the refugee population to national systems and services. This is implemented through the PATHWAYS program, which targets Ukrainian youth and adolescents with protection and education programs and facilitates ongoing collaboration with national and civil society stakeholders.

UNICEF Refugee Response Office (RRO)in Slovakia is seeking a Child Protection Consultant with experience in child protection system strengthening (CPSS) approach and social service workforce strengthening to provide coordination, advisory and technical support to the child protection response in the Slovak Republic. The consultant will report to the Chief of Child Protection of the UNICEF RRO in Slovakia. The consultant will work in close coordination with the Education team as well as with other programme colleagues in health, youth and social policy.

The consultant will be home-based, with frequent travels to Slovakia. Travel for field monitoring and programmatic visits related to deliverables and/or the Education team’s programmatic work is also expected.

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the Chief of Child Protection and in close collaboration with colleagues from the Education and Social Policy teams in Slovakia, the consultant will play a key role in coordinating, advising, and providing technical support for the Child Protection program in Slovakia. The consultant’s primary responsibilities will include:

1. Support the UNICEF RRO team to implement and lead the PATHWAYS Programme’s child protection component:

• Provide technical assistance to develop and launch a one-stop-shop model for Ukrainian youth and adolescents within the pathways programme being piloted in one of the municipalities and later on transferred to the national and local authorities;
• Ensure the disability inclusion within the PATHWAYS programme by developing methodologies and advocacy papers for authorities across local, regional, and central levels;
• Enhance the capacity of the national stakeholders and their frontline professionals on disability inclusion by organizing the disability ToT programmes later rolled across the country; For this purpose, the consultant will use training packages and materials developed by the UNICEF globally and regionally as well as his/her expertise/experience. Consultant should organize, contextualize/codeveloper and codeliver at least 1 ToT and 3 training groups.
• Strengthening partner capacity in integrated case management, including referral pathways to support school retention and prevent dropouts.
• Provide programmatic and field monitoring visits to ensure partner program implementation aligns with UNICEF standards and regulations.

2. Support UNICEF’s child protection team and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, and Family (MoLSAF). to implement the joint work UNICEF-MoLSAF work plan focused on integrating Ukrainian children into Slovak protection systems:

• Support the Child Protection team in meeting the objectives of the joint UNICEF-MoLSAF work plan, focused on enhancing social service workforce standards and ensuring quality assurance with special considerations for refugee and child-sensitive approaches.
• Assist in the capacity-building component of the joint UNICEF-MoLSAF work plan to improve the skills, knowledge, and practices of child protection professionals. This includes collaborating with MoLSAF, professional associations, and international and local experts to co-develop and implement capacity building programmes on best interest consideration in protracted emergencies for asylum seeking, migrant and refugee children as well as other related areas.
• Contribute to contingency planning with MoLSAF to ensure readiness for the evacuation of institutionalized children if necessary.
• Assist MoLSAF in organizing and implementing regional workshops and sessions with children, youth, and local authorities to address issues related to violence against children, inclusion, and the integration of refugee children into national systems.

3. Support UNICEF’s efforts in Slovakia to address remaining humanitarian needs and plan for programme transition:

• Support the CP team and the broader office to document and consolidate lessons learned from child protection program implementation in the emergencies and transition strategies.
• Finalize the case studies on disability inclusion for both internal and external use by UNICEF.
• Assist in capacity-building initiatives for national authorities in areas of child protection, case management, disability inclusion, and other related sectors

4. Support the coordination and progress of the Interagency Child Protection Sub-Working group (CPSWG), co-led by UNICEF and MoLSAF:

• Prepare agendas and materials for CPSWG meetings in collaboration with MoLSAF and UNHCR, aligned with the Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for Slovakia. This also includes the facilitation of the meetings, preparing the notes and action points after each meeting.
• Collaborate with the CPSWG members to draft recommendations for MoLSAF’s social and legal protection unit and thus ensure the transfer of experiences and lessons learned from CSOs to the national child protection authorities.
• Facilitate exchange of information and practices between Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the Offices of Labour, Social Affairs, and Family and thus promoting a coordinated child protection response across Slovakia.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

102 working days between January and June 2025.

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be based home-based.

As part of this assignment, some travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in EUR) based on 102 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

Required:

• Master's degree in Social and Political Sciences, Social Work, or other related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience in programme planning and management in child protection system strengthening social service workforce strengthening at the international level or/and national level.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Experience working with or in UN organization.

Desired:

• Fluency in Ukrainian and/or Russian is an asset.
• Knowledge of the EU region, including regulatory frameworks for national child protection system and the EU Temporary Protection Directive, is desirable.
• Previous experience in Slovak Republic or in similar contexts is desirable.
• Experience working with state and NGO partners is strongly desired.
• Working in the emergency context is desired.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in EUR) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.