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

Lead and finalize design, lead logistics, and provide onsite support and delivery of a Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia-focused training on disability-inclusive social protection, to be held in October of 2025.

Background

Persons with disabilities represent a large and marginalized group that is growing in number and facing significant difficulties in all areas of life. Traditionally, social benefits for persons with disabilities have been viewed as safety nets in lieu of their participation in education, employment, civic engagement, and community life. However, social protection systems need to be reconceptualized as facilitators, enabling persons with disabilities to meet their needs in pursuit of socioeconomic participation across the lifecycle. Many countries across UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region have been embarking on such ambitious reforms.

To help respond to these challenges, UNICEF and the World Bank will be implementing a 4 ½ day course for policymakers and technical staff in the region, focusing on disability-inclusive social protection. This course, which will be conceptualized, designed, and run jointly by the two organizations, aims to answer key questions that countries in the region are facing in their efforts to reform their social protection systems for persons with disabilities, such as:

• How to reform disability assessment, needs assessment and status determination to align with human rights approach and to ensure they are accessible for people with disabilities and become an effective gateway to social protection benefits?
• How to design effective packages of income support and social services benefits for persons with disabilities to cover their additional costs using the person-centred approach?
• How to advocate for prioritizing, planning and financing support packages for persons with disabilities, including for children and older adults?
• How to develop supported employment programs to improve their participation in the labour market?

The course will be designed to be interactive and draw on best and innovative practices across the region, including EU member states. It will involve case studies and team exercises and will be shaped by feedback from participants.

The course will take place in Vienna, Austria, from 20-24 October. Approximately 30 participants are expected.

Scope of Work

The purpose of this consultancy will be to lead UNICEF ECA’s contributions to the design and delivery of this course. This will entail:

Course content:

• Organizing and participating in regular meetings with the 4-member organizational team to ensure that the course preparations proceed according to schedule;
• Leading the design and course material development for six planned sessions on child-focused disability-inclusive social protection topics;
• Identifying and coordinating with speakers and presenters for each session, and providing guidance on content, focus, and timeliness of presentations, as needed;
• Ensuring that all course materials are submitted in a timely manner and of high quality, noting time required for translation;
• Seeking feedback from course participants in the weeks leading up to the course, and ensuring their feedback is reflected in the design and format of course materials.

Course delivery and onsite management:

• Delivering presentations and managing sessions in-person during the course (20-24 October, Vienna, Austria), including via a final onsite preparatory meeting on 19 October, end-of-day debriefs and adjustments (as needed) to materials, and a closing debrief session on the afternoon of 24 October.
• Supporting all on-site management and facilitation tasks, including logistics, communications with participants, and troubleshooting:
  • Ensuring all course participants are identified and registered in a timely manner, in coordination with UNICEF country offices and other organizational team members;
  • Supporting the identification and contracting of interpreters, and ensuring that they are familiar with course content and terminology;
  • Ensuring that all course tools and resources are translated into relevant course languages (e.g., Russian, Serbo-Croatian) and made available to participants in advance of the start of the course

Reporting:

• Developing and organizing course assessment materials;
• Developing a workshop report of no more than 10 pages, including links to all materials developed and suggestions for changes or improvements based on participant feedback;

This assignment is expected to take no more than 20 days, including 6 days onsite during the course.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

20 working days between August and October 2025.

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based.

As part of this assignment, some international 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 USD) based on 20 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…

• Bachelor's degree in Social protection, social services, disability inclusion, or a related field
• At least 7 years of progressive experience in inclusive social protection systems and programmes, including at least 5 years of experiencing working on aspects of disability-inclusive social protection;
• Excellent understanding of social protection systems in the Europe and Central Asia region;
• Experience planning, developing, and facilitating government-/practitioner-focused training/courses in the area of social protection;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Fluency in English;
• Proven ability to work effectively in groups and autonomously, including multi- or cross-agency partnerships;
• Proven ability to work under pressure and flexibly, including coping with deadlines, competing demands, and last minute changes.
• Fluency in another language relevant to the region

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 submit a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) 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.