Consultant, Education that protects, home based, Brazil

Background & Rationale

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, Brazil rapidly became one of the most affected countries globally. Up until May 2021, around 15 million cases had been confirmed and 435,751 people had died of the disease. Because of COVID-19, most schools have been closed since mid-March 2020. This had a strong impact on learning, mental health, access to nutrition, and the protection against violence of children and adolescents. In November 2020, over 5 million girls and boys aged 6 to 17 did not have access to education in Brazil. Over 40% of whom were children aged 6 to 10, an age group in which education was practically universalized before the pandemic. In this context, there is still no national plan for the safe reopening of schools. At municipal and state levels, each school system is making its own decision on whether to resume classroom activities.

The closing of schools and other social distancing measures increased the risk of children and adolescents suffering or witnessing violence at home, including sexual violence, and being subjected to child labour. Disengagement from studies can also increase the exposure of adolescents to violence in their communities. The closing of schools jeopardizes the contact between children that are victims of abuse and the adults – such as teachers – that can recognize the signs of violence and report the cases to the child protection system. All these experiences added to the personal, family, and community living conditions before the crisis, will also have an impact on the psychosocial health of children, adolescents, and their caregivers. In addition to the closing of schools, other services that directly assist children and adolescents were also impacted, including services that support victims of violence. Some of them interrupted face-to-face activities or had to reduce the workforce to protect high-risk employees.

UNICEF has been an important voice in the debates and efforts to prioritize and address the impacts of the pandemic on the lives of girls and boys. Through the strategy “Education that Protects” in crises and emergencies, UNICEF works to strengthen the prevention of school dropout (particularly for the most vulnerable) and the capacities of schools and communities to offer psychosocial support and early detection of violence cases against children and adolescents. In 2020, courses and guides were produced and tested with strategic stakeholders from different sectors, addressing the following issues: 1) mental health and psychosocial support; 2) identification, prevention, and response to violence; and 3) the role of the local child protection system in the School Active Search. Over 5,500 people have enrolled in these short courses, delivered in partnership with the NGO “Luta pela Paz” and Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation). A total of 726 people participated in at least one course, and 413 were certified in one or more short courses.

The worsening of the pandemic in recent months deepened the importance of strengthening mobilization and technical support for the safe, welcoming and protective reopening of schools. There is a significant demand for access to guidance and tools for the psychosocial support and early detection of violence cases against children and adolescents. The first training cycle, offered in 2020, made possible to identify ways to offer training activities on these topics at a distance. However, in 2021, the challenge remains to expand the capacity to offer such courses, in a massive and self-instructional way, articulating institutional partners that can improve the sustainability to the actions. In addition, recent UNICEF analyses of school exclusion highlight the need for a deeper approach to challenges related to early childhood, which demands revisiting the content developed and offered so far. It is in this context that the consultant is expected to collaborate.

Within the scope of Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) 2021 and the Annual Work Plan (AWP) 2021, the consultant will support the continuity of actions to strengthen schools’ capacity to promote an “education that protects”, working to improve and offer trainings to the school community and its territory, with focus on child protection and mental health issues. The consultant will actively contribute to the expansion of trainings, consolidating a self-instructional offer, and to the development of effective instruments for measuring training impacts.

The planned deliverables will contribute to the following outputs, activities and indicators:

• AWP 2021 / Output 2.2: Inclusive Education for all: Girls and boys have increased permanence in the basic education system, based on intersectoral policies addressing diversity, including contextualized education / Activity: Develop materials and training activities to improve and qualify the engagement of the education system in an integrated effort to prevent and answer to violence, considering challenges of Covid-19, and aligned with the Law 13.431.
• AWP 2021 / Output 3.2: Children’s rights gaps mapped and addressed: Gaps in the legal, political and institutional framework related to prevention, assistance and response to violence against children mapped and addressed. Activity: Develop and disseminate technical guidelines and training materials to engage the education system in prevention and response to VAC efforts in accordance with Law 13431/2017.
• AWP 2021 / Output 3.3 – Improved cross-sectoral coordination: Improved cross-sectorial coordination and public services, at national and subnational levels, to benefit child witnesses, victims and perpetrators. Activity: Promote the inter-sectoral engagement of the child protection system to tackle school exclusion under the “Education that Protects” framework through sensitization and training.
• (HAC Covid) Technical assistance and training to 5,000 social workers and social assistance professionals on the provision of quality, age-appropriate mental health and psychosocial support services with a focus on children and adolescents in vulnerable situations in priority municipalities and urban neighborhoods most affected by COVID 19.
• (HAC Covid) Develop and roll out training for 10,000 teachers to provide psychosocial support to children and adolescents affected by COVID, ensuring adaptation of strategies for both small vulnerable municipalities and large urban neighborhoods affected by armed violence.

Purpose

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Officer for Education & Child Protection, the “Education that Protects” Consultant will provide technical support for UNICEF Child Protection Programme at national level, addressing the current needs under the guidance of an “Education that Protects”, included at Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) 2021, and the Annual Work Plan 2021.

Working closely with the Education that Protects Focal Points the Consultant will undertake the following:

Expected results:

1. Expected Result #1: 02 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) “Education that Protects”, and up to 05 personalized journeys for Urban Centres/capital cities, improved based on the reports of the first cycle of trainings and the consultation with UNICEF teams and partners, on the themes 1) Psychosocial support and early detection of violence cases against children and adolescents; and 2) Protection services in tackling the children out of school problem.

Activities

• Liaise and engage with key stakeholders inside and outside UNICEF to identify partnership opportunities and articulate customized offers of MOOCs.
• Analyze the recommendations of the first cycle of activities and forward the necessary improvements.
• Analyze the most recent UNICEF studies on school exclusion to identify which aspects need to be better addressed in the courses and forward the necessary improvements.
• Develop tools for data collection on training impacts with specific attention to AGD (age, gender, and diversity dimensions).
• Develop and improve the classroom environment, including the organization of materials and activities, in articulation with an IT professional appointed by UNICEF.
• Develop of a toolkit for mobilizing course participants, including registration forms, content for card/folder, invitation letter, student guides (2 -3 pages) and certificates; and monitoring of the graphic production of the materials, hired directly by UNICEF.

1.1   Deliverable 1: 02 study programs, including tools for measuring training impacts.

1.2   Duration: 4 weeks.

1.3   Deadline: June 30^th, 2021.

1.4    Payment 1: 14%

1.5   Deliverable 2: 02 classroom environments developed/improved, reported through 01 document with links and screen printing; and the toolkit for mobilizing course participants developed and reported through 01 document with links and printing of materials.

1.6   Duration: 6 weeks.

1.7   Deadline: July 30^th, 2021.

1.8    Payment 2: 14%

1.9   Deliverable 3: up to 05 personalized MOOC journeys for Urban Centres/capital cities developed for specific UNICEF contexts, in articulation with teams from the zone offices. Deliverable must be reported through 01 document with links and screen printing, as well as dates of meetings.

1.10  Duration: 10 weeks.

1.11  Deadline: August 31^th, 2021.

1.12 Payment 3: 14%

2.      Expected Result #2: 10,000 enrolled, among teachers, social workers and social assistance professionals, of which 4,000 are active and 2,000 certified in the Massive Open Online Courses “Education that Protects”, consolidating a self-instructional offer. 

Activities

• Identify partnership opportunities related to the courses and take the necessary actions to achieve them.
• Subscription management.
• Implementation of course activities, including managing the sending of content and notifications, moderating forums, monitoring the participation of course participants.
• Monitoring, with receipt and forwarding of doubts, in dialogue with UNICEF.
• Identification and implementation of necessary improvements to the courses.
• Final recommendations report with analysis of the engagement of course participants.

2.1   Deliverable: Report of the activities developed to the implementation of the courses, indicating meetings held with partners, actions to publicize the courses, number of participants attended, content posted, corrective actions, feedbacks to the activities, questions answered, actions related to moderating the forums.

2.2   Duration: 4 months.

2.3   Deadline:  Partial report on September 30^th, 2021 and Final report on November 30^th, 2021.

2.4   Payments 4 and 6:

2.4.1         Payment 4 – Partial report: 14,5%

2.4.2         Payment 6 – Final report: 14,5%

3.       Expected Result #3: Data, lessons learned and recommendations provided on the performance and impact of training with specific attention to AGD (age, gender and dimensions of diversity) in order to support reports and development of plans (Annual Work Plan, new Country Program, among others) with regard to the “Education that Protects” strategy.

3.1   Deliverable: Report on the activities developed to provide the data, lessons learned and recommendations requested by UNICEF, as well as the content of the analyses themselves, including the databases generated.

3.2   Duration: 5 months.

3.3   Deadline:  Partial report on October 29^th, 2021 and Final report on January 15^th, 2021.

3.4   Payment 5 and 7:

3.4.1         Payment 5 – Partial report: 14,5%

3.4.2         Payment 7 – Final report: 14,5% 

Performance Indicator

• Punctuality in meeting deadlines;
• Quality of the content produced;
• Timely provision of the deliverables;
• Quality level of reports and actions (quality of inputs, analysis, registration of activities, technical guidance, recommendations, etc.);
• The reports shall be subject to review and approval by UNICEF after delivery by the consultant. If needed, revisions and alterations may be requested by UNICEF related to quality and technical depth parameters. Only after final clearance from the UNICEF Brazil, will the payment be processed;
• Activity reports should be submitted with frequency lists of meetings and / or events, minutes of meetings and databases. 

Key competences, technical background, and experience required

• University degree and/or master’s degree in Education, Communication, other Social and Human Sciences courses, Instructional Design or another relevant field.
• 1 to 2 years of work experience at e-learning, distance education, training processes and/or instructional design.
• 1 to 2 years of work experience with international human rights, children’s rights, child protection and education policies.
• Background and experience with learning platform / course management system.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Experience within the UN System – particularly with UNICEF and its current Country Program – is an asset.
• Competencies: Diversity and Inclusion, Integrity, Commitment / Communication, Working with People, Drive for Results / Analysing, Formulating Strategies & Concepts, Planning and Organizing, Relating and Networking.
• Fluency in Portuguese and a good working knowledge of English (verbal and written). 

General Conditions: Procedures and Logistics

• Consultant will work from home using own equipment and stationery. UNICEF will provide office space for consultative meetings when / if needed.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant
• No international consultant may travel without a signed travel authorization prior to the commencement of the journey to the duty station.
• Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.

Financial Proposal (consultants only)

• Costs indicated are estimated. Final rate shall follow “best value for money” principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee.
• A financial proposal including the fee for the assignment based on the deliverables and number of days must be submitted. Consultants and individual contractors are asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.
• The payment will be based on submission of agreed 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.

Insurance and health coverage

• The contractor is fully responsible for arranging, at his or her own expenses, such life, health and other forms of insurance covering the term of the contract as he or she considers appropriate.
• The contractor is not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance schemes available to UNICEF and United Nations staff members.

Restrictions

• In case of government officials, the contract cannot be issued without prior written clearance by the Government​, or unless on leave without pay.

UNICEF 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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.