International Consultant- Capacity Building of Local Professionals in Abkhazia on the Provision of Psychological Aid to Children

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Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Since 2015, UNICEF has been working to strengthen and develop sustainable social services for children in Abkhazia. An informal Community-Based Child Protection Mechanism (CBCPM) has been developed in 41 target communities by building the capacity of the community-based social service providers including para-social workers who collected evidence on child well-being issues, provided support to vulnerable children and their families and empowered local communities to address the social service needs of children. Also, Child Development Centers (CDCs) were supported to address the needs of boys and girls with disabilities. At the same time, a professional social work programme was launched in all districts of Abkhazia and assistance has been provided to thousands of vulnerable children and families from the region.

The development of the UNICEF supported social work practice in Abkhazia revealed a number of concrete deficiencies and gaps in the field of child protection. Thus, underdeveloped psychological services is one of the issues constantly being raised by the local social workers and other stakeholders. The number of professional psychologists is very limited in Abkhazia, and in some of the districts psychological services are largely absent. Furthermore, only a few local psychologists received solid training. The training and qualifications of most of the psychologists are inconsistent: they received little education and learned by doing.

Earlier various short trainings on separate topics were organized by UNICEF for psychologists in Abkhazia. However, there is a need for a more comprehensive capacity building of psychologists, which would equip local professionals with specific knowledge, skills and resources to deal with complex cases of children requiring psychological support.

In view of the above UNICEF is planning to strengthen the psychological service for children and their families in Abkhazia. First, a group of local psychologists will receive training and enhance their competencies in the specific areas, such as rehabilitation of child victims of violence, work with children with challenging behavior, etc. Following that, external supervision as well as operational support will be provided through a local NGO to ensure the effective functioning of the psychological service in at least three districts of Abkhazia.

At the same time, social workers dealing with cases of violence against children and other complex child protection cases in Abkhazia will continue to receive professional supervision covering aspects related to the provision of psychological aid.

Scope of Work:

UNICEF seeks to engage an international consultant or a group of international consultants to develop a capacity building programme and conduct training for a group of psychologists in Abkhazia. The consultant(s) are also expected to provide professional supervision to local psychologists and social workers in relation to cases of children involving psychological issues.

Interested individual experts should apply for the whole scope of the consultancy indicating the fee in the Cover Letter. Interested groups of experts should apply as teams. Each member of the team needs to submit application individually stating the names of the group members she/he belongs to and indicating the parts of TOR (tasks, working days, deliverables) she/he is going to perform, alongside with the fee, in the Cover Letter.

Duration: 1 December 2021- 12 November 2022 (62 days in total)  

 

Work Assignment Overview
Tasks/Milestone:	Deliverables/Outputs:	Timeline:
Develop a capacity building programme for psychologists working with children in Abkhazia   The consultant(s) – in close consultation with UNICEF, social workers, psychologists and other relevant stakeholders – will develop a training programme for local psychologists aimed at enhancing their knowledge and skills in the specific areas, such as rehabilitation of child victims of violence, work with children with challenging behavior, work with children exposed to trauma etc.	Detailed training plan and pre-/post- training questionnaires Comprehensive set of training materials, including PowerPoint presentations and other supporting materials	1 December 2021 – 31 March 2022
Conduct training for psychologists working with children in Abkhazia   The consultant(s) are expected to deliver the training for a group of interested psychologists in accordance with the newly developed capacity building programme prepared under the consultancy.   The training will be divided into blocks and implemented in several phases. The schedule of training activities will be coordinated between the consultant(s), UNICEF and a group of participants.   Besides local psychologists (the core group of participants), some of the interested social workers and other stakeholders might join separate parts of the training.	Training for a group of practitioners	1 April 2022 – 12 November 2022
Provide external supervision to the local psychologists working with children in Abkhazia   The consultant(s) will conduct group and individual supervision sessions for the local psychologists which will include discussion of the progress and difficulties encountered in the course of their work and serve as a platform for experience exchange and peer-to-peer learning. This might include the review of concrete cases of children supported by local psychologists. In addition, external supervision should support the psychologists’ mental wellbeing.	48 hours of quality on-demand supervision sessions for psychologists supervision forms and guidelines for supervisors	1 June 2022 – 12 November 2022
Provide external supervision to the social workers working with children in Abkhazia   The consultant(s) will conduct on-demand supervision sessions for individual social workers or for a group of social workers in cases of an urgent need to consult on questions related to psychological/mental health problems of children supported by the social service. This might include the discussion of concrete cases and include suggestions on how to elaborate, change or adjust the individual work plans with children and families. In addition, individual supervision should support the social workers’ psychological wellbeing and prevention of professional burnout.	96 hours of quality on-demand supervision sessions for social workers	1 December 2021 – 12 November 2022

 

Location: Home Based, travel expected.

 

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

•   Advanced university degree in psychology, counselling, psychotherapy, psychiatry or a related field;

•   At least 10 years’ experience of work in the field of the provision of psychological aid to children; at least 3 years’ experience working as professional supervisor;

•   Proven experience in providing training in the above field;

•   Understanding of UNICEF approaches and recommendations in the relevant field; experience of work with UN will be an asset;

•   Understanding of child protection systems and services;

•   Exceptional communication skills;

•   Working knowledge of English; ability to communicate freely and provide training in Russian language will be considered an asset. 

 

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

 

 

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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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.