National Individual Consultancy: Documenting of UNICEF Moldova best practices of adolescent and youth engagement in education and school life through Pupils councils

UNICEF’s mission in Moldova is to make sure every child in the country is healthy, educated and safe from harm, therefore having the best start in life and a fair chance to reach her or his full potential and benefit from the country’s prosperity. We believe children have a right to live in a more equitable society, where their voices are heard, and needs met as a matter of priority in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. More information on what we do in Moldova is available at: https://www.unicef.org/moldova/

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1. Purpose of the assignment

To document the country practices of children and adolescents’ meaningful participation through pupils’ councils, including showcasing the best practices and examples to advance child/adolescent participation in countries of the ECA region, as well as to provide technical support to the Ministry of Education and Research to further strengthen national and local pupils’ councils in Moldova.

2. Scope of work and specific tasks

Under the supervision of Youth and Adolescent Development Officer, the selected consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Map national policy(ies), legal and regulatory framework(s) related to children/adolescents’ participation in decision making processes relating to education:

• Conduct desk review of the available documents, reports and other available documents and materials.
• Develop a methodology and conceptual framework for the assignment.
• Conduct meetings, interviews, field visits (situation permitting), etc.
• Develop a mapping report.

2. Elaborate a detailed plan of actions for addressing legislative/normative gaps and shortfalls to support safe and meaningful participation of children and adolescents in school/education governance making sure:

• It is guided by nine basic requirements developed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2009) to ensure ethical and effective participation of children and adolescents.
• It considers inclusive, transparent and equitable selection processes that enable voluntary participation of children/adolescents (supporting representation and participation of different genders, ages, abilities and backgrounds).
• It considers adequate budgets for children and adolescent participation and empowerment.

3. Develop a Theory of Change on child/adolescent participation in school life and education:

• Establish immediate, intermediate, and long-term outcomes resulting from child/adolescent participation in decision making processes
• Identify viable strategies and approaches to achieving greater child/adolescent participation in education and school life
• Provide inputs to increasing the administrative effectiveness of the bodies responsible for promoting pupils’ participation

4. Document success/change stories and practices of children and adolescents’ participation in education and school life in Moldova through the pupils’ councils:

• Highlight cases of effective collaboration with school management committees.
• Highlight cases of effective collaboration with local and national authorities, local and national civil society and UN partners, if any.
• Produce human-interest story(ies) highlighting changes in children/adolescents’ lives as a result of their participation in the pupils’ councils.

5. Develop clear recommendations for use by other countries in the ECA region, including:

• Elaborate and provide arguments, from a legal, institutional and child rights perspective for establishing and strengthening of existing participatory mechanisms and include existing best practices suited for scale up within ECA region.
• Suggestions for policy advocacy based on the above plan of actions for addressing legislative/normative gaps in Moldova.
• Suggestions for use/adaptation of tools and instruments developed and piloted in the Republic of Moldova.
• Suggestions on how young people themselves can be engaged in the design or strengthening of the pupils’ councils as partners from the start.

6. Provide technical support to the Ministry of Education and Research of Moldova and Local Public Authorities to strengthen National Pupils’ Council (NPC) achieving minimum quality standards of the Organising Bureau of European School Student Union (OBESSU)

• Assess NPC capacities against OBESSU evaluation criteria
• Develop a roadmap for NPC and Ministry of Education and Research (MER) to attain OBESSU membership
• Provide technical support and capacity building to NPC and MER to align with and meet OBESSU minimum quality standards

7. Final report, including:

• A summary of the process;
• Set of adaptable tools and instruments;
• Lessons learned;
• Recommendations for scaling up by other countries, including considerations for localisation; and
• Annexes, including the assessment tool and other documents associated with the documentation process.

3. Working arrangements and reporting requirements

The consultant will report to UNICEF Moldova Youth and Adolescent Development Officer, who will regularly communicate with the contractor and provide feedback and guidance on his/her performance and all other necessary support so to achieve objectives of the consultancy, as well as remain aware of any upcoming issues related to contractor’s performance and quality of work. The contract implies only home-based work.

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

• Postgraduate diploma or degree in education, law, sociology, social policy or other relevant field;
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience in the area of child participation, non-formal education and youth policy development and evaluation;
• Previous engagement in capacity gap assessment;
• Proven knowledge of international human and child rights standards (United Nations and European Union standards);
• Experience in working with the Government of Moldova, schools and local public authorities;
• Experience working with UNICEF or other UN Agencies;
• Proven experience in writing qualitative research reports and capacity gap assessments;
• Fluency in Romanian language, possession of Russian language;
• Professional level of English, with good abilities in reading and writing.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

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

For more details on deliverables and minimum requirements, please refer to attached Terms of reference (ToR)

 ToR_Student Councils_Documenting Best Practices YACs of Moldova_VA.pdf

HOW TO APPLY: Your online application should contain two separate attachments: Technical Proposal and Financial Proposal (templates below). Please secure the Financial Proposal *.pdf document with a password on document view; the password will be requested only from technically qualified candidates.

 Technical Offer_Documenting Best Practices YACs.docx

 Financial Offer_Documenting Best Practices YACs.xlsx

Applications for this assignment must be received no later than: 16 December 2021

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks: Individual Consultants and Contractors are responsible for paying own taxes derived from the earnings received from UNICEF.