Re Advertisement- National consultant to support the development of the Child Guarantee National Action Plan in Greece, Athens, Greece ( National)

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. As part of its efforts to provide all children with an equitable chance in life, UNICEF works to identify, monitor, and effectively address the underlying causes of child poverty and deprivation.

Despite the strength of the European economy and a tradition of investment in the welfare of the most vulnerable citizens, nearly one-quarter of Europe’s children remained at risk of poverty and social exclusion as of 2018.Poverty and deprivation in childhood can have lifelong detrimental impacts, undermining an individual’s health, educational attainment, income earning capacity, and social connection, and contributing to an increased risk of exposure to violence, among others. The EU has long recognized the need to address entrenched issues of child poverty and social exclusion, including through a call by the European Parliament for a Child Guarantee to reduce inequalities. As families, societies, and governments around the world struggle to cope with the devastating impacts of COVID-19, which are expected to result in significant economic contraction, employment impacts, and a likely increase in poverty, these efforts have taken on a new urgency.

To test the European Child Guarantee in practice, the Commission has partnered with UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) to pilot the Child Guarantee in seven Member States through July 2022. Four (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy) are developing and testing for scalability, evidence-based models of services and interventions focused on ensuring access to services for the most disadvantaged children, with a focus on the four target groups: children with disabilities, children in precarious family situations, children residing in institutions and refugee and migrant children. Along with three other Member States (Germany, Lithuania and Spain) they are also planning their interventions in relation to the Child Guarantee objectives using nationally available policy and programme information, culminating in the development of “deep dives” which are designed to inform the National Action Plans.

On 14 June 2021 the Council of the European Union unanimously adopted the Recommendation Establishing a European Child Guarantee. According to this recommendation, the Member States are expected to develop national action plans on how to implement the Guarantee within 9 months.

The individual consultant will work closely with the Child Guarantee UNICEF Focal Point in Greece and the respective team members involved. The consultant will regularly coordinate with UNICEF ECARO and contribute to the learning process deriving from the 7 pilot countries of Phase III of the EUCG.

The individual consultant will provide technical inputs to the CGNAP development process and content to support national stakeholders, through close coordination with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and with the Child Guarantee National Coordinator, to develop the CGNAP. In particular, the consultant will ensure that the CGNAP address the needs of children in need; particularly the exacerbated vulnerabilities of those having hindered or no access to public services (health, education). GNAP will be informed by the findings and recommendations of the Deep Dive Analysis of existing policies, programmes and previous interventions at local level, and will be developed in a consultative process with all involved stakeholders.  

In doing so the individual consultant will:

• Provide technical support to the working group tasked with the development of the CGNAP, provide inputs into the drafts of the CGNAP.   
• Support relevant national stakeholders to implement an effective planning process for the development of the CGNAP, in line with national legal and normative framework and in the spirit of the Council Recommendation for the establishing of the European Child Guarantee.
• Facilitate effective engagement of different relevant stakeholders, in particular through the mechanism/platform established by the government to develop the CGNAP and with the Child Guarantee National Coordinator.
• Support the finalization of the Deep Dive Analysis and ensure transition into the planning of the CGNAP as requested by the ECARO and country office.
• Support Governmental partners to ensure consistency of the CGNAP with the findings of the Deep Dive Analysis, in particular ensuring that the CGNAP takes into account needs of the most disadvantaged children and the enabling policy framework.
• Identify any entry points in which other sectoral or inter-sectorial policies could benefit from the findings and recommendations of the Deep Dive Analysis and the discussions around the CGNAP. 
• In cooperation with UNICEF team in Greece, advocate for the CGNAP to include the evidence-based and -informed models of services and interventions tested as part of Phase III of the Child Guarantee in Greece, with the view to ensure their institutional and financial sustainability at the district or local level and support scaling up at the national level.
• In collaboration with UNICEF country and regional level monitoring and evaluation specialists, provide clear quantitative and qualitative indicators aligned with the results of the Deep Dive Analysis and of the services and interventions piloted in the country.
• In collaboration with UNICEF country and regional level social policy specialists, provide technical support to ensure that the CGNAP is adequately costed and budgeted, taking into account the country existing fiscal space, requirements of the European Child Guarantee and other European funding instrument and has a clear timeline.
• Support the consultation process during the preparation phase of the CGNAP aimed at ensuring the participation of a wide range of stakeholders as expressed in the Council Recommendation, in particular with children, families, and service providers.
• Document the process of the CGNAP development and provide periodic updates on the progress of the CGNAP development to UNICEF through agreed tools and processes, including regular inputs into communication and reporting materials regarding the CGNAP development.
• Coordinate with UNICEF ECARO in a systematic way to ensure that lessons learned are documented and shared with other EU Child Guarantee pilot countries.
• Support the wider mapping of additional national policy frameworks and action plans in relation to children and their alignment with the recently adopted EU Child Rights Strategy and make required recommendations, including on monitoring indicators and methodologies.

1. Monthly updates/reports in English on the progress of the CGNAP development process, including clear documentation of UNICEF technical inputs. ( Monthly)
2. Consultation plan for the CGNAP, including child participation plan for the development of the CGNAP. (December 2021)

Contributing to:
3. Deep Dive Analysis on child poverty and social exclusion in Greece through quality assurance of outputs and drafts, and technical advice on reflecting findings into recommendations. (December 2021 – January 2022)
4. Drafting and finalizing the CGNAP, including the draft monitoring and evaluation framework and budget. (March 2022)
5. Validation of the CGNAP with key stakeholders. (April 2022)

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

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf