UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND
REQUIRES
International consultancy
for the provision Technical assistance to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the
Institute for Social and Child Protection on evidence based policy making
(Continuation of Child Care System Reform IPA 2014)
Minimum Requirements:
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Advanced university degree in social policy, economics or a related technical field;
At least 10 years of professional experience in social protection policy and applied public
policy – both in research and teaching/training;
Familiarity with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant international
standards in the area of social and child protection;
Previous work experience in the Western Balkans countries;
Previous work experience with UNICEF will be considered as an asset;
Excellent command of either English or Montenegrin language (both spoken and written);
Excellent training, facilitation and communication and writing skills.
Terms of Reference for the position and P11 form can be found on the website
www.unicef.org/montenegro or picked up at UNICEF Montenegro office.
If you are a dynamic person who would like to contribute to delivering of long-lasting, positive
changes for Montenegro’s children, please apply with a CV, P11 form, financial offer and cover
letter by email, mail or fax quoting the position “Evidence based policy making” to the
following address:
UNICEF, UN Eco House, Stanka Dragojevica bb, 81 000 Podgorica
Fax: +382 20 447 400
Email: podgorica@unicef.org
Closing date for applications is 27 November, 2015 by c.o.b.
Only short listed candidates will be contacted for interview.
UNICEF IS A SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENT
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Terms of Reference
International consultancy – Technical assistance to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the
Institute for Social and Child Protection on evidence based policy making
(Continuation of Child Care System Reform IPA 2014)
Background and Context
Since becoming an independent State in 2006, Montenegro has officially joined the international community
as the 192nd Member State of the United Nations. Montenegro presented its official application for
membership of the European Union in December 2008 and two years later it became a candidate country.
Montenegro belongs to a group of upper Middle Income Countries with GDP per capita EUR 5561 in 2014.
Montenegro experienced rapid economic growth ranging between 8.6-10.7 percent of GDP in 2006 and
2007 respectively. However, as a result of the global economic crisis that hit the country in the second half
of 2008, the real GDP growth rate saw a steep decline. After slow and modest economic recovery in the
period 2010-2011, Montenegrin economy returned to recession in 2012 with -2.5% real growth rate of GDP.
In 2013, the economy started to recover and the real growth rate of GDP was 3.3% and 1.8% in 2014
(Monstat).
The global economic crisis hit the economy of Montenegro hard having prolonged negative impact on wellbeing of citizens. The economic recession resulted in further increase of poverty rate in the country from
9.3% in 2011 to 11.3% in 2012 and then again declined to 8.6% in 2013. There are also spatial disparities in
terms of poverty that represent serious impediment to the fulfilment of human and child rights. In 2013,
poverty rate in the northern and central region was 10.3%, which was much higher than in the southern
region (3.8%) (Monstat, 2014). According to the Child Poverty Study in Montenegro (UNICEF, 2012), child
poverty is concentrated in rural areas and in the north of the country with more than 3/4 of all poor children
living in rural areas, and more than half of them living in the north of the country.
Montenegro’s transition to a market economy as well as social and economic trends led to reforms in all
sectors. The country has embarked upon an ambitious legal and judicial reform programme in line with its
international obligations and aspirations to meet the Copenhagen Criteria, by acceding to most international
treaties and conventions in a very short period of time, and by upgrading its legislation and establishing an
institutional human rights protection framework1.
As regards the reform of the social welfare and child protection sector, the Government of Montenegro
engaged in a piecemeal reform in the early 2000’s. Since 2011, the reform of the social welfare and child
protection sector follows a systematic approach in the framework of a partnership between the Ministry of
Labour and Social Welfare (MoLSW), UN agencies (UNICEF and UNDP) and the EU (IPA 2010, IPA 2014). In
the new Strategy for the development of the social and child protection system in Montenegro (2013-2017)
the key strategic directions of the social and child protection reform are defined as: harmonization of the
social and child protection policy in line with international standards aimed at the prevention of social
problems, decentralization of the social and child protection system, citizen and beneficiary participation in
decision making with respect to the means for satisfying needs; more efficient cash transfers; and the
provision of quality social and child protection services.
The reform of the social welfare sector has aimed to harmonize existing legislation with international
standards and to develop regulations and adequate budget lines to operationalize the legislation. In this
regard, the reform process is embodied in the new Law on Social and Child Protection (2013) which seeks to
1Council
of Europe: Commissioner for Human Rights, Report by the Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas
Hammarberg, on his visit to Montenegro, 2-6 June 2008, 8 October 2008, p.5; CommDH(2008)25, available at:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/48ecd3192.html [accessed on22January 2010].
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ensure adequate provision of measures and services and represents a major departure from the Law on
Social and Child Protection (2005) previously in force with a strong focus on institutional placement and
provision of cash benefits.
In addition to revising the legislative and policy framework, strengthening of the institutional framework has
been a vital component of the overall reform. MoLSW has engaged in a thorough reform of centres for social
work (CSWs) across Montenegro which includes changes in the organization of the network of CSWs;
enhancing internal staffing structures; the introduction of contemporary work methods such as case
management methodology, which is instrumental for strengthening social work interventions and
gatekeeping mechanisms; and introduction of the Social Welfare Information System. Furthermore, the
Institute for Social and Child Protection has been established and is functional since early 2015. The Institute
consists of three departments: the Department for development and professional support (which will
perform advisory, research and professional activities, monitor the quality of professional work in services
and institutions, provide supervisory support, prepare analyses, reports and proposals for enhancing social
and child protection, coordinate the development of standards, participate in the drafting, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the effects of the implementation of strategies, action plans, laws etc.), the
Department for strengthening capacities of professional workers (which will perform activities pertaining to
the accreditation of training or service provision programmes, licensing of professional workers and
professional associates, preparation of the Code of Ethics for employees in the social and child protection
sector, organize capacity strengthening of professional workers and professional associates, prepare
publications etc., inform the public about social and child protection etc.), and the Department for general
and financial activities.
The reform has led to an expansion of, until then, rather underdeveloped services. As regards children, the
network of day care centres for children with disabilities, which have facilitated the prevention of
institutionalization of children with disabilities, has expanded from two in 2010 to nine functional day care
centres across Montenegro by September 2015. An outreach service to prevent family breakdown is being
piloted, and the Protocol on intersectoral cooperation for the prevention of child abandonment was signed
in 2014. The number of children in foster care has increased by almost 20% since 2010 with 331 children in
kinship care and 42 children in non-kin foster care in December 2014, as a result of capacity building of
professionals and awareness raising campaigns. Finally, when it comes to residential care, the number of
children in the largest institution for children, the Children’s Home “Mladost” in Bijela has decreased by 46%
in the last 7 years (in total 95 children in September 2015, of which 8 aged under three). As prescribed by
the Law, a Plan of Transformation of this institution was developed, and adopted in July 2015. Furthermore,
in order to develop residential care in line with international standards, a new service for children without
parental care – the small group home with a capacity of maximum 8 children, has been established in Bijelo
Polje. In addition to the expansion of services, minimum standards of quality of services have been
introduced in secondary legislation to be followed in the near future by the implementation of quality
assurance mechanisms (licensing of service providers and professionals, the recently established Social
Inspection).
However, several challenges remain for the implementation of the reform, including the limited capacities
of the system. In particular, the recently conducted functional review of the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social
and Child Protection with respect to its capacities for leading, planning, implementing, and monitoring the
reform process, revealed low capacities of the Directorate in various aspects of evidence based policy
planning and monitoring. It found that “generating and using evidence from existing data bases, performing
causal analysis to inform programme design and articulate programme results frameworks, using different
data collection methods to analyse the impact, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and relevance of
programme interventions, commissioning evaluations, and performing analysis of the overall performance
of the social and child protection system, were all identified as areas where the needs for further capacity
building are great”. The review also identified “a lack of measurable targets and indicators by which to
measure successes of the system” emphasizing that “the capacity to assume leadership for the reform not
only depends on the ability to measure the outcomes of the entire social protection system but also to
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analyse how and if all components of the system (benefits and services) contribute to achieve the agreed
targets for the system”2.
The review proposed a brief outline of a capacity building strategy which will require significant time and
investment particularly in a critical period of two years, including in the area of generating and using
evidence to inform result based policy, strategy and programme development. However, implementation
of this or a similar capacity building strategy requires basic understanding on the part of the Directorate for
Social and Child Protection of evidence-based policy making so as to ensure commitment to strengthening
capacity in this area.
In parallel, the newly established Institute for Social and Child Protection would benefit from technical
assistance in developing their role related to the participation in the development, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the effects of implementation of strategies, action plans, laws and other
regulations in the area of social and child protection, as per the Law on Social and Child Protection.
In view of the above, international technical expertise is required to support the MoLSW’s Directorate for
Social and Child Protection and the Institute for Social and Child Protection in evidence based policy making.
Purpose and Objective(s)
The purpose of the assignment is to support the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social and Child Protection and
the Institute for Social and Child Protection in enhancing their capacities in evidence based policy making.
More specifically, the objectives are:
1. To develop an understanding of the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social and Child Protection, the
Institute for Social and Child Protection and relevant staff of the Centres for Social Work on evidence
in policy making;
2. To provide initial support to the Institute for Social and Child Protection in developing their role
related to the participation in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the
effects of implementation of strategies, action plans, laws and other regulations pertaining to the
development of activities of the social and child protection.
Methodology and Technical Approach
The methodology will include desk review; facilitation of a 1-day training session for relevant professionals;
working meeting with the Institute for Social and Child Protection; writing of a brief mission report etc.
The consultant is expected to work both from home and in Montenegro.
Further details can be found below in the sections Activities and Tasks and Key Deliverables and Timeframe.
Activities and Tasks, Deliverables and Timeframe
The following tasks need to be accomplished by the following tentative deadlines:
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Description
Timeline
Preparation of a one day training session for representatives of the MoLSW’s 2 working days,
Directorate for Social and Child Protection, the Institute for Social and Child home-based
Protection and relevant staff of the Centres for Social Work on evidence in
policy making, based on a review of the following documents the Functional
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Anna Nordenmark Severinsson, Functional analysis of the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social and Child Protection.
UNICEF Montenegro, unpublished report, 2015.
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analysis of the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social and Child Protection; the Final
evaluation of the Child Care System Reform IPA 2010; the Law on Child and
Social Protection (2013); the Strategy on the Development of the Social and
Child Protection System (2013-2017), the Strategy on the Development of
Foster Care in Montenegro (2012-2016), the Strategy for the Integration of
Persons with Disability in Montenegro (2008-2016), the Indicative Strategy
Paper for Montenegro 2014-2020; the Sector Planning Document for the sector
Education, Employment and Social Policies etc.
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Facilitation of a one day training session for representatives of the MoLSW’s
Directorate for Social and Child Protection, the Institute for Social and Child
Protection and relevant staff of the Centres for Social Work (approx. 30
participants) on evidence-based policy making.
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Working meeting with relevant representatives of the Institute for Social and
Child Protection on developing their role related to the participation in the
development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the effects of
implementation of strategies, action plans, laws and other regulations
pertaining to the development of activities of the social and child protection.
By the time the meeting is held, the Institute will have developed a draft Annual
Work Plan for 2016 which may serve as a starting point for the meeting.
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Preparation of a brief mission report with recommendations for the MoLSW
and Institute for Social and Child Protection on enhancing capacities in
evidence in policy making.
TOTAL NUMBER OF WORKING DAYS INVOLVED
1
day,
Montenegro
in
1
day,
Montenegro
in
1 day,
based
home-
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The consultant is expected to produce the following key deliverables with the following tentative deadlines:
1. Materials for the one day training session for representatives of the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social and
Child Protection, the Institute for Social and Child Protection and relevant staff of the Centres for Social
Work, by 10 December 2015.
2. Delivery of the above one-day training session for representatives of the MoLSW’s Directorate for Social
and Child Protection, the Institute for Social and Child Protection and relevant staff of the Centres for
Social Work and facilitation of the above one-day working meeting with relevant representatives of the
Institute for Social and Child Protection, by 18 December 2015.
3. Mission report, by 21 December 2015.
All deliverables should be submitted in either in English or Montenegrin, to be agreed with UNICEF following
contracting. UNICEF will arrange for translation if required.
Management and organization
Management: The consultant(s) will be supervised by the UNICEF Child Protection Officer.
Organization: International Consultancy, individual (at P-5 level), with considerable experience in evidence
based policy making is required for this assignment.
Schedule: This assignment will commence on 7th December 2015.
Budget and Remuneration
The total duration of the consultancy is 5 working days.
The candidates are requested to submit their financial offer consisting of fee for the services to be provided,
travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.
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The fee may be reduced if the assignments/deliverables are not fulfilled to the required standard. In a case
of serious dissatisfaction with the consultant’s performance the contract may be terminated in line with
UNICEF procedure in such matters and as spelled out in SSA.
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