Terms of Reference
1. Background:
Emergencies, natural or human made, present huge threats to children’s social, emotional, cognitive
and psychosocial development, and often undermine their right to participate in their lives in a
meaningful and safe way. Support to children’s well-being in the midst of emergencies has been a core
component for UNICEF’s programming. In the last 10 years the focus has been on provision of safe
spaces with supervised activities, where integrated programming include play, recreation, education,
health, and psychosocial support. A number of emergency kits have been designed to for this purpose,
such as ECD Emergency Kit, School-in-a Box, Recreational Kit, School-in-a-Box Kit, and the Maths and
Science Kits.
However, despite the existing kits there is a stark gap in addressing the needs of older children,
especially adolescents. The proposal for ‘an adolescent kit’ initially emerged from colleagues working in
conflict-ridden Liberia who faced an utter lack of tools and guidance on how to program for and engage
adolescents and young people. Therefore, the Child and Adolescent Development Kit was developed to
address this need and meet a growing demand to provide more holistic support to older children in
emergency and low resource areas. It focuses on two principle age groups: children aged 7-12 and 1318. In complementing the ECD kit, which serves children 0-6, the Child and Adolescent Development Kit
aims to provide continuity of support to children through a life-cycle approach.
The Kit is a tool that will be used to assist children and adolescents in emergency and post-emergency
situations in the development of life skills. Through structured and semi-structured resilience building
interventions, the Kit aims to empower conflict affected adolescents to deal more effectively with their
environment, become confident and, participatory members of their community. It will be delivered
primarily within non-formal settings, such as child/adolescent friendly spaces and incorporates specific
supply items linked to sports, music, art, theater and community engagement activities, designed to
develop targeted skills. These types of activities are ideal for behavior change and stimulating children
and adolescent’s developmental capacities. They are natural forms of learning, helping to provide
normalcy for children and adolescents.
During the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in the application of Life skills education (LSE) in
variety of education programmes focusing on prevention of HIV and AIDS, natural disasters, peace
education and reproductive health. There have been strong investments by UNICEF in LSE for the last
twenty years. LSE has also met with thought-provoking critiques and major conceptual, methodological,
programming and monitoring challenges that need to be addressed for LSE to progress. Increasing
attention is given to the role of LSE in reducing vulnerability-related socio-economic drivers of HIV
infection, stigma and discrimination. In order to propose a coordinated, structured and evidence-
informed way forward for continued UNICEF support to national efforts in LSE, this consultancy will also
focus on reviewing and finalizing the LSE Concepts and Standards; and also contribute towards a toolkit
for engaging adolescents on the rights and values of the Convention on the Rights.
2. Expected results: (measurable results)

Finalised Adolescent Development for Emergencies module to promote the rights of
both male and female adolescents in education by collaborating with these adolescents
to develop community engagement activities that empower them.
3. Start date: 16 January 2012
End date:
18 May 2012
4. Timeframe:
Deliverables





Module on promoting Adolescent rights in
education
Adolescent Development Kit for
Emergencies to develop fully inclusive
community engagement activities for
adolescents, with specific focus on the
disabled and marginalized. Activities should
engage adolescents in the assessment of
threats and the provision of solutions in
emergency contexts.
Activity themes could include: climate
change, disaster risk reduction, violence
prevention, mapping safe spaces, HIV
prevention and health promotion.
Background notes providing foundation
information and key facts on each activity
theme.
The kit incorporates activities which are
specifically designed to develop targeted
life skills and capabilities for male and
female adolescents in emergency settings.
This includes social, emotional and learning
because education should not just facilitate
children’s ability to learn facts but also
assist male and female adolescents in the
development of the skills necessary to
Duration
(Estimated #
of days)
44
Deadline
Deliverables

TOTAL
Duration
(Estimated #
of days)
Deadline
manage their emotions, resolve conflicts
non violently, and make responsible
decisions.
Simple assessment tools to evaluate the
level of life skill acquisition from these
activities.
44
5. Key competences, technical background, and experience required:
a) Higher degree (Masters or equivalent) in education, social sciences and/or public health or
related field
b) Minimum 8 years of professional experience in the field of education and life skills
c) Excellent communication, analytical and writing skills in English
d) Knowledge of French is an asset
Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter, CV and P 11 form (which can be
downloaded from our website at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_53129.html) to
pdconsultants@unicef.org with subject line “Consultancy for Adolescent Development for
Emergencies” by 22 December 2011, 5:00pm EST. Please indicate your ability, availability and
daily/monthly rate to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a
daily/monthly rate will not be considered.