Programme/Project Title:
TERMS OF REFERENCE
UNICEF KIRA
Child Protection
Consultancy/Services Title:
Technical assistance to the Ministry of Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Child Support Centers for victims of violence on development of minimum quality standards for psychological, legal and social services provided at the Centers and the criteria for evaluation of the work of service providers
Re:
Consultancy Mode:
Type of Contract :
Mode of Selection :
RWP
National International
Consultant Individual Contractor Institutional
Competitive Single Source
Duration of Contract : From: 15 February 2015 To: 27 February 2015
Objective/purpose of the consultancy/services
To support the Ministry of Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic (thereafter KR) and the Child Support Centers for victims of violence on development of minimum quality standards for psychological, legal and social services provided at the Centers and the criteria for evaluation of the work of service providers
Background
In 2009, UNICEF commissioned a study on child abuse and neglect in families. According to the findings of the study
72.7% reported experiencing abuse and/or neglect in the family setting. More specifically, 51.0% of children reported experiencing harsh verbal abuse by family members, 38.7% experienced psychological abuse, 36.6% experienced physical abuse, and 1.6% experienced sexual abuse in the family. In addition, 64.4% of children experienced one type of neglect. In terms of neglect, 7.8% of children reported being deprived of food or lack of nutrition, 44.7% were not provided with adequate clothing, 18.7% were not provided medical care or rest from work when sick, 28.0% lacked adult/parental supervision, and 54.9% were forced to work to the point that it interfered with their school attendance, academic studies, and/ or leisure time. The full text of the report (in English) is available here .
The above figures are a wake-up call and require carefully planned responses to reduce and avoid this type of child rights violation. It requires the development of an appropriate legal framework and social policies to ensure an effective response to child abuse and neglect, as well as programs and services for the prevention and protection to assist child victims and parents, and strategies to bring about changes in attitudes and behaviors. UNICEF and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic are working together to develop a comprehensive response programme.
In particular, UNICEF in collaboration with Bishkek Mayor’s office, the Ministry of Social Development and the local civil society organization “Child Rights Defenders League” have been working on developing a model of social services for children victims of violence. As such, in 2011 the first Child Support Center in the country was established. The Center provides consultative support and psychological, social and legal assistance to child victims of child abuse and neglect.
Further on, in 2014 two similar centers were opened in Karakol town (town center in one of the 7 provinces of the country) and Tiup village municipality.
While the Ministry of Social Development has adopted a Regulation #691 on social standards for residential care institutions and social services for families and children in difficult life situation dated October 9, 2012 in Bishkek city, there is still a gap in addressing the need for quality standards of specialized services for children victims of child abuse and neglect, taking into consideration the peculiarities of child abuse prevention and response work. This may include the aspects of confidentiality, ethics, prevention of burnout and motivation system in order to prevent turnover among professionals working with abused children. These standards are further to be used as a basis for development and drafting of criteria for evaluation of the work of Child Support Centers providing services to children, as well as authorized bodies within respective Ministries (such as social protection, education, health and police).
Scope of work and key tasks

Desk review of existing materials on social protection and child abuse prevention in the KR including the findings of national studies on child abuse and neglect in families as well as prevalence and dynamics of

school violence in the Kyrgyz Republic;

Carry out an analysis of barriers and bottlenecks to effective child abuse prevention and response;

Meet with key government partners from Ministry of Social Development, and if necessary with representatives from Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education; as well as with staff of Child Support Centers in Bishkek and Karakol and Tiup, local NGOs and experts in this area;

Technical support to UNICEF staff, Child Support Centers on further actions for finalization of the modeling;

In collaboration with working group draft minimum quality standards for services for abused children and criteria for evaluation of work of Child Support Centers as well as recommendations for further improvement and strengthening of services provided to abused children.

Mission report with recommendations for UNICEF and the Government of Kyrgyzstan
Reporting and supervision
International expert will report to the UNICEF Child Protection Officer.
Qualification/level requirements
This is a consultancy at P4-P5 level requiring the following qualifications:

Extensive experience in leading/managing or providing municipal/state social services on addressing child abuse and neglect (minimum of three years)

Extensive background in strategic planning, policy/standards development and research in field of social services for abused children (demonstrated through examples of previous works on development of standards or of similar engagements). This may include development of guidebooks, instructions and working manuals.

Extensive knowledge and understanding of the issues of confidentiality, ethics and sensitivity in working with girls and boys victims of child abuse and neglect (to be demonstrated in previous work experience)

Knowledge of child-rights based approach in creation of social services

Education – higher level degree (equivalent to Masters or higher) in the area of psychology, social work, medicine or law (this could be substituted in lieu of over five years of experience in the field) (to be demonstrated in CV)
Duty station and official travel involved
Bishkek, travel to two other locations (Karakol and Tiup), where Child Support Centers are located.
Travel paid for by UNICEF in advance, and travel costs reimbursed after travel, shall be based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel, subject to exceptional approval of business class travel by the Head of Office/
Division Director, for example for medicals reasons when certified by UN Medical Services in New York.
Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).
Duration
Total number of consultancy days
Desk Review (work from home)
14
2
In-country mission (interview with key stakeholder, filed visit, identify bottlenecks, write up of the first drafts of the deliverables)
8
Home-based work (finalizing the standards, criteria and consultancy report)
Deliverables:
4
1. Minimum quality standards for social services for abused children developed together with Child support centers staff
2. Document on criteria for evaluation of the work of staff of Child Support Centers developed together with
Child support centers staff
3. Mission reports with recommendations for UNICEF and the Government on further improvement and strengthening of social services for abused children

Source of funding/PBA reference (date of expiration of the PBA):
SC 130870 expiry date: March 31, 2015
Note: In all cases, consultants may only be paid their fees upon satisfactory completion of services. In such cases where payment of fees is to be made in a lump sum, this may only be payable upon completion of the services to UNICEF’s satisfaction and certification to that effect, and any advance on the lump sum may not exceed 30% of the fees. In such cases where payment of fees is to be made in installments, the final installment may not be less than ten per cent (10%) of the total value of the contract, and will only be payable upon completion of the services to UNICEF’s satisfaction and certification to that effect.