UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Office is seeking a qualified research/training institution to
conduct an orientation training program for approximately 15 health care professionals from
countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States in
Developmental Paediatrics and Developmental Surveillance
Fall/Winter 2013
1. Purpose of the Training and Principal Tasks
To promote the building of professional capacities in the detection, assessment and
intervention of young children with developmental difficulties, the ECD Section of the
UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS plans to provide an introduction to developmental
pediatrics to country experts for up to five countries in the CEE/CIS region. This orientation
training program is expected to
1. Provide a good understanding of the scope and importance of addressing prevention,
early detection and early intervention for developmental difficulties in young children
2. Introduce the role of Developmental Pediatrics in the early identification and
management of developmental difficulties and providing services to families and young
children
3. Provide first-hand opportunities to trainees to observe and participate in assessment and
counseling services provided to children with developmental difficulties and their
families
4. Introduce program participants to the structure, content and use of simple standardized
developmental monitoring or screening tools
5. Support program participants to develop follow-up plans for country implementation and
introduce research related issues; and
6. Provide limited follow-up assistance to participating countries
2. Timeline
Date
September 25, 2013
Deliverable
Brief Proposal (max. 3
A4 pages)
October 11, 2013
Notification of selected
institution
Implementation of 5
day orientation training
program
Late Fall/Early
Winter 2013
Early Winter
Training Completion
Report (5 pages)
Contents
Planned agenda, brief description of the
orientation program and the follow-up
support, institutional expertise, academic
profile of experts providing the training,
and budget
Development of institutional agreement
Coordination on selection of participants
with UNICEF Country Offices, agenda,
and planning component of the
orientation program
The report should include the final
agenda, list of participants with 2-3 line
profiles, highlights of the training,
lessons learnt and recommendations for
future training.
3. Qualification or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required
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Active developmental pediatrics unit, focusing on the identification, assessment and early
intervention of children with disabilities and developmental difficulties
Training and observation facilities
Excellent understanding of the state of services for young children with disabilities and
developmental difficulties in the CEE/CIS region
Capability to use training experience for further applied research
Experts with specialization in developmental pediatrics, proven training skills, regional
expertise
Fluency in English essential; knowledge of one or more languages from CEECIS
countries desirable.
4. Required Documentation for application
 Brief proposal with rationale, training agenda and training tools, criteria for participant
selection
 CVs of key experts involved in the orientation training program
 Budget
5. Estimated Cost
Based on budget submitted together with the brief proposal and to be negotiated with selected
institution. The proposed amount should include all expert time, training materials, the
training venue, as well as refreshments for participants.
6. Submission to
Dr. Bettina Schwethelm, Expert, ECD Inter-sectoral Coordination
bschwethelm@unicef.org
Dr. Deepa Grover, Regional Advisor, Early Childhood Development
UNICEF RO for CEE/CIS
degrover@unicef.org
7. Deadline:
September 25, 2013, COB
8. Background:
The early childhood years are considered the most important developmental phase with
lifelong impact on health, development, wellbeing, social inclusion, and productivity. Social
determinants, such as poverty, access to services, living location, maternal education, and
nutrition, contribute to the fact that many children never reach their full potential. Increasing
access to quality child health, development and protection services at the household,
community and facility level can serve an important “equalizing function” for vulnerable
groups and improve health and well-being across the life-span.
Infants and young children with developmental delays, difficulties and/or disabilities are
particularly challenged in their opportunities for a good start in life and will benefit most
from early identification, diagnosis, early intervention and family support. However,
UNICEF assessments of such services in CEECIS have noted that there are significant
difficiencies in the health system, which of the primary public system accessed by pregnant
women and young children. Specifically,
 Many countries lack a strong enabling policy environment that ensures access to early
identification, re/habilitation, and family support services
 Specialists are often unavailable, even more so outside of the major urban centers, and
primary health care personnel lacks training in early child development, basic
identification and care
 Classification and diagnostic systems are outdated and evidence-based screening and
diagnotic tools or not used routinely; and
 Risk, developmental delays, and disabilities are identified late, and intervention
approaches are “medicalized” and child- rather than family-centered.
To meet the varied needs of young children with delays, developmental difficulties and
disabilities and their families, teams of specialists may be needed, including pediatricians;
pediatric neurologists; hearing, vision, and speech and language and infant mental health
specialists; psychologists; etc.
As noted in the UNICEF 2012 ECI Mapping Survey of all countries/entities in CEECIS,
some specialties are lacking entirely in some of the countries; in others there are insufficient
numbers of specialists, particularly in rural areas. For example, only one country/entity
reports having a sufficient number of developmental pediatricians, with 14 not having any
professional with this specialization. In addition, 12 countries/entities reported having no
infant mental health specialists, and 9 no ECI specialists.
In addition, professionals lack evidence-based training in developmental surveillance,
monitoring and early identification. According to the ECI mapping study, in 2/3 of the
countries/entities less than half of doctors are able to assess social-emotional risk of the
young child or use standardized assessment tools, and 14 countries/entities have no doctors
that can identify early autism spectrum disorder.
Developmental and behavioral pediatrics is a sub-specialty that is relatively new to the
CEECIS region, but is urgently needed to provide comprehensive support to children with
developmental delays, difficulties, and/or disabilities and to their families during the critical
early years. It is expected that the services to be provided will strengthen UNICEF’s ongoing
efforts to give all young children the best start in life, particularly those with developmental
difficulties, and thus promote equity and full social inclusion for these children and their
families