International consultant to support the establishment of a family strengthening and support programme in Uzbekistan

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the National Agency for Social Protection (NASP) and UNICEF in designing a framework and implementation plan for a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme, and to support the design and initial roll-out of a Family Outreach Service for social work (para-)professionals under the NASP within an integrated social (welfare) service system.

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The purpose of this consultancy is to support the National Agency for Social Protection (NASP) and UNICEF in designing a framework and implementation plan for a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme, and to support the design and initial roll-out of a Family Outreach Service for social work (para-)professionals under the NASP within an integrated social (welfare) service system.

The Government of Uzbekistan is committed to establishing a more effective child protection and care system, and in this regard has recently taken several important steps, including the development of a more robust legal regulatory framework, and the establishment of the National Agency for Social Protection (NASP) that unifies social protection, and is mandated to provide social welfare services for children and families and to coordinate child protection services. The Agency is currently recruiting a new social service workforce of more than 5,000 social work (para-)professionals which will be deployed to district-based “Inson” Centres for Social Services, including with functions related to child protection, and at the community-level, including through mobile outreach teams. UNICEF is supporting the NASP in equipping this new social service workforce with basic skills and knowledge in social work, social welfare for children and families, and child protection and care while at the same time supporting the finalization of a Law on Social Work, and the development of a Strategy for planning, developing, and supporting the social service workforce in the long-term. The Agency, in a first phase, will model the delivery of social (welfare) services in 28 districts, two in each of Uzbekistan’s 14 regions. Whereas the initial focus is primarily on the delivery of social (welfare) services that are already regulated by national law (and rather response/crisis-oriented), there is an opportunity to introduce and model new social (welfare) services, including those focusing more on prevention and early identification. The existing Law on Social Services will be revised in 2024.

Within the EU-funded Action “Phase II of the EU-UN Support to the States in Central Asia for their Citizens Returned from Conflict Zones” (October 2023 to March 2025), UNICEF and the NASP have committed to developing and rolling-out in target locations a family strengthening and support programme/service which should initially benefit in particular children and their caregivers repatriated from Iraq and Syria but finally benefit all vulnerable families (albeit considering the resource-poor context, likely for the years to come an emphasis needs to be placed on the most vulnerable families). The family strengthening and support programme/service should apply a social work strength-based approach to help families that are struggling to care for and protect their children. The service should help manage and mitigate risks associated with violence, neglect and abuse of children while strengthening conditions to achieve the long-term best interests of a child, addressing the underlying circumstances that hamper caregivers’ abilities to care for and protect their children such as poverty, social exclusion, disabilities, mental health problems or substance abuse.

In close cooperation with the NASP and UNICEF including a national UNICEF consultant, the international consultant will support the following: Establishment of a family strengthening and support programme, building on promising global practices and adapted to the Uzbekistan context.

Task 1: Develop a framework for a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme under the leadership/coordinating role of the NASP.
The framework should guide the implementation of a comprehensive, integrated, rights-based, adequately resourced and quality family strengthening and support programme/services. The framework should provide a theoretical framework and approach that is human rights based and participatory; describes the collaborative partnerships essential for the service (governmental, non-governmental); defines the practice environment for the delivery of an integrated family strengthening and support programme/service; describes the integration of the service (intersectoral and interdepartmental integration, intradepartmental integration, integrated interventions); identifies vulnerable target groups and strategic focus areas for the delivery of family strengthening and support services; describes enabling factors for integrated family strengthening and support services; and establishes mechanisms for the promotion of family strengthening and support services that are linked to monitoring and evaluation as well norms, standards and business processes.

Task 2: Develop a plan for the implementation of a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme under the leadership/coordinating role of the NASP.
Develop an implementation plan to guide and coordinate the implementation of the framework for a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme for an initial period of five years.

Task 3: Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for family strengthening and support programmes/ services.
Develop a set of indicators covering outcomes, processes, and impact to allow for the effective monitoring of family strengthening and support services, based on the reviewed draft standards that govern social (welfare) services in general and the draft standards of quality for family strengthening and support services. These indicators should provide evidence on compliance and the effectiveness of family strengthening and support services.

Task 4: Design a Family Outreach Service for social work (para-)professionals under the NASP within an integrated social (welfare) service system.
The Family Outreach Service should provide intensive support to families possessing multiple and complex
needs that are at risk of separation, and for families that are planning for the return of a child following a period of separation, or those providing family-based alternative care to children. The service should aim to improve the capacities of families to ensure children’s care and protection from neglect, violence, and abuse, and create positive conditions for girls’ and boys’ development in a family environment. The focus should be on strengthening caregivers’ capacities to care for their children, improving communication and relationships within the whole family; securing children’s access to and inclusion in other services that are of benefit to their development such as education and healthcare services; strengthening adolescent girls’ and boys’ life skills (the components related to strengthening caregivers’ capacities and adolescent girls’ and boys’ life skills should have a strong gender-transformative aspect); strengthen the informal support network around the family; and providing practical, administrative and logistical support to enable the family to access financial entitlements, improve their living conditions and overcome barriers to enjoying their rights. The design of the family outreach service should specify the delivery characteristics such as the competencies of the practitioners, support provided to the practitioners, and fidelity to programme design and delivery modalities, and be complemented by a Guide for Trainers and a Handbook for Practitioners.

Task 5: Build the knowledge and skills of a core group of practitioners and trainers for the implementation of the Family Outreach Service.
Deliver the 5-day in-person training of trainers to an approximate 20 practitioners and trainers to equip them with skills and knowledge needed for the roll-out of the Family Outreach Service. Provide a series of online supervision sessions in the initial phase of the roll-out of the programme to allow for discussion of complex cases and guidance to practitioners in enhancing their practice in family strengthening and support.

UNICEF will also engage a national consultant to support the establishment of a family strengthening and support programme, including a family outreach service for the NASP. The national consultant will help liaise with the NASP and other relevant national stakeholders, support the review and contextualisation of deliverables, can assist in collecting data and information, and translations from English to Russian and vice versa. The duration of the national consultancy will be for 12 months to provide guidance to the NASP in the roll-out of the programme, including mentoring and coaching of professionals.

Work Assignments Overview - Deliverables/Outputs - Timeline

Task 1: 15 days (11 Dec 2023 to 31 Jan 2024)

Develop a framework for a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme under the leadership/coordinating role of the NASP.

1.1 Draft framework (English, approx. 15 pages) by 12 Jan 2024
1.2 Presentation of the draft framework to the NASP, UNICEF and other relevant national stakeholders in an online workshop by 19 Jan 2024
1.3 Final framework, incorporating feedback from the NASP, UNICEF and other relevant national stakeholders (English, approx. 15 pages) by 31 Jan 2024

Task 2: 5 days (1 to 9 Feb 2024)

Develop a plan for the implementation of a comprehensive and integrated family strengthening and support programme under the leadership/coordinating role of the NASP.

1.4 Draft implementation plan (English, approx. 5 pages)
1.5 Presentation of the draft implementation framework to the NASP, UNICEF and other relevant national stakeholders in an online workshop
1.6 Final implementation plan, incorporating feedback from the NASP, UNICEF and other relevant national stakeholders (English, approx. 5 pages) 

Task 3: 3 days (1 to 29 Feb 2024)

Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for a family strengthening and support programme/services.

1.7 Set of draft indicators (English)
1.8 Presentation of the draft indicators to the NASP, UNICEF and relevant national stakeholders in an online meeting
1.9 Set of final indicators (English) 

Task 4: 22 days (12 Feb to 15 Mar 2024)

Design a Family Outreach Service for social work (para-)professionals under the NASP within an integrated social (welfare) service system, including design of training materials to be incorporated into the Re-training Centre of the NASP.

1.10 Draft concept note for the Family Outreach Service (English, approx. 10 pages) by 20 Feb 2024
1.11 Presentation of the concept note to the NASP and UNICEF in an online workshop by 23 Feb 2024
1.12 Final concept note for the Family Outreach Service, incorporating feedback from the NASP and UNICEF (English, approx. 10 pages) by 29 Feb 2024
1.13 Guide for trainers: Training agenda and format, a set of PowerPoint presentations and handouts, interactive games (English) by 15 Mar 2024
1.14 User-friendly handbook for practitioners (English, approx. 40-50 pages) by 15 Mar 2024

Task 5: 10 days (18 Mar to 30 Nov 2024)

Build the knowledge and skills of a core group of practitioners and trainers for the implementation of the Family Outreach Service, and produce training materials that can be: 

1.15 Co-facilitate with a national trainer the 5-day Training of Trainers
1.16 Co-facilitate five online supervision sessions for practitioners engaged in rolling-out the Family Outreach Service. 

Duration of the contract: 11 December 2023 - 30 November 2024

Home based consultancy with travel to Uzbekistan.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• An advanced university degree in Social sciences, preferably social work or psychology
• At least 8 years of relevant work experience, including in designing/developing social welfare services for children and families.
• Excellent knowledge of international promising practices in design and implementation of family strengthening and support services.
• Very good communication skills in English.
• Previous work experience with UNICEF desirable.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit here. 

 UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.