Home-based Consultancy: Social Work Expert (Policy Level) – 22 working days; with travel as needed – UNICEF Slovakia Refugee Response Office (RRO)

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, an advocate.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

UNICEF Refugee Response Office in Slovakia (hereinafter UNICEF Slovakia RRO) is looking for a consultant to support the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter MoLSAF) in implementing the activities outlined in the workplan between UNICEF and MoLSAF.

The main objective of the assignment is to support the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic (MoLSAF), as well as the central and district level offices of labor, social affairs, and family to improve the quality of social work through strengthening professional standards, specialization of social workers and quality assurance. The assignment focuses on improving the quality of work of the social services workforce with the Ukrainian children and children on the move in Slovakia, while also supporting the overall strengthening of the workforce capacity.

Scope of Work

More than 2 million people from Ukraine have crossed the Slovak border since the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Currently, Slovakia hosts more than 110,000 Ukrainian Temporary Protection status holders, of which 32% are children and 50% are women. After 2 years of emergency, UNICEF and partners observed an increase in child protection cases that require an advanced response from professionals – which is typical for protracted emergencies where full inclusion of children in national systems and services has not yet been achieved. This emergency has also revealed and exacerbated preexisting systemic gaps and challenges in the child protection.

UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic (MoLSAF) to strengthen the capacity of the social service workforce to better handle the cases of Ukrainian children, improve the quality of social work, and support the system strengthening for better inclusion of all children (both Ukrainians and host). UNICEF has signed the work plan with MoLSAF to strengthen the role of the national government in child protection in humanitarian action and improve the capacity of the social services workforce to better work with children on the move.

The consultant will be supervised by the Child Protection Specialist. However, the consultant will work closely with the UNICEF child protection team, key Government stakeholders such as MoLSAF, Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (CoLSAF), and Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family on a district level (OlSAFs), as well as the judiciary system (Association of Family Judges, etc.). Additionally, the consultant will work closely with a second consultant focusing on the developing working methodologies and tools for child protection and frontline professionals (VA link here). The consultancies will be home-based with frequent country visits to meet with stakeholders, conduct analysis, and workshops/trainings.

Overall, the consultancy is for 22 days over the course of 6 months.

The consultant will support UNICEF RRO in Slovakia to implement outputs 3 of the signed work plan between UNICEF and MoLSAF. More specifically, the consultant will focus on the following area:

Strengthen the capacities of the child protection system to support the social service workforce, standard development, and quality assurance.

1.1. Review of domestic practices and international good practice examples:

• Conduct the review of the existing normative, policy and operational framework regarding the case load of the social service workforce including the typology of cases, number of cases, etc.
• Analyze the ratio of the refugee/Ukrainian children and families in the overall caseload and implications towards the overall workload and quality of work of social workers.
• Undertake the mapping of the international best practices on determining optimal social worker-case ratio, managing the workload of social workers (e.g. diversification of the workforce, various specialization approaches, etc.). Based on the local capacity assessment and international good practices, prepare options for organizing/scaling up social service workforce for humanitarian emergencies.
  • Present the review and mapping outcomes to stakeholders (Ministry and the professional associations).

1.2. Support the implementation of the pilot programme of MoLSAF on adjusting social worker-case ratio:

• Develop the pilot evaluation framework with MoLSAF
• Develop the evaluation methodology of the ongoing pilot.
• Develop mid-term analysis of the pilot and provide the recommendations for the optimal caseload determination in relation to other factors such as social work specialization, distribution of the roles and responsibilities, etc.

1.3. Inform the social work career development initiatives in Slovakia:

• Suggest initiatives for the social work career development system in Slovakia. Explore different options to incentivize the social work career development in MoLSAF. A brief concept note will inform MOLSAF’s broader initiatives of strengthening the social service workforce.
• Present the concept to the Ministry and professional associations.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone	Deliverables / Outputs	Timeline / Deadline
Strengthen capacities of the child protection system to support the social service workforce, standard development, and quality assurance.
Review of domestic practices and international good practice examples: Conduct the review of the existing Slovak normative, policy and operational framework regarding the case load of the social service workforce including the typology of cases, number of cases, etc. Analyze the ratio of the refugee/Ukrainian children and families in the overall caseload (in Slovakia) and implications towards the overall workload and quality of social work. Undertake the mapping of the international best practices on determining optimal social worker-case ratio, managing the workload of social workers (e.g. diversification of the workforce, various specialization approaches, etc.). Prepare options for organizing/scaling up social service workforce for humanitarian emergencies. Present the review and mapping outcomes to stakeholders (Ministry and the professional associations).	– Brief review inclusive of the Slovak context, international practices, key recommendations	7 working days
Support the implementation of the pilot programme of MOLSAF on adjusting social worker-case ratio: Develop the pilot evaluation framework with MOLSAF. Develop the evaluation methodology of the ongoing pilot. Develop the mid-term analysis of the pilot and provide the recommendations for the optimal caseload determination in relation to other factors such as social work specialization, distribution of the roles and responsibilities, etc.	– Evaluation Framework inclusive of evaluation methodology – Interim analysis of the pilot with key recommendations	10 working days
Inform the social work career development initiatives in Slovakia: Suggest initiatives for the social work career development system in Slovakia. Explore different options to incentivize the social work career development in MoLSAF. Brief concept note will inform MOLSAF’s broader initiatives of strengthening the social service workforce. Present the concept to the Ministry and professional associations.	– Concept note	3 working days
Final Report	– Summary of implemented activities, with relevant annexes and further recommendations	2 working days

Estimated Duration of the Contract

22 working days between June and December 2024.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be home-based/remote.

As part of this assignment, some international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 22 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• Master’s degree in international development, human rights, social work, sociology, or another relevant social science field.
• Minimum five (5) years of proven experience and knowledge related to the ToRs areas.
• Demonstrated experience in social service workforce strengthening, preferrable in the workforce management, caseload determination.
• Solid experience in pilot evaluation, evaluation frameworks and analysis.
• Demonstrated experience of producing high-quality reports and other documents to specified deadlines.
• Demonstrated experience of working with a range of stakeholders including policy makers, practice-based organizations and non-governmental organisations.
• Excellent qualitative analysis skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Knowledge of guidelines and standards for child protection in emergency/humanitarian setting is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of the EU region, including regulatory frameworks for national child protection system and the EU Temporary Protection Directive, is desirable.
• Ability to be flexible and deliver results under tight deadlines.
• Fluency in English (oral and written).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Please include a full CV and Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.